Audition Strategy Quotes

I prepare for auditions differently depending on what it is - what the material is, what the project is, who I'm reading for.

Actors often want to look like they're comfortable. You want to go into an audition saying, 'I'm your gal. I'm what you need.' Yet you don't want to push.

I liked to carry the script into an audition because, for me, it reminded people that this was not the final performance. I'm still a work in progress.

I think, going into a room for an audition, the best thing you can do is represent who you are specifically as an individual and what you can bring to a creative process in a room - as opposed to being worried about 'where you fit' - because that's really their job to decide where you fit. Your job is to just present the best 'you' you can.

I auditioned for Lamorne Morris' part, Winston, on 'New Girl.' In the scene, the character was eating a mayonnaise sandwich. I thought, 'Nobody else is going to go into the audition eating, and this is how I'm gonna set myself apart.'

If I have an audition, I go to the audition in character. I'm in character when I walk in the room. I mean, I'm still sweet to everyone, but I'm very much the character.

I've not gotten so much stuff because I improvise in an audition, but I always feel like, if that's the case, the reason is because it wouldn't have worked out anyway with us working together.

The role of my agent has just been to get me in the room. If I can get in the room - say the character is just a charming man who lives next door - then I'll walk in there and be as charming as I can and they will think to themselves, 'I don't see why we can't cast him.'

I've been fortunate that the roles I've auditioned for, I auditioned because I felt I was the right actor to play that part.

I have always been good at auditioning, but maybe because I had a good trick at the beginning. I would pretend that my agent gave me the wrong scene or lines. They would take pity on me and hand me the right scene. I would act like I had never seen this before - and then do pretty well considering I had already rehearsed it.

There have been times when I've been asked to do things and I've thought, 'This is great! This is a great script. But, I do not believe myself in this role.' I pretend I'm the producer and I think, 'If I was making this movie, would I cast myself in this part,' and if that doesn't feel right to me, then I don't even go audition for it.

I read the script first to get the perspective on the whole story, the writing, and how the character I'm auditioning for is talked about by other people or relates to other people; from there, I go into the sides.

When we met, my agenda was "Get Elle Fanning." I believe Elle's was "Get the role." But we didn't know that.

When you audition for things, there's pressure to go in there with a complete performance, and it's kind of unfair because, if you get it, you'll have rehearsal and talk about it, and you'll have plenty of time with the script. So, for me, I really do feel like an audition is a sketch of what you might do.

I would always pick pop songs and would sing them even if they were not correct for the audition - which didn't always get me a lot of jobs, but sometimes they did.

Auditioning is so different than doing the work in some ways. It's very much about solving the scene, I think, and coming in with a strong take, but not having it set in stone.

When I go to auditions, I try to always make sure I go in prepared. I always think to myself, 'I'm here to provide them with a service. They need me, and if they decide to hire me for this service, I'm going to give them the best they've ever paid for and if they don't, they're dumb.' That's on them.

I use my hair as a tool for portraying characters. When I'm auditioning for a role, when I'm putting myself on tape for something, I always consider what the hairstyle is going to be because it changes the way people perceive me.

Bryan Cranston's advice to actors, it's my favorite thing, and it changed my life. He said: Don't go into an audition to get the job, go to share your work. That was so liberating. You read it, interpret it, embody it the way you want to play that person and embody them with your whole heart and soul for those 20 minutes.

I trained myself, whenever I walk into auditions, to hate everyone in the room.

The cold-audition process is not a science, so I ignore that.

That's the best way to audition for anything: When your back-up plan is your dream, you know?

All of my favourite actors are American and I grew up watching American movies. It's weird, but I used to do a New Jersey accent in every audition in the States just because I liked to do it, really. It's completely bizarre. Everybody would ask: 'Where are you from?' And I would say, 'Oh, I'm from London.'

Get yourself into every audition that you can. Even in those for smaller roles, you'll never know when someone may recommend you for a bigger one.

One thing I refuse to do is force it. So I've canceled many auditions because nothing has come up, and I don't want to waste anybody's time. God forbid they outright give it to me and I don't connect with it.