Had a phone call from the agency, and they tell me that this thursday's job has been cancelled. They've re-written the scripts, and the 'character' I was scheduled to play is no longer required. I ask if it was something I said, half jokingly (well, you never know!) and the agent tells me no, the're just simplifying a lot of the scenes and cutting some of the parts.
She tells me that there is loads coming up, and she'll try and get me in some of these, I tell her thankyou.
On the same day this all happened, I saw the ad on TV that I auditioned for in London. It's the Orange one, with all the people in the desert building a frame for the blow up animals which represent the packages they are now offering. It's difficult to remember sometimes that unlike 'proper' job interviews, mostly it really is all about the way you look, and if you're not right for it, you're just not right. Being an actor must be really tough on that front. I was watching a programme on one of the freeview channels just recently, about a few acting hopefuls in Hollywood. One had auditioned, along with 249 other guys, for a small part in a movie, and had been told he was down to the last two. This was his big break, his first chance. Imagine being told you'd lost out at the last hurdle. I think I'd rather not know I came that close, but, as my wife pointed out, getting to the last two would spur you on for the next audition more than knowing you were within 250 of getting it. He got it, by the way.
Sometimes, as my friend would say, you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Doctor Mac, I presume!
After a long drawn out process of deciding how to get to the centre of London on a Sunday, and more importantly how to get home again, I set off in the car at 9.15am. As today's call was for 11.30am to midnight, trains were out as the last train back to my home town is at 11.30pm, so I decided to park somewhere near and tube in. Except there are maintenance works at Newbury Park and Leyton. And the last tube is at 12.00. I finally decide to park at Stratford, so if necessary I can get a night bus back from central London to the car. Parking in Stratford proves a little tricky too, as all the car parks close early in Sundays, but eventually I find a place on a street, abandon the car and walk to Stratford station. So much for '24 hour Britain' I think, as all this messing around means I get to the set just in time to grab a green tea and head up to costume.
There are a few other extras around and we all get our gear on. It's another Victorian Drama today, and the attention to detail is admirable. My outfit today is a black morning suit, braces, long jacket, black waistcoat, white shirt with stiff attached collar and a black tie, which the costume guy struggles with before he's finally happy. It fits really well, but I can feel that this collar is going to be irritating after a few hours. How the hell did the Victorians cope with dressing like this all the time? One bloke suggests that we might be funeral directors, as his outfit is similar. To finish it all off, I get a (yes, black) top hat. Everyone else seems to be in much more colourful garb, and we all chat amiably as we set off to make-up. The make-up lady fluffs up my hair a little bit, darkens my sideburns, and tells me I'm ready. blimey. I really do have good Victorian hair, and according to the make-up lady, a good 'period' look. I decide against the obvious joke, thank her and set off for breakfast.
From the widest choice of breakfast stuff you can imagine, I choose a veggie sausage sandwich, some fruit and some water - a strong feature of today. After driving through some rain earlier on, the weather in London is sunny and hot, and, along with everyone else, I'm sweating cobbs in this costume. Water, water everywhere...
After a chat on the 'crowd' bus and a flick through the sunday papers we are taken over, en mass, to a leafy and (thankfully) quite shaded grassy area which for this scene will act as Hyde Park. After the crew have positioned everyone around the park and given them fairly strict directions in which to move, I'm taken out of the scene, along with the similarly dressed bloke whose name is Dale, and told that we will be appearing in a later scene as staff. 5 minutes later we're back in the scene, walking away from camera. This one involves horse drawn carriages, and is fairly long, so every re-set takes a long time. They get about 5 takes before setting up to shoot from different angles, which means that we get to go and sit down in the shade. And drink water.
Those of us not involved anymore chat quietly about music, films, books and american politics, as well as which of the women extras are the most attractive. Well, you can take the boy out of the gutter etc etc, and all the ladies do look fantastic in the period costumes.
Once the director is happy and this scene is wrapped, Dale and I are taken over to a different street to rehearse our next scene while all the others go off for lunch. As the 'day' started with breakfast at midday, lunch is taken at 6.00ish, while Dale and I, a few crew members, a leading lady (Gemma, I think) and two main male characters are talked through the action. Dale is to shut the door of the carriage after Gemma has got in, while I am to be checking the luggage is secure at the back of the carriage before turning and walking up some steps and standing by a doorway. I recognise one of the main male actors as Julian Rhind-Tutt, or Doctor 'Mac' MacCartney out of "Green Wing". We run through the scene a few times before the crew are happy, and we set off for lunch.
The lunch queue is huge, and as this costume is resonably tight I decide to just have some fruit with cheese and biscuits. I take this opportunity to call my wife while wandering around the street, and become aware of a steady precession of tourists taking pictures of me. Wierd. I chat with a Tibetan ex-monk, a guy from a band with 20 members, a stand-up comedian, and a girl who has been a nurse on 'Holby' 20 times. Just like a normal night out for me then...
At 7.15 we're back on the set shooting the carriage scene. All the other extras are lined up, and two are picked out to walk past during the scene. The others are told they can go, and they all wander off to get out of those costumes. Dale and I are given white gloves to wear, and I feel like a snooker referee. We do 4 or 5 takes and a couple of close-ups, Julian is very funny trying to make everyone laugh - usually just after the director calls 'action!' - and asks if I could be his brother, as our hair looks similar.
Dale, the two lady extras and I are released, and we wander over to the costume rooms to get changed. The rooms are full of new extras getting changed for a ballroom scene being shot that evening, I get changed, thank the costume guy and go off to find the guy who has the sheets for us to sign. Without these, we don't get paid.
It's just past 8 in the evening when I leave the set, so it turns out I could have got the train after all. As it is, I tube it back to Stratford, find the car and I'm home by 10.15pm, to find my wife sitting in the garden with the neighbours, so I pour a glass of wine and join them. I have a call for the same project on Thursday week, in Buckinghamshire. I'd better not have that haircut then...
There are a few other extras around and we all get our gear on. It's another Victorian Drama today, and the attention to detail is admirable. My outfit today is a black morning suit, braces, long jacket, black waistcoat, white shirt with stiff attached collar and a black tie, which the costume guy struggles with before he's finally happy. It fits really well, but I can feel that this collar is going to be irritating after a few hours. How the hell did the Victorians cope with dressing like this all the time? One bloke suggests that we might be funeral directors, as his outfit is similar. To finish it all off, I get a (yes, black) top hat. Everyone else seems to be in much more colourful garb, and we all chat amiably as we set off to make-up. The make-up lady fluffs up my hair a little bit, darkens my sideburns, and tells me I'm ready. blimey. I really do have good Victorian hair, and according to the make-up lady, a good 'period' look. I decide against the obvious joke, thank her and set off for breakfast.
From the widest choice of breakfast stuff you can imagine, I choose a veggie sausage sandwich, some fruit and some water - a strong feature of today. After driving through some rain earlier on, the weather in London is sunny and hot, and, along with everyone else, I'm sweating cobbs in this costume. Water, water everywhere...
After a chat on the 'crowd' bus and a flick through the sunday papers we are taken over, en mass, to a leafy and (thankfully) quite shaded grassy area which for this scene will act as Hyde Park. After the crew have positioned everyone around the park and given them fairly strict directions in which to move, I'm taken out of the scene, along with the similarly dressed bloke whose name is Dale, and told that we will be appearing in a later scene as staff. 5 minutes later we're back in the scene, walking away from camera. This one involves horse drawn carriages, and is fairly long, so every re-set takes a long time. They get about 5 takes before setting up to shoot from different angles, which means that we get to go and sit down in the shade. And drink water.
Those of us not involved anymore chat quietly about music, films, books and american politics, as well as which of the women extras are the most attractive. Well, you can take the boy out of the gutter etc etc, and all the ladies do look fantastic in the period costumes.
Once the director is happy and this scene is wrapped, Dale and I are taken over to a different street to rehearse our next scene while all the others go off for lunch. As the 'day' started with breakfast at midday, lunch is taken at 6.00ish, while Dale and I, a few crew members, a leading lady (Gemma, I think) and two main male characters are talked through the action. Dale is to shut the door of the carriage after Gemma has got in, while I am to be checking the luggage is secure at the back of the carriage before turning and walking up some steps and standing by a doorway. I recognise one of the main male actors as Julian Rhind-Tutt, or Doctor 'Mac' MacCartney out of "Green Wing". We run through the scene a few times before the crew are happy, and we set off for lunch.
The lunch queue is huge, and as this costume is resonably tight I decide to just have some fruit with cheese and biscuits. I take this opportunity to call my wife while wandering around the street, and become aware of a steady precession of tourists taking pictures of me. Wierd. I chat with a Tibetan ex-monk, a guy from a band with 20 members, a stand-up comedian, and a girl who has been a nurse on 'Holby' 20 times. Just like a normal night out for me then...
At 7.15 we're back on the set shooting the carriage scene. All the other extras are lined up, and two are picked out to walk past during the scene. The others are told they can go, and they all wander off to get out of those costumes. Dale and I are given white gloves to wear, and I feel like a snooker referee. We do 4 or 5 takes and a couple of close-ups, Julian is very funny trying to make everyone laugh - usually just after the director calls 'action!' - and asks if I could be his brother, as our hair looks similar.
Dale, the two lady extras and I are released, and we wander over to the costume rooms to get changed. The rooms are full of new extras getting changed for a ballroom scene being shot that evening, I get changed, thank the costume guy and go off to find the guy who has the sheets for us to sign. Without these, we don't get paid.
It's just past 8 in the evening when I leave the set, so it turns out I could have got the train after all. As it is, I tube it back to Stratford, find the car and I'm home by 10.15pm, to find my wife sitting in the garden with the neighbours, so I pour a glass of wine and join them. I have a call for the same project on Thursday week, in Buckinghamshire. I'd better not have that haircut then...
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