Our new series from Ginny O'Keefe, who knows from auditions as an actress in Los Angeles...
One of the most notable audition scenes in recent years comes from the sugar-coated musical hit film about how hard it is to make it Hollywood, whether you’re an aspiring actress or an attractive White guy who (for some reason) really wishes jazz music would go back to its roots. [I can’t even tell you how many White guys I’ve met in LA who constantly preach about how we need to save jazz music ... /sarcasm]. Yeah, you guessed it. This week's audition is from La La Land.
This film has its flaws. One of which is casting two A-list actors who pretend to be struggling artists in the unforgiving Tinseltown. (I personally think this film would have come across better if they cast two unknowns for the lead roles. Keep John Legend though, he’s good).
But one particular sparkly gem in this film is an audition scene which puts Emma Stone’s character, Mia, in the spotlight to show her talent and how good she really is. Sometimes (most of the time) in Hollywood, good just isn’t enough...
THE AUDITION
Mia has arrived to an audition wearing an out-of-place blue ski jacket over her coffee stained white button-down. (The button-down was a wardrobe note for the actors to wear to the audition). The scene opens up with Mia in her audition mid-performance. She’s pretending to talk on the phone with another character and is being filmed by the casting director on a camcorder atop a tripod. Those will almost always be in the room with any actor during an audition. Mia starts off laughing and giggling on the phone as the character and the shot slowly gets tighter and tighter on her face while she speaks. We can’t help but listen intently.
First of all, she has no sides (script pages for the character) with her as she’s basically talking to herself on the phone which makes her look extra professional and capable and the performance won’t be interrupted or shaken by her constantly looking down at sides while trying to seem like she's not looking down at sides. Then she asks a question on the phone as the character. She "hears" devastating news on the other end. You can see it all in her eyes as she crumbles and tries to hold back the tears in her eyes. You have no idea what’s supposed to be going on in the scene she’s auditioning for, but it doesn’t matter because her eyes tell a story all on their own. She’s in a full breakdown and trying her best to pick up the pieces …then the assistant is seen through the window of the door to the audition room with a damn post-it in her hand.
We see it before she does, and the casting director stops her mid-performance. It’s like watching a person walk right into an invisible brick wall. The assistant walks in and the performance is sucked right out of her. She’s been taken completely out of her created world, a slap in her face since she took time out of work for this audition. The assistant tells the casting director about a call she has just received and the casting director tells her she’ll call the person back in two minutes. “Less than two minutes. I’m almost done.” Along with some flippant comment about when she’ll be needing her lunch. As an actor it’s hard not to take that personally. Mia is stuck in a limbo and is unsure of where to go from here. She doesn’t know whether she should keep going or not because the moment is gone. I can’t blame her. Finally, the casting director says, “I think we’re good, thanks for coming in.” All the while Mia still has the phone up to her ear and hasn’t moved; she’s not an actress anymore, but a mannequin.
IS THE SCENE REALISTIC?
I have had people walk in on me during auditions, though thankfully most of those times it was an accident and the person was unaware that an audition was in progress. The casting director has generally kicked them out immediately and generously let me start over. You can’t have interruptions on the tapes. In this case, the assistant knew full well that Mia was mid-performance and she should know that a phone call can wait. The casting director should know that, too. After college I worked as an intern for a casting director in New York City and if I ever came in to notify her about a phone call, I would wait until I saw the actor leave the freakin’ room.
Unfortunately, insensitive auditions do happen a lot. Sometimes they don’t care about your time or that you’ve memorized pages of dialogue for a five-minute shot. Sometimes they just want to get it over with. I think we can all agree that Mia deserved better. (SPOILER ALERT) She ends up famous and happily married to a guy (who isn’t Ryan Gosling) so I guess God has a plan for all of us.
Previously on "Auditions":
• Takashi Miike's terrifying thriller Audition