On Watching my Own Movies

Wayne Pyle in Peace, Love and Misunderstanding on SHOWTIME

Last night, I finally caught Peace, Love and Misunderstanding, a film I worked on a few years ago with Catherine Keener, Kyle MacLachlan, Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Olsen in one of her first film roles.

The funny thing about this film is the way I ended up getting bumped up in pay from "background" to supporting because of the encouragement of Catherine Keener. I was cast as a party guest for the opening scene of the film and we shot it up here in the Hudson Valley with a contemporary home in the woods standing in for a mid-town pied-a-terre.

Director Bruce Beresford and I had a great meeting when I came in to audition and we chatted for about 20 minutes about life and Australia and acting and at the end of the meeting I read a few lines and then he said he wanted me to be in the movie, he just wasn't sure what he wanted me to do.

I showed up on set and got dressed and by the time we got called to the set, I was starving. It was a dinner party scene and the food they were using was quite good. I had no lines, so I just started tucking in, thinking, my character is the guy who just eats food while everyone else is having brilliant and witty conversations.

As we started shooting, the discussion around the table was supposed to be about plays in New York and how Eugene O'Neill's plays were long, boring, and no longer relevant. All of the extras nodded in agreement and Catherine thought the scene sounded false so she said, "Oh, come on, someone should disagree." I piped up and said, "I've got something."
Catherine looked at me and nodded. The scene started Again and when everyone started complaining about Eugene's plays, I put down my fork and said, "Oh, come on, the guy has like eight Pulitzers or something." Kyle McLachlan stared and didn't know what to say because his next line didn't quite respond to that, so Bruce told me to wait until after Kyle said his line. We did several more takes and after being scolded by the props person for eating too much of the dinner, Catherine turned to me and said, "That's how you get ahead in this business." It was a pretty awesome moment in my filmmaking career and a part of LLC for me.

Another Shot

As the semester winds down, my thoughts turn to summer and the prospect of acting work.

As you know, last summer I played 40 roles in Becky Mode's one person show, FULLY COMMITTED, at Shadowland Theatre. I was terrified. But I faced the fear, jumped onstage and made it through the summer, relatively unscathed.

A few weeks ago I got a call from Brendan Burke, the artistic director or Shadowland, saying that there was a possibility of remounting the show in Binghamton, NY.

We went up there to meet the artistic director and I launched into a few of the lines, which surprisingly, I still remembered. But the the old fear crept in and I went up on my lines and stopped.

The director was interested and worked out a deal with Brendan so that we'll put the show up in June and July.

And now, I need to prepare for another battle. The show is a monster of memorization and I'm starting to work on each section now so that I am not gripped by such terror when I'm standing at the top of those stairs waiting to enter.

I want to be in a place where I have excitement and anticipation about how the audience is going to react rather than a heart-pounding, brain wrenching feeling that I may get completely lost at any moment.

I will probably still use my cheat sheets, but I'm hoping that they will be there just for emergencies. I work a little more each day, getting clearer, trying new character choices, deciding where beats need to land.

This is the work. This is the joy. This is the life...LLC!