April 1, 1998
Madness is right. It was a crazy day today. I went to work on Encore! this morning at 9am and secured permission to leave to get to this audition at 10am. Then the problems began. Long walk to the car. Construction along the way. No pass at the guard gate. The casting director running way behind. By the time 11:20am rolled around and I was still waiting to read for this part, I was, I am sure, a nervous wreck. Would that destroy the audition? Well, he's a very nervous character, so maybe there was something good there.
Both scenes were variations on what I had prepared last night. They had both been tinkered with, old lines gone, new lines in their place. The new ones were no funnier than the old ones, unfortunately. I went through the two scenes with the script in hand, referring to it more than I usually like to. Until finally we were done and I could run back to Paramount and the possibly now furious cast and crew.
"Let's do them again," is normally something I like to hear. I like trying to fine-tune a performance, improve it, mold it more toward the auditor's liking. But now? Today? Did this have to happen? And so I put my headshot and old sides back down and forced a smile as I waited for notes. We did them both over. He seemed happy with the changes and I bolted.