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More auditions for Everything Happens today, and the search is still on for the female lead. I was fed up of time travel/alternate Universe dramas where men get to be the protagonists (though to be fair to Timeless, it has put a woman front and centre, even if she has no understanding of the implications of changing the past) and thought it would be much more interesting to explore the infidelities made possible by Universe hopping from a female perspective. And it’s a demanding role, quite subtle mixture of high and low status and also this character will be in absolutely ever scene if we go to series and it requires someone who can nail the comedy and the drama and has the personality to carry a series. If we get this right this is going to be a dream role for someone. I am feeling quite positive about our chances of getting somewhere with this.
Some of the bigger name actors won’t do an audition. You just have to offer it to them. Which is a nice status play and no doubt makes them feel important (and, of course, stops them wasting their valuable time auditioning for loads of rubbish), but I think it’s a dumb move. Sometimes you can see an actor will be a great fit from the stuff they’ve done before, but often you can’t. It seems to me that not auditioning is a guaranteed way to pretty much stay doing the same kind of roles you’ve already done. But I am not too bothered in this case, as I’d quite like the part to go to someone who is maybe established, but not already a superstar.
Auditions suck a little bit, on both sides of the table. I rarely feel confident going in as an actor, though maybe that’s the problem. Although we’ve had many good to great auditions, it’s been surprising how many actors who get lots of work come across poorly in this situation. And usually you know more or less straight away if someone is at least in the right ball park. You can certainly tell that someone isn’t in the right ball park fairly immediately. And in that case you do through a weird pantomime of politeness. Obviously it would be incredibly rude to let them get a couple of lines out and then say “Next!†(which is how it happens in films), especially after they have travelled to come and see you. And yet, in another sense, there’s a rudeness to carrying on auditioning someone that you know isn’t right. I know myself, that a third read through of a scene gives me false hope that I might get the part. In a way it would be kinder if they just said, “Sorry, Rich, you’re nowhere near this one. Better luck next time.â€
Certainly it’s polite to give someone a second go at something. Partly to see how they respond to direction and partly because it’s easy to fuck something up the first time. But I have to say in all the auditions I have done or given, I don’t think anyone who hasn’t got it part way right on the first read through has then managed to get anywhere close on the second. I am sure when I did Indignant Man’s three lines, over and over again, I didn’t get any closer to getting it to be how they wanted (all out of focus and easily forgettable as it turned out). I suspect if I had had that long journey in and then said the first line and they’d said, “Nope mate, it’s not you,†then I would have felt a bit indignant (might have been the push I needed to get the part), but then again the politeness of letting someone do it more does actually waste their time. And also it’s kind of impolite that no one at auditions ever says, "sorry you haven’t got it this timeâ€, but if you haven’t got it, no one ever bothers to contact you to let you know. I was only certain that I wasn’t going to be Indignant Man when I saw someone else being him.
I suppose I am saying it’s strange when politeness leads you to waste someone’s time and when you’re too chicken to tell them the truth to their face. Though to be fair you do have to check with what the other people doing the audition felt. Though to be even fairer, I have never been in a room where the group of people haven’t agreed about the ones who are totally wrong for it.
We did see some good people today, some of whom weren’t right. And I’d much rather do these things in person than by watching tapes usually. So I suppose there is no way round it. And I guess it would be more impolite to go all X Factor on it. It’s a lot of fun hearing the lines read out, especially when people bring something unexpected and extra to it. Those are the people who get the parts, on the whole.
I'd love it if that was teachable, because then I might get more acting jobs. But although I don't want to be like the X Factor, you are looking for someone with the X Factor. And you know it when you see it. And you know it more when you don't see it. But you can't just shout "Fuck off please". Simon Cowell lied to us.
Inhabiting the character, making it real AND being able to do the comedy is a very rare combination. So you can spot it straight away. And sadly also spot when it's not there.
