Sometimes Called Falling in Love (as Clint)

Oh boy, where do I begin with This one? 

I auditioned with Mike Rembis in Largo FL about 6 months before we ever actually shot the scene.  Mike encouraged me to get a little goofy during the audition.  I had never met him before, there were other people in the room, so I did the best I could.  I was initially auditioning for the role of a policeman, but Mike somehow saw me as The Goof.  That's OK with me, I just still wonder how he saw it!

Mike asks me if I can grow a handlebar mustache.  I can, but not a great one.  So I buy one online that turns out perfect.

Anyway, so I get the script and the character Clint is just this vulgar egotistical monster.  It's painful to read the things he's saying to this woman he is meeting for the first time in a dive bar.  I can't relate to the character at all.  I find him offensive.  And then there's "B.J. for Five" - Oh my god.   I am hoping Mike just drops it.

But Mike doesn't drop it, every month or so he gets in touch with me to let me know that this thing is going to happen.  I am very reluctant, to say the least.

So the big day arrives and I am still very apprehensive.  I still don't know how I'm going to play this guy that I really don't like.  Instinctively I want to be goofy with him so people will know that it's not the real me!  So the morning of the shoot, everything is getting set up and Mike is going to everyone individually to tell them what he wants from them.  Finally he comes to me and I'm still desperately trying to connect with this guy Clint. 

So I ask Mike, "So is Clint kind of a goof?" Hoping that Mike says yes.  But Mike says "No! Clint thinks he's God's gift to women.  He is a Man's man who thinks that every time he goes out to a bar, he's going to get laid."  I'm thinking  Shit, no wiggle room there!  Finally, Mike says "Oh, and he should have a mild southern accent"

A mild southern accent eh?  OK, well I've spent enough time in the south to be able to finesse a mild southern accent.  At least it gives me something to go on.

And now, we're getting all set up to do the scene in its entirety.  Mike the Director is also Mike the boom microphone operator.  He's positioned behind me at the booth, holding the mic over Rhea Rossiter's and my head.  "Action!"

For some unknown reason, what came out of me next was the most ridiculous, affected southern drawl I could imagine.  I still don't know where it came from.  I was in my zone, half panicked, but we got throught the whole scene.  As soon as I heard "Cut!" my very first thought was "Well, Mike's never going to go for that, that was just stupid!"

I turn around to look at Mike and he is doubled over in laughter.  He is worried that because he was laughing so hard during the take, that he had to look away and couldn't keep track of where the boom mic was - it could have dropped down into the picture frame.  Then the director of photography (cameraman) says that he was laughing so hard he couldn't keep focused on me as I moved around in the booth.

So we did several takes that way, and I haven't eaten nachos since.  I like to send this scene out to people with whom I am interested in auditioning, but I have to think twice sometimes - some people do not have the sense of humor for it!