My role in Transformers
Are you in TRANSFORMERS? There’s a quick shot of a soldier escorting someone away from a helicopter. On screen for two or three seconds. Looks EXACTLY like you.
Just curious.
– Ben
Los Angeles
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but as far as I know, I am not in Transformers. I have a somewhat ordinary face, and coupled with my big bald head, it’s not uncommon for someone at the gym to say, “You were really good last night on Law and Order.” (Apparently, my doppelganger was a white supremacist.)
But I can’t say definitively that I’m not in Transformers.
Years ago, a friend called to say, “I saw you in ‘L.A. Doctors!’” That was a CBS show at the time. She described the scene: I was walking a pug on Melrose Avenue. Which was in fact my dog. I was probably walking home from Starbucks when a second-unit camera crew caught me. (Yes, they should have had me sign a release. No, it’s never worth pursuing.)
I guess it’s possible the filmmakers digitally put my face on some random soldier. They certainly had the technology; they put all those tentacles on Bill Nighy for the second and third Pirates movies. But Occam’s Razor would suggest it’s probably just a guy who looks like me.







July 19th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Has anyone asked you if you were the guy in that software (Microsoft?) commercial?
July 19th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Quick typo . . . good for could in the Law & Order thing . . .
July 19th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Y’know… could is a word charged with the meaning of potential. Maybe John showed lots of promise.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Fixed. I will now throw something at Matt for missing that.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Thanks for clearing that up, John… I was wondering the same exact thing, and then realized, “Who cares?!”
July 20th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Funny thing in regards to this post, I saw John walking through the carpark - where I work… in Australia. I swear to God!
July 20th, 2007 at 7:25 am
Am I the only person who doesn’t know what John looks like?
July 20th, 2007 at 9:40 am
(Not even a cameo in The Nines?)
I have diligently avoided reading the reviews because I intend to see The Nines and I want to stay clear of other people’s opinions until then. I fully expected I’d end up seeing the film on DVD but now it turns out it’ll be shown in Iceland next month! Really look forward to seeing it.
http://graenaljosid.is/biodagar/heimurinn/nr/101
July 20th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
John:
Actually, I did think I saw you at the benefit dinner for US Doctors for Africa last month (June 7?) at the Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica.
Was that you?
July 20th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Also, John does look a lot like this guy:
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0002262/iid1023362.jpg.html?path=pgallery&pathkey=Manoux%2C%20J.P.&seq=4
July 20th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
The funny thing is, I remember the part in Transformers the writer speaks of, and I remember thinking to myself “Was that John August?”
Glad to see I’m not crazy.
Well… crazier
July 20th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I thought I saw you at Amoeba once.
July 21st, 2007 at 5:05 am
Since there seems to be no official announcement in a separate post… Congratulations on your selection for the Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week programme! Now I will finally be able to see “I Nove” for myself — I missed it in Cannes and was not at Sundance…
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 am
Ah I don’t care about your cameo in Transformers… But I do want you to just come out and say it…
You said in a previous post that you worked as a script doctor on a few of this summers blockbusters but you wouldn’t say which one’s cause they weren’t out… Now i think this one is the perfect for you… Just repent!!!
I never really see comedies at the cinema but this got a lot of laughs in the first half… come on! You could could write this in your sleep…