A Busy Week…
January 28, 2009
I am not in Chicago…yet. This week, the Producers & Directors are there. I am now casting two films that are shooting in Chicago: “Polish Bar” and “Audrey.” This happened because the production company of P-Bar decided to stay in Chicago and add on another SAG Modified Low-Budget film (“Audrey”) to their slate. Illinois has a very attractive tax incentive package and is very friendly to filmmakers, which is great, so while I am there I will be looking for actors for both films.
In the meantime, I am also trying to attach an actor to an Australian horror comedy (with Film Industry Blogger’s very own Brian Trenchard-Smith as Executive Producer). The film is very “loosely” financed – and will be looking for private equity investors so a recognizable name is key. We are out to Juliette Lewis, and I am hopeful, I think the role is right for her, but it is hard for actors to commit in these sorts of situations. If not her, I am already preparing for her to pass (“because, Actors pass”) and thinking about actors who may be interested in this script and willing to attach themselves without hard cash. The script is very good, so I am crossing my fingers on this one.
Last week I had to do additional casting for a film that shot last year in the Bahamas, “Way of the Dolphin.” The film had some additional scenes to shoot and they are doing it this week in Santa Clarita. I needed to find three actors. I did, they are all great, but there was a momentary drama with one of them. The costume designer sent an email to one of the actors introducing herself and asking the actor to bring some clothes with him. The actor responded in a harsh tone and explained that he didn’t have everything on her list and was nervous about what he was getting into and then suggested that the costume designer go shopping for the clothes.
Well, as you can imagine, drama then ensued. The costume designer forwarded the email to the Producer and Director saying that the actor was rude. I then got an email discussing the fact that maybe we should replace the actor. Now, I admit that the email was rude, but the actor is a good actor and it was only for one day, so I told everyone to calm down and that I would talk to the actor directly. When I did, he was as nice as could be and had no idea that his email would have pissed anyone off. So, I told everyone on the Production not to worry and all would be fine.
Well, I am glad to say, all was fine. In fact I received an email last night from the Producer thanking me for an excellent cast on such short notice.
It is nice when things work out.
The actor was being rude?? Since when is it the actor’s job to provide his own costume?! I am getting the impression the costume desginer is rude and clearly not doing her job! As an actor we have enough on our minds, before and during shooting. In order to play the part right and do our job it helps by putting on A COSTUME and not wearing our own stuff to begin with….
Well, technically, SAG does allow for actors to bring their own wardrobe, it is not unheard of, especially for day-players. Actors are compensated for wearing their own wardrobe. In this case the costume designer was asking for a few pieces, probably in order to cover any possible shortfalls. This happens a lot, as often we don’t hire an actor until the day before they work, especially if there is not a lot of time to put a costume together.
I totally understand that in a perfect world, there is a costume and this helps the process that the actor goes through to play a character, however, we do not live in a perfect world, and the real world requires actors to be flexible and adjust, cope and deal with the challenges that come to him and translate those challenges into successful work. We all have “enough on our minds” but we all (in a production) have to multi-task and find the best work within us given any set of circumstances.
Re: Rude - I read the email and the tone of it was rude, what the actor was saying could have been put more tactfully, but as I said, I managed it and the actor, as expected, did a great job. Be careful how you write an email, because it can be interpreted in many different ways….
Thats the trouble with egos, they bruise so easily…
Last year production for a movie my daughter was cast in came to Chicago. This was a low budget SAG movie and we had to provide her own wardrobe. For me it was not a big deal at all, especially seeing the payoff of her being able to participate in a top notch production.
Well the point is basically don’t take it forgranted that an actor would do this (bring his own costume). If you do a low/no-budget film I think we all know very well that an actor won’t have a stand-in, light-double,trailer etc. But having something to wear would be nice. And why was the costume designer hired in the first place if she can’t do her job?
We as actors can’t ask the AD to speak the lines for us cause the budget & production value of the film didn’t give us enough time to prepare our parts.
That’s my point. We all have to do our job and I feel as an actor we are often exploited because of the vulnerable position we find ourselves in.
I obviously don’t know the ‘rude’ mail of this particular actor. But how could the director & producer even think of recasting when they haven’t spoken to him and only listened to the costume designer’s point of view?? It’s soo easy to say actors are divas and have egos….
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