Doing the Work Is Hard - 4/10/12

Dad told me that I had to do the work. And I know he's right, but ughhhhhhhhhh -- doing the work is a lot of work.

I can't believe I'm supposed to remember all of the talking in that play. I don't know if you've read it or whatever -- it's like a weird, old version of that Leo DiCaprio movie -- but there are a whole lot of lines for Juliet. That means everyone will be looking at me a whole lot, which is awesome, but they want me to say all those lines as they're written and not make up stuff as I go.

As an actress, I find that very creatively stifling. Are you going to tell me that Britney Spears was reciting her lines mostly from a script in Crossroads?  I think not. That's the off-the-cuff banter of three young women finding themselves on the open road if I've ever heard it. Which I totally have, because this one time me and Jenny and Tamara drove to a party in Boulder because Tamara wanted to see this guy she met at a party the week before. We ended up driving around all night and never found him, and Tamara got all sad about it and stuff, and then me and Jenny stopped being friends with her not too long after that because she was so annoying on that trip. Me and Jenny were totes like Britney and Zoe Saldana.

Anyway, asking me to memorize all that stuff is 1) hard and 2) insulting to me as an actress. Most of my talent and charm is instinctual, and asking me to memorize stuff wastes my skills. (That's why I didn't learn the state capitals either.) I know how Juliet is feeling when her Dad's all "Don't make out with that guy," and then she's all like "Don't get up in my grill, I totes love him!" Those feelings are something I can convey to an audience, but sorry if I don't remember she says like "I desireth him, doting father" or whatever. The crowd doesn't know what that means, either, they just know Juliet is like, super angry, and that's what I bring. I get people super angry.