Gene Wilder: Acting is “nothing but rejection”

We all know that breaking into the acting industry is hard but when it comes from someone like the Gene Wilder, it’s kind of sobering.

“It’s nothing but rejection,” he says.

Watch as he also talks about the difficulties of breaking into the film business and offers advice to anyone who wants to try.

Must Read Blog: “The Working Actress”

I got an e-mail this weekend from someone named, “Working Actress.” It said that she really enjoyed this website and that she had a blog and thought I might enjoy reading it.

I get e-mails like this quite a bit and usually the blog stinks but I went ahead and checked it out.

I loved it!

“Working Actress” is currently in the position any one of us would kill to be in. She does major guest star roles and is currently auditioning for leads in pilots.

One day she gives her view of the casting process, on another day she tells us what is in her purse in case of an acting-emergency (staples, highlighter, deodorant!) and another she says what its like to audition for a huge casting director.

Most posts, I could take something from out of my experiences and I’m sure you will as well.

I asked her permission to re-print one of my favorite posts. It’s called, My Mantra.

From workingactress.blogspot.com

“I’m a booker. I book all the time.”

That has been my mantra for about a year now. I was swimming in negative thought during the day, and needed to tell myself (trick myself, even) that I would work. That I would keep working. That I didn’t need to worry about the lulls in between jobs, when the next check would come, or the sadness that hits after your wrap a show, because, well…I had to trust that I was a booker. If that’s what I wanted to be, then I had to trick myself into being just that. (Even when I wasn’t booking a f-ing thing).

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Harrison Ford’s advice to actors

Independent Producer/Director Zak Forsman’s advice to actors

This post is one of three in a series of posts from the San Diego Film Festival. If you ever get a chance you really should go. Great films, great people and incredible access to filmmakers.

The festival is in — and I would have posted these sooner but I had some major audio issues and transcribing the panels were difficult.

Zak Forsman is a writer, director and producer of independent films. His films are mostly improvised which makes all of the performances look completely real.

Take a couple minutes to read what he said on the panel. It’s a peek on what the other side is thinking… and if you look at it from an actors perspective, it can be excellent advice.

Zak Forsman:
How many filmmakers are in the audience?  Because that’s about all I can share.  I can’t really share the actor’s point of view on this.  But I can tell you some lessons I’ve learned and some of the experiences that I’ve had and what I’m hoping for.

The key thing that I’m looking for with an actor is whether they’re able to internalize direction and actually make a change.

So, we provide them with 2-3 pages of sides.  They’ll come in.  They’re asked to read it however they’ve prepared it, and if that goes well enough and we like them, I’ll give them an adjustment that could be ridiculous.  It could be off the wall.  But I would like to see them chase a different objective using the same words to see if they can truly internalize my direction and be authentic.

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Armin Shimerman: “Luck is a huge factor in every career”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:29 — 8.0MB)

Armin Shimerman made his name in television - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Seinfeld, Boston Legal (to name a few) – by playing unique, memorable characters. But did you know his true love is theater?

I caught up with Armin at the tail-end of his run of The Seafarer where he was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about theater, how he prepares for a role and much more!

For ticket information on The Seafarer at the San Diego Repertory Theater, click here!

You’re currently starring in The Seafarer. Even though it’s a short run, how do you keep your performance fresh night after night?
How do I do that?  How does any actor do that?  By being inspired every night by what the other people are doing and finding new things in the play as we go along.  Although it’s a rehearsed and performed piece, there’s always something new.  That’s the great thing about live theater, you can always find something new and fresh each performance.  The audience and the actors give you things.

How do you choose your theatre projects?  Do you have a master list of shows or characters that you want to do somewhere?
I tend to prefer classical theater.  That is what I’ve been trained in and what I’ve mostly done and what intrigues me the most.  However, I saw this particular play in New York when I was visiting a couple years ago, and it was an incredible production directed by the playwright on Broadway.  And when I saw it, after I saw it, I was just absolutely enthralled by it and there was a particular part in it that I really wanted to play.  That is not the part that I’m playing, but I was really enthralled by the play.  And I particularly wanted to play the Devil, but instead the theatre here, very wisely in my opinion, cast me as Richard Harkin which is the host of the party for want of a better term.  And I’m just tickled pink.  Without doubt it’ll always be one of my favorite character’s that I’ve ever played.

I’ve heard you’re fantastic in the show.
It’s turned out very well.  We’ve had a wonderful director.  Delisha [Turner Sonnenburg] did a great job directing it.  The theatre has done a terrific job of producing it.  And it’s an incredible ensemble of actors.

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Bruce Willis talks about his early days as an actor

Here is a great interview Bruce Willis gave about his early days as a young actor. From his decision to become an actor to his time on Moonlighting, this is really a must read.

Q: When did you decide to become an actor?

A: It wasn’t gradual. It was a very abrupt choice. It was the first year I was a student at Montclair State College (now a university) out in Jersey. They had a great theater department, where stage directors would come out from New York City and help. My first play as a freshman, I realized this is what I want to do. Never looked back. Never considered anything else. I was 19. The role was a small part, Ruckley in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” I changed most of my classes and took all acting and theater-related courses. By the beginning of third semester, I was cutting class to go to auditions for plays out in New York. Got into a play in 1976 and moved to New York.

Q: What was going through your mind in those days?

A: I had been in New York for a couple of years doing theater. For me, to work on any film, let alone one with Frank Sinatra or Faye Dunaway, I was thrilled. I thought I was in show business, albeit on the perimeter. A couple of things happened on that film. It was back in the day when I still had a big full head of hair, and I had just shaved my hair for an independent film called “A Guru Comes.” I answered an ad “must have shaved head.” So I shaved my head the night before. I went in to audition for “First Deadly Sin,” and the director, Brian Hutton, later gave me a small speaking part.

Q: When did you realize you were a good actor?

A: It was a staircase of work. Every job I got seemed to be a little better part with a little more to do, a little more challenging. I’d study in between with Stella Adler, who took a liking to me and helped out a lot. The work was the answer. If you were a working actor in New York and getting paid, then that allowed you to call yourself an actor.

Q: Was there a job you loved or hated most during those first years?

A: I can’t remember any of them that I really didn’t like. The one that was another big turn was a Sam Shepard play called “Fool for Love” that I did off-Broadway for about 110 performances.

Q: What was your first impression of the David Addison Jr. character in “Moonlighting”?

A: That part in “Moonlighting” just came out of nowhere. I had gone out to California after I finished “Fool for Love” to take a vacation and check out the Olympics in 1984. I ended up not having any time to check out the Olympics because I had gotten a call from an agent about auditions. One of them was “Moonlighting.” I had a typical New York theater actor’s disapproval of television. I hadn’t watched television for about 12 years at that point. But the script that Glenn Caron wrote, I thought, “I know this guy. I know how he talks.” Unfortunately, I didn’t look the part of an ABC leading man at the time. It took a while for ABC to accept me. But it was another big turn.

Q: How did it improve your acting?

A: Comedy is a test by fire. Comedy in a weekly two-character series is a huge test. You’re either funny or you’re not. If we hadn’t been funny, the show would have gone off the air quickly. We had great writing. Glenn wrote just about all the episodes the first year. Cybill (Shepherd) and I just clicked. More than anything, we tapped into a sort of screwball comedy that went back to Howard Hawks and Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. We just talked as fast as we possibly could and said funny things. It was like a big toy, having a show where the guy who created (it) would say, “Yeah, do that. That’s funny,” and making it all up as we went along. The first 2 1/2 years were a thrill.

Q: Did the fun end?

A: As with a lot of television, it just becomes cyclical. It’s hard to avoid repeating yourself. It’s hard to avoid telling the same joke in the fourth year that you already told in the first year. Our audience was pretty faithful, and they started to notice it. The network started to notice it, and the wear and tear on Cybill and me was something I had never experienced. Just mental exhaustion. Everybody knows what physical exhaustion is. You work out, your muscles get tired, you go to bed early. Mental exhaustion is a lot trickier. You don’t know where the falling-down point comes. There were days where we worked 17 hours. In that 17th hour, you’d have to be on and funny and still deliver. Not a lot of time off. From the first year on, we worked nine months, and on my hiatus I would work on a film.

Q: When did it feel as if the work paid off?

A: When the first “Die Hard” came out I was starting to hear people say, “Wow. Congratulations. You’ve crossed over.” I didn’t know what that meant at the time or how difficult it was to take that step from television to feature films.

Q: What role did you feel the least confident in taking on?

A: I was always trying to push myself to try new things. When I started doing supporting roles in other people’s films, my agent was up in arms, saying, “You’re going to hurt your price. You’re going to hurt your box office.” I was just trying to keep myself interested as an actor. Taking the role of Butch in “Pulp Fiction” was certainly challenging. Everybody brought their A game to that. You had to show up with yours. I played a small role in a movie called “Mortal Thoughts” that (ex-wife) Demi Moore produced. I had a ball doing that. Prior to “Pulp Fiction,” I used to say that was my favorite film. It didn’t get seen a lot because it got caught in a studio regime change. But it’s still out there.

Q: What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

A: I don’t pay much attention to advice. It’s worth about as much as it costs. I try not to give it. And I try not to take anybody else’s too seriously. I have to take responsibility for everything that happens in my life, good and bad. So advice is like cowboy hats.

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Richard Jenkins's worst advice

Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins was recently asked the question:

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

“Most advice you get is not very good. That’s the truth. I was told I had to live in L.A. Then I had to live in New York. I had to do this. I had to do that. I have found that no two actors have the same story.”