Movie Star!...for a day.

So three weeks ago, Brian told me about an audition he read about on craigslist that was calling for native English speaking females for a real-estate commercial that would be shown on the internet and American television. Clearly I went to the audition (even though Brian said he was charging a finders' fee of 15% if I got the part) and did a pretty good job. I got a call a week later from the casting director saying "it's now down to six girls, and your one of them." CRAZY! Then the next week, "down to three," and this last week, "it's between you and another girl." While still going to my english lessons (and hoping daily for some temporary fame) I got a different call from a big Argentine company who had randomly seen my audition tape, and wanted me to audition for their DVD series that teaches English to foreigners. "Umm.... Yes, I would love to come to your audition!" This company is huge in Argentina, so the pay would be incredible--I would make more in one day of filming than I could in a whole week teaching! So once again, I showed off my rusty/non-existent acting skills, but this time against more than 70 people, instead of just 10. eeeeek! Unbelievably, a representative of the agency called me two days later and told me the producer wanted to meet me in person! Was this a joke? I barely made the role of chorus girl in Guys and Dolls in high-school!  I went in the next day, shaking like a schoolboy, and met with the producer. 

Big, fancy producer: "Well, the reason I called you in today was just to meet you, and see what you are you like in person"

Me: "Yeah? Great. I..."

Big, fancy producer: .."because i'm offering you the part... And we are shooting the pilot in two days". 

After I changed into a clean pair of jeans, and wiped the drool off of my face, I processed what I had just heard. Ahhhhhh, I was going to be a movie-star!!

THE PILOT

So I showed up at this big fancy studio in the city, hair undone, no make-up, wearing a white tee-shirt and jeans and stepped into what could easily be mistaken for fashion-week, Buenos Aires. As I walked into a gigantic room filled with 20 super trendy, dark haired, Argentine beauties I immediately felt like my getting the part was a mistake. Were these my fellow actors? Why did they all look so professional? Just as I was about pretend to be a janitor, lost on my way to clean up a spill in the staff room, someone spotted me, and let everyone there know that I had arrived. Unbeknownst to me, all of these people were there for me! A woman for my make-up, one for my hair, two for my wardrobe, two men to bring me food, sound people, light people, a woman to discuss my ideas on the script! WHAT?! Was this a joke?

While changing in front of semi-circle of women who all stared at me, heads cocked, deciding if my waist looked good in this, my arms looked okay in that, I felt a sudden air of confusion as I changed into a different shirt. "Where is your other bra?" they said, concerned. "Oh.." I said, "was i supposed to bring one? I.."  "Where is your push-up bra? Why aren't you wearing a push-up bra?"  I didn't know how to communicate that padded bras weren't really being sold in bulk in Canton, New York, so i just kind of laughed and looked around at the 4 perky pairs that were staring back at me. Finally, the Argentine boob secret revealed!! 

After 12 wardrobe changes, and about an hour of hair work, ("no this curl has to be closer to her head," "no, this part of her bangs is slightly asymmetrical") we started to actually shoot the pilot, and it was incredible. I entered a room about 100 by 100 that was bright white, with all the corners rounded off to diminish any perception of depth. I delivered my lines for close to 3 hours to about 15 people who taped, held lights, monitored sound, reapplied my makeup, cut my hair, brought me food, changed props, etc., It was unbelievable. The pilot is being marketed to an big South American company that is looking for an English Language learning aid, that would make learning fun, and put a fresher look on outdated videos that are almost comical to watch. I'm not sure if my performance was any more realistic than the one's I watched in high-school, but it was so much fun to do, and getting paid in cash, 6 minutes after the final take was awesome.