Landall – Let’s get to know you!

Samantha Bentley

If you have been in Portales longer than a day, you have probably seen Landall’s Box Office at least in passing when driving down Avenue C. For over 20 years, the corner space was home to movies new and old, boxed sets of favorite television shows and a wall behind the counter filled with awesome Hollywood memorabilia. Through a rising and falling market and competition that has come and gone, Landall’s has been the constant in Portales when it comes to movie rentals and at home entertainment.

Landall’s Box Office is more than just a movie rental store– it’s a community minded business that wants to give back to the people that have played a hand in their success. From movies sent to soldiers overseas and free red carpet events with photo opportunities with donations going to local organizations and charities like Cindy’s Hope for Precious Paws, Landall and his mother Peggy are excited for the opportunities their new location gives them to host more events for the people of Portales and for the opportunity to contribute to helping those in our community however they can.

What started with a young man’s love of movies and grew out of the necessity to help provide for his family, Landall’s has turned into one of the most easily recognizable small businesses in Portales. From boxes of VHS tapes given to his sister, to a small storefront across the way from Daylight Donuts, to the corner store Landall’s called home for over two decades and now to the new brand location, folks can continue to count on Landall’s to provide movie rentals at reasonable prices along with some new surprises that are coming soon, guaranteed to be a contender with the local competition, as they always have been. And it’s something that I’m honestly very excited to see.

I was lucky enough get to sit down and talk with Landall about everything- from the humble beginnings of the video store to how he pursued his dreams of acting to his ideas for the coffee shop that will be opening soon inside of the video store.

ON BEGINNINGS AND GETTING STARTED AS A BUSINESSMAN
“I was born in Portales, moved to Fort Sumner when I was just two and I graduated high school there. When I was 12 and a half, I started working in a video store called Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon used to be here in Portales and was one of the first video stores. He [The owner] had so many beta and VHS tapes- he was looking to open [stores] in local towns- and he was in a station wagon literally driving and looking for businesses that he could go to and say ‘hey, do you want to put these video tapes in?’ My sister met him on a Sunday afternoon after we got out of church and she came home with cardboard boxes full of video tapes… And that was something she wanted to do- she was eighteen and had just graduated and this was going to be what she was going to do for a job, if I remember the story right. My parents at the time had a big building they were using for trucks- we had a set of scales you could weigh your load- and it was empty in the front so that was the perfect place to put a little video store… My sister, as you can imagine it didn’t take off like gangbusters, moved onto a different job. My sister is a very hard worker and in a video store, you sit a lot and that’s just not her style. And so, when I was 12 and a half I started working– again, this is a crazy situation that would never happen where a stranger just gives you tapes, right? It was just ‘hey, try it’ and that was how I got started in renting movies. When I graduated high school, I moved over here and worked for him [Nickelodeon] and then worked for Talico Video for two years before opening my own

. We opened across the street from Daylight Donuts- there was a little wooden building, not in the best shape, but it was all that I could afford and I stayed there for almost a year to the day. Then I moved over to where I was for 23 and a half years…. My mom has been the one who has been highly competitive here, I owe all of this to her.

ON GETTING STARTED IN ACTING
“I saw a movie called ‘Cocoon’ and then I saw ‘Back to the Future’ and it just woke something up in me. I was so excited. So, regardless of what people might believe spiritually- you can look at it one of two ways. I prayed every night to be an actor- and I remember consciously doing it for years. So if you believe in a higher power, there it is. If you believe in the power of intention, there that is as well. So that’s how the spark woke up. My life was secretly trying to figure out ‘how can i get into movies’ and i thought at the time- which was incorrect thinking- if i can get into video that’s a backdoor into hollywood. It doesn’t work that way but it made me excited… I went to Clovis Community College and Lyle Hagan who started the theatre here in Portales and was instrumental in helping Neil Patrick Harris get his start was asked to come out of retirement and teach a class at CCC. Mr. Hagan was very complimentary towards me and full of support and I took that and transferred to Portales to get a theatre degree before moving to Los Angeles because that’s what I thought you had to do… I moved there and got into casting and did commercials for a while. Out of my first ten commercials, I think I booked four of them which was kind of beginner’s luck. I looked a very certain way that was highly marketable- I didn’t understand how I looked and how it was marketable because all I wanted was to look like action heroes and comic book heroes. I didn’t want to be the scrawny kid, I didn’t want to be the scientist and it took me years to reconcile how that could be marketable because all I wanted to be was someone else. So, I was living in LA and was working as a personal assistant for some actors and actresses and directors– I unknowingly, didn’t focus on acting. There’s an actress named Elaine Hendrix who I am connected to on Facebook. I’ve never met her but she posted on her Facebook ‘This is the year I’m really going to believe in myself.’ And it stuck with me. So I posted a life event on Facebook saying, ‘I’m really going to believe in myself’ and I wasn’t sure what that meant other than knowing I would have to show up differently in my life. It might have been a week later that I booked one of my first substantial t.v shows. Also around that time I reconciled how I look and what I’m selling and it clicked– I figured out how I was going to sell myself. And for the next four weeks, I booked one network TV show a week. I know it was just the idea of believing in myself. There is power to believing in oneself.

ON MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
There is a movie called ‘The Lone Ranger’ and I booked a brief couple of lines in it. This is so funny– I’m tying this into believing in myself. I went to Lone Ranger and every time I showed up for wardrobe or hair they would double check what i was there for because every time I’d show up they’d say, ‘You’re here for this role?’ And that really made me insecure and suddenly I felt like I didn’t belong there, like something was wrong. And I carried that attitude all the way to shooting on set… It was just us three on set- there were no other paid actors in our scene- just me, Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. And I regret that I showed up on the call list with those two people insecure- highly insecure, horrible insecure- i felt like i didn’t belong. I did the scene and it was a lot of fun. I don’t remember a lot because I was so insecure and it was ridiculous, I earned and fought to get on that set and this happened. I kept trying to add my credit on IMDB… they called my agent and said they had recast my role. They recast the role, according to her and I believe this to be true, because in their meetings they had always envisioned my character as a much older man, maybe more wrinkles. So when you saw him, you knew where he fit in this particular role. I was a little right thought I would look different- there was a part where I didn’t belong but I was hand picked by the director. But instead of acknowledging ‘oh things change’, I allowed my insecurity to move forward the whole time. I had a once in a lifetime experience and didn’t get to savor it because of my insecurity.

ON DEFINING MOMENTS
The one where I had the most substantial role was on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was one role full of scientific dialogue– talking about nanonites. So I went in the next day, having never been in this [casting] office and was auditioning with people I recognized from TV and film for this role. I went in there and I booked it, I earned it. The role went from one page to I think six pages and suddenly, I had a large scene. It was fun to be a part of something that was so secretive- I couldn’t tell anyone what I was in until it appeared on the internet and they did a press release.

ON UPCOMING PROJECTS
I have been in New mexico almost a year and I’ve been auditioning for things here. But my focus has been shifted away from acting just for a little bit. Having said that, I am working on a show that shoots here in New Mexico where I can’t say what it is, nor my involvement in it except that I will say that it is a very, very small role but it is in a scene with a lot of people I get excited about working with.

ON DREAM ROLES
While I love comic books, I grew up in the DC Universe- Superman, Green Lantern. For some reason I spark so heavily to Aquaman and I don’t know why. It’s not like I read his comic and can tell you everything but it’s just the version that they’re doing with Aquaman. I spark to it on some level more than just as a fan. I think Warner Brothers, in the DC Universe. There is nothing in the pipeline, no phone calls, nothing with my involvement with it– but that would be something that does excite me… I love cable TV. So I’m going to be a recurring guest star or greater on a cable television that’s going to go a minimum of five seasons. I’m saying that as if it’s happening already. It has not happened- there are no phone calls yet- but that’s where I want to go. Nothing would tickle me more to be on a network television show but if we’re talking favorite [dream] roles? Cable TV is my favorite.

ON ADVISING POTENTIAL YOUNG ACTORS/ACTRESSES
Find your tribe. We live in a digital world where we are so easily connected and so, instead of looking for divisive things, look for the similarities– look at things that are alike. Whenever I get so frustrated at things, I will notice that I am looking for the division- we might all have different viewpoints in life, but in the end we all want the same things. Find your tribe, create your own content. We no longer have to move away to big cities to have a career. Albuquerque’s film industry is flourishing… There is a lot of bigger budget movies that are shooting here and that’s exciting! I believe someone could have a wonderful career if that’s what they wanted in this state.

ON NEW AND EXCITING THINGS HAPPENING AT LANDALLS
So, we’re opening a coffee shop over here. I came back to open cell phone repair because that was needed and necessary in this town, in my opinion, and I wanted to provide something affordable and high quality. My sister opened up a coffee shop in Clovis and my mom and I rather liked the idea so that’s how we came to do our coffee shop here. We’ll be serving cold brew which is much lower in acid and it doesn’t get bitter because it never gets heated and nitro-coffee. We’re bringing something Portales has never had before. We’re working on fresh bagels and smears. We’re trying to create options. We’re having a concession stand because it ties into movies where we’ll have frito pie and pretzels and cheese and popcorn. One of my favorite quotes is ‘Good writers borrow, great writers steal’ so I’m looking at different business models and seeing what people enjoy and bringing that in.

ON FUN EVENTS AND GIVING BACK
We had the free photos here and that’s fun that people are up for that! We’re wanting to do something with princesses for little girls and Halloween is coming up so we may do something with Hogwarts. Every time we do an event, we’re going to keep those as free with donations accepted to go into the community- to local organizations that help the community. Last week we did Cindy’s Hope for Precious Paws, we raised a little over $200 and people donated dog food. I want to do a canned food drive so wherever it goes it stays here in the community. Portales has been wonderful to me and my family and if we can provide a good time or a good picture, I’m all for that. That allows everyone to enjoy something the same.