You Were Great

August 22, 2005 by Dennis Baker 

I had an audition Sunday for a low budget feature film. I read the scene once with the director and then they had me read it again as they taped it. It was a pleasant and easygoing audition experience. They said I was great and had no comments for me. The odds are I will not hear from them…yet I was great.

After the audition I went to meet some friends at the beach. Our friends parents, who live out of state, were curious about the audition process and amazed that it is all subjective. I usually don’t think too much about an audition after it is over. Training myself to let it go once the audition is over so that I don’t worry about the outcome. I simply go in and do the work. Well the questions caused me mind to dwell on the audition more than normal. My mind went back and forth and I started to wonder when it will be my turn.

I worked with an actress two years ago in a play. We were basically on the same acting career level. About a year and half she landed a part on the TV show “Joey”, which caused her to get a great manager and then landed roles on “Entourage”, “Six Feet Under”, and “The Comeback”. She landed a good role in the Wes Craven movie “Red Eye”. I read an article that he gave and how he fought the studio for her to be in the movie. There is no bitterness as she is a great actress and person. I am happy for her. The question sits with me when will it be my turn. Then this quote put it all in perspective.

“I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t succeed in my thirties or forties. As I turned fifty, I had a slight inkling as to what I wanted to do when I grew up. I took heart in studying the lives of leaders like Mahatma Ghandi, Harry Truman, and Mother Teresa, all of whom really got started around age fifty. The sense of mortality has a huge upside: It helps you stop worrying about trying to become something you aren’t and get on with being who you really are—warts and all—because that is as good as it’s going to get.” -Jim Henderson, “a.k.a. LOST” [p.7]

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Filed under: Acting, Film, Los Angeles

Comments

2 Responses to “You Were Great”

  1. Paddy O. on August 23rd, 2005 8:38 pm

    Thanks for this. I feel like I’m thinking the same things. Except the part about the acting. Which is, I suppose, what this post is mostly about.

    I do identify with the waiting bit, and the pursuing the soul’s calling part, however long it takes. There’s too many people in the world saying, “give it up already” that one needs to hear from others who are pressing onwards, come what may.

  2. dennis on August 24th, 2005 10:16 am

    I always like to hear about artists and people who are pressing on and not giving up? I think people tend to look at the concept as sonething that the other person does, but is not realistic in their life. How does this work for you and your art?

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