February 8, 1999
My short day on the Unhappily... set gave me the time to drive over the hill to audition for this movie-of-the-week about a woman who discovers the boy she gave up for adoption eight years ago just lost his adoptive parents. I would play the fiancee who is shocked to learn he is about to marry into an instant family. There go the plans to bike across France.
The three scenes were supposed to show the three sides of Garrett. In the first he's Mr. Smiles, in the second he's shocked and dismayed, in the third he's coming to grips with it. They weren't in the mood to sit through all of that, though. Upon entering the room, they told me to pick just one of the three. I had to do a mental scan of each scene and decide which of all my little moments would I be most disappointed to leave unperformed. That's the great disappointment of not reading everything you prepare -- when you think you've really put together some interesting stuff and can't wait to show it off. I mean, sure, it sucks that you've invested extra time and effort for no reason but what cuts deeper is when you think you have this little gem ready to come to life in the casting office and it never even sees the light of day. (Hey, you gotta belileve every one of these is Shakespeare or you'd go crazy.)
So, the first scene had the line, "The magic nuggets are headed for Spain" in it. In retrospect I may even be glad I got to leave that one out. The third scene had a couple good things, but he already knows the story for the whole scene. It was the second one that had discovery of the truth. That had to be it. And it was. I brought to life every little face twitch and panicky stutter my body could muster. The moments, the magic Shakespearean gems of scene two, were there. I gave my all for a full 47 seconds or so.
And they were pleased. They said to hold onto the sides and depending on the age of the lead woman they would be letting me know if I would be going on to the next level. And yes, I have been told that before and then the person may have left the country for all I know, but it sure is nicer to hear than a brush-off 'thank you.'