January 7, 1999
First of all, the camera situation. It was a funky, Handi-cam looking thing and it turns out they were using it to take still shots of actors. So what I thought was Megan preparing the camera was actually Megan using the camera to take a picture of me. Paranoia is a wonderful thing, isn't it?
So, the audition had gone well after all. And if I dare say so, the callback went even better. It was one of the few times that I really felt a dramatic audition solidly hit its mark. One advantage I had was that, while waiting to go in, I could hear what was going on in the office. I could hear other Keith-wannabes do the scene and then, more importantly, I could hear what the director had to say about the performance. So as I prepared to go into the room, I was slowly molding my performance in my head to try to follow all of his notes. I also knew ahead of time that I would probably be doing the scene twice. Is that a real advantage? Maybe, maybe not. But any sort of information about the process usually has a calming effect, whether it's how many people are in the room, how big the room is, whether you'll be sitting or standing, or even if you'll be doing it once or twice with notes in between.
I did the scene and the six or so people in the room seemed quite
pleased. They may have simply been amazed at how alike the director
and I think about the scene. (Hee, hee, hee.) I did then get a note
from a director and it was similar to what I had been hearing him say
to other people and it never seemed to make sense before and no one
else seemed to get it. But then, as I tried the scene again, it began
to fall into place and I think I made the director look like a genius
for bringing out an interesting take on the scene. When I got to a
certain line that made his advice all make perfect sense, I could
feel in myself and those in the room a wave of appreciation and
relief that someone had figured out the scene. (Remember that
paranoia thing? Well, this is the opposite of that.) So I think it
went fabulously.