I made someone cry during auditions

[Capt Quirk]

Yeah, except for the mechanical heart and powered armor, he is Tony Stark. Well, sort of... Stark was a drunk, and I believe Downey was a druggie.

 

[Capt Quirk]

Capt Quirk, if I seem extra grumpy - been up since Tuesday morning getting stuff ready for festival submission last minute. Probably taking some Without a Box angst out on you / venting through the argument. Sorry about that.

I have that effect on people, so I'll tell you the same thing I tell the wife- Take a pamprin and get off the rag already!

Just kidding, and you are fine, so no worries

 

[gabrielflorit]

... but one day though ... hopefully, we can all work with the Downey's and Gary Oldmans out there.

I swear one of my actors is a star waiting to happen. The camera loves him. It makes me so excited to work with such mature talent. It also makes me very aware that WTF is a 28-year old doing trying to direct people like him?

 

[judy castro]

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?

I must say you hit the nail on the head! Some people (actors) need some type of direction. The direction you gave her was the right approach. It was clear that she needed some direction in order for her to play the part.
so 2 thumbs up to you!!!