WHEN HOLLYWOOD COMES TO ALMATY- INTERVIEW WITH CALLAN MCAULIFFE

Hello guys!

I hope that you are all doing great!

Today my post is going to be about one great person that I met during the XI Eurasia International Film Festival. I mentioned him before in my previous posts, so I’m sure you might have already guessed who I am going to talk about…

Yes, in this blog post I would like to tell you more about Callan McAuliffe, so let’s begin.

At first guys, I want to let you know that it’s not a casual thing when actors from Hollywood come to a film festival, as a special guest, all the way to Almaty, Kazakhstan. You can imagine how everyone was super excited about it, including myself.

To be honest, I was very nervous when I met Callan for the first time. It happened during the red carpet ceremony at the first day of the festival. At that moment, I only knew him as a young Australian actor who played in the movies “Flipped”, “The Great Gatsby”, and “I am number four”. Moreover, I knew that he played main role in the movie “Hacker”, which was directed by the Kazakh producer Akan Satayev. Well, once I decided to come and talk to him, I completely forgot everything that I wanted to say. It was quite funny though. However, he was very polite and kind. Luckily, it wasn’t’ the only time when I had a chance to talk to Callan and get to know him a little bit.

Since the XI Eurasia International Film Festival lasted for 7 days, so Callan stayed until the end of it. All his days were busy and already scheduled with different conferences, interviews, programs, and tours around the city. Even though, his every day was already planned, he found some free time to talk with me and answer on some questions. By the way, he came to Almaty with his friend Luke, who is very nice and funny guy.

Once I met Callan again, it was so much better since there were no people, cameras, or journalists around. We could talk and I could actually get to know him a little bit. I have noticed that Callan has a very pleasant aura and can easily arrange people towards him. I’m pretty sure you know that it’s rare when you can feel comfortable with people that you don’t know, but not with Callan trust me. He is very easy going, open and down to earth person. I didn’t see any arrogance or “celebrity” attitude in him. Instead he was very polite and carefully paid attention not just on questions that I asked, but also at the things that I told him about Kazakhstan and my life in Canada and States.

While I was talking to Callan, I have noticed that he is very well-mannered, attentive, and kind. The way he talks and carries himself is very mature for his age. I could imagine how tired he was to answer same questions during the film festival, but he never replied in a rude way or became angry. He is a real gentleman. To be honest, he acts even more mature than some of my peers… His level of patience and stamina really surprised me. I think, I need to learn it from him :D

I was quite surprised when I heard it, but did you guys know that Callan never planned to be an actor? When he was younger he actually wanted to be a physician. He went to try his acting skills because he wanted to earn some pocket money. However, after getting into movies and playing couple of bigger roles, he found out that he likes it and can do it pretty well, so decided to continue an acting career. In the future he really wants to play a complex character where he will need to work hard on emotions, accent, and get special make-up. One of his most favorite actors is Johnny Depp. He loves the diverse range of characters that he plays and how he creates a whole character.

Even though Callan is from Australia, last five years he has been living in Los Angeles. Yes, he has that cute Australian accent, but I could easily understand him. Except of acting skills, he loves to play on different musical instruments like guitar, piano, drums, Chinese musical instrument Xiao, and couple of others. However, he doesn’t write any music.

Going to Kazakhstan was the furthest destination that he had visited so far, but it was worth it. He loved our culture and was very happy that he had a chance to come here. As he said it’s very different than Australia and the United States.

Here are few things which Callan loved the most about Almaty city:

• Our mountains really impressed him. He also said that he loves hiking and spending some time out of the city, especially in the mountains. It’s a great way to recharge your batteries and let your brain rest from the city rush.

• Kazakh women were the most beautiful women that he had ever seen. Well, I was very surprised and at the same time happy to hear it. He was impressed by the elegance and uniqueness that every Kazakh woman has. I couldn’t feel more proud about it. Once again, thank you so much Callan :D

• Atmosphere of the city was amazing and unforgettable. Moreover, the hospitality and openness of the people was incredible.

• Architecture of the city was also one of the surprises. Before coming to Kazakhstan, Callan didn’t really know a lot about our country, so he didn’t even except that the architecture will be so diverse and unique.

I think I can talk about XI Eurasia International Film Festival and how I got a chance to meet with Callan McAuliffe forever, but I have to finish at some point. At last, I want ot say that It was such a pleasure to meet Callan and also his friend Luke. Now I can say that I know him, not just like a great and talented actor, who I’m sure, has a bright future, but also as a very nice person. Besides, I’m very glad that he loved Kazakhstan and got to know our culture a little bit. I hope that, I will see you soon in Kazakhstan again. :)

P.S guys don’t forget, in my upcoming posts I will tell you more about the movies “Hacker” where Callan played main character, so stay tuned and I will see you soon :)