Ruffian Continued
More about the Ruffian Story
As I was typing the above title, I thought to
myself... I can't say this is the conclusion of my Ruffian story because the
powers-that-be have made a commitment to cast the show by end of day today and I
may be in it. So I am hoping I will have much more to say about Ruffian in the
coming weeks. My gut instinct says I'm not cast. Sometimes you walk out of an
audition just KNOWING that the role is yours. This was not one of those. We'll
see.
I got to the audition and sat in
the lobby of the hotel waiting to be called up to the holding area. I must admit
to scoping out the competition as they arrived. I met Phillip, the
aforementioned actor from Atlanta. What a nice guy. We struck up a
conversation and he is very likable. In the end, I can't be upset about his
getting the role instead of me if he does. This region is blessed in that
regard. Even if I am not cast, most of the time I am genuinely happy that
someone regional, usually someone I know, got the job. I suppose it could be
the confidence that comes from working that makes the attitude possible. As
money and work become scarce, however, you do feel a little twinge to see the
work go to someone else. Still, respect reigns.
In the lobby I sat with Marion, an
actor from Atlanta with whom I have worked a few times over the years. She was
reading for a role that appeared in one of my scenes, so we read the scene a
couple times. It's always a good idea to get a feel for the other character by
watching an actor's read and to use a real person to whom you can react rather
than operating solely out of your
imagination.
ACTOR AUDITION
TIP: TRY TO READ THROUGH COPY WITH ACTORS PLAYING OTHER ROLES IN YOUR
SCENES
Then we went up to the
holding area. Actors' audition times were scheduled by character.. so the three
Dinny Phipps actors read one after the other. Being second, I couldn't sit
close to the door as I was asked to do because I did not want to overhear
Phillip's read. Normally, hearing the director's direction ahead of time might
be good but I wanted to go in with what Mark and I had worked on the night
before. Phillip walked out midway through his audition to go get something out
of his bag. Turned out he was reading from the old version of the script. One
scene was slightly different from an earlier revision and there was a new scene,
a monologue really, that was new as well. In the end, he was unprepared for the
monologue. So a good rule for actors:
ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE SCRIPT
HAS NOT CHANGED BETWEEN THE FIRST READ AND THE
CALLBACKS.
After Phillip was done
they called me in. I had met both the director and the producer before on
previous auditions. In face, strangely enough, while in the lobby downstairs
the producer and I kept making eye contact and smiling. Just as she was about
to go upstairs to start the auditions, she walked over to me and shook my hand
saying, "you were in my last movie." Now, I must admit I just smiled and said,
"Ah, yes, of course." Honestly, I could not remember working with her. I took
my resume to the casting director and asked, "did Orley Adelson produce any of
these?" The answer was no. She must have remembered me from a previous
audition for which I was unable to attend the callback. Problem was, if she
looked at my resume I was worried she would ask why I left her show off.
Heheheh.
The Director, Yves Simoneau,
introduced himself and we began the read after some brief questions I had
concerning the relationship between Dinny and his Aunt and Uncle. We did the
first read and I followed the direction Mark had given me the night before. He
had said to take my time with the piece, to treat my Aunt and Uncle like family
and not like business partners, to make it personal. After the first read, Yves
gave me an adjustment. Make him more of a salesman, sell his Aunt and Uncle on
the idea, and don't pause so much, move it along.. eliminate "any pause that is
not earned." You getting a feel for where this is leading dear readers? Yes,
right back to the original read those three weeks prior. Now there are a couple
of reasons for this, I suspect. Maybe Mr. Simoneau wanted to see if I could
take the direction. Maybe the direction had changed overnight from what Mark
had discussed with him. Maybe they just wanted to try something else. WHATEVER
the reason, my job is to make the adjustment the director asks for as accurately
as I can. This process was repeated with the second scene as well. Then they
thanked me for coming. I was disappointed that they were not going to let me do
the third scene, the monologue, as I had felt I'd found some nice nuance in
there. Actually I said, "awww, I can't do the monologue, the third scene?"
Yves' response was "Ah, you know it?" and I said with a smile "Of course." So
they decided to let me. I think that since Phillip had not prepared that scene
they somehow assumed I had not as well. I really wanted to do this one because
I had invested the most in it. I had chosen to let this be the place where
Dinny's personal desire from childhood to see a true match race is shown in the
process of congratulating the assembled executives on the potential of their
broadcast deal. I wanted to take him out of the realm of the pure salesman and
let people see his humanity, almost his inner child if you will, that has always
loved this sport. Without that, he could easily come off as a shallow self
serving promoter that is utterly insensitive to the dangers his decisions pose.
I did it fairly well. Yves' direction was to make me the salesman again. I did
it again for him that way, thanked them again, and hit the road to return the 20
hours back home.
Sure, I kicked myself
for the first hour or so. I always do when I have nothing but driving time to
analyze what I did. Then, as the miles passed, I tried to let the distance grow
both physically and emotionally between myself and the callback.
I got back home at 7 AM Thursday
morning after leaving Shreveport at 11AM Wednesday morning. I slept, ate, got
my wits back together, and rejoined the rest of the world. Friday Rusty called
and told me that auditions for Evan Almightly, sequel to Bruce Almighty, would
be Monday and Tuesday, and the process starts all over again. So here it is
Monday. All weekend I am haunted by that feeling that somewhere out there,
someone is popping a tape or DVD in and comparing my performance to another
actor's and deciding what I will be doing for a month of my life. All the
while, it is tax season, the studio needs construction done, students need to be
taught, plans need to be made, and I have another audition to leave for here in
about three hours in Wilmington, NC. I always go back to something that Jeff
Daniels said to me on the set of Gods and Generals after we had been out
crawling through cold and mud since 5 AM. We were in the chow line, filthy, in
wet wool, with trays of food, he meets my eyes and says "the glamour, I'm in it
for the glamour." Yup, that's it alright. ;-)
Posted: Mon - March 13, 2006 at 09:22 AM