Brie Larson Gets Real About the Horrors of Auditioning

What’s the worst part of being an actor or an actress? Being penniless and having to work a jobby-job to survive? Traveling across town in mid-day traffic to get to an audition with a thousand other actors vying for the role? Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Having to shell out for classes that may never pay off? Telling friends of your burgeoning career, which is in truth not burgeoning at all—yet? No, the real contretemps of acting is rejection! We all know it, because no matter how many times we tell ourselves, “I just wasn’t right for the part,” or “They didn’t get me,” or “I deserved a callback,” the truth is it’s a real blow every time we hear a “No.”

Brie Larson has done pretty well for herself in the field of dramatics and in the performance of comedy. I mean, she is an Academy Award-winning actress after all (Room), and she’s won many other awards for her work in various films, TV shows, and mega-franchises. It’s safe to say, she’s led a charmed life.

But even an actress of Larson’s caliber has experienced a good bit of rejection. Just check out her YouTube channel where she deconstructs, in great detail, her many heartbreaks and rejections—including some big movies! According to IMDb, Brie “has acted since she was seven years old. However, she considered quitting acting several times as she found the film business to be too difficult and was unable to get the roles she wanted.”

What?! The great Captain Marvel considered calling it quits because the acting game was “too difficult?” The inimitable Envy Adams couldn’t cut the mustard in show biz? Pshaw!

Well, as Brie herself puts it, “Being an actor is hard. Auditioning is hard, it can bring up a lot of emotions because you’re dealing with rejection, constantly, everyday. And so for those who are actors, I feel you; for those who are interested in being an actor, I feel you; and for those who think that being an actor is fluffy and easy … you’re wrong.”

In a moment of candor, Brie confesses, “I was told ‘no’ for like 98 to 99-percent of the time.” And some of the projects she didn’t win would break any actor’s heart: Hunger Games, Tomorrowland, Star Wars, The Big Bang Theory, Sucker Punch, Get Him to the Greek, Iron Man 2, The Descendants, Thor, Pitch Perfect, Juno—to name just a few.

So, for those of you going through audition hell, just know Carol Danvers herself is not all that comfortable with auditioning.

“Long story short, I really didn’t like auditioning,” she says. In fact the 2016 Oscar winner goes on to say, “I don’t have the language to describe the emotions every step of the way that I felt, and how devastated I felt … I remember when I was twelve or thirteen, and I auditioned for this movie ‘Hearts in Atlantis;’ I wanted it so bad, and it was down to me and another girl—and she got it, and I ran away from home.”

So, if you’re going through a tough time with your own acting adventure, don’t run away from home, and know that there are oftentimes other forces at work. Again, per IMDb, “Brie screen-tested for the role of Sarah Connor in ‘Terminator Genisys’ (2015) but didn’t get the role because the casting director said they didn’t think she could carry a gun; they didn’t ask her to hold a gun during the audition.”

Perhaps she couldn’t hold a gun, but apparently she could play one of the most badass superheroes in recent memory. It should be noted that Brie has committed to reprise her role as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel II, and there are presumably other Marvel spinoffs for her to shine on like a true champion.

Brie Larson’s YouTube channel is a real resource for those in the acting community, or for those merely interested in film and television performance. It’s filled with the kind of genuine insider information we all crave and can benefit from; in fact, it could be described as a masterclass in auditioning and acting technique. Let’s face it, you could pay a pretty penny for a high-priced acting seminar or you could check out ole Brie Larson on YouTube for free. As an actor, you need to use everything out there at your disposal, because as Brie herself points out, “The thing that I always remind myself is that my job is 99-percent failure, and I don’t just mean auditions. Think about how long it takes to make a movie versus the movie itself. We shoot hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage for it to be an hour-and-a-half-long film.”

When you’re dealing with a 99-percent failure rate, it’s important to use any means necessary to procure that one percent! And by any measure, Brie Larson’s YouTube channel is a good place to start.

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