Arts & Entertainment

Waiting the Hardest Part of Frankfort Teen's Film Debut

L-W North senior Brian O'Donnell stars in director Steven Soderbergh's new movie "Contagion" next month. Find out how he went from print ad modeling to sharing the screen with Matt Damon.

It's an old Hollywood saying that filmmaking is all about hurrying up and waiting. Actors are rushed to set, rushed to wardrobe, rushed to makeup, only to have activity come to a halt as they bide their time for a few hours, waiting to perform.

It's the waiting that Brian O'Donnell disliked the most when it came to his first movie gig, a role in director Steven Soderbergh's Contagion.

"The waiting was unbearable," the senior said of the shoot. "I'd go there one day. Do school (on set). Wait. Have lunch. And they'd say, 'We're going to do the scene tomorrow.' That was probably the biggest downside to it."

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But as much as he might despise it, waiting has paid off for O'Donnell and his showbiz career, a career that's going on almost a decade. Quite the accomplishment for a 17-year-old from Frankfort. 

The Waiting Game, Act I

O'Donnell has his parents to thank for getting him started in "the business." His mom, Denise, sent photos of O'Donnell around to different talent agencies at the urging of friends who told her how cute her son was. Stewart Talent in Chicago agreed with those friends and signed O'Donnell to do print and TV ads when he was just 6. His first job was for a catalog where he shared the page with a cotton candy machine. 

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"I just had to stand there and smile," O'Donnell said. "I remember having fun, but I had no idea what (the ad) was at the time. I thought I was just taking pictures. I didn't think it would be anywhere. I just knew that I liked it, and I wanted to do it again, so I really enjoyed it."

That work opened the door for catalog jobs for J.C. Penney, Sears and Kohl's. From there, he moved to voice-over work, doing commercials for McDonald's and Sonic, where he was heard but never seen. In fact, O'Donnell "starred" in a Hallmark commercial, dubbing over the voice for the boy who actually appeared on camera.

"It was slightly disappointing, but I knew the secret, and I knew that it was my voice, so it was kinda fulfilling," he said.

O'Donnell was taking acting lessons during this time, as well as trying out for different parts. At the age of 10, he auditioned for the role of Ralphie in a production of A Christmas Story in Munster, Ind. He only had to read a few lines before the director cast him on the spot, thrusting him into the world of live theater and a 44-show run in a town about a half-hour away.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," O'Donnell said. "But it turned out that it was a great experience, and I totally loved it from the second I did it. The rehearsals were nerve-wracking, and I was scared out of my mind, but there were so many helpful people there that by the end (of rehearsals), I felt so comfortable that the first time on stage was just no problem. ... It was easy as pie."

In fact, O'Donnell even made covering up for technical gaffes look effortless. When the sound effect for a BB gun didn't go off on cue, the young actor ad-libbed in stride: "Hm, I guess the safety latch is on."

"Oh, we were dying," said Denise, who is a lunch supervisor in the Summit Hill School District and does government payroll work from home for a construction company. "He didn't panic or nothing. He just knew what to do and say."

After the play's run, O'Donnell went back to doing print ads and commercials. He continued to audition, but roles were harder to find because of his own commitment to hockey as well as the state of the area acting job market.

"The economy played a big role," he said. "Things started slowing down."

That's when the waiting began for O'Donnell.

The Waiting Game, Act II

In the spring of 2010, O'Donnell's agent got him an audition for a movie that would be filming in Chicago. All he knew about it was that it starred Matt Damon and was called Contagion.

"I just had no confidence whatsoever going into (the audition)," O'Donnell said. "But I went to the audition and put everything I had into it, all the emotion, all the feeling. We actually went out to lunch afterward, and I said, 'I have a good feeling about this.' And then we heard nothing for like three months."

"That's the hard part about a lot of this," said O'Donnell's dad, Gene, who is a product manager for ComEd. "You only hear yes, and that's not too frequent. You're used to a lot of not hearing anything."

"A lot of silence," O'Donnell added.

In June, the silence broke, and O'Donnell was offered the part of the boyfriend of Damon's onscreen daughter in the disease outbreak film. 

"It seemed like forever, but that was literally the best news in my entire life," he said. "That was indescribable."

Filming began in November—which meant more waiting—in Skokie, an on-and-off, two-week whirlwind of a shoot.

"It was a hectic scene," O'Donnell said of his first day on set. "Seeing all the trailers and all the people ... everyone walking around screaming stuff. It was amazing. It was sure a sight to be seen."

Intimidating at first, O'Donnell said it was easy working with Oscar winners like Soderbergh and Damon because of their casual nature. They would chit-chat on set about things like hockey or DJ names (Soderbergh dubbed O'Donnell DJ Dry Ice because he's the captain of the Orland Park Vikings traveling hockey team). And when it came to the actual performing, O'Donnell was afforded the same respect as the other actors in the film, even though he was rookie.

"(Soderbergh) treated me like an actor, acted like I knew what I was supposed to do, and I took direction," O'Donnell said. "Do this, don't do that. Breathe, don't breathe. Whatever he needed, I did. He was really easy to work for. He knew what he wanted."

One shot the director wanted, unfortunately, meant spending three hours sprawled in the snow in freezing temperatures. (You can watch the scene from a brief instant at around the 2:29 mark in the attached trailer.)

"It was bitter cold," O'Donnell said. "They had to bring out propane heaters for us in between takes. We couldn't feel our hands. We're laying on the ground in the snow for hours."

Shooting wrapped in December, but O'Donnell was called back to film extra footage in June ("What was it Soderbergh said? 'Survey says: We need more Brian'," Gene said, laughing). Ironically, this meant re-creating winter scenes in the middle of the summer. 

"I was out there in long underwear, wool socks, regular jeans, snow pants, a T-shirt, snow vest and a big, heavy winter jacket, gloves, scarf and a hat in 80 degree weather," O'Donnell said. " In between takes, I just shed off the extra pounds—the jacket, the scarf, the hat, the gloves—just sweating."

When filming finished, Soderbergh told O'Donnell and his family he would call to say when the movie was opening.

"He hasn't called us quite yet," Denise said, laughing. "But that's OK."

Back to the waiting.

The Waiting Game, Act III

It's mid-August now, and O'Donnell is preparing for his final year at L-W North. Along with playing hockey for the high school team and the Orland Park Vikings, he's also a member of the speech team, the Science National Honor Society and president of the school's National Honor Society. 

His movie-making experiences still seem like a surreal dream, even after seeing the poster and trailer for Contagion, which is set to open Sept. 9, at with his girlfriend recently.

"I couldn't connect myself to anything on the screen," he said. "I couldn't remember any of it. ... It still really hasn't sunk in for me that I'm going to be in a movie that'll be showing in an IMAX theater."

"(Making Contagion) was the most amazing experience of my entire life," he added. "I could do that every day for the rest of my life. That was the best thing that could ever happen to me, especially with all those people to have that first experience with. I am completely and utterly blessed. It's so amazing. I thank my mom and dad so much. They're the ones who got me into it. Mom being the chauffeur, driving me downtown. Dad being my support beam, keeping me up, telling me to go the auditions."

Right now, O'Donnell is looking ahead to college, something that's important to both him and his parents. He's considering the University of Illinois, Bradley University and the University of Iowa, with an eye toward becoming an entertainment lawyer. 

"That's why we told him: You need to go to college and find something you can support yourself with for the rest of your life," Gene said. "For me, (acting) was more of what's he going to get out of this. You find out you don't do it for the money because there's certainly not a lot of money in it (at this stage). But what he did get out of it was the confidence. His speaking ability is awesome. ... Those two things alone have really helped him out."

But that doesn't mean O'Donnell has abandoned his showbiz dreams.

"I would love to do this, but that's my perfect world where I get everything I audition for and everything goes right," he said. "But that's never going to happen. That's all I could ever wish for, to be a successful actor. ... (S)eeing these people and being around them and knowing I can do that and push myself ... and keep doing these amazing things that I'm doing, that could be a lifelong, amazing, happy thing for me to do."

Does that mean there's a future acting career in O'Donnell's future? He just needs to wait and see.


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