Sunday, January 11, 2009

Cheryl Scungio, as Gracie


After the first round of auditions, I thought I had pretty much found my Gracie. And it wasn't Cheryl Scungio.

But I knew that since this was the lead role, I should not paint myself into a corner by only calling one Gracie to the callbacks. I went through the tapes of the first auditions so many times, and there were a few women that came in a fairly close second to the person I thought I was going to cast. Cheryl was good, but because so many people came to the auditions and time was tight, I auditioned people in pairs. For most of the women, that meant they each read for the parts of Gracie and her best friend, Melanie, they would just swap roles. Cheryl was paired up with another girl, and they were good but very giggly, which was not what I was going for. They were very "Friends" when I was aiming for somewhere in between "Seinfeld" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". So I figured I'd see what she was like without the giggly girl.

When I contacted Cheryl, I was very upfront with her about everything, and I told her point-blank that at this time, she was the runner-up, so she'd really have to pull out all the stops. She thanked me for my candor and promised to work on the notes I gave her.

Because Gracie is in almost every scene and I needed to test that person's chemistry with everyone else in the cast, I told the two Gracie's that I did not expect them to be off-book (have memorized) all 10 pages of dialogue, but I noted the scenes that I did want them to have down.

When the day came, Cheryl was the first to arrive. She brought changes of wardrobe particular to the scenes, and her own make-up kit. And she knew every single word of all 10 pages.

She also had the best chemistry with the rest of the cast, never checked her watch in front of me, and delivered her scenes with authority. She had thought a lot about the character and brought her own take on Gracie to the table, but took direction well if it wasn't what I was looking for. So that is how Cheryl came to be my Gracie. No one could have been more surprised than I was to have cast a thin, blonde Towson-ite who doesn't really swear in a role that is loosely based on my own experiences.

But Cheryl was such a dream to work with, and she is really funny herself. It was like having my own Lucille Ball on the set. She had this habit of whenever she would try to leave a room, she would try to push the door out when it opened inwards, so she kept running into doors unintentionally. But it was funny, so I kept it in. And sometimes she was adorably un-city-fied. I don't know how it came up, but once on the set she was telling me how for the longest time she thought those flashing blue Police cameras in the high-crime areas of the city were bug-zappers. I am not even kidding.

She was always a total trooper whether we were filming in the un-air-conditioned gallery in the middle of August or in the open convertible in the middle of November. I learned a lot from watching her, because she was always very aware of continuity. Unless I tell her to change something up, she does every take exactly the same, which helped me immeasurably during the editing process. She'd help me keep track of things like props and jewelry in that regard also.

She used up all of her vacation time for principle photography, even though for a back-breaking two weeks of work I could only pay her half of what she has made on some one-day industrial shoots. Most importantly, though, as my lead, as the person who was in 95% of the movie, she set the bar very high for all of the other actors, and I know that several of my guys who were very green took their cues from the way she carried herself on set. She never complained, was always off-book, always had her wardrobe, and behaved not just as a hired employee, but as a key member of the team, which is crucial to low-budget indies. This being my first movie, had I had the wrong person in that role, I might have ended up doubtful about doing any follow-up projects. I am very lucky to have found Cheryl, and if you ever have the opportunity to hire her, DO IT.

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