When Dallas Buyers Club casting director Allison Estril was asked if casting directors can see past an actor’s nerves in the audition room, she recalled her own acting experiences. “This is a very good question. When I started out, I was an actor and I had horrible nerves—horrible, shaking nerves—so my heart understands this question,” she said at a Casting Society of America presentation. “But it’s a problem because if you’re nervous in the audition, are you going to be nervous on set? You do have to figure out how to balance that. Can we see through that? Can we tell that you’re nervous? Yes. But if that doesn’t go away within a short period of time, that can end up being an issue especially if you’re going onto set doing a scene opposite [a celebrated actor]. It can be an issue. It’s hard, but there are tricks … Everyone will find their own thing, but you do have to find what it is. That’s part of your own actor prep.”
It sure would be nice to have a bag of tricks to help manage audition-room nerves, wouldn’t it? With that in mind, here are a few options to consider putting into practice.
Train Like Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps
When speaking about his exceptional skills and achievements, Michael Phelps stated, “I think it’s more mental than people think.” While his coach certainly taught him the fundamentals of swimming, the training didn’t stop there. “My coach was able to kind of put me through these little tests in practice that would help me mentally prepare myself whether it’s breaking my goggles on purpose so I can’t swim with goggles during a race. So then I have to figure out a way to stay calm and stay relaxed. Or when I do visualizing. I spent a ton of time visualizing how the race could go, how I want the race to go and how I don’t want the race to go. So I’m already prepared for whatever happens; I can accept it and move past it.”
As an actor, preparing thoroughly doesn’t end with knowing your lines and making creative choices about your character. It’s important to be ready to adapt to whatever may occur during the audition itself. Expect to be asked a “tell-me-about-yourself” kind of question. Anticipate an odd direction or the casting director being preoccupied with a phone call. Know how you will handle it if you stumble on a line. If you know in advance what could happen in front of the casting director, and you know how you’ll handle it, you’ll be more likely to approach the audition with confidence.
“Be a Cat.”
Acting coach Caryn West encourages actors to change their frame of mind from human to feline when it comes to auditions. “Who is our most confident of animals in our lives?” she asks. “The one who does what they want; lounges where they want; eats when they want; prowls when they want; doesn’t come if they don’t want. That’s our cats, right? … That’s what we want in our auditions. So consider just being the cat in the room. Let it all come to you. Be a cat. Not an aggressive dog. (I adore dogs—people who know me know that.) But just be a cat and lounge and luxuriate in the space. Give yourself permission.” What might that look like? When the session director asks if you’re ready, don’t rush it. Say, “Just a second,” and take a couple breaths. “Look over your lines, think about it. Think about your first action. Take in the person you’re talking to. And now go,” West says.
Listen to “Weightless.”
People often turn to music to help them relax. But did you know there’s a musical piece that is scientifically proven to reduce stress? In a study measuring the calming effects of specific songs, Weightless by the British ambient band Macaroni Union surpassed all other relaxation songs significantly. In fact, the difference in relaxation level was even more substantial than the calming effects experienced during a massage, according to the study. The band members created the music using scientific sound theory with the goal of making music to lower the listener’s blood pressure, stress levels, and heart rate. According to researchers, the song “induces a 65 percent reduction in anxiety and a 35 percent reduction in usual physiological resting rates.”
Lyz Cooper, the founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, told Forbes that the song “contains a sustaining rhythm that starts at 60 beats per minute and gradually slows to around 50.” Therefore, the listener’s heartbeat will naturally slow down to match the track’s BPM (beats per minute). But to experience the full effect, it’s important to listen to the entire song. Cooper explains, “It takes about five minutes for this process, known as entrainment, to occur. And there is no repeating melody, which allows your brain to completely switch off because you are no longer trying to predict what is coming next.”
Make Friends With Your Anxiety.
Funnyman Bill Hader has suffered from relentless stage fright throughout his career. The Barry actor admitted, “I’m a really anxious person. I have like legit anxiety.” His nerves have caused flu-like symptoms, dizziness, dread and a sense that his arms are heavy.
“What helped me was learning that it doesn’t really go away. You manage it,” he shared in a video he made for the anti-stigma mental health organization, Child Mind Institute. “Instead of pushing away your anxiety—and I always imagine my anxiety as this little monster that would kind of attack my face or pull at my ears—and instead of pushing that thing away and trying to fight it, I would just go, ‘Hey, oh hey, buddy.’ It was like a little monkey, and I would just kind of go, ‘Okay, here, just sit on my shoulder, sit on my shoulder, let’s hang out. Let’s just chill out.’ There it is. And so every time I got nervous, I would just become friends with it.” Hader insists this approach helps him to manage his nerves.
Lean Into a Wall
Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro shared one of the warm-ups he uses before speaking before large audiences: “I find a good solid wall, and I will just lean into it like I’m holding this wall up, pressing against it just as if I were doing a push-up.” He keeps his hands wider than shoulder width apart. Navarro insists this practice releases muscular tension. “And because I’m doing it very wide, it makes me feel more powerful.” Once he’s up in front of the group, only then does he look at the audience. “And then I just take a second to get myself together” before beginning with his presentation.
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