YouTube star makes jump to big screen

BALTIMORE, April 1 (UPI) -- A suburban Baltimore YouTube star credits his film-imitating work on the video-sharing site with jump-starting his Hollywood career.

Brandon Hardesty, whose YouTube video imitating a sequence from "There Will Be Blood" was featured on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," said his solo re-creations of famous Hollywood scenes helped him snag a role in "Bart Got a Room," an independent film featuring William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines that is set to premier at New York's Tribeca film fest this month, USA Today reported Tuesday.

"I just did it, you know, for fun," Hardesty said of his scene re-creations, which include famous scenes from "Goodfellas" and "Full Metal Jacket." "Everyone's got scenes they act out for friends, right?"

Brian Hecker, director of "Bart Got a Room," said Hardesty was brought to his attention via his Joe Pesci imitation.

"One of my producers knows Joe Pesci, and Joe was saying how ticked off he was that people were imitating him," Hecker told USA Today. "So my producer plugged Pesci's name into YouTube, and Brandon came up immediately. He shot me the link and said I had to take a look."