Here’s a great clip from YouTube with Michelle Pfeiffer
explaining how she got the most important role in her life- Elvira, in ‘Scarface’ with Al Pacino- It reminded me that-
- Acting is a very tough business. Constant rejection, sometimes hundreds of auditions without success and often with no feedback on why you didn’t get the part. Sales people, go talk to an actor if you think pitching products for a living is hard!
- She’s to be admired for totally committing to the audition performance, even though she had been told that Pacino didn’t want her for the role, and that this was her third ‘call-back’. She ‘went for it’ to the exclusion of all doubt, negative thought and concern. What’s more, she played the part as she thought it should be done, not how she imagined other people might want her to play it.
That’s the key to winning (and losing) pitches. Be honest about you and you’ll win and lose for all the right reasons. And if you think I’m talking crap, just remember what it’s like to have lost when you were trying to be something you’re not. Even worse than being rejected for being you.
