'Low and Behold,' he's an unlikely movie star

New Orleans resident Barlow Jacobs found himself homeless after Hurricane Katrina.

To survive, the actor and aspiring filmmaker took a temporary job as an insurance adjuster, processing almost 200 claims over a three-month period.

He sank most of his earnings into a narrative accounting of that experience, called "Low and Behold." The film, which he co-wrote and in which he stars, screens at 6:15 p.m. today and 5:15 p.m. Thursday at Regal Cinemas Hollywood 20, 1993 Main St., as part of the Sarasota Film Festival..

Favorite childhood movie: "'The Black Stallion.' I was ADD (attention deficit disorder) off the charts, and there were moments of silence in that movie that ran for 30 minutes. I stayed connected with it visually. Caleb Deschanel's cinematography was stunning."

Biggest gripe about the movie industry: "We're giving audiences a lot of crap to swallow. I'd like to see a lot more guts and a lot more risk-taking by distributors in telling original stories. So much of what's out there is regurgitated or reprocessed."

Favorite cinematic moment or line of dialogue: "There's this amazing diner moment in (the 1973 road movie) 'Scarecrow.' It's a long, one-shot scene, and it's obvious the dialogue is finished. Gene Hackman suddenly says to the waitress, 'Ma'am, I'll take two beers and a chocolate doughnut.' It's a great line of improv, and Al Pacino just loses it. I was glad the director left it in."

Movie star, living or dead, he'd like to have romance or dinner with: "I'm going to be boring and say dinner with Robert Duvall. I've looked up to his work as an actor and a director, ever since I was a kid."