Auditions

I was briefly looking after my cute lil' cousin (or I guess she's technically my second-cousin?) Abby yesterday morning, so I didn't get to head downtown with Jim to watch auditions right away. Instead, after Abby had been picked up for pre-school, I decided to meet him down there. So I took a cab to the bus station at the mall, hopped the 701 bus to Coquitlam for free (I only had a five - not proper change, but the bus driver told me not to worry about it, since he thought I was a pretty lady  *blush* ;), then transfered on to the 160 bus which I took to the Braid Skytrain station, took the Skytrain to the Main Street/Science World stop, and finally grabbed another cab to the Second Street Studio (which I probably could've walked if I knew where I was going... and was wearing more sensible shoes). Total travelling time from Maple Ridge to Van: roughly two hours. Which really isn't much longer than what it took Jim to drive that far during rush hour traffic. :P

After grabbing lunch for Jim n' our producer, (because that's the sort of things an assistant to the director does), I joined Jim, TC, our casting director and her two assistants to watch the auditions for the rest of our Jasmines, Robins and Maggies. I had already missed out on the auditions for Ray and Sheila, but was fortunately able to watch them later online.

I have to say, watching professional actors say lines that we've written, injecting them with emotion and sometimes even ad libbing, well, it was just SO surreal! But while the acting was awesome, I couldn't help but critique every line of dialogue in my head. "Does that sound too cheesy? Unbelievable? Lame?" Whereas with Jim, it had an opposite effect. He said it made him realize how good our dialogue really is. Funny, huh?

One thing that made me laugh to myself was when we were auditioning for the role of Maggie, and she asks Donovan if he knows where Highview school is. For some reason, my brain automatically perked up in recognition of the name Highview. "Highview?! Hey! That was my school!" Umm... of course it was, you idiot! You wrote that line! Ha! There are lots of familiar names peppered through our script - and several in that particular scene - but for some reason Highview triggered something in me when the first two girls said it. Probably because it's harder to mispronounce Highview than Junop. ;)

Since most of the actors were just so awesome, I can tell that we're going to have some tough decisions ahead. Maggie is going to be especially difficult to cast, since she plays a very significant role, and we need the right girl for the job.

Sadly, the one girl we originally had our eyes on has suddenly shot up three inches since her resume was last updated in April. At only 12 years old, she's now taller than me (not that that's a hard thing to achieve).  At a slender 5'6'', she taller than what we're looking for, which I think she instinctively knew. When our casting director had her assistant remeasure the young actor and we saw her latest height, the sweet thing cutely mused with her endearing subtle lisp, "Oh! That's unfortunate." *LOL* We reassured her that there's nothing unfortunate with being tall and beautiful. ;)

Speaking of beautiful, there was another girl who auditioned who is currently our third runner-up for the part. While her acting was natural and wonderful, Jim personally feels that she's too pretty to be our Maggie. As we re-watched the auditions online last night, I predicted that someday that audition clip (or one just like it) will be shown on biography after she grows up to be a famous Hollywood knock out. Even though Jim thinks she's "too attractive", part of the reason she's still a contender is because she's not Barbie doll pretty. She's got a stunning natural beauty, and the sort of demeanor where you can tell that she really doesn't really know how beautiful she is (yet...), which is a very attractive quality in itself.

Then there was the girl who brought tears to our eyes. She's likely too petite for the role at only 4'9''. She looks like she's 8 instead of 11 - and she's actually 12. But, she turned on the waterworks at the pitch perfect moment, even though that direction wasn't in the script. She truly is an amazing little actor! And for that reason, we have her down as our number one pick. However, given her height, I have a feeling we'll probably end up going with our number two.

Number two just brought something different to the role. Unlike the others, she had a unique throaty voice. She also possessed a terrific natural delivery, and was very focused. For instance, one of the lights in the room burned out with a bright flash, and she didn't even blink! She just kept on acting. She also has a contagious smile and laugh. I also thought she was trying to turn on the waterworks, but couldn't quite muster 'em up quickly enough for her brief audition. I'm sure if we cast her, she'd be able to pull it off.

Admittedly, Jim wasn't a huge fan at first, but eventually warmed up to her towards the end of her audition. Since everyone else had been raving about her performance, last night I suggested we watch it again, and he found himself warming up to her even more - as did I. Aesthetically, she's just not the look we've been after. But if we're honest, so far none of the girls are... except for the "unfortunately" tall one. ;) That being said, Maggie #2 was the only blonde of the bunch. And since all the Sarahs we are currently considering are blonde (even though we originally envisioned a red head - too bad it's impossible to find red headed Vancouverites willing to work for scale), her fair hair might give her a bit of an advantage.

Personality-wise she was also great. While the light bulb was being changed, our casting director did a little Q & A, and she spoke about her love of acting, and also shared that she's one of Canada's top track and field runners in her age group. She said that she likes acting because it comes naturally, but track and field really challenges her. She's also a straight A student.

Jeez... I think I'm warming up to her more n' more as I write this. ;) But we'll see what the others bring to the table.  Jim also has more auditions to do tomorrow, but I'll be enjoying some adventures in babysitting land, so I'll have to check 'em out afterwards online. Gosh, I love technology!