It is night

And there is a stillness. The bear video audition has reached over 100,000 views on YouTube, and countless more on other sites. How many of those people appreciate the irony? How many of those people understand the comedy of it?
I am beginning to feel the weight of what I'm about to do, the millions of people that will see this film, the children, the adults, the people in their late teens/early thirties. I can not let them down. I can't give anything less than the most that I can give. I have to review the script, I have to be ready to create a character that grows within the film, takes a journey, to use a tired and worn metaphor, and becomes something different. This can't just be me being me, I have to be something else entirely. Something that will amuse and teach children, and something adults can connect to. I realize that my character is driven to a fault and becomes power hungry--these are common themes of human existence. But what else is there? What is he hiding from or running from, and is it himself? Maybe. I don't know yet. But I need to find out quickly, because we shoot tomorrow.
There is a stillness, but there is also something moving, something moving inside of me. It's my heart and my digestive system yes but something else too.
I will do everything I can to make this the funniest Ranger that has ever been in cinematic history, I won't portray some broad comic caricature. I will make Ranger Jones a 3 dimensional character, someone who is more than one thing, more than two or three things. That is my work on this picture. That's what I have to do.

tj miller

I'm watching Cloverfield

I'm watching Cloverfield in my hotel room in Taupo. I hope that my performance in Yogi Bear will show that I've matured as a comedic actor, I look back at Cloverfield and realize how young I was in terms of film acting. Yogi will really give me the opportunity to show how far I've come. However, I also think there will be less screaming, and I won't yell "Yo this shit is crazy dude" at any point in this film.

A turning point

I think the great turning point for me in my career is going to be Yogi Bear. I'm not talking about career in the sense of how the public views me, or my becoming a celebrity, but my career as an artist. I fan feel an intrinsic change that is the result of joining this film, I'm writing more, the genesis of ideas is coming to me at a rapid rate, and most of all I can feel myself becoming more disciplined. I'm beginning to see clearly what it's going to take for me to become the comedic entity that I want to be, and that is all rooted in a film about a talking bear and his smaller talking bear friend.
Through script analysis I am really understanding the allegories and metaphors that inhabit this film, as well as some pretty interesting threads that interweave throughout, there are of course the themes of identity, love won and lost, and friendship, but the inherent evil nature of government, bureaucracy, ambition and it's darker side in the context of a country that holds it in such esteem is all within the text, it's up to us to expose it in a way that is subtle and not too overt, but communicable to the general public. We do have a shot at making this film great, and it's going to require great effort, and great care, from all of us.

t.j. miller

Rotorua

We just arrived in Rotorua. It smells bad here, just like they said it would.

Physical preparation

I have been rigorously working out every day, lifting weights and doing cardio in an effort to prepare for this role. I have been studying other rangers and officials, such as Barney Fife in the hopes of finding a a physicality that will be both comical and true to the officialdom of the character. I've been wearing my ranger at, the one I used for the second audition and for the bear video as much as possible, sometimes having entire meals with it on to truly understand what it would be like to be a park ranger.
I have watched two John Cusack movies today, 2012 and 1408. I have decided not to model my performance after him. Primarily because there are no numbers in the title of this film.

Real Talk. Bear Talk.

Last night I had a 30 minute serious conversation with the Line Producer about Yogi Bear. Not just him, the director also, has a very clear vision for this film: "It's an adult movie that kids will enjoy. That's the movie. It's a comedy for adults that kids will get a kick out of. Everyone in the live action world has to be grounded, the comedy has to be as real as possible." These people have been thinking for months, almost years about how to make this the best talking bear comedy that's possible. I found myself discussing how I need to appeal to both children and adults, that the physical comedy I do will be geared towards children, and the verbal towards the adult.
The Line producer talked about how when he first heard it was going to be 3-D in ADDITION to being hybrid live action and cartoon, he was skeptical. Yogi Bear is a 2-D Cell character, in the live action world, and he felt that to do it as 3-D, that's going too far. Then he saw the 5 minute test the director did, and realized that the 3-D aspect takes it back, we are first brought into the live action world with the cartoons and then the 3-D brings us back to the animated. It works.
He also mentioned he did The Italian Job, and that the movie worked in part because all the action was designed to be able to be done without special effects, all the action was real. Charlize Theron was able to do all of the driving, and in Yogi we're going to be able to do all the action without the aid of special effects.

He also mentioned that McDonald's is in. This thing is going to reach a lot of people. Age 8-80, man, that's our demographic. Everyone knows Yogi Bear. You got to understand, this is going to be good for adults and for kids.

I simply enjoyed talking about the intricacies of Yogi Bear over bacon wrapped steak bites, asparagus wrapped prosciutto and Sauvignon Blanc.

Kiwis

Kiwis used to be called "Chinese Goosberries." That's what the driver said. She also said that they named the fruit after themselves. I told her that I name fruits after the kind of person I am too, and that I call bananas "impotent alcoholics." She did not laugh.

Blog

Because this will most likely be my most important work to date, and very possibly could be my most important work during the course of my life and career I think it is essential to journal/blog/diary/takedirtypictures of this event. It is a milestone in my life, and hopefully my work on this film will affect millions of people, hopefully some of them over the age of 9, in a positive and perhaps life changing way. I'm from Denver. This is real.

I arrived in New Zealand

This is by far going to be the weirdest job I've ever had. I auditioned on a whim, making fun of even the idea of it, then made a video as a joke (with a real bear that I paid $1,000 for) and then got the offer, and then took the job.
I'm so excited.
the idea of being in something this ridiculous, and working very hard to make it as funny as possible, and to be in a cast with some funny for reals comedy people is really actually quite thrilling. And there was wine in a pic-a-nic-basket and honey when I arrived. Yeah. Talking Bear comedy is the shit.