When I was rejected from Film School many years ago, I found a temporary job as warehouse manager for a company that sold mechanical pumps – or valves, I’m still not entirely sure. I didn’t have a driver’s license back then, so I traveled to work by public transportation. To make an hours-long journey bearable in a pre-smartphone world, I usually packed some reading material to occupy the mind.
As I was leafing through a newspaper one day, my eye fell on a short feature about an open casting call which was going to be held somewhere in the center of London. I had honestly almost read past it because it seemed trivial, but then I noticed the article mentioned Roman Polanski, which immediately drew the attention of the budding film-enthusiast in me.
It turned out that Polanski was preparing to shoot a WWII film, but didn’t believe any established actor – Hollywood or other – was the right fit for the main character, a young Jewish musician. His plan therefore, was to screentest non-actors from all over the world and hopefully find his leading man this way.
I had initially dismissed the article as just a funny story, but when I mentioned it to my dad later that day, he immediately suggested I should give it a shot. We could go together and make it a father-and-son road trip, he said. I thought about it for a minute, then quickly decided: “why not indeed”. If nothing else, it would be a great story to tell the (grand)kids.
A complicating factor was my dad’s deep fear of flying. The idea of being locked inside a pressurized cabin and not being able to step outside whenever you want, is just too much for him. Fortunately, we were both living near Amsterdam at the time, so traveling to London wasn’t a huge undertaking. Either way, other means of transportation had to be sought.
Through the Eurotunnel wasn’t really an option either, since being stuck on a train inside a tube would probably stir up the same claustrophobic terrors. However, the unhurried traveler can always rely on the ferry from Calais to Dover, so off we went.
I vividly remember the event was going to take place on an early Saturday morning, which meant we had to leave Friday evening and find accommodation somewhere near the city – central London was out of the question due to budget restrictions. We eventually found a tiny bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the city and after getting up at an ungodly hour, managed to make it to Covent Garden with plenty of time to spare.
Our punctuality turned out to be a blessing because when we pulled up to the venue, I was horrified to see hordes of aspiring actors lining up around the block. Not one to be easily deterred, I took a deep breath, jumped out of the car, and joined my fellow queuing hopefuls.
Although it had started out as just a fun thing to do with my dad, at this point I was actually allowing myself to consider a scenario wherein Polanski would pick me.
Hey, I was in my early twenties. I still had dreams.
As the day and the queue progressed, we were informed that we would be presented in groups of ten, and those deemed interesting enough would then move on to a second round. I was expecting a proper screentest where I would actually get to read lines for the maestro, so potential disappointment was now slowly starting to set in. “Oh well”, I remember thinking, “At least I’ll get to meet Polanski”.
Ah, to be young and naive…
It was late in the afternoon when my group was finally up for audition. The ten of us had formed a bond during the day, and we were really psyching each other up for the huge opportunity that lay beyond the closed doors in front of us.
Then, the doors opened and we were ushered in.
What happened next, couldn’t have taken more than ten seconds. We were told to line up, be quiet and stand still, while a group of six people looked us over from behind a makeshift desk. Before I could really take in the room, someone said “thank you” and we were ushered out again.
No cameras, no script, no actual audition. And Polanski? He wasn’t even there. I don’t remember anything after that moment, I imagine the disappointment has since blocked any further memory of the trip.
A few years later, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (2002) was released and won well-deserved Academy Awards for directing, writing and actor in a leading role. The irony of this story is of course that after all that spent time and effort – not to mention money – Polanski eventually chose the widely-known actor Adrien Brody to play the part of Wladyslaw Szpilman. How’s that for a twist ending.
My experience of “almost starring” in The Pianist was the first time I really understood what William Goldman meant when he said “Nobody Knows Anything” in reference to Hollywood. We assume the creatives in front and behind the camera – not counting the soulless, data-driven execs who believe they can pull the next Squid Game from an Excel sheet – know exactly what they’re doing. Half the time however, success is purely circumstantial or even coincidental. That is why I’ve been proudly quoting Goldman’s adage ever since my little London adventure.
In addition to being a landmark film, The Pianist will always remind me of that time I went on a road trip with my dad to chase a dream. I don’t think either of us really, truly believed I was going to get the part, but that wasn’t the point of the trip anyway. It brought us closer together and taught me to always, always follow my heart.
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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict