Weirdest Auditions: Toilet Paper Babies, Bobbing for Apples, and More 

With everything going on in the world at the moment, this installment of Weirdest Auditions may give you a much-needed laugh. As always, the series shows us that there is solidarity in shared experiences. And while the whole world is feeling the effects of the novel coronavirus, there is unity in enduring the crisis together. So whether you’re an actor, a writer, a casting director, or any other type of industry member, enjoy taking a break from current events with audition stories that you couldn’t make up if you tried. 

Sarah Hernandez 

Known for House of Payne and The Mentalist 

The timing for my weirdest audition story is very funny since toilet paper is such a hot item right now, and it involved bathroom tissue. I was auditioning for Labor Pains for the role of a young mother, and my actual mom suggested I hold a prop baby during the scene as a way to stand out. So we used what we had on hand to create one, which ended up being three rolls of toilet paper stacked on top of each other. And then we wrapped those in a bath towel she had in her car so that the prop baby was kind of swaddled in it. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I walked in for the audition, it felt weird. I was nervous the prop baby would distract from the scene and scared the choice might cost me the role. But instead, it ended up booking me the job. I know that because when I got on set, the director said, “Oh my gosh, I loved your audition tape and your prop baby. You’re the only one that did that, so I had to have you on set.” So that’s the story of how I booked my weirdest audition, all because of toilet paper. 

Scarlet Olivia Dunbar

 Known for Just Mercy and Good Girls  

My craziest audition was for a fall-based spot, and it was during a time when I was still pretty new to commercial auditions. So I wasn’t fully aware of just how weird they can be, and the breakdown hadn’t really prepared me, either. My only note was that I’d be playing a party guest. So I got to the audition, and the casting director explained our action after bringing four of us into the room. We were supposed to be guests at a party where the main event was bobbing for apples. To help us, they’d placed a few bowls on top of a table, which wasn’t very long, and some of us were two to a bowl. And mind you, there was no water and no apples. Plus, we were all crammed next to each other so that they could fit us all in frame. As we all were simulating bobbing for the apples, the casting director then started calling out our previously-assigned numbers, at which point the selected actor would raise their head up and mime that they’d gotten an apple. I can only imagine what all of this looked like for camera. So he gets to my number, and I just go for it. I’m jumping up and down, trying to make sounds of excitement come from my mouth without dropping the invisible apple I’m holding between my teeth. And then I followed the action to the end by dropping my invisible apple into an equally nonexistent second bowl. All in all, there was just a lot of strange miming because we only had the table and a few empty bowls to work with. It was definitely the weirdest audition I’ve done. 

Virginia Tucker 

Known for General Hospital and Nightmare Tenant

My audition for The Last Champion, which stars Cole Hauser, started off like any other one. But just as I was about to start the scene, a woman I later came to know as [writer and producer] Hallie Todd said, “Wait! Are you the girl that the hairdresser showed us a photo of? Your mom goes to a hairdresser named Dana in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, right?” A few months prior, Dana had shown the filmmakers a photo of me, but I never expected that to amount to anything! And as it turned out, my reps had just happened to submit me to the same movie. I didn’t know that at the time, though, and have never been so thrown in my life. I mean, you get used to going into the room, doing your thing, and leaving. I’ve definitely never had conversations about random connections involving my mother’s hairdresser in any audition before or since then! But at the time, I just refocused and got into the audition scene. I ended up booking the film and got to shoot in eastern Washington State with some lovely people who share my mother’s hairdresser. So I guess the takeaway is to lean into the unexpected. It just might be a gift.

If you’re an actor, your weirdest audition these days will likely be coming from your own living space via a self-tape. But you can still find solidarity in these in-office stories from Hernandez, Dunbar, and Tucker because strange auditions are not limited to their environments. So whether your weirdest anecdote comes from the audition room or your living room, comment about it below to see if anyone can relate. We’re all in this together!

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These interviews have been edited and condensed.

 
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