Undisputed_ How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps - Chris Jericho [144]
I learned two very important lessons from Kirk, the first being that the words on the printed page meant nothing, it was how you delivered those words that made an actor great.
Kirk explained, “If you know how to harness your emotions and express them properly, you can make someone cry by reading the phone book.”
We ran through exercises in his class that helped deliver emotion, not lines. The most draining of them all was called “The Ritual,” designed to bring out the rawest emotions from the darkest part of your soul. While my classmates did interpretive dances or conversations to dead relatives, I did something different.
I painted a face on a watermelon and brought it to the front of the class.
“Everyone please say hi to Danny!”
It was a few months before my mom passed away and my hatred of him was at an all-time high as her health declined. The class greeted the melon, smiling and playing along with the joke, oblivious of who Danny was.
“I want you to meet the son of a bitch who paralyzed my mother and ruined my life.”
The smiles drained off their faces and I proceeded to tell Danny Melon everything I’d been holding inside since my mom’s accident. Then I took a knife and started stabbing him, taking out my murderous anger before bursting into tears.
When I was done, the class was crying too, including Kirk. It was the first time I really understood what true acting was. If I dropped into character and pulled out my real emotions, I could make people believe. I could make them cry. I could make them feel what I was feeling. And I liked it.
The second lesson I learned was the art of making choices. This was the process that an actor used to decide the quirks and nuances of the character that weren’t written in the script. Johnny Depp made the choice to portray Captain Jack Sparrow as a Keith Richards– esque rummy. Heath Ledger made the choice to have the Joker slurp after every sentence. Mike Myers made the choice to make The Love Guru unfunny. Making choices was an actor’s most valuable tool and something I’d never considered before.
With my newfound knowledge and respect for acting it was time to hit the pavement to find a gig. Auditioning in L.A. was a whole new world, and I found out quickly that my international superstardom from the WWE meant nothing in Hollywood. But I had no problem checking my ego at the door and starting at the bottom; that’s where I started in wrestling and in music and I’d done okay with those.
Still it was quite the experience to walk into an audition for CSI: Sheboygan and see ten other dudes who looked just like me reciting their one line over and over. Then I’d get called into the room and stand in front of four or five producers (who looked like they had just eaten sour grapes) and deliver my line.
“Hey you, take your damn hands off of her!”
They would say thank you and I’d leave with no feedback, no comments, and no idea how I did.
I auditioned for a remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the role of Riff Raff, and had to sing an a cappella version of “Time Warp” in front of the producers. It was brutal. I didn’t know the words, the song, or what key it was in. I was asked to leave, and I felt like one of the rejects from the first few weeks of an American Idol season.
During another audition, I was in the middle of an impassioned read for the movie Beer League when the phone rang and the casting director took the call.
“Hold on a second,” she said drolly as I stood there like Johnny Drama. Needless to say, I didn’t get the part.
When I showed up for an audition for Cashmere Mafia, I was puzzled to see a bunch of seedy long-haired biker types standing in line. I took my place at the back and waited, wondering how they