· – (On being this actor in this town at this time)
Well in to another year now and doom and gloom is predicted all around. Not much has changed for me, in that it is still a struggle to pay rent and I have no visible prospects in the acting field. But I do have hope because I know things in my world can change quickly.
Three years ago at this time, I was in the same position. Wondering again if there was an easier way to pay the bills than riding a bicycle in winter delivering packages that don’t pay enough. Then I auditioned for the role of Bone in a film called The Lookout. Usually, if I haven’t heard anything after a week, I assume I didn’t get it. I was surprised, therefore, when I got a call back audition for Bone about ten days later. Well, a week went by after that and I heard nothing, so… A second week went by…
It was a Friday morning about ten o’clock. I got a page from my dispatcher to call my agent, Yanick Landry. Yanick tells me it looks like I got the role of Bone, but -yes, of course, there is a but- but the word has to come down from Hollywood and they’re not even out of bed yet, so we’ll know about one o’clock… Yeah, I really felt like delivering packages then. Hard to contain the excitement, et cetera. I amused myself by remarking, I was the subject of a conversation in Hollywood… One o’clock comes with no word… two o’clock… three o’clock… Then Yanick tells me the director wants to meet with me. Well, I told Yanick I was up for that. And he says, okay, this is the way it goes: Pack as if you’re gone for two weeks. Tomorrow morning at eight you will be on a plane to Winnipeg. There you will be taken to meet with Scott Frank, the writer/director of The Lookout. If he likes you, you start work on Monday. If he doesn’t, you’ll be on the next plane back to Toronto. I told Yanick I was up for that. And that is the end of Yanick in this story.
I got on that plane, though it was all hastily arranged. And now I had a couple of hours to think about what I was going to do when I met Scott, the screenwriter of such gems as Out of Sight and Get Shorty. Panic, uber intimidation, a fear of screwing it up somehow all grasped at my focus for but an instant. They were all wiped out by these simple thoughts. This is all happening now, so just let it unfold. I don’t know if it was a lack of sleep, the altitude of the plane or just plain instinct but I then began to breathe deep and slow.
I arrived in Winnipeg in a blissful calm state. I felt confident and relaxed and ready to charm Scott as only Bone could. First, however, I had to find my chauffeur. This proved easy for the airport in the ‘Peg is not large and there at the bottom of the escalator in Arrivals was a man holding up a sign that read: Mr. Bunham. This proved highly amusing to me and I took it as a sign that I was about to have a great time just by letting it all unfold. On the way to see Scott, I explained to the chauffeur what I was about, that I needed him to wait for me and at the end, I would tell him airport or hotel. He replied he got paid by the hour and waiting was therefore no problem.
My meeting with Scott was intense and laid back at the same time. We had green tea and talked and talked. He is a person with whom I immediately felt at ease. After an hour and a half, Scott announced our time was up. But he did not go on to say whether he liked me or not -that is to say, whether or not I was to play Bone. Excuse me, I said, pulling on my coat, but it’s just that there’s a chauffeur waiting outside and I have to tell him whether he should take me to the airport or the hotel. Scott looked baffled and asked, what did they tell you? So, I explained it to him and he said, I just wanted to see if I could work with you. We start on Monday.
I went out and told the chauffeur to take me to the hotel. He folded his newspaper and said, that’s funny. He pointed across the street and said, there’s the hotel. Well, you’re getting paid by the hour, I said, so you might as well drive me. And I gave him my last six bucks as a tip. Yesterday I was a bike courier in Toronto and today here I am in Winnipeg in a fancy hotel, but I still got no money. Ah, but that’s a story for another telling. My point is that things can change around in a hurry in this crazy exciting business.
Now that was three years ago, it’s true, but this story is the inspiration for the hope I have today. Besides, three is a lucky number, right? Anyway, I can’t complain. I was fortunate enough recently to work on another film, an indie horror called Medium Raw, written and directed by Andrew Cymek. There are no dragged out casting stories here, but I did learn something profound amongst all the wonderful aspects of working on Medium Raw. It has long been my truth that I feel most alive when on stage in front of an audience. But with Medium Raw, I realised I feel most at home on a film set. There are probably many reasons for this, but mostly I just feel at my best on a film set, most relaxed and confident. And all of that, I like to attribute to a plane ride I once took to Winnipeg. This is all happening now, so just let it unfold.
