On the positive side …
I sliced the script down to 139 pages (and only 1 paragraph on 139). Another 10-ish pages and we’re in the totally movie-star worthy 120s.
And I woke up to a bunch of emails through networking groups of possible actors for the Tuesday night reading.
I have some EXCELLENT actors lined-up, plus the reading hosts and friends coming on board are all superb.
This is a very informal reading with tons of parts being doubled-up, but I still would like to cast well and somewhat close to the role. [Again, if this were NYC, I could do it in a heart-beat and if this were LA, Sarah could do it even faster.]
Oddly, this pre-launch of my work means I’m experiencing the gamut of human behavior and I have to say it’s a true roller-coaster ride.
There are actors who respond to the reading notice saying, “I can do it” without offering their headshot or resume –– sort of like I’ve put out a generalized SOS to help me move a futon and they’re just willing to pitch in. (Which is nice, if you stop to think about it –– the “favor for a stranger” mentality.)
There are folks being recommended who are wildly off-the-mark of what I’m looking for. (This tends to make me spin off into a “nobody understand anything” rant.)
There are actors who I’ve actually been to see in plays in San Francisco at their urgent suggestion, who haven’t returned my phone calls about this opportunity, one that is both “just a reading” and rather MAJOR since this film has serious folks behind it (this kind of actor-disconnect always blows my mind.)
Then there are actors who are suggested that I instantly have an intensely positive reaction to (ie, I fall in love with them for the role) … and then wonder what exactly they’re doing during the six hours where they’re not calling or emailing me back.
[Note: I understand intellectually that not everyone checks their email on their cell phone every 10 minutes like I do — and I suppose it is Easter Sunday –– but I haven’t fully processed that kind of utterly alien behavior.]
Ironically, in true life-imitates-art style, I am waiting most eagerly for the two current main contenders for the Bad Boy lead to call me back, staring at my non-ringing phone much like the character’s love interests do in the film script itself.
Mostly oddly, I’m getting feedback about stuff that is making me … uncomfortable (I can’t really say more without spinning off into confusion).
Has my skin gotten thinner … or am I no longer willing to tolerate misalignment?
Or have I just forgotten what it’s like to deal with actors and/or the general public?
Even Belle today did this weird series of imploring sounds I could not decipher. She’d been fed, exercised thoroughly via her swimming, and had just been taken out. Even paying extra attention to her didn’t work. This mysterious under-her-breath whining/whimpering happens VERY rarely but I honestly just had no idea what she could possibly want from me. (Most probably she was warding off evil spirits, those drawn to me like moths to a flame of goodness.)
Or maybe Belle got the memo from the Universe that everyone else seems to have gotten lately:
“Try and confuse Edward … Go on –– not only will be it be fun, it’ll also be quite easy.”
[As an aside: At least I’m not part of the GAME OF THRONES universe. Literally every character on the show is utterly miserable, has always been miserable, and now everyone’s gearing up for a decades long winter and/or war. The sheer hopelessness of it all is getting me down, despite the fact that I am entirely jealous of the Stark’s families pet dire wolves as well as their non-PETA-sanctioned pelted capes. Maybe one of the dire wolf cubs can talk sense into Belle and/or various actors.]
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