{"id":5939,"date":"2017-07-25T11:50:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T15:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nornow.org\/?p=5939"},"modified":"2017-07-25T11:50:52","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T15:50:52","slug":"edie-hofstatter-pursues-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/2017\/07\/25\/edie-hofstatter-pursues-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Edie Hofstatter Pursues her Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By Colleen Gundlach<\/p>\n<p>The Martin Scorsese film \u201cThe Departed\u201d won a Golden Globe award at the annual ceremony last month. While this type of event ordinarily graces the pages of People Magazine, it is also of interest to the readers of Norfolk Now because of the two long-time Norfolk residents who appear in the film.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5910\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5910\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5910\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE-338x450.jpg 338w, https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/FEB-07-HOFSTATTER-WIFE.jpg 756w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edie Hofstatter strolls on Haystack with film director Alfred Maysles.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When, in one scene, the audience sees actor Martin Sheen standing on the left side of a subway car, a closer look will reveal Edie Hofstatter and her husband Dave, of Greenwoods Road West in Norfolk, sitting to Sheen\u2019s right. The pair had responded to an open casting call in Boston and landed one of their most exciting roles as movie extras, working with Leonardo DiCaprio as well. \u201cI even got to chat individually with Sheen,\u201d says Dave Hofstatter.<\/p>\n<p>This was not the Hofstatters\u2019 first film appearance. As a child growing up in Boston, Edie Hofstatter visited the Children\u2019s Theatre in Boston where she dreamed of acting on the stage, took drama in high school, and then joined a community theater. A licensed occupational therapist by trade, Hofstatter also holds a master\u2019s degree in counseling and is an emergency medical technician (EMT). She put her dream of acting on hold while raising her two children. \u201cLife has a way of taking over,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>A voice-over class and some courses at the New England Academy of Theater three years ago changed all that. Hofstatter soon had her name on an agent\u2019s rolodex and the film offers began rolling in. She has an impressive list of Hollywood stars with whom she has worked, such as Tom Cruise when she was an extra for two days on the set of \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d (\u201cI spoke with Tom briefly, and he even gave me a pair of disposable handwarmers which, of course, I still have\u201d); and Drew Barrymore on \u201cFever Pitch.\u201d \u201cThe back of my head is famous in that movie,\u201d laughs Hofstatter, \u201cit was great fun!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For her work on \u201cThe Brave One\u201d with Jodie Foster, Hofstatter received a Screen Actors\u2019 Guild (SAG) union waiver. Normally, non-union actors are not hired for union movies. However, when a background actor with a specific skill is needed and a union actor cannot be found, a waiver is issued to a non-union person for that one film. Once an actor has three union waivers, he or she will be permitted to join the union. Hofstatter now has two such waivers.<\/p>\n<p>Her medical background helped land her a part on the television series \u201cLaw and Order.\u201d The episode required real-life EMTs and paramedics, a skill Hofstatter lists on her resume. Other appearances include a role in \u201cAquarium,\u201d a short film by Rob Meyer, in which she played a \u201cquirky mom\u201d who drove her teenage boys around Boston in an orange Volkswagen.<\/p>\n<p>One of the Hofstatters\u2019 most interesting projects was filmed right in Norfolk, when they responded to a casting call for an internet commercial aimed at medical websites. The director was Guggenheim Fellow and 2001 Sundance Film Festival award-winner, Albert Maysles, who has been filming documentaries for the past 50 years. Best known for his non-fiction feature films, including \u201cGrey Gardens\u201d and \u201cSoldiers of Music,\u201d Maysles likes, according to his website, to \u201ccapture life as it unfolds, without scripts, sets or narration.\u201d Accordingly, he hired Edie and Dave Hofstatter to be the subjects of his newest project &#8212; filmed in the couple\u2019s living room.<\/p>\n<p>Maysles arrived in Norfolk on January 10 with camera crew in tow. He sat down with the Hofstatters at their home while the crew filmed them in conversation. They discussed their own personal health issues and were asked \u201cabout our lifestyle, how we met, and how we help or sabotage each other in terms of eating and keeping healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group then headed for Haystack Mountain where they photographed the couple walking their dog, and wrapped up with lunch at the Speckled Hen Pub. \u201cHe was really great to work with,\u201d say both actors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Maysles was incredibly down-to-earth and friendly,\u201d says Dave Hofstatter. \u201cHe spoke freely about films he\u2019s done, is working on, and wants to do, but only if asked. He\u2019s more interested in others than himself, which is a good attribute for a documentarian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the future, Hofstatter plans to continue her work in films and hopes to do more television commercials. She recently submitted a resume for a small role in a film out of New York, and is always open to casting calls.<\/p>\n<p>Hofstatter encourages anyone who is interested in doing background or \u201cextra\u201d acting to visit Web sites such a bostoncasting.com or craigslist.com for further information. \u201cMaybe,\u201d she says, \u201cmy story will help someone else to get inspired to go follow their dreams as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by David Hofstatter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; By Colleen Gundlach The Martin Scorsese film \u201cThe Departed\u201d won a Golden Globe award at the annual ceremony last month. While this type of event ordinarily graces the pages of People Magazine, it is also of interest to the readers of Norfolk Now because of the two long-time Norfolk residents who appear in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5940,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939\/revisions\/5940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nornow.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}