Eyes Wide Shut

Rehearsals with Kevin steadily improved and we felt we were ready to showcase our scene from Eyes Wide Shut. (Despite the fact that Tom and Nicole shot this very scene for three weeks straight to get it right – a luxury we did’t have.)

We changed the kissing so that he’d be kissing my neck – only for a few seconds until I interrupted him with a question. One thing I should have considered earlier on was that this was a bedroom scene and thus required bedroom attire. We decided on boxers and a wife-beater for him; black pantyhose, a camisole and one of his blue work shirts for me. (He’s not all that tall so the shirt could have been longer, but oh well.)

I really had to work on anger for this character, which was difficult to trudge up after years of well-practiced conflict avoidance. After one long day of rehearsals I met up with my writer/producer friend Olivia for a film screening; it took me awhile to realize why I felt vaguely agitated throughout the first half of the rom-com – residual rehearsal anger. I probably should have started with a passive-aggressive scene instead.

Kevin and I were confident after our dress rehearsal and were pleased with our second-to-last slot in the running order. This was a lunchtime showcase at Soho Theatre so there were bound to be some busy agents who were latecomers and would miss the first few scenes.

I had normal-sized-head headshots and my new business cards ready to hand out afterwards: “Lucy McGinn, Actor/Producer”. Everyone’s a slash something and I don’t /model, /sing, /write, /direct or /dance. Besides, it’s hard for someone to make you prove your producing skills… at least not in an audition. I did produce a student fashion show in college, so I decided that would count.

When it came time to do the scene, we waited for our cue behind a long black temporary wall (a makeshift backstage where barely two at a time could pass abreast, in the spots without piles of props). Kevin tried kissing my neck backstage to make the opening more realistic.

The scene was great. It was intense. I’m not sure if anyone noticed though because Kevin decided to undo more than the agreed-upon two buttons on my (his) shirt. So I had to do most of the scene with my shirt hanging open revealing my lacy black underpants to the world. It was a bit much for lunchtime. At least the anger was real.

Afterwards all of the actors were eager to add “/salesperson” to their business cards and get networking with the agents. Unfortunately, the producers kept us all cooped up behind the fake backstage wall until the agents had time to make a break for it to avoid the impending mob. Some of them left their names on a sign-up sheet, but for most it was the usual entertainment-business mantra: we’ll call you.