News

Karl Pierce
It was a short phone call that started it all. "Are you available to shoot a scene for a documentary film next Thursday". The warm tones of the sultry female voice said. "Yes," was all I could come up with, while trying not to sound too desperate. "I'll give you the details later," she said, leaving me full of anticipation. I had done this twice before, so I wasn't new to the game, but each call fills you with excitement, anticipation and a lot of nervousness. I had just come out of a different kind of relationship, a long term one. The Ten Minute Play Festival and I had been together for over nine months. I remember the energy it had at the beginning, when all things were possible. The relationship grew and changed over those nine months. It became a safe place to play and explore. I had really invested a lot of myself in it, but now it was over. I was lonely and the documentary was calling. I got an SMS on Thursday morning saying our date had been pushed back to Friday. I was not sure why, but of course, as an insecure actor, it must have been something I said or didn't say. Had I sounded too desperate? Nothing to do but wait another day. Friday came at last, I had to be in Echternach at 7:50 in the morning. I didn't have to worry about how I looked, they would take care of all that. By 8:00 most of my hair was on the floor of the makeup trailer. I had learned that I was to play an American Lieutenant in 1944 and that I had a paragraph of lines to memorize. I was then stripped down and my clothes were replaced with clothes that smelled like my grandfather's basement. All old military stuff has the same smell. Turns out I had received a battlefield promotion to Captain. I was left to myself for about 45 minutes while I went over and over my new lines. It was going so fast, there was no time for growth or reflection, for finding just the right intention. They came in and said "OK lets go to the set". The set was in a small church just outside Echternach. Lots of the pews had been moved outside to make room for the camera equipment. My job was to stand in front of the soldiers and give my speech while the camera panned from one side of the room to the other. For the first rehearsal I was crap. I had never said the lines above a whisper, they all seemed to want to come out at the same time and in random order. The director, Andy Bausch, came up and reassured me that the text was not so important. He planned to over-dub my speech with the interview of the real guy, so my lines would not really be
NWTC Newsletter Page 11 Jan 2010
heard. It was the visual aspect that was important. This seemed to help, the next rehearsal was better. I think we rehearsed it about four or five times in all, before the first attempt at actually filming it. Each take got better and better. It was amazing to me how fast it could come together. Just ten minutes ago I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth and now I was commanding troops like General Patton. And just as I was feeling really good about what I was doing and saying, I heard "Great, that's a wrap!" and everyone started taking apart cameras and lights, the sound guy took away my mic, the props guy took away my pistol. At least they didn't rip the clothes off my back right then and there. The scene was over, the director had gotten what he wanted. Suddenly, the contrast between theatre and film was quite clear. Theatre is a long term relationship. Film, at least in the case of a small part, is a one night stand. So, the question remains, "Would I do it again?" "Yes," is all I can come up with, while trying not to sound too desperate. If you would like to have your own 'one night stand' http://www.filmreakter.lu has started a database for actors and extras, who would like to work in the local film industry. "We know from experience that English speaking actors are often desperately looked for" Govinda Van Maele from FilmReakter. Many NWTC members are already in the database and are getting auditions for film roles. The FilmReakter database is fast becoming the 'go-to' resource for casting directors working on films in Luxembourg. And, if you would like even more exposure, NWTC is offering it's members their very own web page to post headshots, CVs, bios, etc. see http://www.nwtc.lu/pages/members/actor-pages.php for more information.

Last changed: Mar 13 2010 at 4:36 PM