Cranky Actress Blog

I was thinking maybe I was too hard on the hat woman. Maybe she wasn’t so bad. Why did I have this reaction? I didn’t understand until it was time to do the work.

In our scene we are on the phone with one another. We really didn’t have to work together at all since we are filmed in different locations. I suggested that we be on the phone for each other when we do our scenes so we wouldn’t have to ACT like we were on the phone with each other.

When it comes time to film her part of the scene I am still in Florida. I am running around cleaning our friend’s house that we have been staying in before we leave for the airport. Cranky gets crazy when she has to make a plane.

My cell phone rings and it is the director from New York. They are ready to film hatwoman’s part of the scene. I stop what I am doing and go and sit on the patio. Hatwoman gets on the phone. We say hello. Then she says, “ Ah, um. I really haven’t had time to focus on these lines. If I forget or anything would you read them to me?” “Ah, yea,” I say.

So they yell “ACTION!” in New York and we begin. I have to read practically all her lines to her over the fucking phone. How do you go to a film set and NOT KNOW YOUR LINES? Huh?

The director says the sound is picking up me saying her lines before she says them. Not good. I hear a scared, “Oh,” from hatwoman. And then silence. I tell her to just take a long pause before speaking so they can edit me out saying her lines to her. So this is how we get through it.

When it comes time to do my half of the call she isn’t available and I have the director out in my stairwell on his cell phone talking to me. Which is fine.

So I think her whole act bothered me because I knew she was all about being late and big sunglasses and putting on a big show as subterfuge for not knowing a thing about what she’s actually doing. The song and dance of the clueless.

I think you are only allowed to act like this if you once did great work, won awards and now are famous and are on drugs.