Centre alums light up the silver screen

RELEASED: June 19, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—After graduating in 2003, Colin McCann and Josh Davis shared one ambition: to make a career for themselves as film actors. After involvement in several student films, commercials and other small projects, the two are appearing in their first major motion pictures. McCann takes on the role of Charles Massey in the Billy Graham biopic "Billy: The Early Years,"and Davis earns some impressive screen time as one of George W. Bush's fraternity brothers in the soon-to-be-released Oliver Stone film "W."

"I first wanted to get into acting when I was around eleven," McCann says. "I had film in mind as the end result, and that never changed. I loved watching films growing up and wanted to be a part of telling stories."

McCann gets his shot as young Billy Graham's rival who steals away Graham's first love. He works alongside actor Armie Hammer, who plays Graham and is rumored to play Batman in the upcoming film "Justice League: Mortal,"currently in pre-production.

"When I arrived for my first day of filming on the Billy Graham set, I thought I only had three lines in the script, all being done one after the other in one scene," McCann says. "As I was being fitted for costumes, I was looking over the sides, which are mini scripts of all the scenes being shot that day. I saw lines that I didn't know I had, and it turns out they had rewritten the script and never sent me the new one."

McCann learned his new lines quickly and gave a stellar performance, which can be seen later this year when the film is released.

Davis currently is working for his Screen Actor's Guild card in Shreveport, La., the third-leading city for film production behind Los Angeles and New York.

"There was always something appealing to me about film's ability to immortalize a good performance," Davis says, "whereas live theatre sends it to the winds and the fallible memories of audience and actor alike."

Already, he's receiving praise from the likes of Oliver Stone, who personally auditioned Davis and guaranteed him screen time with actor Josh Brolin, who plays young Bush.

Looking back at their training at Centre, both McCann and Davis recognize the influence of one professor in particular: Patrick Kagan-Moore, Charles T. Hazelrigg Professor of Dramatic Arts.

"Patrick's uncompromising resolve for performance truth, public solitude, faith in the actor's imagination and not necessarily his emotional recollection prepared me for film as much as a life in the theatre," Davis says.

McCann leaves for Los Angeles this August with his newly minted SAG card where he'll wait for Davis to join him later.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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