Ad actor plugs the county fair

Andrew Edwards

In his first commercial Thursday, Newport Beach 10-year-old Max

Newsom was videotaped reading a book on a couch with an actress

playing his mother. On cue, he and the actress got up and walked

toward the door. Then they did the same thing again.

And again. And again. And again.

“I knew I would have to do it over and over again, but I didn’t

know it would be this much,” Max said after director Brian Coyne was

happy with the shot.

The spot, titled “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” is slated to be shown on

television late next month to promote the 2005 Orange County Fair.

The script calls for Max and actress Nicole Franco to share the

screen with a rooster. Billboards for the fair feature a rooster, and

Jeff Bentley, creative director for Newport Beach ad company Blue C

Communications, said the commercial will show the bird inviting Max’s

character to the fair.

“He’ll squawk, and he’ll be subtitled, ‘Can Johnny come out to

play?’” Bentley said.

Max auditioned for the role after producer Brian Scott of G-Force

Productions Inc. in Newport Beach saw Max perform in a Newport

Elementary School play about King Arthur. Scott’s children also

attend that school.

Scott said Max had to compete against about 50 children from Los

Angeles to San Diego for the role.

“He had a certain energy that was what we needed,” Scott said. “He

had a great look and a spark.”

Max’s favorite actors are comedians Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey,

and his mother Phyllis Newsom said her son wants to act

professionally when he grows up.

Before the shoot, Max was a little anxious about being in the

commercial.

“He really doesn’t get nervous that much,” Newsom said. “He was a

little bit nervous this morning, but excited.”

Franco, who played Max’s TV mom, said Max was “already a pro”

after the pair finished up a shot.

She also gave the fourth-grader advice on how to tell people if he

has an agent or not.

“Not yet, but I’m taking calls,” Max said after Franco whispered

those words in his ear.

The rooster shots were wrapped up before the video crew captured

Max and Franco on tape, Scott said.

He was relieved to get a quality performance from the fowl.

“The funny thing is having a rooster. They’re not the most

intelligent animals, but the rooster did a phenomenal job,” he said.

“We didn’t have to go to any backup measures -- any stuffed roosters

or anything like that.”