Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Time I Played a Cross Dressing Male Prostitute

In this video, Jennifer Lawrence talks about auditioning for the role of a girl named Emily C., her agent telling her she booked it, and then finding out she actually got the role of a basketball mascot. Yes, she wore the whole costume with the wildcat head. That was her first IMDb credit.

It reminded me of the time I booked something ENTIRELY different from the role for which I auditioned.  A while back, I attended this huge cattle call casting for a comedy.  I auditioned for the role of a wife in a dramatic scene in front of a table full of people. Similar to the set up of "American Idol" auditions. I felt so legitimate, y'all.

A couple of days later, I received a call from production informing me that I didn't book the role of the wife because they thought there was another part that was perfect for me. The role was called Beautiful Woman.

Awww. That's flattering, I thought.  The producer would send me sides later, and she asked if I wanted the job. I was super pumped! I wasn't going on regular auditions, and here was a producer offering me this job. YES! Send those sides right on over!

The sides came. I read the script.

I soon realized that I am not just Beautiful Woman. I am "Beautiful Woman" in quotations because spoiler alert: I am really a man. And a prostitute.

That was completely unexpected. And hilarious.  Come on.  I totally envisioned that I was going to play some classy and glamorous dolled up beautiful woman like Audrey Hepburn.  So the contrasting reality of the situation was funny.

I asked people for advice about the role and went back and forth about it in my head. It's not that a transgender/transvestite prostitute is a "bad" character. But is the role right for me? How did I feel about scenes that are sexual in nature? How would it impact my acting career?  But then I reminded myself that I didn't have an acting career. That would be "career" in quotations.

I decided that the role wouldn't dictate my future in acting. It seemed highly doubtful that I would be typecast.

Cut to casting office: "Heeeeey, aren't you that girl who always plays cross dressing male prostitutes?"

So I accepted the part and got excited to film the movie.  I had so much fun with the cast and crew. You guys, the makeup artist gave me a 5 o'clock shadow.

Yes, the job offer made me wonder if I gave off a transvestite or transgender woman vibe. I think I certainly can.

In this picture on set during another project...hellooo. I absolutely pull off the transgender woman look.



Hey, if I had the opportunity to do a role as juicy as Jared Leto's part in "Dallas Buyers Club", I'm taking it!


2 comments:

  1. Do you actually like your part in the movie after all? In an interview, Brad Pit commented that he was having fun in the movie Interview with the Vampire, while Tom Cruise was giving everybody a hard time for being so serious, perfectionist and trying to always look good in every scene. Just enjoy and have fun !!!

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    1. Hi Antonio! Yes, that's the thing! I was a very feisty, fun character. Even had action scene. I enjoyed the experience a lot.

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