An Actor's Life #1

So a few days ago I told you I got a call back for the last project I expected to get called back for - playing Abe Lincoln doing a magic act with Catherine the Great. The call back was fun, I played around, the director gave me different things to try and I went with it, had a good time.

Then, because of the rain, I spent two hours driving from the valley to Santa Monica to go to work as a waiter. Within 15 minutes of going from the kitchen tent to the party area I was soaked. Good times.

I'm leaving out the story of the two fights I was in that night because I want to write about that seperately. More about that later.

Yesterday morning I go to an audition. Kris goes with me and we are going to go shopping afterwards. The parking lot at the Whole Foods in West Hollywood is packed, so Kris gets out and walks to the store and I navigate the parking lot. I finally park and I'm about to go into the store and I get a call from my agent. She sounds so excited. I already know what she is going to tell me.

"Are you sitting down?" she asks. That was kind of funny. "You were so surprised to get the call back for the Abe Lincoln role - and they just booked you!" A booking means you got the job. I was very happy, I still am. She gives me a few details, more coming later, and we are both very happy I got booked. I get off the phone and enter the store to find Kris and tell her the good news. Of course, being me, I can't just walk up to her and say " Honey, guess what, I just boked the Abe Lincoln gig!" No, I have to be funny. So I see her, and I walk up to her all stiff and formal and using a very deep Abe like voice I ask her if she knows how to get to the White House. She is looking at me quizically, like what is he doing and why and I have to find the canned tomato aisle. So she asks why I want to go to the White House, and I say I am the 16th President of the United States.

Little did I know that there was a man observing me and had a very concerned look on his face, like, who is this guy and is he going to hurt her? I can't see him, my back is to him. Soon Kris puts two and two together and screams out - "You got the job!" and gives me a high five. Kris could see the guy looked relieved to see she knew me. It was pretty funny. We were hugging and jumping in the cosmetic aisle at Whole Foods. I wonder how many actors get booked on jobs while shopping. I'll bet quite a few.

Of course I have a few questions, as any actor will try to interpret the scene. First, it is very good that after over 100 auditions and look sees and call backs, I finally booked a job. That will make my agent happy and she will continue to send me out. But of all the jobs I book, why does it have to be for the role of a very strange looking man? What does that mean? Now I really have a lot of respect for Lincoln, he seems like a really brilliant and stand up guy. But face it, but a beard and a stove top hat on anyone and they'll look like Lincoln.

But in reality, I know it was because I could goof around at the audition and play, and the director saw I could take direction well, and go with what he asked, have fun, and still keep a sort of formal stiffness to my Abe character. So to answer my own question, it's not that I look like Abe, it's that I was able to create a charming Abe like character that fit the director's own idea of what he wanted for this fun spot.

The project is for a video game called Civilization:Revolution, who are promoting their launch onto the next generation of game consoles. So in one of these very clever spots, Abe is doing a magic act with Catherine the Great, and in another, he insults Napoleon on a Jerry Springer type show. Very funny stuff.

My highest budget commercial job and hopefully one that will be seen by millions! And by high budget I mean I don't have to bring my own wardrobe and do my own make-up. I'm sure there will be a make-up person. I may even have my own dressing room. Oh, I can only hope. And a bowl of green M&M's please. Only green. Abe doesn't like red.

I'll include a photo of me as Abe in a follow up post next week.

Now I have to rush off and be a waiter. Later.