[entertainment weekly: 99/12 ]

this article belongs to entertainment weekly. it was published in 99-12. it is provided for reference and preservational purposes only. the sam rockwell experience does not claim any copyright to it. if you use any of it, please make sure you give credit where credit is due. thank you.
---

Short Subject

Things can get a little dull on death row. That's why some of the stars of The Green Mile, the movie version of Stephen King's 6-part novel about death-row inmates, are trying to liven things up.

While filming in L.A. and Tennessee, they've created a behind-the-scenes death-row mockumentary. Sam Rockwell, who plays an electric-chair-bound inmate in The Green Mile, stars in the short as a prison escapee who wants to get a job as a Hollywood extra.

"He breaks out and comes to Hollywood looking for work like every other shlub," says Rockwell, also the star of Safe Men and Box of Moonlight.

"Everywhere he goes, he gets rejected. One producer tells him he has to look like Leo [DiCaprio]. Another tells him he doesn't have a chance because they're only casting for an elderly Tom Hanks."

Hanks, who stars in The Green Mile, makes a cameo in the mockumentary, as does the producer David Valdes and the director Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption). Working with them on the spoof, Rockwell says he developed plenty of sympathy for the character he plays:

"It's tough trying to land a role in Hollywood when you're auditioning in prison stripes."