Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Blog, page 151
November 3, 2014
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November 2, 2014
Kid Klingon
“Kid Klingon" by RegularJOE
My mom and I walked into the waiting area. She signed me in. By that age, some of the kids signed themselves in, but I still let my mom do it for me. I was probably ten. A dozen or so boys my age (and their moms or guardians) sat waiting as well. Some were studying their lines. Some were playing Game Boy. That was all normal. But this was not a normal audition.
If you want to be an actor, you have to audition. No, let me rephrase that. If you wanted to work as an actor in television and movies in the early nineties, you had to audition. I started going on auditions when I was five years old. I’d go on three, four, five of them a week, often two on the same day, after school. My mom would work on the material with me. Also she’d drive the car.
Auditions have their ups and downs. On the one hand, it’s great practice to study and perform all that different material trying out for different roles, day after day. On the other hand, it frames the whole thing as a competition, a yes-or-no question. Did I get the part? Yes or no. I’m not sure that’s the healthiest attitude for a budding artist to have towards the creative process. Ideally, art is about self expression, embracing the present moment, things like that. Not about winning or losing.
These boys were there to win. So was I. It was a cool fucking part. To play a Klingon! For those of you who’ve never watched Star Trek, a Klingon is a kind of species that has a body very similar to a human’s, but a head and face that’s pretty different. Their hairline is way high on their head, like a Samurai, and the top half of their skull ripples into menacing bumps remnant of some kind of dinosaur. Also they’re the baddest warriors in the known universe. There had never been a kid Klingon before. But there was about to be.
When you go on an audition, you never find out until later whether or not you got the part. After you’re done performing, they say thanks very much, you leave, and you wait. Usually, you wait for days. Sometimes you hear back, and most of the time, you don’t. If you don’t hear back, it means you didn’t get the part. I’d been doing it for years, so I had gotten used to this. My mom and I always used to say: “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,” meaning don’t get your hopes up about any particular part, but instead let it be a wonderful surprise if it works out. And that approach worked most of the time. But like I said, this was not a normal audition.
Today, after performing, they asked us not to leave. We all stayed. And we waited while each boy went into the casting director’s office, came out, and sat down as the next boy went in. It was because of the extensive prosthetic makeup involved in playing a Klingon. The production schedule was tight, so whoever got the part would have to go into makeup tests that very night. That meant they were gonna read all of us, and decide on the spot who’d be sent on to makeup.
When I went in, I thought I was pretty good. I had built up a decently accurate radar for reading a room. Sometimes I left a room just knowing I was gonna get it, and usually when I felt that way, I was right. Although sometimes I thought for sure I’d blown it, only to be surprised several days later with good news. And of course, sometimes I thought it had gone well, but then never got the call I’d been hoping for. This time, I thought I did a pretty good job, and I thought they liked me, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
I thanked everybody in the room, took my exit, and sat back down with my mom, while the casting director called in the next boy. We waited. My mom asked me how I felt about it. She never put any pressure on me about getting parts or not. She just wanted to support her kid doing something I clearly loved doing, and she put great care into not letting the process fuck with my head. I was fortunate. Not all “stage moms” are so cool.
One by one, all the boys went in and came out. After the last boy was finished, the casting director came out, thanked us for our patience, said they were gonna make their decision as quickly as they could, said she’d be back out shortly to tell us who was getting the part, and then disappeared. We waited.
Finally, the casting director reemerged. Everyone stood up, although we hadn’t been asked to do that; it was like we were compelled by some kind of unspoken competitive instinct, bravely awaiting the news of our fates.
“Thanks again for your patience, everyone,” she said, “you guys all did a great job, and it was a tough decision.”
My optimism had been growing inside me over the last half hour or so since I’d been in the room. I imagined hearing my name coming out of her mouth.
There was a pregnant pause, and then she spoke again.
“The role of Alexander will be played by…”
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October 31, 2014
We’re all dressed up here at the hitRECord offices, and...
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October 30, 2014
The Thousand Steps (SCRIPT)
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1. EXTREME CLOSE UP ON MAN
Long ago, I began my journey. And it has finally led me here.
2. EXTREME WIDE OF STRUCTURE
The Thousand Steps.
3. MEDIUM ON MAN
Legends tell that enlightenment awaits those who reach the summit.
4. PANNING DOWN THE STRUCTURE, ARRIVING ON BACK OF MAN LOOKING UP
I am weary, but the first step beckons me.
5. MAN’S LEGS ON HIS FIRST STEP
And so I begin the climb.
6. CLOSE ON MAN DETERMINED
Rumors abound, but no one knows who, or what, is up there.
7. MAN PASSING CRAZY STATUES
A shaman? A demon? A god?
8. MAN PERSISTING THROUGH RAIN
Step and step again. Step and step again.
9. MAN’S FEET, HIS WALKING STICK
Each movement seems to echo.
10. SYMMETRICAL STATUE AS HE NEARS THE TOP
And with every pace, a pang of deja vu.
11. ANOTHER CRAZIER SYMMETRICAL STATUE
I feel my quest nearing its conclusion.
12. CLOSE ON MAN AS HE NEARS THE TOP
I climb faster, ignoring my body’s protests.
13. WIDE ON MAN AND HIS DOUBLE AS THEY BOTH APPROACH THE TOP AND FINALLY REACH IT
Until I reach the final step.
14. EXTREME CLOSE ON MAN’S EYES, HIS DOUBLE’S EYES.
And then I see him.
15. MAN AND DOUBLE, ASTONISHED, LOOK AT EACH OTHER.
My god.
16. THEY TURN THEIR BACKS ON EACH OTHER.
(no voiceover)
17. MAN AND DOUBLE SLOWLY TURN BACK TOWARDS EACH OTHER.
(no voiceover)
October 29, 2014
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