At the USC campus, I auditioned for a project I wanted to be involved with. Mitchell Golden's fascinating Sandcastles: A Mockumentary. It was to be a student film about a budding documentarian who follows the major players in the fictional Greater Los Angeles Sandcastle Showcase (GLASS).
The role I read for was the lead character, Jack McKee. Recently divorced and trying too hard to cover up his depression with false optimism, McKee abandoned his highly paid job as an architect to join the sandcastle circuit, which became an obsession.
He'll do anything to win his fifth trophy.
The mockumentary is one of my favorite film forms.
For years, I have worshipped at the shrine of Christopher Guest, director of Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind.
I have a natural gift for the straight-faced improv the genre requires. To prepare, I spent the half-hour before my audition sitting at a desk in the hallway writing a series of improv hooks.
Then, I spent about 30 minutes with Mitch Golden, his camera and computer, during which he interviewed me. I improvised my answers based on his notes and mine.
From his inscrutable smile, I didn’t know if he’d cast me. But it was a wonderful experience to exercise my mockumentary muscles once more.
Sure enough, 24 hours later, I got the job.
The finished film was hilarious.
