My First Bedroom Scene

Since I started this process of becoming an actor, I am always scouring the sites on the internet that list auditions hoping to find some for which I can try. I saw an audition on a website for a movie, “A Good Day’s Blame” in which where they were looking for an older gentleman and thought that might be something I should try. I wrote the young lady, Cait Brasel, who was to be the director and submitted my name for her project. She graciously sent me the script and I had a fun time reading it. I showed it to my wife and she even laughed while reading and told me I would be perfect for the part. The older man has hearing problems, can’t remember, and doesn’t seem to pay much attention to his wife. Joy claims I don’t listen when she tells me something, can’t find anything, and forget to do what she asks. Well, I am not an iota as bad as she claims. Joy edits this blog so you can bet that she will change that last sentence. (I’ll let Joy put her editing in these parentheses I DO NOT JUST CLAIM ALL THAT – IT IS TRUE! ----).

I asked for an audition and met Cait (she has a really cute name and it is pronounced Cait) one Saturday afternoon at the Norman public library. I also ran onto Lorrie Chilcoat and Yasmine Barve who were both auditioning for the same movie as the wife of a friend to the man I was attempting to play. Cait had told me it would be a different kind of audition in that it would be more improv-based. The first scene in the movie showed the principle character, Al Peters, getting out of bed, turning off the alarm clock, and getting into his slippers, so just in case, I learned the script and took some props. (see the picture of me with bear – read that bear, not bare feet). As it turned out, I did not need these as she did indeed ask me to improvise a confrontational conversation about something that I always wanted to tell someone. So I turned it on and gave an imaginary sales manager a lecture on carrying too much inventory and railing at him that costs were too high. Then she told me to tell the same man that his mother had cancer. Wow. What a change of pace and sensitivity, but I did it. Nothing remotely comparable to the script.

Several days later she wrote and told me I had secured the part. That was pretty exciting and I could see Hollywood knocking at the door. I had just recently been turned down for a part because I was too young (see previous blog) and this time I was just right. (sounds like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this time “it was just right”). Even though the man in the script had white hair, she said not to worry about it. She did say bring the bear slippers but lose the night shirt.

On Saturday morning, several weeks later, bag of props in hand, I ventured to Norman to Cait’s house to begin shooting the movie. Cait Brasel is a very vivacious, outgoing, and very pretty young lady who is a student at Oklahoma City Community College in the film studies department and is quite a young dynamo. She wrote and is directing this film as a project toward her degree. She had quite a crew on hand to help her. They were Shawn Barfield - Director of Photography/Camera Operator; Melanie Barfield - Production Design; Jonathan Shahan - Camera Operator; Tom Lingo - Loader/Clapper; Barry Timberlake - Script Supervisor; Jarred McCorkle - Boom Operator/Sound man; Paul Lister – Grip (I had known Paul from a class I took at the Actor Factory); Chris Dunny - Grip/Camera Assistant; Mason McDonald - Still Photographer/Grip (and my stand in – that sure is fun to say); Nick Standford – Grip; Stephen ? – Grip; and last but not least Renny Brasel - Location Host (Cait’s mom) and a real delight. Renny kept us supplied with food, drinks, and snacks.

Even though the order of scenes has me waking up and getting out of bed, the first scene we actually shot was me in my robe and slippers picking up the morning paper and noticing a fresh dent in my truck. I am finding out that movies are never or rarely filmed in the order that the scenes fall in the script. I am very upset with the damage and drive next door to confront my neighbor, Dexter, (Brent Noel – a drama professor at OCCC). Of course, he denies knowing anything. I then assume that a young man I see walking down the street, Jimmy (Jesse Brasel, Cait’s younger brother), is the culprit and take out after him.

I capture him and tie him hanging by his knees from the top bar of a swing set in my backyard. I run get my neighbor to help me extract a confession. I am vigorously shooting him in the face with a water pistol when my wife, Mabel (Peggy Hoshall), shows up with her friend Celia (Yasmine Barve). For some reason, they seem to be upset. I let the hooligan down and he runs away yelling for his mother. Cry baby.

Later as I try to explain what was going on to my wife, she and Celia leave in a huff and go next door. And, my friend, Dexter (good friend he is) follows them. So I am left by myself. Shortly thereafter, the hooligan’s mother, Clair (Cait), shows up accosts and slaps me. How rude of her. Doesn’t she realize what kind of child she is rearing? I then go next door to Dexter and Celia’s house where everyone is gathered and they explain to me what happened. It appears I vastly misunderstood some comment that Dexter said about my wife having moles on her feet and his wanting to borrow her. I get upset, head out the door, drive away, and wreck my truck on the mailbox. I had forgotten all of this. So we are having a laugh about it when someone knocks at the door. Dexter answers it and it turns out to be Jackson Daniels (Jake Barnes), Jimmy’s father, and he wants to see me. I go over to meet this good looking giant of a man and the next thing I know, after I come to, is that my face is bloodied and I am missing a tooth.

The slap scene and the “getting knocked out scene” were fun to film. Cait and I took many takes of her slapping me. It is hard to coordinate when she swung and when I moved my head to make it look like a hit, but we did it enough times that surely one of them would work and look natural. I asked her to go ahead and slap me, but she is so sweet and she tried but did not hit me hard enough. The “me getting slugged scene” was easier to film and looks authentic. When you have a big guy like Jake taking a swing at you, a person will naturally flinch and fall back. I appreciate the fact he pulled his punch each time or else I really would have had some teeth missing. Cait is a make-up artist as well as talented writer and director so she made me up to look like I had taken a whooping. I ended up with a bloodied face, nose, and a tooth missing. When we finished that evening, several pictures were taken of me so that Cait could repeat the same make-up when we shoot again. I kept the makeup on and when I walked in the door Joy about freaked out. She knew it was fake, but she still thought it looked frighteningly like when she hits me. I’ll need to see Cait before next Halloween.

We shot the scene where I wake up in bed to find my wife has gone shopping with Celia. My hair is all messed up just like I normally wake up. I never thought about having a scene shot in a bed. We used Cait’s mother bed for the scene. I guessed I thought if I was ever going to do a scene in a bed that it would be a love scene or a porno movie. But I could not possibly do a porno movie. People don't watch them for the acting and I am an actor. So it was just me waking up, scratching and yawning, turning off the alarm, putting my slippers on, and going to get the paper.

I would have paid them to have a chance at this, as it is much fun. Everyone really gets into it and “going over the top” is acceptable. The crew and cast are playful, imaginative, and a total delight and it is great to see these young people learning the ropes of the film industry. Those on the crew are also students at OCCC and they in turn will have to create their films (Heh guys - don't forget about me if you need an older actor). Everyone in the school pitches in to help the other students. I look forward to seeing the finished product in several months. Cait’s goal is to not only enter several film festivals and but to have her movie shown at them. Stay tuned to learn the outcome. And, this is just another notch in my acting career. Perhaps my genre will be comedy, or being knocked out, slugged, slapped, whatever – still have my eye on that red carpet. However, after this last film, my face is a lot closer to it.