I made someone cry during auditions

gabrielflorit

gabrielflorit

Well-known member
Today was my second day of auditions. Before going over there I did a search on directing practices on dvxuser - found really useful information on how to direct, namely don't give them emotions to play, rather give them actions to visualize (not "be sad", but "your mother just died").

The first auditionee comes in, she introduces herself, etc., etc. I let her read the first time without directions. The second time I told her "you've been in a relationship for the last 7 years with the guy of your dreams. He's all you ever wanted. Yesterday you found out he's been cheating on you. All this time you've been with him, and it's just been a lie. A lie".

To give some context: I myself have been in a very intense relationship with a girl for the last 6 months. And this past week I've realized that, once she went to the other coast for graduate school, she's started telling me "I met you too soon", "I'm not ready to commit", "maybe we're meant for each other but now's not the time".

And this girl, the auditioning girl, started telling me how she once was in a similar situation to the character, in the sense that she was almost abused. And then she paused for a second, then says "so maybe I should tap into that", gets very red, and starts reading. She was really holding back the tears. When it was done and my 1st AD says "ok", I was moved.

Is that right? Did I do something wrong? I let her read first, and there was nothing going on. So I gave her a completely different direction, and she read great. She won't get the part, because she just doesn't look the part. But she did move me. I get a feeling she's in a very similar situation as the character she's portraying.

Afterwards I felt really elated, because I'd managed to connect with another human being on a very emotional level. But was that right? Was it right for me to use a person like that? I'd like to think I gave her great direction, and got her to where I wanted her. But maybe she's just so fragile the slightest thing will break her?

What do you think?
 
If she was willing to, and suggested that she "tap into that" than it appears that her emotional response was part of her acting method. If she was able to so convince you to the point that you feel guilty she must have been pretty good. If an actor cannot get into that inner place and channel that raw emotional experience necessary to make the part believable than they are a waste of both yours and the audiences time.

I think it is easier to draw on personal experience to bring out emotion and can be therapeutic as well.

This works in all kinds of acting situations. Ive watched a man die. I pulled his lifeless body out of a canal after he wrecked his car into it.

Ive had to resuscitate my own son after he had a seizure and swallowed his tongue.

Ive watched four babies come into this world and held their mothers hand as it happened.

I once chased my long distance relationship from California to Wisconsin only to be left without family and friends 2000 miles from home.

I had to recently put down my own dog.( I cried during old yeller)

These are all very personal things but you better believe I'm gonna go there when I'm acting. Its part of the territory and its your job to make it happen.

Of course I wasn't there and you may just be an insensitive jerk. But from the spirit of your post, I doubt that.

Good luck with finding the right look to match the right emotional state:crybaby:
 
Don't feel bad for her having cried. She did a great job.

Feel bad for not casting her.

Find something either in this project or an upcoming one where you can use her, because obviously you connected (according to your post) and you were very impressed, what's missing? That sounds like an ideal actor to me.
 
As the others have said, don't feel bad for directing someone to "that place".

What I was surprised to read was that she didn't get the part because she didn't look the part. Why was she reading if she didn't look appropriate for the part?

I typically do my auditions in two stages. I'll ask for submissions of headshots/resumes then I'll contact the actors who look to be appropriate for the role for an audition.

When I did an open casting call, I did a similar two stage process. Each person filled out an information form (and attached a headshot/resume if they had one) then they were assigned a number. I called each person up in front of the camera and they introduced themselves. Took all of 10 seconds. I was able to process them through at an efficient rate. The video intro allowed me to evaluate their look and hear them as well. We were then able to identify who we wanted for call backs.

It is at this time (once you've qualified an actor for a certain part) that you can see how they take direction.

Good luck to you. Finding good actors is always challenging.
 
Yeah, if the role is a sad one, you did good. If it was a little girl trying to sing Animal Crackers and you made her cry, then it would be "Shame on you!". It is a job, and she has to be able to bring out the desired response. It sounds like you both did good.
 
As far as not giving her the part because of her look, I have to ask what you were looking for? If she can bring out the emotional response, that might be more important than appearance.
 
She called the day before, telling me she'd heard I was still looking for females to audition.

Coming in to the audition I wasn't even considering her for the part, just because she looks a little bit older. But I've read you should treat actors with respect - so I gave her the full 20 minutes, including giving her quite a bit of direction so I could see if she responded to direction.

She did respond to direction, and she did a great job.

My problem is still: she doesn't look the part.
 
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I think wasting her and your time is not cool considering you knew you would not be casting her. Perhaps another project will come up that will be a fit for her ?
 
I think it was a bad idea asking her to come in if u knew she wasn't the one for the role. Part of the "you should treat actors with respect" statement comes into play here. If u knew she wasn't the one, the respectful thing to do is to thank her for the interest in being a part of your project but blank blankety blannk...

You learned alot from this specific audition, you learned alot from her.... Maybe she's really the one for the role? I really try hard not to keep an image in my head of what the actor should look like because it tends to cloud my judgement on their acting skills/talents.
 
It is amazing what a talented make up artist can do. They make Gwenyth Paltrow and Maggie Gyllenhal look good on screen.
 
Maybe you can change the part a little, to fit the better actress?

Or cut out all her lines :)

Personally, I'm pretty tired of this "beauty contest" thing that movies and TV really love. I can't imagine casting up there in AK is too easy, so you might have to make changes to fit the talent you have available.

I'm facing the same situation here in VT, that's why I wrote one role for a college-age guy (there's a college next to my house) and one for a middle-aged grungy guy. (farms all around the area)
 
Jay Rodriguez said:
I think it was a bad idea asking her to come in if u knew she wasn't the one for the role. Part of the "you should treat actors with respect" statement comes into play here. If u knew she wasn't the one, the respectful thing to do is to thank her for the interest in being a part of your project but blank blankety blannk...

You learned alot from this specific audition, you learned alot from her.... Maybe she's really the one for the role? I really try hard not to keep an image in my head of what the actor should look like because it tends to cloud my judgement on their acting skills/talents.
Click to expand...

But see... now I'm glad she came in to the audition, because I witnessed something special. You're right, if I had no desire at all to cast her, then making her audition is a waste of her time. But maybe I should not worry about someone's image and go for what they can do.
 
Believability in a performance is much more effective than a look.

I'd rethink your choice on this one i she is indeed badass.
 
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