Zak's Guide to Auditioning Your Actors

Zak Forsman

Zak Forsman

Major Contributor
I thought I'd share this video from our archives... This is an audition by John T. Woods for a role in "I F*CKING HATE YOU". It shows you my technique for "destabilizing" an actor. As you will note by his actual tears, it is VERY effective.

RULE #1: If you want a good performance from a so-called "actor", you need to "trick" them into a good performance. There is no other way to guarantee true, natural, spontaneous work. NEVER, EVER, EVER rely on an actor to fully embody their character. you MUST break them until they forget themselves!!! find their pain, and exploit it!!!

an example follows...

http://www.sabipictures.com/ifhy/ click on "TAPED AUDITION"
 
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I personally don't agree with the way that casting was done, it may have worked for you and I am very happy that you have a system that works for you but I would never do that, I always handle my auditions very different, I make them impov a lot but very different, I always get what I what by reading the actor from the second they step inside the room after that is just breaking them in different ways, good job
 
hey, you know... different strokes... maybe you want "actor tears". not me. i want the real tears that can only come from outright humiliation and broken dreams.

what did hitchcock say? "Actors are Cattle... So Make 'em Cry!"
 
That was great. That John's a cool dude, hope he got his watch band fixed. Has he been getting some calls after IFHY did (doing) so well?
 
zak I never said I wanned fake tears, like I tell ya I always get the result I want, sometimes its quick sometimes it takes a while, I have been in auditions where we have a "well known actor" and if you were to try something like that without having some big credentials, either the actor does not do it or they wont take you serious, I think your audtion is useful for entry level actors because the ones that have done a lot of films, even if they are not good, you already know what to expect and what they can do and not do and where to test them.
like you say every experience is a new one

Zak Forsman said:
hey, you know... different strokes... maybe you want "actor tears". not me. i want the real tears that can only come from outright humiliation and broken dreams.

what did hitchcock say? "Actors are Cattle... So Make 'em Cry!"
Click to expand...
 
aalleexx said:
zak I never said I wanned fake tears, like I tell ya I always get the result I want, sometimes its quick sometimes it takes a while, I have been in auditions where we have a "well known actor" and if you were to try something like that without having some big credentials, either the actor does not do it or they wont take you serious, I think your audtion is useful for entry level actors because the ones that have done a lot of films, even if they are not good, you already know what to expect and what they can do and not do and where to test them.
like you say every experience is a new one
Click to expand...

hell, send me Bob DeNiro and i'll have him curled up on the floor begging for mercy!!! by the end of it, he'll be thanking me.
 
I feel like an idiot now, I didnt see the whole thing and thought this was for real, anyway I would love to see the real thing, outta be intresting zak
 
"Is there any pay?"
"It's ultra low budget. We have a guy."

Too funny. Oh, and judging from the footage, I think you need a tripod worse than I do! What was up with the Cloverfield shots?
 
how do i have time? well... john had come over so i could interview him for the IFHY press kit. and at the end of that i said, hey let's do a mock audition for the dvd. my girlfriend rolled camera and we improvised our way thru it for about 20 minutes. the next day, it took about an hour to cut it. so... not long... this is just us screwing around.
 
I watched every second of it. And I rarely watch all of anything I see online. You were pretty funny, but that actor was great. I don't know how he did it. You're pretty lucky there.
 
That's pretty funny. Esp when you kicked the chair.

Okay let's see the hands of everyone who has owned one of those black floor lamps in the corner...
 
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