(*sigh* Bergman, Antonioni and now Serrault. And I kept telling my Ma deaths usually happen in 3's)
Michel Serrault, Star of “La Cage aux Folles,” Dies at 79
By MARGALIT FOX
Michel Serrault, a French film star known internationally for his role as the temperamental drag queen Zaza in the original film version of “La Cage aux Folles,” died on Sunday at his home in Honfleur, France. He was 79.
The cause was cancer, Mr. Serrault’s priest, the Rev. Alain Maillard de La Morandais, told The Associated Press.
Mr. Serrault, who appeared in more than 130 films, worked with some of the most celebrated directors in French cinema, among them Claude Chabrol. His films shown in this country include “The Butterfly,” “The Girl From Paris,” “Artemisia,” “The Swindle” and “Beaumarchais: The Scoundrel.”
In 1978, Mr. Serrault reprised for the screen the role of Zaza in “La Cage aux Folles” (“Birds of a Feather”); he had previously played the part onstage in Paris. In the film, Zaza (by day known as Albin) is the star act at a nightclub in St. Tropez run by his longtime lover, Renato (Ugo Tognazzi). After Renato’s son announces his engagement, the future in-laws, pillars of rectitude, show up in St. Tropez. Mayhem ensues.
The film was an international hit, and Mr. Serrault won a César, the French equivalent of the Oscar, for his performance. He returned as Zaza for “La Cage aux Folles 2” (1980) and “La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding” (1985).
Michel Serrault was born in Brunoy, near Paris, on Jan. 24, 1928. He performed in cabarets and on the stage before appearing in his first film, “Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes” (released in the United States as “Peek-a-boo”), in 1954.
Mr. Serrault’s survivors include his wife, Juanita, and a daughter, Nathalie, The Associated Press reported. (Another daughter died in a car crash in 1977.) Information on other survivors could not immediately be confirmed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/movies/31serrault.html?ref=theater
**
'La Cage aux Folles' actor dies
PARIS, France (AP) -- French actor Michel Serrault, whose hit performance as a transvestite in the film and stage versions of "La Cage aux Folles" ("The Birdcage") catapulted him to international stardom, has died, his priest said Monday. He was 79.
Serrault died Sunday of cancer in his home in the northwestern city of Honfleur, Rev. Alain Maillard de La Morandais said.
Serrault appeared in more than 130 films during a career that spanned half a century. After debuting as a comic actor, Serrault became one of France's most versatile stars, playing a serial killer, a grizzled farmer, a crooked banker and accused rapist.
"I'm against those who only want to entertain," Serrault said in 2002. "I am very happy with all the roles I've played, and I take responsibility for them all."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid homage to Serrault's "impressive filmography," calling the actor a "monument of the world of the theater, the cinema and the television."
Born on January 24, 1928, in Brunoy, south of Paris, Serrault initially set his sights on the priesthood, briefly entering a seminary. He dropped out, he later explained, because of the vow of chastity.
After studying acting in Paris, Serrault began as his stage career playing in cabarets.
He made his silver screen debut in 1954 in Jean Loubignac's "Ah! les belles bacchantes" ("Oh, the lovely revelers"), which was released as "Peek-a-boo" in the United States. His first big break came in 1972, with a leading role in Pierre Tchernia's "Le Viager" ("The Life Annuity")
Speaking Monday on LCI television, Tchernia called Serrault "perhaps the greatest French actor," saying he gave to his profession "all his talent, all his strength, all his humor, all his affection."
It was his role as flamboyant gay nightclub owner Albin Mougeotte, also known as Zaza Napoli, in the theater and film versions of the mega-hit "La Cage aux Folles" ("The Birdcage") that catapulted him to fame worldwide. His performance in director Edouard Molinaro's 1978 movie won him the first of three Cesar awards -- the French version of the Oscar.
Serrault remained active, featuring in films through his late seventies. Among his final films was Pierre Javaux's 2006 "Les Enfants du Pays" ("Hometown Boys"), about the role of African soldiers in WWII.
Serrault is survived by his wife, Juanita, and daughter, Nathalie.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/30/obit.serrault.ap
Here he is in a scene from La Cage aux Folles 3 with Ugo Tognazzi and Stéphane Audran:
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
In Memoriam: MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
(first Bergman and now another magnificent creator has left our physical universe)
Antonioni, Italian Director of Introspective Films, Dies at 94
By Adam L. Freeman and Steve Scherer
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Michelangelo Antonioni, the Italian film director who explored modern alienation and the enigma of human relationships, has died. He was 94.
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced a public viewing of Antonioni's body tomorrow at City Hall, according to a written statement. The filmmaker died Monday night at his home, Ansa reported earlier, citing unidentified family members.
In milestone movies like 1966's English-language ``Blow-Up'' Antonioni's work offered the audience time to contemplate interior struggles through psychology and symbolism rather than action. When the director's classic ``L'Avventura was presented at Cannes in 1960 it greeted with jeers.
``Antonioni changed the narrative structure of telling a story,'' said Chiara Caselli, who acted in ``Beyond the Clouds'' (1995) in an interview. ``In the history of Italian cinema, Antonioni with always be there.''
Born into a middle-class family in Sept. 29, 1912 in Ferrara, Italy, Antonioni attended the University of Bologna where he studied classics and economics. As a college student, he wrote film reviews for a local paper, often angering the country's film industry with barbed attacks on Italian comedies.
His attempts at documentary filmmaking ended in failure. When he tried to film an insane asylum, his subjects became hysterical every time the camera turned on them, forcing him to call off the production.
Antonioni continued to write about film in Rome, where he worked for Cinema, the official Fascist magazine dedicated to movies and edited by Vittorio Mussolini, son of the Italian dictator. A political disagreement prompted his dismissal. He opted to study filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale.
Fishing Documentary
After collaborating with neo-realist auteur Roberto Rossellini and French film director Marcel Carne, Antonioni returned to Italy for his military service and obtained financing for a documentary about the impoverished fishermen of northern Italy's Po Valley.
Italian filmmaking came to a halt with the Allied invasion in 1943. In the interim Antonioni wrote film criticism for magazines including Film Rivista.
His feature debut came in 1950 when he directed ``Cronaca di un Amore.'' The film recounts the story of a bourgeois wife who meets her penniless lover in cheap hotels and plots her husband's murder. When he dies in an accident, the couple are left guilt stricken.
Italy's New Rich
To film the story, Antonioni departed from fashionable neo- realist practice by employing real actors and shunning social criticism. He also steered clear of traditional plot lines, aiming instead to draw the audience into the character's internal drama. The film had little success, and the director had to wait a decade before his work was noticed.
Antonioni was sensitive to Italy's budding industrial success. Through World War II the country was largely agrarian and one of the poorest in Europe. With one foot in traditional moralistic Catholicism and the other in modernism, a new monied class emerged, confused and awash in wealth.
``Scientific man is already on the moon, and yet we are still living with the moral concepts of Homer,'' Antonioni said in a 1969 interview.'' Hence this upset, this disequilibrium that makes weaker people anxious and apprehensive, that makes it so difficult for them to adapt to the mechanism of modern life.''
Shark Lie
With ``L'Avventura'' in 1960, Antonioni focused on Italy's new rich and their residual ennui and anxiety. The premise of the story is a group of well-to-do couples who take a boat tour of the Aeolian islands off of Sicily. Anna tries to add some life to the dreary trip by crying ``shark'' -- a lie that the director uses to spotlight the passiveness and lack of curiosity of the jaded middle class, and to represent Anna's friend, the serial bed- hopper Sandro.
Anna later disappears on a volcanic island. After a search, her friends return to their mundane lives and Anna is dropped from the film with no explanation.
The audience revolted against the 145-minute film, attacking it as long and pretentious. L`Avventura ``is like trying to follow a showing of a picture at which several of the reels have got lost,'' wrote New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther in 1961.
Indeed, scenes come to an end leaving viewers scratching their heads wondering if they missed something. The slowly built- up drama doesn't peak, and seems to simply disappear --just like Anna.
``Antonioni never really learned the trade,'' IMDb, the Internet movie database, quoted Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, who died yesterday, as saying. ``He never concentrated on single images, never realizing that film is a rhythmic flow of images.''
`Blow-Up'
Crowther and Bergman aside, critics loved `L'Avventura'' for its cinematography. Despite the audience reaction, the movie won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. (Compatriot Federico Fellini's ``La Dolce Vita'' won the Palme d'Or.)
Antonioni's biggest international success was the 1966 ``Blow-Up,'' an existential murder mystery in hipster-Sixties London.
Thomas, a famous fashion photographer bored by the grooviness of free love, finds exhilaration by snapping photos in the park where he thinks he photographed a murder. The film earned Antonioni Academy Award nominations for best director and original screenplay. Hollywood psycho-thriller director Brian Di Palma did a remake in 1981 as ``Blow Out'' starring John Travolta as a movie sound technician.
``Identificazione di una Donna'' about a filmmaker on a quest for the perfect woman was a hit in Italy and won the Special 35th Anniversary Award at Cannes in 1982. It never was distributed in North America after New York Times film critic Vincent Canby called it an ``excruciatingly empty work.''
More than a decade after suffering a stroke in 1983, Antonioni collaborated with German director Wim Wenders on ``Beyond the Clouds,'' four vignettes about love. Much later, in 2004, Antonioni directed one of three tales on the subject of desire in ``Eros,'' alongside Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar Wai.
Presented with an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1995, Antonioni, debilitated by age and stroke, accepted the award with one word: ``Grazie.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=azNY_gwcxxp0&refer=home#
I leave this entry in sadness with 2 clips:
Antonioni, Italian Director of Introspective Films, Dies at 94
By Adam L. Freeman and Steve Scherer
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Michelangelo Antonioni, the Italian film director who explored modern alienation and the enigma of human relationships, has died. He was 94.
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced a public viewing of Antonioni's body tomorrow at City Hall, according to a written statement. The filmmaker died Monday night at his home, Ansa reported earlier, citing unidentified family members.
In milestone movies like 1966's English-language ``Blow-Up'' Antonioni's work offered the audience time to contemplate interior struggles through psychology and symbolism rather than action. When the director's classic ``L'Avventura was presented at Cannes in 1960 it greeted with jeers.
``Antonioni changed the narrative structure of telling a story,'' said Chiara Caselli, who acted in ``Beyond the Clouds'' (1995) in an interview. ``In the history of Italian cinema, Antonioni with always be there.''
Born into a middle-class family in Sept. 29, 1912 in Ferrara, Italy, Antonioni attended the University of Bologna where he studied classics and economics. As a college student, he wrote film reviews for a local paper, often angering the country's film industry with barbed attacks on Italian comedies.
His attempts at documentary filmmaking ended in failure. When he tried to film an insane asylum, his subjects became hysterical every time the camera turned on them, forcing him to call off the production.
Antonioni continued to write about film in Rome, where he worked for Cinema, the official Fascist magazine dedicated to movies and edited by Vittorio Mussolini, son of the Italian dictator. A political disagreement prompted his dismissal. He opted to study filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale.
Fishing Documentary
After collaborating with neo-realist auteur Roberto Rossellini and French film director Marcel Carne, Antonioni returned to Italy for his military service and obtained financing for a documentary about the impoverished fishermen of northern Italy's Po Valley.
Italian filmmaking came to a halt with the Allied invasion in 1943. In the interim Antonioni wrote film criticism for magazines including Film Rivista.
His feature debut came in 1950 when he directed ``Cronaca di un Amore.'' The film recounts the story of a bourgeois wife who meets her penniless lover in cheap hotels and plots her husband's murder. When he dies in an accident, the couple are left guilt stricken.
Italy's New Rich
To film the story, Antonioni departed from fashionable neo- realist practice by employing real actors and shunning social criticism. He also steered clear of traditional plot lines, aiming instead to draw the audience into the character's internal drama. The film had little success, and the director had to wait a decade before his work was noticed.
Antonioni was sensitive to Italy's budding industrial success. Through World War II the country was largely agrarian and one of the poorest in Europe. With one foot in traditional moralistic Catholicism and the other in modernism, a new monied class emerged, confused and awash in wealth.
``Scientific man is already on the moon, and yet we are still living with the moral concepts of Homer,'' Antonioni said in a 1969 interview.'' Hence this upset, this disequilibrium that makes weaker people anxious and apprehensive, that makes it so difficult for them to adapt to the mechanism of modern life.''
Shark Lie
With ``L'Avventura'' in 1960, Antonioni focused on Italy's new rich and their residual ennui and anxiety. The premise of the story is a group of well-to-do couples who take a boat tour of the Aeolian islands off of Sicily. Anna tries to add some life to the dreary trip by crying ``shark'' -- a lie that the director uses to spotlight the passiveness and lack of curiosity of the jaded middle class, and to represent Anna's friend, the serial bed- hopper Sandro.
Anna later disappears on a volcanic island. After a search, her friends return to their mundane lives and Anna is dropped from the film with no explanation.
The audience revolted against the 145-minute film, attacking it as long and pretentious. L`Avventura ``is like trying to follow a showing of a picture at which several of the reels have got lost,'' wrote New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther in 1961.
Indeed, scenes come to an end leaving viewers scratching their heads wondering if they missed something. The slowly built- up drama doesn't peak, and seems to simply disappear --just like Anna.
``Antonioni never really learned the trade,'' IMDb, the Internet movie database, quoted Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, who died yesterday, as saying. ``He never concentrated on single images, never realizing that film is a rhythmic flow of images.''
`Blow-Up'
Crowther and Bergman aside, critics loved `L'Avventura'' for its cinematography. Despite the audience reaction, the movie won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. (Compatriot Federico Fellini's ``La Dolce Vita'' won the Palme d'Or.)
Antonioni's biggest international success was the 1966 ``Blow-Up,'' an existential murder mystery in hipster-Sixties London.
Thomas, a famous fashion photographer bored by the grooviness of free love, finds exhilaration by snapping photos in the park where he thinks he photographed a murder. The film earned Antonioni Academy Award nominations for best director and original screenplay. Hollywood psycho-thriller director Brian Di Palma did a remake in 1981 as ``Blow Out'' starring John Travolta as a movie sound technician.
``Identificazione di una Donna'' about a filmmaker on a quest for the perfect woman was a hit in Italy and won the Special 35th Anniversary Award at Cannes in 1982. It never was distributed in North America after New York Times film critic Vincent Canby called it an ``excruciatingly empty work.''
More than a decade after suffering a stroke in 1983, Antonioni collaborated with German director Wim Wenders on ``Beyond the Clouds,'' four vignettes about love. Much later, in 2004, Antonioni directed one of three tales on the subject of desire in ``Eros,'' alongside Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar Wai.
Presented with an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1995, Antonioni, debilitated by age and stroke, accepted the award with one word: ``Grazie.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=azNY_gwcxxp0&refer=home#
I leave this entry in sadness with 2 clips:
Monday, July 30, 2007
In Memoriam: INGMAR BERGMAN
Bergman passed "from one room into another"* at 89 in his home in Faro, Sweden. The world of art has lost one of its greatest creators, the "poet with the camera."
The last film he directed was in '82, Fanny and Alexander. He directed in the theatre as well. Most of his productions were for Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater. "The theatre is like a faithful wife," he said. "The film is the great adventure — the costly, exacting mistress."
I've only seen a few of Bergman's films (Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, The Seventh Seal, and Scenes from a Marriage). In homage to the poet, I will leave you with a scene from the first film of his that I saw, Cries and Whispers:
The last film he directed was in '82, Fanny and Alexander. He directed in the theatre as well. Most of his productions were for Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater. "The theatre is like a faithful wife," he said. "The film is the great adventure — the costly, exacting mistress."
I've only seen a few of Bergman's films (Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, The Seventh Seal, and Scenes from a Marriage). In homage to the poet, I will leave you with a scene from the first film of his that I saw, Cries and Whispers:
* when asked by Lilli Palmer if she believed in life after death, Helen Keller responded emphatically, "Most certainly. It is no more than passing from one room into another."
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Career Updates
*After I came back from Hawaii, I had an audition that day for TWELFTH NIGHT. Yeah. Heard NOTHING from them. Damn! I really wanted to be Viola or even Olivia. But, I need to be Viola sooner or later. I forgot my first line (but not really, I knew what it was but it wasn't registering in my mind as my first line. How strange is that?). I was really nervous, too. But, I shouldn't have been. I believe it was because I had just gotten off the plane 12 hours prior and had to wait at the airport an extra hour or so for our luggage, also I hadn't eaten a thing, and I didn't really "rehearse" my monologue. Hm...but I was prepared. Doesn't sound like it, eh? They preferred a monologue from TWELFTH NIGHT. I didn't want to do anything of Viola's or Olivia's because I wanted to be "fresh" and different so I performed a speech by Fabian. I played the role in college. They seemed to like it. I guess not! *le bleah*
*The gig where I was exempt from the audition is no longer in production due to the other actress who did not want to drive all the way to the location. She dropped a day before we were to shoot.
*I had to drop out of the short film that I got through the recommendation of my good friend because I had planned on being out of town (forever, perhaps) but plans fell through when the apartment(s) I had counted on were taken away from me. I rang the director up straightaway and told him the situation and he told me that he still wanted me to be part of the film BUT he had to put me on tape to send to his casting director (since after I had told him I wouldn't be able to be part of the film he needed to find a good Asian actress that could cry and hired a CD to find one, but quick). He also wanted me to watch the tapes of the auditioners. I had to watch all the Asian girls vying for the role that was mine. I also watched other actors auditioning for other roles in the film. I watched a couple that I really liked. I'm horrible at auditioning (I think). So, we'll see if I'm even still truly part of this short film as the young woman that leaves her baby at the front door of a church. Hopefully, the casting director will be cool with me. If not, well...
*I had an audition for an all-female production of HENRY V. The director really liked me and wanted me at his callback but there was a condition: I had to already accept being in the play without knowing what parts he wanted me to read for. I was to blindly accept. What is with these offers I'm getting and having to blindly accept??? I felt rather odd having to blindly accept any role he would offer me upfront without even knowing what I was being considered for until I got to the callback. I rang him the next morning and told him my truth. I also said that the only role that I was eyeballing was Henry. I would have taken Katherine of France if this was going to be a "normal" production. Henry is the role that I for sure know would challenge me and make me sweat and bleed and feel like a failure.
*The playwrighting teacher I met at SCR emailed me and offered me a bit role in the project that she is doing for the Bowers Museum. I accepted. The short plays will be done radio-style. There are 3 short plays. I'll be in 2 of them, she told me. I will play, Thoth, an Egyptian mummy that comes back to life, I believe. She said that the role was probably a page of lines out of 14 pages. And the other role is of a Haitian Voodoo Woman in which I have 3 lines, I think. She told me the best thing about it is the exposure. But, I don't really mind. I've always wanted to be part of whatever projects she were to have. I adore the woman. For her, I would blindly accept anything. The end of October is when it'll go up.
*I've been keeping in contact with a director from NY whom I met when I submitted for his project that was casting in Paris. He told me that he was going to be in LA to cast another part of his film and that he would be interested in seeing me in August. We've kept in touch and in the coming weeks, I will hear from him (I hope). He sent me a clip of his work that was uploaded on YouTube and I really liked what I saw.
*I had to let go of my agent. It was a very scary thing but I did it and she was/is very supportive of me.
**
I think that's all.
Oh! Nope. I lied...
This does not even include some of the stuff I did BEFORE leaving for Hawaii. Here's what I can remember:
*A USC grad student cast me in his short film. BUT, when he sent me the script! Don't get me started. It was f'awful (the "f" in "f'awful" stands for...you know=)! First of all, I hated the role. Second of all, the girl needed cleavage. I don't have that. I never will. The thing is, if I liked the script, the cleavage thing would have NOT mattered to me. Mm.
*A UCLA grad student cast me in his short film. It was a very interesting script and I was all about doing it. BUT, my paranoia got the better of me. The location was very shady. I was to leave my car in a parking lot and get picked up by some or one of the crew members to the location. Maybe I was wrong, but still... I'm a big girl. I can drive myself and find parking (however long it takes...that's why you leave EARLY).
*I got an email from a producer in France. They wanted me to audition for their short film being filmed on location in Paris! All travel expenses paid! Yeah! They said I could just send a video/link/whatever to them of 2 scenes of my choosing from their script. I really liked the script. I rehearsed and was ready to film. No equipment, horrible lighting...nothing fell into place for me. And it was such short notice that I got. What an opportunity, though! Oh, to be in Paris!
*Not only do I, as a whole person get rejected BUT even my HAIR gets rejected! Ha! I went to a Bumble & Bumble "hair" call. The casting director was an hour late. I was the second one there. The CD was very cool and hip. She seemed to really like my hair ("You've got great hair!") but OBVIOUSLY not enough to cast me.
*There was a TV Pilot that needed a quirky Asian. I'm not really quirky (or am I?) but I got a ring from the director and he wanted to see me. I went and sucked. Not really. But...Ha! I'm tellin' you! It was for an untitled Paparazzi project. I liked the script. I didn't really like the character from my moral standpoint (but I always have to put that aside...HELLO!) but I wouldn't have minded getting cast.
*Right after that audition, I had an audition for a play. The guy said he put it up Off-Off-Off-Broadway (I mean, what does that mean? Long Island? The Jersey Shore? South Carolina? The outskirts of LA-county?) and he told me that he used to teach at Columbia. I kicked major ass in that audition and I thought he liked me. It seemed like he was going to keep in contact with me (as we were emailing back and forth after the audition). Yeah. No word. I know what you're thinking, "*EW*! What a jerk!" (If you're not, you should be=P) It's okay. I'm trying to get over communication! HA!
*A week before I left, there was another short film I went to audition for (I posted the rejection a couple of posts ago=). I REALLY wanted to be part of that. I felt like it was very Chabrol-esque. For true. A girl has a crush on a co-worker, he asks her if she could paint a portrait for him for his ... wait for it ... girlfriend, girl is crushed but says she will do it, girlfriend is dropped off by him to get her portrait done, girlfriend is gorgeous, girlfriend is murdered by girl! *le whew* The way it's being done is so... I would have loved to have been cast in it. The murder is not shown at all. The beginning is very ambiguous and then all the pieces of the puzzle come together! Yes and Yikes!
*The day before I left, I auditioned for yet another short film. I read with a guy that looked SO young. But, our audition together was fine. I just remember thinking: "Oh, my GOD! I feel so much older." I don't mind. It's just a strange feeling like I'm between the ages of 75 to older-than-dirt! Ah-hah! Really. Oh-la-la.
*I auditioned for a production of ROMEO & JULIET. I Know I Whooped major ass at that audition. A teacher of mine was there to help with casting. At first, I didn't like it but when we got together at the end of the week, she was able to give me feedback and the director's feelings towards me. They really liked me and were very impressed. They told her that my handle on the language was very impressive. They liked my command, understanding and presence. Yet, they didn't cast me. I mean, what are you gonna do? I would be a Very different Juliet. I must admit, with all my reservations about the role, I'd like to tackle it one day because I know it would be a challenge for me and all my world-weariness! HA! It was a very good audition. Right after I had finished my monologue, the director for R&J asked, "Do you have any Juliet for us?" (Thank GOD (!) my teacher told me to prepare a Juliet.) And I beamed, proudly, at them, "Yes, I do!" I didn't do the obvious choices. I did one that I could learn fast and get it over with! Short and sweet. That's how it should be. This audition was rather cathartic for me. I was so elated that I think I almost brokedown...or did I almost throw up? Maybe both! That audition felt so good.
*My agent got me an audition (after I told her about it) for Shakespeare Festival/LA's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. They needed a Helena. Mm. I was told to prepare 2 monologues. When I got there, I did them and the director asked me to sing. *ugh* I sang. Now, I can sing. I just freak out when I actually have to for an audition! Ha! I would be a Great Helena AND Hermia! ;)
**
It seems like I've been very busy. Nope. It just seems that way. I spend so much time on the damn road than at these auditons! As any LA-actor is all too-familiar with and will tell you. I need to be auditioning for theatre but as you can see, I've mostly been auditioning for short films. I don't mind. I'd just like there to be an equal amount of both. To be honest, I don't think LA is for me. I just don't have the "look," I guess, as people say. In truth, I don't have the feeling for it!!! I'm starting to think that, like community theatre, LA doesn't like me! Maybe I should stop putting myself down? I really need to pick up my French, again (from the beginning because, sadly, I've forgotten EVERYTHING), and get beyond conversational so that I can move to France, and make European films and act on the Paris stage! And right after I learn French...Italian, German and Spanish are next. Maybe even Russian! =)
I'm also spending too much time watching foreign films and playing in the devil's playground (meaning, the computer).
I Must really focus on getting myself a "regular" job so that I can save up clams-clams-clams and be on my way-way-way. (I've got a few prospects. Hopefully, I haven't jinxed myself by mentioning them ahead of time. I ALWAYS do that! Damn! Oh, well...)
NOTHING is impossible.
I can do ANYTHING (that is...except: Prostitution, Boxing, Politics, "Dancing" and Porn ;P).
I now leave you with a scene from, "Les Biches."
*The gig where I was exempt from the audition is no longer in production due to the other actress who did not want to drive all the way to the location. She dropped a day before we were to shoot.
*I had to drop out of the short film that I got through the recommendation of my good friend because I had planned on being out of town (forever, perhaps) but plans fell through when the apartment(s) I had counted on were taken away from me. I rang the director up straightaway and told him the situation and he told me that he still wanted me to be part of the film BUT he had to put me on tape to send to his casting director (since after I had told him I wouldn't be able to be part of the film he needed to find a good Asian actress that could cry and hired a CD to find one, but quick). He also wanted me to watch the tapes of the auditioners. I had to watch all the Asian girls vying for the role that was mine. I also watched other actors auditioning for other roles in the film. I watched a couple that I really liked. I'm horrible at auditioning (I think). So, we'll see if I'm even still truly part of this short film as the young woman that leaves her baby at the front door of a church. Hopefully, the casting director will be cool with me. If not, well...
*I had an audition for an all-female production of HENRY V. The director really liked me and wanted me at his callback but there was a condition: I had to already accept being in the play without knowing what parts he wanted me to read for. I was to blindly accept. What is with these offers I'm getting and having to blindly accept??? I felt rather odd having to blindly accept any role he would offer me upfront without even knowing what I was being considered for until I got to the callback. I rang him the next morning and told him my truth. I also said that the only role that I was eyeballing was Henry. I would have taken Katherine of France if this was going to be a "normal" production. Henry is the role that I for sure know would challenge me and make me sweat and bleed and feel like a failure.
*The playwrighting teacher I met at SCR emailed me and offered me a bit role in the project that she is doing for the Bowers Museum. I accepted. The short plays will be done radio-style. There are 3 short plays. I'll be in 2 of them, she told me. I will play, Thoth, an Egyptian mummy that comes back to life, I believe. She said that the role was probably a page of lines out of 14 pages. And the other role is of a Haitian Voodoo Woman in which I have 3 lines, I think. She told me the best thing about it is the exposure. But, I don't really mind. I've always wanted to be part of whatever projects she were to have. I adore the woman. For her, I would blindly accept anything. The end of October is when it'll go up.
*I've been keeping in contact with a director from NY whom I met when I submitted for his project that was casting in Paris. He told me that he was going to be in LA to cast another part of his film and that he would be interested in seeing me in August. We've kept in touch and in the coming weeks, I will hear from him (I hope). He sent me a clip of his work that was uploaded on YouTube and I really liked what I saw.
*I had to let go of my agent. It was a very scary thing but I did it and she was/is very supportive of me.
**
I think that's all.
Oh! Nope. I lied...
This does not even include some of the stuff I did BEFORE leaving for Hawaii. Here's what I can remember:
*A USC grad student cast me in his short film. BUT, when he sent me the script! Don't get me started. It was f'awful (the "f" in "f'awful" stands for...you know=)! First of all, I hated the role. Second of all, the girl needed cleavage. I don't have that. I never will. The thing is, if I liked the script, the cleavage thing would have NOT mattered to me. Mm.
*A UCLA grad student cast me in his short film. It was a very interesting script and I was all about doing it. BUT, my paranoia got the better of me. The location was very shady. I was to leave my car in a parking lot and get picked up by some or one of the crew members to the location. Maybe I was wrong, but still... I'm a big girl. I can drive myself and find parking (however long it takes...that's why you leave EARLY).
*I got an email from a producer in France. They wanted me to audition for their short film being filmed on location in Paris! All travel expenses paid! Yeah! They said I could just send a video/link/whatever to them of 2 scenes of my choosing from their script. I really liked the script. I rehearsed and was ready to film. No equipment, horrible lighting...nothing fell into place for me. And it was such short notice that I got. What an opportunity, though! Oh, to be in Paris!
*Not only do I, as a whole person get rejected BUT even my HAIR gets rejected! Ha! I went to a Bumble & Bumble "hair" call. The casting director was an hour late. I was the second one there. The CD was very cool and hip. She seemed to really like my hair ("You've got great hair!") but OBVIOUSLY not enough to cast me.
*There was a TV Pilot that needed a quirky Asian. I'm not really quirky (or am I?) but I got a ring from the director and he wanted to see me. I went and sucked. Not really. But...Ha! I'm tellin' you! It was for an untitled Paparazzi project. I liked the script. I didn't really like the character from my moral standpoint (but I always have to put that aside...HELLO!) but I wouldn't have minded getting cast.
*Right after that audition, I had an audition for a play. The guy said he put it up Off-Off-Off-Broadway (I mean, what does that mean? Long Island? The Jersey Shore? South Carolina? The outskirts of LA-county?) and he told me that he used to teach at Columbia. I kicked major ass in that audition and I thought he liked me. It seemed like he was going to keep in contact with me (as we were emailing back and forth after the audition). Yeah. No word. I know what you're thinking, "*EW*! What a jerk!" (If you're not, you should be=P) It's okay. I'm trying to get over communication! HA!
*A week before I left, there was another short film I went to audition for (I posted the rejection a couple of posts ago=). I REALLY wanted to be part of that. I felt like it was very Chabrol-esque. For true. A girl has a crush on a co-worker, he asks her if she could paint a portrait for him for his ... wait for it ... girlfriend, girl is crushed but says she will do it, girlfriend is dropped off by him to get her portrait done, girlfriend is gorgeous, girlfriend is murdered by girl! *le whew* The way it's being done is so... I would have loved to have been cast in it. The murder is not shown at all. The beginning is very ambiguous and then all the pieces of the puzzle come together! Yes and Yikes!
*The day before I left, I auditioned for yet another short film. I read with a guy that looked SO young. But, our audition together was fine. I just remember thinking: "Oh, my GOD! I feel so much older." I don't mind. It's just a strange feeling like I'm between the ages of 75 to older-than-dirt! Ah-hah! Really. Oh-la-la.
*I auditioned for a production of ROMEO & JULIET. I Know I Whooped major ass at that audition. A teacher of mine was there to help with casting. At first, I didn't like it but when we got together at the end of the week, she was able to give me feedback and the director's feelings towards me. They really liked me and were very impressed. They told her that my handle on the language was very impressive. They liked my command, understanding and presence. Yet, they didn't cast me. I mean, what are you gonna do? I would be a Very different Juliet. I must admit, with all my reservations about the role, I'd like to tackle it one day because I know it would be a challenge for me and all my world-weariness! HA! It was a very good audition. Right after I had finished my monologue, the director for R&J asked, "Do you have any Juliet for us?" (Thank GOD (!) my teacher told me to prepare a Juliet.) And I beamed, proudly, at them, "Yes, I do!" I didn't do the obvious choices. I did one that I could learn fast and get it over with! Short and sweet. That's how it should be. This audition was rather cathartic for me. I was so elated that I think I almost brokedown...or did I almost throw up? Maybe both! That audition felt so good.
*My agent got me an audition (after I told her about it) for Shakespeare Festival/LA's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. They needed a Helena. Mm. I was told to prepare 2 monologues. When I got there, I did them and the director asked me to sing. *ugh* I sang. Now, I can sing. I just freak out when I actually have to for an audition! Ha! I would be a Great Helena AND Hermia! ;)
**
It seems like I've been very busy. Nope. It just seems that way. I spend so much time on the damn road than at these auditons! As any LA-actor is all too-familiar with and will tell you. I need to be auditioning for theatre but as you can see, I've mostly been auditioning for short films. I don't mind. I'd just like there to be an equal amount of both. To be honest, I don't think LA is for me. I just don't have the "look," I guess, as people say. In truth, I don't have the feeling for it!!! I'm starting to think that, like community theatre, LA doesn't like me! Maybe I should stop putting myself down? I really need to pick up my French, again (from the beginning because, sadly, I've forgotten EVERYTHING), and get beyond conversational so that I can move to France, and make European films and act on the Paris stage! And right after I learn French...Italian, German and Spanish are next. Maybe even Russian! =)
I'm also spending too much time watching foreign films and playing in the devil's playground (meaning, the computer).
I Must really focus on getting myself a "regular" job so that I can save up clams-clams-clams and be on my way-way-way. (I've got a few prospects. Hopefully, I haven't jinxed myself by mentioning them ahead of time. I ALWAYS do that! Damn! Oh, well...)
NOTHING is impossible.
I can do ANYTHING (that is...except: Prostitution, Boxing, Politics, "Dancing" and Porn ;P).
I now leave you with a scene from, "Les Biches."
Stéphane Audran (tidbits from articles)
If it hasn't been apparent (by now!), I'm a nerd. I like to research all that deeply interest me. It has been rather difficult researching on Stéphane Audran. The resources I have are some of her films and the internet. (And I thought Romy Schneider was a difficult one to research! Sheesh!) Here's a sampling of what I've found...
[entrevues]
FESTIVAL DU FILM BELFORT
Trajectoire: Coup de Chapeau à Stéphane Audran
[entrevues]
FESTIVAL DU FILM BELFORT
Trajectoire: Coup de Chapeau à Stéphane Audran
Les Noces Rouges (Claude Chabrol, France, 1972)
‘I have not made a career; I have not given that much thought. When I first started, I just wanted to be a good actress. My voice was wrong; I could not move around, I tried to improve with lessons. Then I was lucky enough to meet Chabrol (1)…’
Thus characteristically summed up by Stéphane Audran, her first steps were made on stage in the late 1950s in drama school, with Charles Dullin and Michel Vitold. She appeared on stage a few times, a little on television too and then came the cinema. While she married filmmaker Claude Chabrol in 1964, she had made film debut earlier (especially with Les Bonnes Femmes in 1960, a surprising film, sad and cruel; and in 1962 with offbeat Oeil du malin). The great works of the enchanting duo, like the ‘Karina years’ of Jean-Luc Godard, were yet to come.
Some are justifiably famous, like Le Boucher of 1970, where Stéphane Audran portrayed a seemingly well-balanced but secretly neurotic character, next to monstrous Jean Yanne. Les Biches (1968), which earned her an acting award at the Berlin Festival, is as mysterious as a secret ceremony, a film of ‘vampires’ and possession that rhymes with the Stéphane Audran- Marie Trintignant pair in the wonderful film Betty (1991).
Other films still, over those fabulous times, are unfairly little known : Juste avant la nuit (1971) should be viewed again and again as a climax of Chabrol’s art. To be seen again and again too, La Rupture (1970) demonstrates how intensely Stéphane Audran has managed to embody every possible character through one single director (23 films altogether so far with Claude Chabrol!). In this case she was a ‘mother courage’, ever faultless and even strengthened by encounters with vile, hideous people.
Along with this fantastic work with Chabrol, Stéphane Audran very comfortably moved into the world of Bunuel (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, 1972). She worked in France at times and also abroad (Samuel Fuller, Ivan Passer, Gabriel Axel, etc…) and always unblinkingly switched from one part –one face, or mask- to another. She could be stern and glow inside as in Le Festin de Babette (Gabriel Axel, 198) or droll and cocky in Coup de Torchon (Bertrand Tavernier, 1981), or perverse in Le Sang des autres (Claude Chabrol, 1984), or a masochist in Mortelle Randonnée (Claude Miller, 1984): with her moving sensuality, Stéphane Audran has always best illustrated a strange paradox: that of a very popular artist, often funny or even burlesque, who never sheds her unforgettable allure, her elegant manners.
Betty (Claude Chabrol, France, 1991)
(1) Stéphane Audran, interview with Danièle Parra, la Revue du Cinéma, April 1988.
http://www.festival-entrevues.com/2003_uk/biographie_stephane_audran.htm
**
this tidbit is from Camille Paglia's interview with Donna Mills:
Stephane Audran--director Claude Chabrol's wile and leading lady in the '60s and '70s. Audran prowled Parisian salons to find exactly the right handbag for a role. She'd say, "Until I have the clothing, I don't know who the character is."
**
the following is from THE NEW YORK TIMES' article on Gabriel Axel and "Babette's Feast":
It is what the French call a "role in gold" for the French actress Stephane Audran, who is known to American film buffs for often playing the uptight French bourgeoise in the films of Claude Chabrol, her former husband. Her Babette is a portrait filled with poise, great dignity and an illuminating resonance as the solitary artist in exile who finally has the occasion to unveil her talents in the kitchen, to please her public, no matter how uncomprehending they be.
"You see her blossom in her craft, a craft she elevates into art," Ms. Audran said in an interview. "The two elderly sisters, they never lived, they slipped by their destinies. But Babette, she realized her destiny on this one night alone. It's a beautiful story. You just have to let your heart speak."
That was precisely the approach of Gabriel Axel. He kept close to the original story, and he turned to Karen Blixen's text when he needed help. Ms. Audran said his knowledge of both French and Danish cultures created a chemistry when she came onto the set in Denmark very much the way Babette came to the elderly sisters.
"Gabriel's enthusiastic, like an enchanted child, and that is very stimulating," she said. "There is no fear. He eases you into a state of total confidence. Actors, we're like children, you know. And he had such a love for this subject, there was necessarily a great joy in working with him to make Babette come alive."
Much to Ms. Audran's regret, Babette was a project no French producer wanted to touch, for many of the same reasons as the traditional Danes: no overt sex, no violence, no immediate box-office appeal for young cinemagoers.
"It's a shame, because this would have been a perfect co-production for the French," said Ms. Audran. "In France and elsewhere, there is a lot of talk about a crisis in the cinema. It is a crisis of producers and a crisis of quality. There can be no craft without love. It's a moral question."
Yes, and precisely the moral question so delicately probed by Karen Blixen and Gabriel Axel. At the end of the story, the sisters worry that Babette had spent so much money for their sake.
"For your sake?" replies Babette. "No. For my own. . . I am a great artist. . .A great artist, Mesdames, is never poor. We have something, Mesdames, of which other people know nothing."
**
It's not bad. It's a good start. I have read MANY MANY MANY reviews on her, her husband, their films together, the films she did without him, etc. I liked these particular bits because of her actually speaking about acting. Not just a person telling you what they perceive of her. Words from her own mouth (albeit translated into English). I'd like to find an actual interview with just her. There are these clips on, ina rechercher, that I found. If only, I kept on with my French. Damn! (BUT, I will be starting French lessons with the mother of one of my best friends=)
Oh! And how she feels about handbags...I feel the same. Especially about shoes and other accessories. She's right. The right clothing is important.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Are you ki---dding?
No one, and I mean, NO. ONE., can say that line like Gena Rowlands! Man! From, "Minnie and Moskowitz":
"Babette's Feast"
This film should be watched by all who strive to be more than "craftsmen" in their field. I Love the message that it produces. It's such a quiet and sensitive film. There's no violence, no sex, no gratuitousness of any kind (well...maybe except for food=). It is a gentle and moving experience.
I need to learn how to make at least a seven-course dinner. I would love to give a dinner party one day. Just one in my lifetime, if only just one...
some quotes from the film:
"At this very moment, he had a mighty vision of a higher and purer life, ... and with a gentle angel at his side."
"You have enough talent to distract the rich and to comfort the poor."
"Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man, in his weakness and shortsightedness believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no. Our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when our eyes are opened and we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only await it with confidence and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us. And everything we rejected has also been granted. Yes, we even get back what we rejected. For mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another."
"I have been with you every day of my life. Tell me you know that. ... You must also know that I shall be with you every day that is granted to me from now on. Every evening I shall sit down to dine with you. Not with my body, which is of no importance, but with my soul. Because this evening I have learned, my dear, that in this beautiful world of ours, all things are possible."
"An artist is never poor."
"Throughout the world sounds one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me the chance to do my very best."
"In Paradise, you will be the great artist that God meant you to be. Ah, how you will delight the angels."
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Currently Watching: Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie
I need to learn how to make at least a seven-course dinner. I would love to give a dinner party one day. Just one in my lifetime, if only just one...
some quotes from the film:
"At this very moment, he had a mighty vision of a higher and purer life, ... and with a gentle angel at his side."
"You have enough talent to distract the rich and to comfort the poor."
"Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man, in his weakness and shortsightedness believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no. Our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when our eyes are opened and we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only await it with confidence and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us. And everything we rejected has also been granted. Yes, we even get back what we rejected. For mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another."
"I have been with you every day of my life. Tell me you know that. ... You must also know that I shall be with you every day that is granted to me from now on. Every evening I shall sit down to dine with you. Not with my body, which is of no importance, but with my soul. Because this evening I have learned, my dear, that in this beautiful world of ours, all things are possible."
"An artist is never poor."
"Throughout the world sounds one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me the chance to do my very best."
"In Paradise, you will be the great artist that God meant you to be. Ah, how you will delight the angels."
.gif)
Currently Watching: Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
A chameleon's eloquent gaze
The Sydney Morning Herald
smh.com.au
A chameleon's eloquent gaze
July 10, 2007
smh.com.au
A chameleon's eloquent gaze
July 10, 2007
One look from French actress Isabelle Huppert can speak volumes, writes Sandra Hall.
The story of how Isabelle Huppert scored a starring role in Michael Cimino's epic western, Heaven's Gate, has become a celebrated episode in Hollywood corporate history.
Cimino's backer, United Artists, was vehemently opposed to casting her. As he confesses in his book Final Cut, Steven Bach, one of the studio's senior executives, thought she had a face like a potato. But Cimino, true to form, stood firm and Bach and a few of his colleagues duly flew to Paris to take another look at the actress he wanted so much.
At this meeting, Bach changed his mind. She didn't look like a potato, after all - more like a freckled 13-year-old. But as the evening wore on and more drinks were consumed, he began to concede that she did have charm. Two days later, Cimino was grudgingly given the OK to tell her she had the part.
The next time Bach really looked at her she was on the screen and there, to his amazement, he found her incandescent … she glowed in lamplight and had a sweetly seductive quality that had been entirely absent in Paris.
The phrase the camera loves her is one of those cliches that is supposed to defy analysis, but in Huppert's case it's worth a try, for her long and ardent relationship with the lens is one where there has never been any doubt as to who's in control. Great screen actors know exactly what their faces can and can't do. They have scrutinised them from every angle and are precisely aware of the radical alterations to be effected with lighting and make-up. It's an art in itself and Huppert has perfected it to the point where she can infuse a single frown or a smile with the impact of a small emotional earthquake.
She is 54 now and it's often said that she's barely aged during her 35-year screen career, but if you look back at the stills of her made up and costumed for the remarkable range of roles she's had during those years, you see a woman who's transformed herself a hundred times over.
The puppy fat that worried Bach so much nearly 28 years ago has vanished and the delicate jawline and cheekbones have made her eyes seem larger and her mouth more shapely. It's a strong, pale, symmetrical face, which Huppert uses like a canvas, adding colour when she needs it, subtracting it when she doesn't. The freckles are gone in one film only to reappear in the next. Even her eyes change colour, shifting from grey-green to chestnut, according to the light. Above all, it's a face that is at its most eloquent when its owner is saying absolutely nothing.
It's this affinity with silence that has helped turn Huppert into French cinema's most adaptable enigma. The rest has been down to her willingness to do just about anything on screen if she feels she can trust the director in question not to make a fool of her. "Acting is a way of living out one's insanity," she says - a pithily appropriate quote that is being used to promote the Huppert retrospective opening this week at Sydney's Chauvel Cinema. And the thing is, she really means it.
She first made her name internationally in The Lacemaker, by the Swiss director Claude Goretta, as an introverted young hairdressing apprentice crushed by a doomed love affair with a boy who fancies himself an intellectual. Since then, she has made a study of discontent in its most extreme guises. And it's led to her becoming one of the world's busiest actresses. In the US, she never really caught on - although one or two adventurous talents have shared Cimino's admiration for her. Hal Hartley wrote Amateur for her and David O. Russell came up with a gloriously idiosyncratic role for her in his comedy, I Love Huckabees. She also made it to Australia in 1986 to star in Paul Cox's Cactus.
But Europe has been her base. Maurice Pialat, Diane Kurys and Olivier Dahan (La Vie en Rose) have all sought her, as have Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol, with whom she's made six films. I suppose this entitles her to be called his muse. Certainly he's given her every opportunity to exercise her famous froideur since their collaboration has produced some particularly cool customers, three of them homicidal. But the frosty Austrian subversive Michael Haneke is the one who has tapped most deeply into her capacity to unnerve an audience by casting her in The Piano Teacher as a sexually repressed professor of music driven to acts of self-mutilation. Not surprisingly, Huppert carried out these excruciating procedures with the detachment another woman might bring to the job of shaving her legs. It's a performance of cat-like composure - so much so, that there's a genuine sense of shock when, at the film's end, she crumples into despair.
In some of her films, she has drifted into self-parody. All I can remember of her role as a prostitute in Godard's Sauve qui peut (la vie) is the group sex scene which she approaches as clinically as if it were an unusually knotty game of Twister. Then again, she could have been sending herself up. With Huppert, it's always possible. In an industry where an actress can be saluted for being brave if she dares to look her age, her lack of vanity is a miracle in itself.
Best of all is her refusal to sentimentalise her characters.
She tries for empathy, she says, not sympathy. It's their contradictions which interest her - the tantalising fact that good and evil can coexist in the same body.
The Isabelle Huppert Retrospective is at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington, from Thursday to July 18. For details go to http://www.chauvelcinema.net.au.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Don't Get Her Mad!
Stéphane Audran in, "La Femme Infidèle":
Yikes! (But, the son is kinda scary and intense, well! Eeks!)
Stéphane (effing) Audran
When I watch Stéphane Audran's work, I believe her to be the epitome of economic acting and control (as The Dench is). She possesses the subtlest of subtleties and on screen, for me atleast, they are magnified. She seems to do nothing but in that nothing there is a BIG something. She's effortless. Calm in her activity.
You are immediately drawn to her face. Her eyes, her high cheekbones, and then that voice of hers from her mouth. She plays with her voice; she grunts or hems & haws or ohs. It's quite wonderful to hear and funny. Having said that, it's the same with her facial expressions. They're very small yet telling and then yet mysterious. You wonder why she smirks or why her eyes glow, etc. I always want to know what she is thinking (as I do with Romy Schneider) at that very moment. She has a languid, natural walk. She seems to be an ice queen but there's a deep warmth and playfulness in her. She really takes her time.
Needless to say, I am enamored with her. Obsessed? Perphaps. But, that's what good acting does to me. Clalk it all up to God. He gave me a gift and I am always reminded of it. I can never stop thinking of it (or TALKING about it).
Okay, this is not about me. This is about another great actress that I have come across. If I worked with her and then died, that would be okay. It would suck but I would have gotten to work with such an actress. Here are the films I have seen her in:
You are immediately drawn to her face. Her eyes, her high cheekbones, and then that voice of hers from her mouth. She plays with her voice; she grunts or hems & haws or ohs. It's quite wonderful to hear and funny. Having said that, it's the same with her facial expressions. They're very small yet telling and then yet mysterious. You wonder why she smirks or why her eyes glow, etc. I always want to know what she is thinking (as I do with Romy Schneider) at that very moment. She has a languid, natural walk. She seems to be an ice queen but there's a deep warmth and playfulness in her. She really takes her time.
Needless to say, I am enamored with her. Obsessed? Perphaps. But, that's what good acting does to me. Clalk it all up to God. He gave me a gift and I am always reminded of it. I can never stop thinking of it (or TALKING about it).
Okay, this is not about me. This is about another great actress that I have come across. If I worked with her and then died, that would be okay. It would suck but I would have gotten to work with such an actress. Here are the films I have seen her in:
This film! Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie 1972, directed by Luis Buñuel. I watched it a LONG time ago. I don't even remember WHY I picked it up from the library. I do, however, remember watching it and being lost. Surreal. LOL! It's about a group of 6 people and their unsuccessful attempts at having a meal together. Scene after scene there is, without fail, an interruption. Whether it be terrorists, being arrested, discovering that they are on a live stage, etc. It is so bizarre. I think I liked it (?). I know NOW I will! Ha! I also remember Stéphane's character wanting to get it on with her husband. There's a scene where she wants to do it in the garden with her husband and another right before that in the bedroom where he says, "You make too much noise." Ah-hah! I've got to get my hands on this film again. I just need to watch it again (and again and again). It just came to me that I think I got this film because of Jeanne Moreau. She wasn't in it BUT she was directed by Buñuel and if I couldn't get my hands on the film she did with him, this was the next best thing to see what he was all about. It seems like it would be a riot all the way through but I believe there were some rather violent and disturbing scenes. It is Buñuel, afterall.
Coup de Torchon 1982, directed by Bertrand Tavernier. I watched this a while back when I was first researching about Isabelle Huppert. I don't remember it at all. I just wasn't as aware, I suppose. I'm a late-bloomer. Stéphane plays Philippe Noiret's wife. I really don't remember a thing! I only remember scenes with Isabelle being spriteful and naked! Ha! I think I remember that I thought Stéphane was gorgeous and sexy. I really can't talk about this film because I'm old and seriously canNOT remember. Mm. (Netflix, anyone? It is next in the queue!!!)
This film Les Biches was made in 1968 by her second husband, Claude Chabrol. And, no. The title does not mean what you think it means. It literally translates to, "The Does," (as in Doe a deer a female deer) not, "The Bitches." Oh! I must not forget to say that this film contains one of THE MOST BRILLIANT cuts I have EVER seen. AND, I am not speaking in hyperboles. Watch it and you will know what I am talking about. She plays Frédérique, a woman who is bored and has money. Jacqueline Sassard plays, Why, (yes, that's her name in the film) a young, floater of an artist with a fragile mind who draws does on the pavement, and gets some loose change here and there from passers-by and on-lookers; BUT receives a nice, crisp, folded 500note from the woman in black who happens to be Frédérique. The tension between the 2 of them right from the start! You would need an ax (!) to cut through it. Yes, that thick. She takes her on as her "protégé," and takes her to her place in St Tropez where she lives with these 2 clowns that happen to be gay (which I did not get at all. It's not because I'm stupid, I just don't automatically think that) and her cook. Everything seems to be fine (if things can be fine in a Chabrol film) until Paul (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stéphane's first husband-in her real life) enters into their lives. Stéphane is so controlled and elegant; also there's a scene where she reverts to a child's wobbly and awkward physicality as she must confess to Why about what she has done with Paul. This woman is just gorgeous and on top of that she's so good at what she does! One of my favorite scenes is when she is introducing Why to her cook. Another is when Why comes home after her night with Paul and Frédérique calls her out to where she is having her breakfast. Can you say, "comedy?" Also, her drunk scene with Paul is precise. I believe she did make an impact on me with, "Bourgeoisie," but I was too stranged-out to understand and not aware as I am today. And, stupidly, I can't remember a thing in, "Coup de Torchon," except Isabelle speaking at a rapid pace, Philippe Noiret being a ferocious teddy bear and possibly thinking Stéphane as gorgeous! Ha! "Les Biches," is where, right from the start, she made a HUGE impact on me. There were 2 video clips of scenes that I watched on YouTube and DailyMotion that peaked my curiosity about this film. So, thank you to those video sharing sites!!! Oh! There is a scene in which Why goes to Frédérique and Paul's room. She stays outside and just listens. No words are exchanged between the 3 of them. It's some scene.
Les Bonnes Femmes 1960, directed by Chabrol. This is a film about 4 Parisian shopgirls (Jane, Jacqueline, Ginette and Rita) and their humdrum lives filled with their struggles, hopes and dreams (or disillusions) of love. Here, Stéphane plays Ginette who hides a secret from her friends about what she does after hours. The girls suspect that it's a new beau. They are taken aback when they find out but become supportive of her (though, I read them as thinking that she were mediocre). It's an ensemble piece, really. But, one of the character's stories takes over coming to the end of the film. And the way it ends. *le whew* Jacqueline falls for a man who rides a motorcycle that follows her every where she goes. There are 2 moments in the same scene with the same action that happen between Jacqueline and her motorcycle man. It's such a tender gesture that they both do at separate times. His hand is over hers and his finger gently slides under her sleeve. Towards the end of the scene, Jacqueline returns the gesture. *le chills* Jane is the wild girl of the group and right at the beginning gets herself into a position (or several, who knows?) with 2 men that I absolutely detested and wanted to kill (HA!). Rita is the one in the group that is engaged to a guy that tries to mold her into what he thinks/knows his parents want. *ugh* There's a scene in a restaurant where Rita's fiancé is reciting (rapidly) to her what she should know about Michaelangelo as both his parents walk into the restaurant. Man! Chabrol is the best at examining the psychology of individuals. Or should I say, he's the best at brewing and simmering in a person's psychology? He's also a master at keeping you thrilled. People say that he is "The French Hitchcock." I think that's a horrible label. Yes, he is influenced by Hitchcock's work but he is a director, a great one, in his own right. It's a nice compliment but don't label him with that. That is, unless he likes it. I'll ask him the day I work with him!
La Femme Infidèle 1969, directed by Chabrol. This film was remade into, "Unfaithful," the film starring Diane Lane, Richard Gere and Olivier Martinez. I never saw it. Though, remakes tend to be flat and lose the initial "freshness" of the original. Usually. Then, when you try to remake a European film! The flair is gone because it has been "Americanized." BUT, like I said, I never saw it. Chabrol is a master storyteller, truly. And he knows how to choose the actors to bring his stories to life. He's powerful and understated. There is always something looming, compelling in his characters. Watching his films is like peeping through a keyhole or possibly being in the same room, and feeling that uncomfortable awkwardness that fills the air so quick and thick in a room, or that distinct distress/torture that comes over when someone has gone too far. Obviously, one should know what the film is about just from the title. What is great about it is that it focuses on the forsaken husband. Michel Bouquet plays the husband. He is one of THE most versatile actors, truly. The first film I ever saw him in was, "La Mariée était en noir," with Jeanne Moreau. He was a blithering, socially-awkward, lonely man who couldn't believe that Jeanne's character could see something in him (which she didn't. What she could see in him was the poison she gave to him! WHOOPS). WELL, onward with this film... I wish that I could find info on the kid that played their son. He was adorable and good but I don't know his real name. He had great eyes. *ugh* Chabrol is very sensitive and never sentimental. A prime example is the scene where Hélène goes into her room, she is very depressed because of her lover's absence, she falls to her bed, the camera fades in closer to her and she is weeping. BUT, there are only 3 mini, barely audible sobs that are produced from her voice. It's most effective. Other actresses would have handled it differently, but in the hands of Stéphane! Mm! The choices she makes are so fresh and refreshing. Inner turmoil. And it's not just her, it's with many of Chabrol's characters. Another great moment of hers is when she is emptying her husband's coat pockets. In the inside pocket is a photo of her lover. Yikes! Speaking of her choices, they're never obvious and there usually is a dash of humor underneath it all. She's so intricate and meticulous in her manners and gestures. The way she uses her voice... It's so rare these days to have ONE actress like her! It's so natural for Stéphane.
Le Boucher 1969, again directed by Chabrol. One thing (among many) that I love about a Chabrol film is...FOOD. He always seems to have food in his films. And Stéphane knows how to eat. I love watching her eat in the films. I love to eat on stage and I love to see other actors eating. Strange, I know. It's interesting. Another thing is his use of color, and also, the ambiguity of the time period he is filming in. His films can take place at any time in the present (you'll notice his "set" and the costumes that are worn are not very "period"). Hélène (Audran) is the young headmistress of the local school. Popaul is the butcher of the village (he promises to give her the best cut and freshest meats. So thoughtful and rather odd. There is a scene where he hands Hélène some meat and it reminded me of a bouquet of flowers! HA!). Hélène's heart was broken long time ago and she has decided to no longer enter to any relationship because she does not want to risk being hurt deeply again. They say she is repressed (in articles I've read about the film) but she isn't the stereotypical, "repressed." You see, I would have never labeled her character with that word. When you see it, you'll know what I mean. Murder is in the air in this film, with the police trying to solve who did it and why. Hélène embraces the companionship of Popaul but doesn't want to go any further to protect her heart. In one scene, Popaul talks of wanting to ask Hélène if he could kiss her and she says that she wishes he wouldn't ask. Earlier, she has given him a lighter as a present for his birthday. The lighter plays a significant part in the film. Try not to miss her actions in the scene with the detective in her classroom. He lights his cigarette. Watch where Hélène's eyes go. She is... there are just too many words that won't suffice.
La Rupture 1970, directed by Chabrol. I've read that this film is often forgotten. I don't know why. It holds up with the others fine. It's authenticity versus convention. Despite, Hélène's (Audran) past jobs as a stripper, taxi-girl, barmaid, whatever(!), she is the saint in the film. No joke. Now, this film contains THE MOST HARROWING opening I have EVER seen. Try to disagree with me after you see it. And right after that scene, the credits roll. *le whew* Of course! One of the themes is that of the wealthy, their wealth and the misuse/abuse of it. Also, the seduction and suction of money, and what people will do or not do for it. It's sort of a whacked out film especially towards the end when you get into the antagonist's Plan B to get dirt on Hélène. He can't dig up any dirt on her so he creates this scheme against her. The whole time, I was yelling, "Don't do it," or, "Don't take it," or, "I hate him!" or "UGH!!!", etc. HA!
**
A nice common element in Chabrol's films that I've seen is humor. It's such a wonderful layer to be included. These days he does not use his ex-wife in his films. They were married in 1964 and divorced in 1980, yet they still worked together on some projects. In an article I read last night (I have been tirelessly researching about her but there's hardly anything out there! It's worse than Romy!), an interviewer asked Chabrol why he and Stéphane divorced. He said that he became more interested in her as an actress than a wife. They had one son together, Thomas Chabrol. These days, Chabrol uses another favorite of mine, Isabelle Huppert. I await the day that I see the film, "Violette," in which Isabelle and Stéphane co-star.
André Génovès was his producer. Jean Rabier was his cinematographer. Pierre Jansen was his composer. Jacques Gaillard was his editor. What a team! Exceptional. I want to be the actress that is part of something like that, today. One day. Wow.
I write all this in haste because I just wanted to put a little sump-in', sump-in' up on Stéphane. So, bear with me and my girlish squealings. (There is also a LIKELY chance that I will be coming back to this and adding/changing stuff) And by the buy...it took me FOREVER to write this even if I was hasty!
She has also made appearances on the stage:
1955 La Maison Carrée
1957 Le Nuit Romaine
1963 Macbeth
I Love Stéphane Audran
Thursday, July 5, 2007
An Exemption & a Gig
A couple of days ago, I got exempted from an audition for a short film that is slated to be released in three 7-minute increments onto youtube. I met with the director today because I couldn't say/sign, "Yes," without knowing who my character was and what the story was. Even though he said that I was perfect for the role, I can't give a blind-sided answer. I had to know.
Well, there definitely is a twist in the end that grosses me out! HA! But, I still said, "Yes." One, because it is something for me to do; Two, because it's interesting; Three, it will get me out of the house; and Four, it's some camera-time. It's more for me to learn on-set. The director seems like a good guy and it was actually his sister-in-law that said, "She's the one. Choose her." And then upon going over my resume said, "Yes. She's the one." He agreed=)
So, it's great to hear that my headshot and my resume got me exempted from an audition! They were more impressed by my resume, which is great! He wrote me that my theatre background and acting experience made them trust to give the role to me. Wow! Yay! If only things were that simple, eh?
What's funny to me is that they said I was perfect for the part and I have never been considered for a role like this.
Go figure...
(So...this is my second gig that I've gotten. The first one, one of my good friends, recommended me for this short film. I met with the director a couple of weeks ago and he offered me the role without auditioning me. All on my good friend's recommendation to me. So, now, I can't let her down! HA! She's in it as well. She'll be playing a nun. Well, the scene is a scene that he felt he needed to add last minute. He thinks it's really important. It's a whopper! The scene is right at the end of the movie and it's emotionally intense. YES!!! Thank God! Something to sink my teeth into even if it's just a couple of minutes (or is it seconds?), it's a GREAT couple of minutes, or seconds! And as it is now, I don't have to say a word. Not one single word!)
Well, there definitely is a twist in the end that grosses me out! HA! But, I still said, "Yes." One, because it is something for me to do; Two, because it's interesting; Three, it will get me out of the house; and Four, it's some camera-time. It's more for me to learn on-set. The director seems like a good guy and it was actually his sister-in-law that said, "She's the one. Choose her." And then upon going over my resume said, "Yes. She's the one." He agreed=)
So, it's great to hear that my headshot and my resume got me exempted from an audition! They were more impressed by my resume, which is great! He wrote me that my theatre background and acting experience made them trust to give the role to me. Wow! Yay! If only things were that simple, eh?
What's funny to me is that they said I was perfect for the part and I have never been considered for a role like this.
Go figure...
(So...this is my second gig that I've gotten. The first one, one of my good friends, recommended me for this short film. I met with the director a couple of weeks ago and he offered me the role without auditioning me. All on my good friend's recommendation to me. So, now, I can't let her down! HA! She's in it as well. She'll be playing a nun. Well, the scene is a scene that he felt he needed to add last minute. He thinks it's really important. It's a whopper! The scene is right at the end of the movie and it's emotionally intense. YES!!! Thank God! Something to sink my teeth into even if it's just a couple of minutes (or is it seconds?), it's a GREAT couple of minutes, or seconds! And as it is now, I don't have to say a word. Not one single word!)
"Minnie and Moskowitz"
This Cassavetes film made me look at love in another way, which got me scared and thinking. Sometimes, what you think you want may not be what you really want or even get! And HOW have I experienced that! Par example...I don't like to be whispered to in my ear. Ew.
You must be open. It takes effort to be open. Vulnerable and available (not that kind of available! More like receptive. Hm...why didn't I say that in the first place? HA!).
All of us have our "ideal" mate. No one is perfect. We have our character flaws and weaknesses. If you do find that person whose faults and whatnot you are able and wanting to live with, take the wall down. There will always be something, as there will always be something about you! Explore the relationship. If it goes somewhere beyond...great! If it doesn't...atleast you were open to that other world.
I'm still working on it. I've got a crazy wall. And it's up to me to break it down. It would also help if "he" would help out as well, and not let me off the hook! Just as long as he doesn't smell and whenever I wake up next to him, I say, "Yes!" (Hm...among other things...=D)
Is that too much to ask?
=PPP
This reminds me of a dialogue I wrote for a play I wrote a couple of years ago. We're always looking for answers and/or that person. Maybe you've already been given answers, you just haven't seen them or you haven't looked or you don't want to see them or you don't recognize them or you're not ready. But, honestly. When will you be ready? And so, with that someone, what if he/she is right in front of you? We've gotta put our guard down some time. If you dig someone...go for it. Go on that second date! HA!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
My Cousin, Kristine...
Frolicking (the model is her sister, Kaitlyn)
...she is a talented young lady. She's gotten bit by the photography-bug! She's got a great eye, I believe. She also writes and paints. And I think she sings and dances! She's crazy. The good kind of crazy=PPP
a painting she created (one of her favorites)
She only has wonderful things ahead of her. I know it.
Fine Art House & Poetry-Time Cafe with red shoes on a thuuursday
Since I've been on a Grey Gardens high, I decided to put up my painting with the same name that I created after I got rejected from the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab last summer. AND I actually decided to put a poem up. It may be deleted soon, I'm not sure. I've just always been wary about putting my poetry up. The paintings, I don't really have a problem with. I mean, I still am reluctant with revealing them. But, my words... That's delicate. It's an adventure to share your own art. So, if you see this post before it's taken down...lucky you!
EDIE
© red shoes on a thuuursday
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
poem taken down: Friday, 17 August 2007
by: red shoes on a thuuursday
The Greatness of The Ebersole
I cannot express how much I adore, admire, am inspired, motivated by Christine Ebersole. She is superlative.
***This is a journal entry I wrote last year on the 22nd of April, the day after I saw the show (as you will witness, I was still very high on the show and The Ebersole):Wonderful show. I loved the 2nd act much more than the first. It’s stronger. Very strong. The Ebersole is magnificent. Mary Louise Parker is great. Together their dynamite. I don’t know what it is about mother-daughter relationships in shows that hits just the right spot in me. Same thing with, “Caroline, or Change” and “The Light in the Piazza.” Something about that particular relationship resonates well within me. Funny, I thought of Elsy and Arpine while watching the show. I didn’t think that the 1st act sucked or anything. I just think the second is stronger. Which I’d rather have because I don’t want the show to end on some sour note. I liked the 1st act. Sarah Gettelfinger was good. I did enjoy her. She was in and out for me. But never to the point where I hated her. She is so lucky with this show. I think that she’s probably grown the most doing this show with such wonderfully talented women. The show is witty and heartbreaking. The Ebersole just kicks it outta Playwrights Horizon. She really does. She got me. I loved her when she did her cabaret at OCPAC…this show makes me love her even more. She is stunning. Beautiful. This show is my, “Light in the Piazza,” of last year which was my, “Caroline, or Change,” of the previous year. *le whew* I CANNOT WAIT to get the recording! I’m so happy that they’ll be recording the show. I believe on the 27th is when they’ll record! CAN.NOT.WAIT. I liked Sarah. She had strong points. She’s got a great voice. I don’t know if this is the right word but the Edies relationship was volatile. God! The end. The end after The Ebersole finishes singing and Mary calls out for her daughter. I mean, she is going to leave. She’s going. And there’s all the intake of the WHOLE WORLD that The Ebersole takes. What an effort for her to get out the words (after a long long silence), “Coming. (long pause) Mother Darling.” I think it was, Mother Darling, she said. Damn! Why did I forget? Damn damn damn! Total heartbreak. You see that she wants to leave. She wants to get out of Grey Gardens. But she doesn’t because of her mother. Because it’s as if they cannot live without each other. Physically. Literally. The dramatic scenes were so explosive (whether it was a kind of silent tension or an actual blow-up). The comedic stuff was so sharp and crisp. So damn strong. I thought to myself, “Man, I’ve got to make the Shakespeare Lab, now,” while I was watching The Ebersole. I just thought that. One of the saddest lines in the play was said by Big Edie’s father, something about an actress without the audience being the worst. Something like that. Ouch! I was so lucky to have gotten a ticket to the show. So über-lucky, boy! I was almost late, too! Dang! I missed the R right when I came down, I should have just ran for it. So, I waited and waited for the next R to arrive. It came and it seemed like forever to hit 42nd St. I was out around 7.47. I JETTED my ass over to the theater. I mean, juh-heh-ted! Seriously. I ran like 95% of the way! I had 5 minutes before the clock struck 8p and I still had to pick my ticket up! But, I made it! It’s a small theater. I like the space because it’s so intimate. Great space. The Ebersole and Mary are so precise. The Ebersole and her extreme talent makes me want to get up on the stage with her and just soak up what she has to offer. Seriously. I would be watching her from the wings EVERY NIGHT! I feel the same about Victoria Clark, Tonya Pinkins, Andreas… *le whew* She is a powerhouse. I saw her after the show and was so dorky and just told her that I thought she was beautiful. God. Somebody should have shot me. I should have just walked away not saying anything to her. I also told her that I had met her when she did her cabaret and she asked if I was visiting and I told her that I actually auditioned for The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab. She’s just awesome. I love her. And the first song she sings on her 2nd album, “Fine and Dandy,” has been in my head practically the whole day! Why? I don’t know. The costumes were delicious and the 2nd act costumes of Little Edie’s were ridiculously funny, yet quite clever in a free-spirited, forward-thinking kind of a way! I mean, wearing the skirt upside-down, piling scarves on top of her head, tying them around her waist, wearing her cardigans backwards and wrapping them round back to the front…I mean…it was great! I loved it.
I wanted to wait for The Ebersole and then I didn’t want to because I was just gonna be a dork in front of her. But since I was there and the actors were all coming out of the entrance………………….well, I just tried getting a hold of my best friends that don’t pick up their phones on Friday nights (apparently!)……………and I was standing there anyway and if The Ebersole was gonna come out that way………………I don’t know why I stayed.
Decay.
So…The Ebersole was coming on out while I was leaving a voicemail for Serein. I waited for her and was such a super dork! Oh, well. I just think she’s fantastic. Man! I can’t imagine anyone else in that show that could make it even half of what she made it. Really. Awesome.
I wrote, “Decay,” because that’s the word that fits the physical-world of the show. DECAY.
So, that's what I thought of that! Ha!
I saw the musical before ever watching the Maysles' documentary. I am very glad that I did. Everything was a surprise to me. It was new. I didn't have the world of the documentary over my shoulder/in my head. I didn't know whether or not Little Edie was going to leave. I loved not knowing. It was much more alive in retrospect than if I had seen the documentary beforehand. So, I came into that theatre with the freshest of eyes and came out with eyes shining because of the Niagara Falls of tears that had ensued from my ducts.
I simply cannot get over how amazifying she is.
If you are in the NY area, or will be in the coming weeks before July 29th, head over to the Walter Kerr Theatre on W 48th St. It closes on the 29th.If you live in London OR will be visiting, The Ebersole will be crossing the Atlantic to put the show up there (I'm not sure about the dates). There is also a tour in works. Hm...I wonder who will be in it?
I mean, if you want to see brilliance walking, get your ass over to that theatre! I promise you, you won't regret that night in the theatre.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Poetry-Time Cafe with Edgar Allan Poe
A DREAM
In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed—
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream—that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar—
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?
Currently watching: The Cranes are Flying
In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed—
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream—that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar—
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?
Currently watching: The Cranes are Flying
Another Rejection
On Saturday, I auditioned for a short film. I was up for the lead role. The director and his assistant asked me if I wanted to read for the other female role and I said, "No." ONLY BECAUSE I think anyone could probably do that role and it wasn't interesting enough to me. The lead role, of course (I guess), was. It's the turn at the end that gets me. I wrote the director telling him that I thought the beginning shots of the film (in the script) and the last parts were very "french cinema." I was hoping that I would get cast for this one just so that I could have a chance to play that "turn." *sigh* I found out tonight that I wasn't cast.
What? I found out? Yes. The director wrote me back saying that they had cast another girl. Would he have written back if I hadn't written him a, "Thank you," note for giving me the opportunity to audition? Who knows? All I know is that it was kind and generous of him to reject me up front!
Here's the email he sent me:
Hello [L]!
Thanks for your email yesterday, I appreciate the kind words and
support. Sadly, though, I've decided to cast another girl for Gillian.
It was really, really close between you and the other girl, Dina (the
girl you read with) and I really enjoyed some of the subtleties of your
audition, like the way your face lit up when you smiled or laughed :-)
I'd really love to work with you eventually, so if it's okay with you,
I'll keep your info in my files and will contact you directly when I
create a role that would be perfect for you.
Wishing you success with your career,
- [Director's name]
This is much appreciated in a business where if you are rejected, you wait it out and wait and wait and wait. And then, you suppose that you were rejected. For me, I'm such a dork that I wait till the first day of rehearsal, or shooting. OR, I wait till OPENING NIGHT. For true! I have. Because, maybe, just maybe, you will be needed last minute to take over for the lead!
I am grateful for his note.
This is the path that I have chosen to tread. I tread these boards with a heavy, yet hopeful, heart.
Currently watching: Caroline, or Change
What? I found out? Yes. The director wrote me back saying that they had cast another girl. Would he have written back if I hadn't written him a, "Thank you," note for giving me the opportunity to audition? Who knows? All I know is that it was kind and generous of him to reject me up front!
Here's the email he sent me:
Hello [L]!
Thanks for your email yesterday, I appreciate the kind words and
support. Sadly, though, I've decided to cast another girl for Gillian.
It was really, really close between you and the other girl, Dina (the
girl you read with) and I really enjoyed some of the subtleties of your
audition, like the way your face lit up when you smiled or laughed :-)
I'd really love to work with you eventually, so if it's okay with you,
I'll keep your info in my files and will contact you directly when I
create a role that would be perfect for you.
Wishing you success with your career,
- [Director's name]
This is much appreciated in a business where if you are rejected, you wait it out and wait and wait and wait. And then, you suppose that you were rejected. For me, I'm such a dork that I wait till the first day of rehearsal, or shooting. OR, I wait till OPENING NIGHT. For true! I have. Because, maybe, just maybe, you will be needed last minute to take over for the lead!
I am grateful for his note.
This is the path that I have chosen to tread. I tread these boards with a heavy, yet hopeful, heart.
Currently watching: Caroline, or Change
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