This morning we had our first chemistry read. As the name implies, a chemistry read is when you take the actors from the various roles you've cast and put them in a room and have them read together, and see how they interact. It can be potentially disastrous if they don't have any chemistry--think of how bad Colin Farrell and Jaime Fox were in MIAMI VICE, you could tell they hated each other off screen--or it can be the greatest thing ever if they really spark--think of how Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau made an mediocre script great because of their chemistry.
I can hardly type this I am so excited, which should tell you how it went. The first chemistry read was between the actor we cast as SlingBlade and the girl who was our first pick for the principal stripper role. The SlingBlade role is basically locked, so we were reading to see if she fit with him. It went so fucking good we didn't even read it twice or give notes. The actress is really hot and a very good actress, but more importantly, she played off the actor perfectly. Their energies matched up and you totally believed that they would hit it off in real life. It looked right, it read right and it felt right. It's going to be awesome. Those two have some extended scenes together that are crucial the movie, and they are going to knock them out of the park. These are star-making roles, and these two are stars waiting to be made.
The SlingBlade actor stayed around and read with two of the potential Tuckers (the actor who is playing the [PWJ/GoldenBoy/El Bingeroso] role is out of town shooting a movie, so I read that role). This was the first time we'd heard this particular scene read out loud. I have to be frank: It's fucking awesome. Nils and I wrote a great script. The SlingBlade actor is really starting to inhabit the emotional depth of that character, and man, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but he is going to be something special. The dialogue is there, and he is making it pop on camera. I hate to say it, but that role, with that actor, may end up stealing this whole movie.
Both of the guys who read for Tucker had things right and things wrong about them, and both had moments where they nailed it. Those brief moments when they occupied the character with the other actor and me...they were magical.
We have a long way to go even with just the casting, and a lifetime to go before this film is finished, but I now know without any doubt in my mind that this is going to not just work, but be big. I have always been intuitive about my writing and my art. I don't know why or how things work, but I do know WHEN they work (or don't work), and I am telling you with all the authority and belief I can muster: This works. I knew it worked on the page when it was finished, but that is not the same thing as it working when it comes out of an actor's mouth. I have heard it, and it works. It explodes off the page. I hate to sound all sappy or whatever, but I haven't felt this alive and in sync about something in a long time. This fucking works man, and it is going to be awesome.
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