• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, October 8, 2007

When it comes to using the Internet as a means to an end, especially one that is entertainment related -- I am all for it.  That is why I almost fell over this morning as I was reading the New York Times article "Dreaming Big About Acting Big."

In case you were living under a rock in the ‘90s. Biggie Smalls (aka Notorious B.I.G., who was to rap what Mozart was to classical music) was the embodiment of the genre. He met an untimely death in 1994, but his persona, image and musical legacy lives as part of what we listen to today.

Which brings me to the part about almost falling over this morning. It goes something like this: there is a biopic about this famous, and infamous, rapper that is being developed and produced by Fox Searchlight. A while back, the studio created a Web site and invited would-be Biggies to send in audition tapes.  And just this weekend, there was an open casting call in Manhattan, where -- according to the Times article -- nearly 100 people turned up.  One hundred. Not one thousand. No, you read it right, one hundred. I simply can't believe it! Is that the reach that an interactive program has?  Am I missing something?  Help me out here, people.  Did the studio not do its job? Was Biggie Smalls not big enough? Do his fans not have broadband? I have to believe that this initiative motivated more than the hundred people than showed up for a shot at a lead role in a motion picture.

If you were me, would you be this shocked? If not, let me know, because maybe I expect too much. Then again, maybe I don't -- and someone messed up somewhere. Yeah, that must be it. Right?

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