The audition was in Pittsburgh, PA. I had to drive three hours but I was used to that by now. I spent two years at this point driving back and forth doing background work, standing in for other actors, and trying to build credibility. Casting director Donna Belajec was one of the top casting directors in the region and I was trying everything I could to get on her radar.
I was finally in my groove. I was acting full-time without even realizing it. The year 2016 I was cast in multiple projects throughout the year including “Fences” with Denzel Washington. Because I worked on different sets, I took a little bit of what I learned from all of the A-listers and put it into my art.
As I'd gotten to PA, I went into my audition and I remember my agent at the time calling me to tell me that the director wanted to meet me.
I was excited and a week later I was driving back to PA to read for a bigger role.
I was so excited about the possibilities of what was going to come from this. I parked and once I got into the audition room, the director was sitting there with a smirk on his face, we talked about the newly crowned 2016 NBA champs, my hometown’s Cleveland Cavaliers. After joking around for a bit, we went into the scene and I could tell the director was pleased. He had me read one last part that wasn't in the script. I took five minutes, went downstairs and outside to practice in the chaotic Pittsburgh scenery, and prepared my two-page scene.
Once I was ready, I went to the room to audition and a week later I was waiting to find out if I got the part.
While driving to work, I remember my agent calling to tell me that the director loved my audition and to keep my eyes open for an email. Richard Linklater enjoyed my performance so much that the role I received was written in the last minute after the director met with other producers on the film.
Over the next month, I went to shoot my new scene as Dover Air Force Base Guard. I worked on “The Assassins Code” for nearly two months, my characters were completely different. I went into an impromptu meeting once I got to set and to my surprise, I walked into the directors trailer and Richard Linklater was sitting there with Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix”), Steve Carell (“The Office”), and Bryan Cranston. (“Breaking Bad”).
Being a kid from Ohio, that had only been doing this acting thing consistently for two years at the time, I was in my head to the max. I remember sitting between Cranston and Carell. Fishburne diagonal to my left. We were all mid-conversation and the next thing I knew, they were going into the scene.
My mind hadn't caught up to what was happening around me yet. This quietness took over and the next thing I knew they were all looking at me. All four of them. I apologized, we went back in and we did the scene all over again.
Once I came back around to do my scene again, I remember thinking about how natural everyone else sounded and how fake I was. Right in that moment I faked myself out. Cranston and I left the trailer together and he gave me some advice on shooting more than one project. But now, I was even more in my head, I started to get this overwhelming feeling as if I didn't belong. I was working with titans of the industry.
I went back to my trailer and I'd brought my stand-in, and to this day I am thankful for my friends because I had a little bit of familiarity on set. But boy was it a struggle.
Picture went up, and my mind went blank. I forgot my one line and I couldn't find it. I was so nervous with Steve looked at me through the glass. I thought to myself "They are going to think I don't belong." Our thoughts are the masters of our reactions. This I would come to learn after facing this moment.
Once we got enough takes from my angle. We turned the camera around and I went into holding with Cranston and Fishburne.
I was so hard on myself. I wanted to just give my role up to someone else because I just knew I was going to end up on the editing room floor.
Those two guys pulled me aside and told me that I have to get used to this, Laurence told me that I wouldn't be here if I didn't belong.
They gave me the room, my friend was standing in for me, I grabbed some refreshments and I went back outside while they were setting up and I took that time to practice. By the end of the night, Carell and I were in a groove. I hadn't even realized it. Linklater turned the camera back my way, and I had a little bit more calm to my demeanor and I was ready to work.
I thank God for this day because after we were done filming, all three of those guys walked up to me and expressed how impressed they were with my recovery. But little did they know, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I dropped the ball. The next day, I drove back to Cleveland to film my final scene in “The Assassins Code”, the heist.
From day one, I would never let those negative thoughts enter my head again, especially when it came to pursuing my dreams.
Thank you to those guys for taking me to an acting masterclass when they didn't have to. I learned a lot of what I needed to know during my time on set with them.
