The Only Failure
ACTING
Mario Van Peebles Talks ‘Superstition’
What were you looking for when you were casting for the roles of the show?
Mario Van Peebles: Yes. What I wanted was a cast that I felt – that felt smart. That felt like people that you’d want to have a drink with and that at the core felt like people that you would laugh and hug and that are in essence positive and happy to be who they are.
So what do I mean by that? There are certain people that you feel from them that they enjoy being themselves. And I wanted a family that one, you believed was a family that could overcome issues that families often face.
But at the core of the show it’s like life for me. I wanted the family to feel like they were multicultural. That within the dynamic of our American family, you know, you could feel that, you know, at times my wife could be, you know, more the Michelle Obama mode. But at night, you know, when she’s got to get into her full set of, you know, mystic side, other things come out and other sides come out.
So I wanted people who had a duality. People who were multicultural. People who could speak other languages. People who could laugh at self.
And people who were bilingual. And I don’t just mean bilingual in terms of language, but even bilingual in terms of socio-economic divide. That they could talk to the brother or sister in the street or the brother and sister in the trailer park. But they could also talk to someone at the White House, kind of like that Kipling poem.
You know, talk with the crowds nor lose your virtue. Walk with the kings nor lose the common touch. Ifneither loving friends nor foes can hurt you, and if all men count with you but none too much, if you can feel the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of distance run, yours is the world and everything in it, which is more, you’ll be a man, my son, or a woman.
And I wanted folks who kind of got the joke of life. I felt like if we’re going to do this in the long haul, I want the (funnest), best, smartest, you know, family that I can get. And that’s what we went after. And we found them. And it’s been a ride.
And as we go on, it just becomes more and more that way. Not to mention the fact that some of them are legitimately my family. It’s been great.
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Helen Mirren to Teach Her First Online Course on Acting
John Carroll Lynch on Playing Complicated People
Lynch admits he’s used to being asked to play creepy characters, and explains how each actor needs to discover how he or she fits in not only today’s acting scene, but how he or she would’ve been perceived in previous generations. He says, “I seem to be asked to play complicated people. I bring a certain level of menace. The weather changes from sunny to cloudy to stormy with me, and the storms are dangerous. If you want to figure out where you fit in the acting ecosystem, you look at where you would have fit into the generation that came before you. For a while, I thought I was George Kennedy, Karl Malden. American Horror Story’s Twisty the Clown took me to a place where I had to reconsider that. I might actually be Boris Karloff. I guess I’m thinking a lot about death lately.”
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Acting Is Not About Being Someone Different
Audition Etiquette: Some Do’s and Don’t
Do…
Your due diligences – doing your research will pay in the long run; you will know about the project, the Casting Director and the production company before you get to the audition and you can use this information in your application. It shows you care about the project and the CD too.
Don’t…
Go blindly into every role – there are lots of fake auditions out there and it could cost you dearly. Also you won’t suit every role – learn your casting type.
Do…
Read what the CD wants – they might want a cover letter, CV & headshot but they might just as easily just want a link to your Instagram profile (yes I’ve applied for roles like that).
Don’t…
Send a blanket cover letter – make them personal to the role and project.
Be negative about the project or genre; if it’s not be your thing then ask yourself why you are applying for the role in the first place.
So, you’ve got the audition – fantastic! You have been a fantastic opportunity and probably beaten hundreds of other actors/actresses. That is a great achievement already! What now?
Do…
Send a quick email thanking the Casting Director & confirming your attendance. This is a great start; you are saying you will be attending and thanking them for the opportunity too.
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Photo: nbparks.org
Frances McDormand on “Being the Other” Actress
McDormand points out that one of the reasons why she pursued more character-based work is because her “look” didn’t seem to fit any roles. She says, “I was too old, too young, too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too blond, too dark — but at some point they’re going to need the other. So I’d get really good at being the other.”
For example, McDormand’s character in the acclaimed film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri isn’t the type of character an actress McDormand’s age would traditionally play — in fact, McDormand views the character in a masculine light. She reveals, “I really played it like a man. I completely based the character upon John Wayne and John Ford movies, because that’s a two-hour arc. Those characters can come out of nowhere, they don’t need a lot of background, you don’t have to explain why they’re like that, they just are the way they are.”
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