First Film

So I got a call today. I have my first production meeting for the film. It will be next Saturday. So that's exciting. Not much else going on acting wise. I should be doing a table read for The Night on January 16th soon. I haven't heard much about it yet. I'm afraid I've only read through it once. I started highlighting one night but I got tired and stopped before I got to the end. I'm a little scared about the part. Can I do it? I certainly hope so. Maybe I'll read some Meisner this weekend to give me a little something to hold onto. Although, sometimes reading Meisner makes me feel like a miserable failure.

The Call

I got a call from the producer last night that said that I impressed him and the casting team so I should be getting a call on Wednesday from the director. So here's the question, did I get a part or THE part?

Long Day

I went to my audition on Saturday. The drive wasn’t too bad. The 91S/95S exchange in New Haven was a stand still nightmare. But having driven that stretch my whole life I didn’t expect anything different. The test took place in a meeting room in an old rectory. When I got there, a little early so as to rest and prepare, there were two different dramas going on with the production staff. First, it seems that they were in the process of firing the wardrobe woman. The artistic director, a rough looking woman in her 40s, was pissed of and raging. The other drama was a stripped screw on the tripod so that the camera would stay steady. This was actually the drama that most affected my audition. There other thing was drawing the attention of the producer and casting team but no camera, no screen test.

I got my four pages and went over them with this tiny little guy. I only point out his height because we were going to do this scene where I would pick up this bartender and then kill him. It’s a sexy scene. I am 5’9” and I was wearing 4” heels. So this tiny guy was like a small child next to me. We ran through the scene maybe 4 or 5 times. He wasn’t helpful at all. When I asked what was expected he just couldn’t, or wouldn’t tell me anything. And he seemed pretty buddy buddy with another actress who was also auditioning for the same role so… But whatever.

Time is still ticking on. Now it’s noon. And have I mentioned I haven’t eaten? I had an 11:00 am call and it was supposed to take 15 minutes. I’ve been there an hour and I’ve only gotten cursory blocking and no idea when I will be up. I go for a smoke with one of the PAs. She’s really nice. She’s from Hartford. Her husband is in Iraq. I like her. I wonder if I’ll see her downtown someday? Oh my god. Now it’s 1:30 and they finally, finally have the screw.

2:00. I don’t like the set up. All of the auditioners are in the same room and they call us and we do the bartender scene with the mini man. There is one girl whom I like. But she is very young. Maybe 17. I do my scene. It’s a little awkward at one point because there is a chair on stage that wasn’t there when we ran through it before. But I covered it alright and think I came off well. Now, they want to see how we interact in certain combinations. So I’m thrown into a scene and play all three parts with two different girls. And we do that for a while.

But now they want to take a break and do auditions for a completely different film. I’m invited to ad lib for Girl # 2. We do it three times from different angles, with different people. I am cast. It is a 20 minutes short about a guy who goes through all kinds of ridiculous contortions to pick up girls and in the end finds one by just being himself…awww. Girl #2 is in a night club while he tries to obnoxiously and over confidently pick up women. One day of filming in October.

2:45. Last part of the test. Scream with rage. Screaming is usually quite hard for me. But I was actually starving, exhausted, and a little pissed off. It came off loud, long, and quite gutturally angry.

And then it was over and I was on my hour long drive home with my meatball sub and my internal discussion about what was good and what was bad. Truthfully, I don’t know. I’ve never done film before so I don’t know what to think or feel. I was malleable to direction and suggestion. I played three different characters very differently. What else could I do? I should hear one way or the other by Wednesday.

Photos and Sides

Tonight I am going to get new headshots taken. I'll put some up somewhere, probably flickr, and then post a link and ask for comments. Not that I have enough readers to actually comment but, you know, just in case. I love doing headshots. It's just ridiculously fun to put on all kinds of clothes and jump around acting goofy and get your picture taken. I did a little modeling for a while and if I could have handled the complete objectification mindless body aspect of it better I might have pursued it more seriously. The actual work is really fun. It's just all the other bullshit that blows.

I also got the sides for my film audition. Actually I got the whole script. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it now that I read it. Until I go down and audition I don't really have a handle on whether this is something I want to do or not. And, this may seem weird, but the producer just seems far too excited about my coming down to audition. It's not like I'm a hot property or anything. Especially not in film. I've never done any film. I do have a good reputation on the stage but I doubt any of the people involved in this project know anything about my actual work. Maybe he's just a nice guy. And I'm reading too much into his enthusiasm. I'll let you know. I'm going to learn my lines tonight or tomorrow so that I'm prepared.

Evil, Beautiful, European Looking

I've never made a film before. I had one audition once at a cattle call and I became so nervous I totally blew it. I was vibrating and I could hardly read. Hence came the title of this blog. So I am ecstatic that I will have a chance to try again. No details yet. Just that there will be a call on the 19th that I am invited to attend. Yippee. I called to make an appointment this morning but there was no answer. It's a small indie thing and as my friend K pointed out, maybe he has a day job. But I want details now. If only to give me something more substantial to freak out about than a nebulous audition. Something to actually start preparing for. Besides what to wear based on a four word character description that I used as a title for my post.