I don't do a great number of blogathons, but when they fit into my posting schedule, I like to play along. This time, I was chosen by Jay Cluitt at Life vs. Film to participate in one that I have an interesting connection to. The Six Degrees of Separation Blogathon was started by Nostra at My Film Views. This is a fun one, so I'm happy to jump in with both feet. The idea here is pretty simple: connect one actor to another through six or fewer steps.
I said I have a connection to this, so it's time for a story. Years ago, I worked with a guy named Ted. One day, Ted returned from a vacation back home in Virginia. He said he'd met a guy in a bar who taught him a game where you connect actors to Kevin Bacon through six or fewer steps. About six months later, I was at work and my mom called me and told me to turn on the television. There was a group of guys on the Today Show explaining this book they'd just written about the Six Degrees of Bacon. I flipped on the television and Ted pointed to one of the guys, saying, "That's the guy I met in the bar." I don't claim to have invented this game, but I do claim to have known about it for about six months before almost everyone else.
Anyway, the task before me is to connect Daniel Bruhl with Vinnie Jones. We get her via the following list of previous posts in the series:
Drew from A Fistful of Films (Charlie Chaplin to Jason Statham)
Sati from Cinematic Corner (Jason Statham to Michael Haneke)
Alex from And So It Begins (Michael Haneke to Stephen Dillane)
Steven from Surrender to the Void (Stephen Dillane to Ingmar Bergman)
Chris from Movies and Songs 365 (Ingmar Bergman to Toshiro Mifune)
Josh from Cinematic Spectacle (Toshiro Mifune to James Stewart)
Shane from Film Actually (James Stewart to Spike Lee)
Tom from At the Back (Spike Lee to Birth of a Nation)
And finally, Jay at Life vs. Film (Birth of a Nation to Daniel Bruhl)
So, this seems easy enough. Daniel Bruhl was in Inglourious Basterds with Brad Pitt, who was in Snatch with Vinnie J...what's that? Jay used Inglourious Basterds in his list? The unwritten rule is that I can't backtrack through the previous connection? Okay...
Let's try it this way:
Daniel Bruhl was in 2 Days in New York. Evidently, his character in this film is named "The Oak Fairy." That's neither here nor there. I haven't seen the film, but rest assured, it's on the man's IMDB page.
Starring in that Julie Delpy project is Chris Rock. I know this because Chris Rock is a part of the picture on the box. Rock has done a lot of work, perhaps never so annoyingly as in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. You know the clip, right?
As it happens, Vinnie Jones voiced Freddie the Dog in Madagascar 3. Boom.
So now the question is who's next and what am I going to make that person do? Unless he objects, I will tag Chip Lary at Tips from Chip, who gets the unenviable task of connecting Vinnie Jones to Jean Gabin. Good luck!
