GCSU student finds way to silver screen

Palm trees, dolphins and fish dangle from the ceiling. An easel with a blank canvas stands in the corner. Paintings of the ocean adorn the four walls of her room. Most who enter Mallory Israel’s room assume that her passion is surfing, the water or the outdoors. Home d?cor-wise, Israel’s room appears complete. What could possibly be missing? Perhaps the picture of Matthew McConaughey, who she met last summer while filming the movie “We Are Marshall”.
Israel, a 20-year-old GCSU art major, is not the typical student. When she’s not in class or socializing with her friends, she is acting.
“Let’s go back in time,” Israel said. “I had a scout from One Model Place contact me and they told me that I would be a good model. That’s when my modeling and acting career started.”
Freshman year Israel got involved with One Model Place and her career immediately took off. The 5’4″, hazel-eyed, brunette from Locust Grove. received between 30 to 40 e-mails a week from different companies and photographers.
“I eventually started getting paid for working and I built my portfolio up to over 2,000 pictures,” Israel said.
Israel’s acting career continued to blossom. After being an extra in a few music videos, including the All-American Reject’s “We Are the Ones,” an opportunity of a lifetime presented itself.
“I came across the movie ‘We Are Marshall’ and I saw that it was in Atlanta I saw that they needed cheerleaders, and so I e-mailed them immediately,” Israel said. “I’ve cheered for 12 years so this was perfect for me.”
Less than two weeks after she sent the e-mail, she was asked to be the stand-in for Kate Mara, who played main character Annie Cantrell.
“I was happy that I was going to get paid more from being a stand-in, but I really wanted to be on film,” Israel said.
Her days on the sweltering hot set were long and hectic. Spending up to 18 hours on one scene, she soon learned that being a stand-in is draining.
“I spent three weeks being a stand-in, and one night the producer asked me if I wanted to be one of the Marshall University cheerleaders and I was shocked,” Israel said. “At that point, I was just trying to keep my cool.”
Israel had gone from backstage to the silver screen. Working four days a week, and no less then 16-hours, the stress started to take a toll on Israel.
“It was absolutely insane,” Israel said. “But I got to work side-by-side Matthew McConaughey and I can’t really complain about that.”
When asked what it was like working with McConaughey, Israel just laughs.
“He stays in character the entire time, even when he’s not filming. He would walk up to us and start yelling about how we should be pumping up the crowd, and this would be while we were not filming,” Israel said. “He is an amazing actor though and is very good at what he does. And he’s fun to cuup with.”
While on the set, Israel became close to many cast mates.
By the end of filming, Israel was physically and mentally exhausted.
“The experience was worth it, but it got real tiring. Looking back, it wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be,” Israel said. “This showed me that this is not something I would want to make of myself, there is just too much drama involved with fame.”
Coming back to Milledgeville after filming the movie was a relief for Israel. Her room is a solace from the insanity that comes with acting and modeling.
“My room is a place where I come to unwind and be by myself,” Israel said. “It’s peaceful and relaxing and I need that in my life, especially now.”
It wasn’t long though until her role with “We Are Marshall” helped her land an odd but entertaining job.
“Wrestling, ewww, I hate wrestling,” Israel said, after she was offered a wrestling gig in North Carolina. “It’s gross but the money was so good, so I was like, ‘yeah I’ll do it.’”
Israel is the assistant to Amy Love, who is well-known in the female wrestling business. Love is training Israel to become a top wrestler.
“Wrestling is painful, and even though all of it is being acted out, you are still getting tossed around and it hurts,” Israel said.
Israel never imagined that her childhood dreams would actually become a reality and there are still days when she can’t believe all she has accomplished.
“I love what I do, it truly is rewarding,” Israel said. “And it’s pretty cool to say that my hobbies outside of school are acting and wrestling. I’ve been blessed with so many wonderful opportunities and I really am thankful. This has been a dream come true.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 2 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry