Sunday, June 04, 2006

Enclosure 1: "Come On, Darlings! Let's make magic!"

Well, had this blogspot set up for a while, now, so I thought I'd better put some word type things on it.

I've just been accepted for my first acting role (well, the first one in twenty years - back when I was an arty pseud who called local am-dram and panto acting).

But this is a proper role, in a film, with cameras and stuff.

So for the next few months, the blog will consist of updates on how the project is progressing.

How did this come about? Well, I've always been interested in acting, and the production side of things as well. All my experience has been stage-based. Also, as further posts in this blog will show, I'm a huge SF fan. Anyway, my fiancee found out about this website for extras (sorry, that should read "Supporting Artistes"), and saw a listing for an SF film being shot in my home city of Leeds. They were after corpses, and she thought it would be a great kudos thing for me to say to my SF mates, "I was in a Sci-Fi film". Of course, Leeds is the home of so many SF classics, such as the original "Star T'rek", "War O' T' Worlds", and the 1979 Classic, "Have You Seen T'Bloody Teeth on That", released under the catchier title "Alien".

So I applied - but being a bloke, and having been given a new toy, applied for several other projects. An invitation to audition for "Corpse in SF Film" never came through. I did get asked to play an office worker in a short feature called "Propane", of which more in a future post. One particular listing was for a couple of films being but together in Batley, an old stomping ground, and the scene of my early forages into the world of paid performance.

Again, my details were posted, and the long wait started. The deadline for entries passed, as did the audition date, and I thought "Ho hum". Then, about a fortnight ago, the director, Pete, emailed me to say that due to some trouble with emails, a lot of people had missed the first round of auditions, and would I like to come to another round of open auditions at the end of May. As they were being held in a pub, I thought at least I could drown my sorrows after the wholly expected "Thanks, but no thanks".

I was asked to read 3 parts from two films. In "First Love", Alex is a man dying of a brain tumour who meets his eponymous first love, Karen, who then risks her marriage to stay with him. In "Enclosure", Martin and Julie inherit a large house, which is costly to run. As a way of dealing with the costs, a lodger (John) comes in, who contrives to make the couple the main characters of a book he wrote some years previously.

To read the parts of Karen and Julie, a young lady called Nix arrived. To describe her as bubbly and energetic is like calling the surface of the sun a bit warm. After some legal stuff (form-filling and the like), and Nix and I exchanging about six words, we were whisked upstairs to film our pieces.

It was bizarre! It's been a long time since I had to read a script, but I seemed to pick it up like it was yesterday. In the first excerpt (Alex with Karen), there's some hugging, and hand-holding, and as I rapidly approach 38 years old, it's always edifying when young attractive blondes say "Do you mind if I grab you?" - these opportunities come along so infrequently! Ever the consummate professional, I say back, gratefully, "Grab away!"

We read the excerpt, and Peter, the Director, seems quite pleased. He then asks for the Martin/Julie piece. We do this, and there seems to be an instant bond between Nix and I - a sense of each other's timing which is strange after knowing each other for about 10 minutes.

At the end of the second piece, the director asks me not to bother reading for John. "Oh god", thought I, "here we go - thanks, but no thanks". But to my utter surprise, he says "I think we know what part you're playing"...

So, once we've retired to the bar, and the Force of Nature which is Nix has blown out of the door, I drink my beer in a slightly stunned manner. People are enthusing about my work (as an IT Manager by day, this NEVER HAPPENS!)

A few days later, I'm asked if I can travel down again, and read the same excerpts again, but with a different "Julie" opposite my "Martin". Sara is just as young, just as attractive - but a little less frenetic. The string of beautiful young women auditioning to be my wife is fantastic - its how Sean Connery must've felt when seeing the various Bond girls.

Anyway, without wishing to reveal Pete's decision, I'll leave you guessing the outcome. Some work is being done on the screenplay, and some casting is still to be done, but work should hopefully start in a couple of weeks. Watch this space...

1 comment:

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