Cutting Flawless Diamonds with Lisa Kudrow

By: Jess Canty

Have been thinking a lot about co-stars and commercials lately and just how difficult it is to audition for them.

You have so little time to make an impact. An impression.

Now, I believe I may have posted about this a very long time ago back when we first started Cinterra's Facebook Group, but it is one of my favorite stories / examples so I am going to repeat it here now that we have our fancy blog.

A few years ago, a friend of mine's brother had the privilege of directing Lisa Kudrow in his movie. She didn't have a large role, but it was a diversion for her - as it was a very dark drama. They had a great time working with her but what struck them was that when they were editing they were having a hard time choosing between takes of her performance.

Because every take was so good. So interesting. So impactful. Even though each was so different. It was like choosing between flawless diamond after flawless diamond.

And I never really forgot that - so a year or so later when I was watching The Comeback on HBO I was not surprised to see a clear example of what those editors must have felt when watching her footage.

If you haven't watched this show - I HIGHLY recommend it. If you like Robert Downey Jr. being a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude - then watch Lisa Kudrow playing an out of work comedy actress on a reality show being cast in a sitcom for an entire season. It is a tour de force of comedy acting and highly underrated.

But back to co-stars and commercials. I would posit that the work you have to do for these auditions is even more difficult than memorizing 8 pages for a series regular audition. In 8 pages you have 8 pages to show yourself off.

You likely have three different sets of sides which will allow you to show off three different sides of the character. These scenes will all have an arc. And when you're being cast for these they've already looked at your material and are likely bringing you in because you "fit."

So how do you do this in two lines? One line? A button?

I'll let Lisa show you...

(pssst... the password is Diamonds)