They’re Gonna Put Me in the Movies

When our family was participating in lots of extras work in the movies, we got a call from the casting director wanting Brandon to audition for an upcoming movie being shot in the area. It was a role playing the part of Timothy Hutton’s character as a child.  

Simple enough, right?  

Not so simple as far as Brandon was concerned.  

I told Brandon about the call and when he was supposed to audition. “Ha!” He's more interested in playing with his friends so this was going to be an inconvenience to him.  

“Ah-ha!” I thought.  

Bribe him! 

“Brandon,” I said, “if you go to the audition for this role, I'll take you to McDonald's for a Happy Meal and prize!”  

BINGO! It worked.  

So, AFTER the visit to McDonald's and carrying the prized toy with him to the audition, we were very successful. He received a “call back.” Now we were told he needed to be able to play the piano or at least look like he could play it. 

Bummer!  

The only instrument he had ever thought about playing was the viola. He hated practicing so need I say more?  

We drove downtown for the re-audition and he was called into an area where the piano was set up so he could exhibit his piano playing skills. He was in the audition for a few minutes and was escorted out to join us in the holding area. I was waiting for someone to say, “so long, farewell, aufedersehen, adieu,” because his piano skills were non-existent.  

We were told that he had a wonderful audition and that he did great on the piano.  

What?  

David and I just looked at each other thinking they must be talking about some other kid. We ask Brandon how he could play the piano when he had never had a lesson and to our surprise he said, “I watch John, Mama.” Brandon had been standing by the keyboard when John had his lessons and Brandon had picked up enough from watching John that he was able to pretend that he could play.  

Who knew?  

From that audition he got another call back. This time it was to check to see how close he looked the part and to see how well he did on screen.  

Again, according to the assistant, he did great.  

Another “call back.” 

No more bribes with McDonalds. He was enjoying this.  

He began to recognize some of the people and they him. This time they were checking facial characteristics and coloring. One more addition down. Casting took a few days to make a formal decision. They called to let us know that it had been narrowed down to three children. The child they would select needed to have brown hair.   

“Brandon’s hair can be dyed, right?” they said. We said it would be no problem.  

When it came to his eyebrows, they were so white you couldn’t see them-- they would have to be dyed as well. Because they preferred not to take that risk around his eyes, they thought it best to go with one of the other two children. 

We broke the news to Brandon thinking he would be upset. Not so!  

“Okay,” Brandon replied as he was grabbing a toy and running out the door to join his friends.  

“Well, that was easy,” I thought. I just knew he was going to feel upset & rejected. We had always explained to him that he got the role great and if not so what. You never knew exactly what the directors were looking for.  

As I looked out the window and witnessed him running over to join his friends on the front yard, I knew why he was not upset. They were all happy just to be together and to be able to spend the day together. He had spent many days going back and forth to auditions and even though he really enjoyed it, he was really ready to spend time with his friends.  

Which would you choose?  

Being cooped up shooting a movie? Or running, jumping and laughing in the warm sunshine with your besties? After all, they could all play with the collection of toys from McDonald's Happy Meals!  

Notice that I said: “Collection!”