i know what that's like

Second day of casting:  today we focus on young Joey and his grandmother.

Watching these eight to twelve-year-olds, I wonder how it is that they have been able to figure out what they want to do at such a young age.  Sure, some of them may have come to the audition to fulfill their parents' (or perhaps their own) dream of fame and fortune, but some others exuded a certain air of refreshing energy which was not difficult to detect.

One boy came in and hit every emotional beat that the script demanded, at least on the surface:  I was immediately turned off by the seeming perfection of his performance, because that was exactly what it was, a performance.  What I wanted was an innocent vulnerability that no amount of hours of memorizing lines or embellishment with gestures and facial expressions could achieve.  Luckily, we saw one boy that showed a hint of this quality, although he was quite raw and would need a lot of direction.  What should I gamble on - my directing skills or the boy's acting skills?  Another boy had to postpone his audition because he developed a stye.  He should have come anyway so that I could treat it.  Or maybe not.

The last actor of the day was a cheery boy with sandy blond hair.  After his first reading, I offered him the adjustment of reading the scene as if he has had a bad day at school.  His response:  "I know what that's like, I get bullied a lot at school because I'm the smallest."

I did not expect to be heart broken at these auditions, but I suppose moments like this need to be expected in the business, and I must not consider offering a part to an actor as disappointment to all the others.

We move on; we all know what that's like.