"So, you say your name, age and whenever you feel ready you start" Richard said through the zoom screen. On the other side of the screen were Barbara and a young woman with blue hair. "Barbara, here she is going to record the screen so we can see it again later, no problem, right?"
"There is no drama," said the young woman.
Barbara automatically pressed the button and a little red circle appeared over the window in the search engine.
The young woman closed her eyes, seeking to concentrate, she let out a sigh and quickly opened them again with a smile. "My name is Cole and I am 22 years old…
The young woman began to recite the scene with Barbara doing the voice of the other character. Richard, for his part, turned off his camera so as not to be a nuisance to the actress. Although there was a look of concentration in his eyes as he took notes, in the inside he was smiling, happy to be doing his first casting. They were going to be casting thirteen candidates out of the sixteen that had been selected, the rest were busy that day or never responded to the email. They had assigned a time to each one, separated by a space of twenty minutes.
This Cole girl was the first of the day. Richard would be lying if he said she was one of the candidates to take the role of Kate, but he had been impressed by the video she had sent of the scene which made her a candidate. And so far she wasn't doing too bad through Zoom.
"Okay, that's it," Richard said when they had finished the scene. "Thank you for that, now we are going to be with the other candidates, tomorrow we decide and we will send you an email with the results, okay?
Cole smiled. "It's okay, thanks to you." And she logged off, leaving Richard and Barbara alone.
"I liked it," Richard said.
"Me too," Barbara replied, "and I love doing this."
Richard laughed. "Yes, for now me too… Who's next?"
"Rachel Roth, audition for Holly," Barbara read.
Richard opened Rachel's CV. She was a short girl with short purple dyed hair. She had one of the best CVs they had seen with many studio-like images, reference videos of previous works and with an extensive career in theater.
"Yes, I already remember her, she is maybe the one I like the most for Holly, she has "that" that her character has, and in her reel, she has scenes that could perfectly be Holly's" said Richard.
While they waited Barbara asked, "So how´s the plan?"
"Tomorrow morning we decide on the three actors, and at night we have reunion with the head of each department and I hope we can manage to organize a rehearsal with the actors as late at next Sunday, sound good?
"Maybe it gets complicated for me next Sunday, but i´ll let you know"
"Sure" said Richard. He was getting accustomed to Barbara not being available.
A few minutes later a user by the name "Rachel Roth" joined the call. "Hello, can you hear?" she asked. On the screen appeared the same girl from the CV with purple hair, but now with dyed blonde tips as well, using wired headphones connected to her computer. She was in a dark room, although she could still see her well, behind her you could see her bed perfectly made up of her along with posters of plays on the walls.
Richard smiled. He already liked her for the Holly role. "Yes, we can hear you and see you perfect, can you?"
"Yes, no problem"
"Great, I'm Richard, the director and writer of the series "Stones from the past" and this is Barbara, my assistant director."
"Nice to meet you, Rachel here."
"A pleasure, well before we start why don't you tell us a little about yourself and your training, sort of to break the ice" said Richard.
"Sure, why not, I'm an actress, I studied performing arts, since I was a child I did numerous plays, I acted in some short films, as well as directing them and I also give an on-camera acting workshop for teenagers" said Rachel with a slightly monotonous voice . "I can continue if you want."
"No, I think we're fine with that, it was just to let you loose a little," Barbara said. At Rachel's reaction of raising her eyebrow, she added, intimidated, "not saying that you needed it."
Richard smiled. "Let's go to the scene, say your name, age and whenever you want you can start, any questions?
"Yes, in the scene she hit Michael, I have a pillow here, is it okay for me to use it? Apart from that everything clear"
"Whatever works for you is fine" Richard then turned off his camera, leaving the two girls alone.
Without stopping to take a breath or concentrate Rachel began. "Okay, Rachel Roth 23 years old," she said dryly. She paused to separate her introduction from her scene, raised her arms forward as if driving an invisible car, and began to act. "I can't stress this enough to you Michael, Kate is… Kate is one of my… closest friends, yes?"
Richard leaned forward, approaching the screen. She seemed unsure with the lines.
"And we all know how hard it is for you to make friends, so you stay vigilant with the few you have," Barbara read, interpreting Michael's lines.
"I´m being serious here, she's good, she's also just lost... her sister, you don't have to, you don't have to get in the way, you're going to ruin everything." Yes, she seemed to not completely remember her dialogues. That part about ruining everything wasn't in the script.
"At least this time she gave me her number."
Rachel turned to her right, facing the invisible Michael with an angry look. "What did you say?"
"You heard me," Barbara responded.
"No, you're not," Rachel said as she hit the pillow that represented Michel. "No, no, you're not going to do it," she continued. A little too many no's for Richard's liking. She finally stopped hitting the cushion, lowering her tone. "Please tell me Kate is not the girl you met in the cemetery."
"It is"
"Get Out!" Rachel yelled. "Get out of my car now." Okay that's more like it, that was the Holly that Richard was looking for, that punch was the one that he believed this Rachel girl could give.
"That's it," Richard interrupted happily. "How did you feel?"
"I felt good, I thought the scene was funn, sorry if I got a little stuck with the lines," Rachel responded with incredible monotony.
"Don't worry, we know that the virtual conditions are not ideal, but I think we were able to see a little of your performance, thank you and we will write to you with the results in the next few days"
"Thank you and thank you for the good vibes," Rachel said and with that she disconnected from the call.
"It was difficult for her" Barbara said.
"Yes, she seemed doubtful with the dialogues," Richard added.
"Because of that, she seemed more concerned about thinking about what to say than about acting."
Richard remained silent, thoughtful. Barbara had a point. His script was one with many dialogues, the actors, in addition to acting well, had to have a good memory. Something Rachel hadn't shown. And something strange coming from a theater actress. On the other hand, she had a personality similar to Holly's character which always helps.
"But I like her" he finally said with a smile.
Three hours later they had interviewed almost all the actors. Some had not shown up, but most had. There had been good and bad castings. Still, Richard couldn't help but feel that no Kate had yet impressed him. Which was not a minor thing since she was the protagonist of the series and she had the greatest acting difficulty.
There was only one actress left to interview. Barbara opened the schedule and read "Kori Anders, I don't remember her," she thought. "Did you add her?"
"Call it a hunch," said Richard.
"Your hunch is going to make me late for dinner at my father's."
Richard laughed. "It's only twenty more minutes."
No more than two minutes had passed when Richard received a request to join the call from one Kori Anders. He naturally accepted and what he saw took his breath away. On the other side of the screen there was a beautiful, thin girl, with an almost unique red hair color, it didn't seem dyed and an almost tropical tan, a quite particular combination.
"Hello, I'm Richard, I'm the director," he said, having regained the ability to speak. "And this is Barbara my assistant."
"It's glorious to meet you and thank you for selecting me" Kori greeted. Yes, the Gotham accent was already present.
"You're welcome, well to start, tell us a little about yourself. What was your training like? I read on your CV that you were from Gotham" Richard asked.
That caught Barbara's attention. He had not asked the rest such personal questions.
"Indeed I lived in Gotham for many years, but I was born in Tameran, a small island in the Pacific. Do you know it?" Kori asked.
"In name only," Richard said. Makes sense.
"As a girl I moved to Gotham where I studied acting, theater and acting in front of the camera, I moved here to Jump a few yearse ago" continued Kori
"I was asking you because your Gotham accent is very clear," Richard said with a smile on his face.
"Really? I didn't know it was so noticeable" Kori River
"Yes, it takes me back to Christmas time when I travel there."
"AHEM" Barbara pronounced, interrupting the friendly conversation. "Let's start with the casting, say your name, age and start whenever you want, okay?"
"Like crystal" said Kori
Kori then fixed her hair, using her own camera as a guidance, and ran her hand over her eyes, searching for concentration. Her gaze shifted to one of absolute melancholy. "My name is Kori Anders, I am 21 years old."
After a few seconds of silence, she began with the greatest possible sadness according to what she had interpreted from the scene. "Have you ever felt like nothing was going to be solved? "That your entire life is just a disaster destined to destroy you from the inside."
Richard was on the edge of his seat hanging on to every word Kori spoke, as if she were somehow speaking to him. The girl was good.
Kori continued "and you are greeted with nothing but deceit, hatred and judgment… and you are left wondering if living is worth it, if it wouldn't be easier…." Kori paused, as if drowning in her words, and continued, "…letting go." Kori paused with a sad laugh. "Not my sister, she would tell me the harsh reality no matter how unpleasant it was and she was right, this life only gets tougher."
Once her line was finished Kori looked down sadly waiting for Barbara to say her line. Richard couldn't care less, he was mesmerized by this so-called acting student.
"I take it this is your sister, right?" read Barbara as Michael.
"Chris" Blurted Kori "what's your name?"
"Michael"
"I'm Kate," Kori said sadly. "And who brought you here?" she asked.
"What?"
"I take it you're not the kind of person who likes to walk around cemeteries looking to make friends."
"Oh sure, I'm here because of my parents."
Kori's head shot up. "Like both? Sorry, when?"
"Thirteen years ago, I like to come from time to time and sometimes sit in the street and throw pebbles to the passing cars."
Kori didn´t laugh at the attempted joke.
"From what I see you are just beginning your grieving process, I'm sorry," Barbara read for the last time.
Kori nodded. "The funeral was this morning, it doesn't even seem real, I…" Kori stops and runs her hand over her face. When she pulls it out, tears are coming out of her eyes. Richard is in complete awe. "It's like if i can still feel her, her laugh, her life, her warmth," Kori concluded, lowering her gaze.
After a few seconds to compose yourself from what he had just seen Richard said "Very good, that's it. How did you feel?"
Kori who was in the process of drying her eyes responded, "oh wonderful, it's a glorious scene, did you write it?"
"Yes, I wrote the series."
"Let me congratulate you, you are very good" replied Kori matter of factly.
Richard blushed. "Well, thank you," he managed to say. "So, tomorrow we will make the decision and we will notify you of the decision, okay?"
"Okay, thanks Richard for this and you too Barbara, thanks for the opportunity" Kori said and with that she closed the call.
As soon as she had done so, Richard and Barbara looked at each other. What had they just seen? What kind of performance was that?
"Let me guess, you like her" teased Barbara.
Quick chapter 3 update here. Thanks for everyone that liked and review. If you have any feedback please do. Again im not promising another quick update, but i will try.