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So after discussing how to be a good acting agent and how to present me, my agent called up - he had secured a one on one interview with the Japanese movie Producer/Director. Perfect, exactly what we wanted.
I get to go in and meet face to stomach (when we are standing, remembering the height difference) the person directly responsible for deciding who is going to be in the movie.
Saying your 7 feet tall on paper just doesn't have the impact of a personal meeting, and this meeting was no different and very standard... well, standard in that regard...
When I met the Japanese Director the first words out of her mouth were "You ARE big." Too which I just smiled and greeted her.
"Her"? Yes, in this case, the Director is a highly educated (and beautiful) Japanese lady who has already successfully produced one action movie. A female Director is a bit different, in my experience it is a field dominated by men, and a female Action Director is completely unseen so far in my career. As you will see, that wasn't to be the only thing different in this acting audition.
"How would you like to die"
Smiling. "I don't care, you are paying" (Some amateur actors have a problem with losing fights on film, but this wasn't ot be the point of this question)
"Tell me about yourself, start from your childhood"
It was at this point I realised this was no ordinary acting audition. So I gave a quick run down of my life, forgetting many points but clearly remembering her surprise when I said that I worked with Sydney Dance Company for 3 years, which I immediately tried to play down as I am not a professional dancer, but I can move and follow a beat and I can follow direction, especially in a new age dance piece like "Berlin" was.
After this I stated that "one point that is different in me is that I am not a fighter who is trying to get into acting. I am an Actor who can fight. At the age of 16 I decided I wanted to be an Actor so I did this to myself, making a sweeping gesture over my body. I was only 70kg so I had to put on 75kg to look like this and I joined the Army to learn to shoot and I learned to fight, I had too no one was going to be able to do my stunts for me."
This won great appreciation from the Director and she gave a statement shortly after to the effect of "all these people try to tell you how to live your life, well I am me and I say this to them" and she elegantly holds up the middle finger. It was at this point my interest was piqued, so I started asking the questions, about her background and her life experiences.
Then again she asked me how I would like to die, then gave me some options, like a multiple choice questionnaire. Upon choosing, I then gave a quick reason why I thought this would be the suitable method and why I saw it fitting in with the characters physchology. This drew a laugh and applause from the Director, clearly my vision suited her vision.
I found a kindred spirit so to speak, in fact even if I wasn't to be in the movie I would like to hang out and get to know her better, she is an interesting person with some background experiences in countries that I have a great interest in, not to mention I like to meet successful, goal orientated people who are striving for something with their lives.
Lively, driven, energetic and confident would best describe my thoughts after the interview. High, energised and buzzing are the words that I would use to describe my emotional state after the interview. It was energising to meet someone on the same wavelength as me and at a similar point in her career as I am now, very refreshing, and a powerful positive feedback that others are out there making it happen on their own too.
And with similar life goals!
Hers? "To be the Queen of Independant Cinema". Awesome. Compared to my personal goals "To be the biggest wrestler the world has ever seen" and now "to be the worlds biggest action hero". Shit, if I had a few friends like this sitting around with me everyday then I would already be a star, well a big International movie star, instead of just being a local hero. The motivation and friendly competitiveness would probably see the local equivalent of the DEA doing raids on this overly energetic household because normal people just aren't like that.
We here's news - I'm not normal, never have been, and will never fit that social mold - it's too boring.
In fact regular readers might see the similarities in the Directors and my personal outlook, though her personality is much brighter than mine. I tend to brood a lot, especially recently with next to no work for the last six months (read no income) getting me down, I just want to work and earn a decent living... all right a rather excessive but still affordable living, and to enjoy my time off between jobs rather than fretting when and where is the next dollar going to come from. Though when I get to that point where money is an issue it is always due to my laziness (or unproductive excesses).
At the conclusion of the interview the Director stated that she would like to have me in her movie, I stated that I would like to work in the movie as I found it, or rather I found her, to be interesting and I wanted to see how she would shoot it.
That said we stood up to say our goodbyes and instead I ended up giving her a big hug and lifting her off the ground, much to the astonishment of the Casting Director sitting nearby.
Several minutes later I received an SMS from the Casting Director that the Japanese lady Director loved me and I'd almost certainlybe getting a part. I smugly replied yes of course, now I hope you see why I am rather demanding in what I want from an Agent, because if the part is suitable I will always get it.
Filming will start in October, so now I just wait and see what happens between now and then.
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