 |
NONE |
|
|
|
|
|
March 25, 1999 |
|
|
ACTORS'
DIALOGUE: Jennifer Elise Cox & Alanna Ubach
By Jamie Painter
|
|
|
|
Actresses Jennifer Elise Cox (left in photo)
and Alanna Ubach first met on the set of The Brady Bunch
Movie, in which Cox pulled off a great Jan Brady and
Ubach played Marcia's sexually confused friend, Noreen.
They subsequently kept running into each other at
auditions in Los Angeles, and instead of competing, they
became allies. Cox and Ubach recently met for breakfast
to share their thoughts on the audition process, the
Method, and ignoring rejection.
Cox can
currently be seen in the just-released Ed TV. Her other
feature credits include Can't Hardly Wait, Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas, A Very Brady Sequel, and the
upcoming Tiara Tango. On television, Cox has appeared on
Clueless, The Parent 'Hood, Murphy Brown, and Wings. She
is a graduate of Cal Arts and the High School of
Performing Arts in New York.
Ubach, who
studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and with Stella
Adler, played a starring role opposite Parker Posey and
Lisa Kudrow in last year's indie feature Clockwatchers.
Her film credits also include Johns, Freeway, Sister Act
II, Renaissance Man, and the upcoming films McClintock's
Peach opposite Mike Myers and Ben Stiller and We Met on
the Vineyard with Julianna Margulies. On television,
she's been seen on Chicago Hope, Providence, Party of
Five, ER, Touched by an Angel, and the award-winning
children's series Beakman's World. Ubach recently
co-wrote the script Life After Donna Dell, a dark, campy
1950s-style musical currently in pre-production. Both
Ubach and Cox will act in the film. In her spare time,
Ubach is an acting teacher.
Alanna Ubach: You're already established as
an actor when you decide that you want it as a career.
It's not the falling down, but the staying down that's
really dangerous to your life. I think it has to do with
going out on auditions, feeling rejected, and being
obsessed with rejection. The majority of us actors tend
to be really stifled in our own little world, because so
many of us have tunnel vision. Ten years from now,
you'll look back and think, What did I do with my life
besides sit and wait for someone else to judge me?
That's not what it's about.
Jennifer
Elise Cox: That's so true. I was at that place when I
first started. I found rejection was too hard and I
wouldn't create projects for myself to keep busy. But
now I do it all the time. My friend and I just got up
this week at the Improv and did a comedy sketch. It is
about creating projects for yourself.
Ubach: As a woman, if I'm not pregnant, I'm
going to make another baby in any which way I can. I
love to create. My maternal instincts are coming out
more and more every single day, which makes it really
enjoyable when I go out and audition, because I feel
like I'm basically appeasing everyone who's unsure of
how to find the character in the production. I think the
majority of casting directors and producers and
directors who are auditioning us want to be pacified
about the project they're doing.
Cox: I
really changed my tune and I look at auditions now as an
opportunity. I say to myself, "This is what I like to do
and I'm getting a chance to do it." I went up for
something this week and it came down to me and another
girl and I ran into the casting director afterwards and
he was like, "We will work together. I just want you to
know that." These things pay off. Auditioning is just a
huge opportunity. But there are a lot of times when it's
just showing up and it can get grueling.
Ubach: I'll tell you what P.O.s me about
auditions. Parking. Parking is such a bitch in Los
Angeles. And finding these offices. Finding Chatauqua
and Ventura and Encino. Where the hell are these
offices?
But, usually, I look at
auditions as putting on a little play for a real small
audience. If you treat it like it's your living room and
you invited people over for a party, that's really what
makes it cool.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
Cox: A friend of mine from high school asked
me, "You got Method with Jan Brady, didn't you?" and I
was like, "How did you know?" It's really embarrassing,
but I did. You wouldn't have wanted to live with me
during that time. I was starting to feel like such a
victim. I was so whiny. I love Jan, but I'm embarrassed
to say, I got way too into it.
Ubach: Do
you totally get in the part all day long before an
audition?
Cox: I do. I need time. The
Method was what we were taught at the High School of
Performing Arts. It's about using sense memory, using
your instrument, and becoming that character fully. To a
certain extent, I've had to back off a little bit from
the Method because I used to go fully into it. It's hard
for me, because when I'm creating a character, I'm
worried that I'm going lose that character. So for an
audition, I need a lot of time to prepare and to really
get into this person's head and become this person. I
mean, I'll do crazy things like go out to a restaurant
as that character.
Ubach: That is
fearless! Method training just teaches you how to trust
your instincts from the very beginning and define every
kind of tension in your body and release it in any which
way you can, whether it's on-camera or off. Because
tension really gets the best of you and turns you into
an exhibitionist and you don't need to be.
Cox: You have to get rid of tension because
you can do nothing if you're not relaxed. When you're
not relaxed, you're not vulnerable. You're not
present.
It's tricky though, because you
have to not be vulnerable when you walk into an
audition. You have to be confident when you walk in. You
have be like, "Well, I'm here and I'm going to do this
thing and I have no expectations." But then you have to
peel that layer off and be vulnerable, if that's what
the character requires. You want to show all of this
character that you're going to play.
Ubach: You're coming in with a tuned
instrument. You don't want to be tuning your instrument
in the orchestra when you're about to play at the
Hollywood Bowl. You want to go in there with an
incredibly tuned violin, sit down, and know exactly how
the bow is going to work, because you've been trained to
do that. You already know the strings. You know the
notes. You've rehearsed and prepared. And people who
wing it lead a short-lived career. Actors, like you, who
don't wing it will live to transcend that.
Groovy Vibes
Cox: I went to a
psychic recently and it was like a therapy session. She
said something that I thought could help anyone. She
told me, "Just know that you will always work. Sometimes
you'll go a couple of months without it‹you might go a
year‹but you'll always work. Just be careful that your
energy is always really good when you leave the room
because I'm seeing you go out on auditions and after you
do the part, you're letting your energy drop and you're
not feeling so good about yourself. You're leaving the
room with that and people can pick up on that."
It's so important for actors to keep their
energy up at an audition. They might do a great job, but
then as soon as they're done, they kind of shrivel up.
Keep that confidence going. I've talked to a lot of
actors who say, "I do a great job, but I have a hard
time leaving the room," because that's a really awkward
moment. But it's important not to leave your body, not
to go outside, and not to shrivel up.
Ubach: Have you ever looked forward to a
really good lunch or a meeting you're going to have
afterwards? That helps me when I'm leaving an
audition.
Cox: That's a really good thing
to do. Set up something right afterwards that's fun.
Ubach: I like those William Morris voiceover
auditions on El Camino, because there's a Rizzoli
[bookstore] right around the corner. There's free valet
parking for two hours and you can walk in and just look
at the pretty illustrations. Then I'm OK.
Cox: Or write a note to yourself on a Post-it
and stick it on your dashboard‹something positive.
Ubach: I am OK!
Cox: From time
to time, you just need those things, because you can
really lose perspective and become obsessed with
rejection. That's not what it's about. You're not meant
to get every job and you shouldn't get every job.
That's the good thing about acting. You can
do it for life. If you're in it for the long haul, who
cares if you didn't get that part? There's always the
next one. BSW
|
| |
| Search the
Archives
|
| Advanced
Search
| | |
