SELF-TAPE AUDITION

In my last article I began with the famous L’Oreal catchphrase “Because You’re Worth It”, and I wrote about a successful audition for the stage.

This time I have a screen audition to write about and I’m beginning with another famous catchphrase:

It’s the Real Thing

— Coke

The screen audition in this article is motivated by the idea that everything should be as real as possible so that the actor has to do as little work as possible. It is a scene from the successful self-tape audition that Thomasin McKenzie submitted for what became her breakout role in the film LEAVE NO TRACE (2017), co-starring Ben Foster and directed by Debra Granik.

Thomasin is my daughter and she and the producers have kindly given me permission to add this link to the audition-scene here. And you can see the trailer for the film here.

LEAVE NO TRACE

Like Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY (2008), Debra Granik’s work such as WINTER’S BONE (2010) has inspired many great American social realist films. Recently, Chloe Zhou’…