When we were putting Showing Up together, Riad and I decided we would not appear in the film. It was more important for us to simply be the messengers; the “invisible” characters in the telling of our story, whatever form the narrative took. Several people have asked since it was released why I didn’t tell my audition stories or share how I feel about the process and the answer has always been the same: I told it through the actors I wanted to honor in the film. We also didn’t want to be tasked with the added burden of deciding which and how much of our contributions were worthy of inclusion. It was hard enough to cut 100 hours of interviews of actors down to 80 minutes. Like any other actor who has been at it for awhile I’ve got my “war stories” and moments of inspiration, success and failure, and I’m certainly not shy about relating them. But I felt it was more important to be the listener in the conversation – one of the most important things one must be as an actor, as those who do it well know - and it turned out well for the story but I do have one I’ve always wanted to share.
