Calais Campbell looking to go Hollywood

We had to track down Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell after someone brought to our attention that he recently was attending an "actor's boot camp" in Miami while waiting out the NFL lockout.

The Heat Index never had heard of such a thing and we had visions of the 6-foot-8, 300-pounder navigating an obstacle course of paparazzi, autograph seekers, publicists, celebrity stalkers and possibly some tipsy starlets wearing home-arrest ankle monitors.

But, no, it turns out that he was there for the American Black Film Festival because he has interest in working in television and movies, possibly as a comedy writer.

"It was going through different movies, monologues, taking lessons on how to act," said Campbell, who was attending the ESPYs when we reached him. "It was really interesting and I learned a lot."

Our boot camp idea sounds like more fun, but maybe Campbell has a future as an action hero or comedy actor.

"I think I did OK," Campbell said. "I have the potential to be a lot better. It's like football, you learn and gain experience and get coaching and you can get good at it. But I think I like being behind the scenes, writing and directing."

Campbell said he has been working out several hours a day to be ready to roll when a labor settlement is reached and training camp opens, but he also spent time in Los Angeles visiting the set of Will Ferrell's web-based show "Funny or Die" and meeting with the writers of "Family Guy."

"I was networking mostly, going out to see how things are being produced, the behind-the-scenes stuff," he said. "I spent a day or two in the writers' room at different shows and got to watch how the scenes are set up and shot how they set up camera angles and how they cut things up.
"It was a really good time and I met a lot of cool people."

Hey, if the lockout proves one thing, you never know when this stuff is going to come in handy.

Campbell studied advertising while he attended "The U" but he and a brother had messed around filming "comedy skits and stuff" as kids.

"I definitely wanted to be involved in movies and television, but I didn't think I had a legitimate chance if football didn't work out," he said. "My mantra was to have something to fall back on if I didn't make it in football, so I studied advertising. But if I made it in football, I really wanted to pursue this."

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(azcentral.com)