This week I have had a rather interesting acting assignment -standing in for the American actor/performer Steven Van Zandt in the casting sessions for a major Norwegian television series he will be starring in. As Mr Van Zandt is an exceptionally busy man –even more than me!– he can't make it for the casting sessions where actors for the other parts are being considered, so I have been brushing up my New York accent and dived into the task of doing his scenes –again and again, with a succesion of actors. It is a fascinating and rewarding process, a bit like an acting lab., with improvisations and tests and stretching of scenes. The great thing about it is that unlike just about every audition I have attended, there is no pressure on me at all, apart from myself, as I am not the one being tested out. But we do the scenes for real, on camera, and it is fascinating doing the same scenes with very different actors -some of whom are people I have admired for a long time. I know the scripts pretty much backwards, having also had the task of translating them all into English, and I cannot deny that it is rather fun being a mafia thug for a week. Capice?
