September 23-29, 2004

naked city

fineprint

Less words, more story.

by Cory Frolik

That's Great, But Can You Play Dead?

Last Sunday, Court TV's highest-rated show held an open casting call at the Loews Hotel. But what set the Forensics Files talent show apart from others was the simple fact that they didn't want pretty people. Nope, the more ordinary the mug, the better.

While Jessica Alba look-alikes are always appreciated, it amounted to squat here unless the applicant's physical specimen resembled that of someone who might disappear in a compelling manner.

Within the first two hours of the open call, hundreds of would-be cable-TV extras had congregated in a conference room, many enticed by the ads that said all body types would be considered. Since the girls on Big Brother, Survivor and Fear Factor all have sloping intimacies you can't see in the real world, "reality" has become a misnomer. In daily life, people look like audition candidate number 38, Sharon Pearson, a middle-aged black woman who has the general presence of someone waiting in line at the bank.

When asked how her audition went, she evidenced a pleasant modesty. "I think it went pretty alright," Pearson said while waving goodbye to her scene partner.

Pearson has tried out for movies like Beloved, Witness and Philadelphia, but in this audition, the producers strictly adhered to the reality of the crimes they depict. To that end, Forensic Files peruses hundreds of nameless faces.

"The people who come in here who are ordinary looking, and [who] say the lines as they would in real life have the best chance," explained Kelly Ann Martin, the show's senior producer.

All of which helps explain why a man who could be a tree cut from a forest of Gump rehearsed with a Hispanic mother who gesticulated to her infant to behave. A businesswoman similarly improvised with an elderly man who worked on a Jersey accent to apply to his police characterization.

Martin says that they make between 30 and 42 episodes annually and hold four auditions a year. They even have animal auditions (a goat that pees on command has been the veteran scene-stealer). A highlight of their New York auditions was a homeless woman who arrived with her own modeling photos.

The candidates are not in it for the big bucks either. Forensic Files always needs extras, but there are only so many "principal roles" (the parts that require semblance to the actual-life characters). And even these limited roles are paying only $250 for five hours, a sum hardly worthy of SAG-card recognition.

By the end of the day, however, one old Hollywood adage held true: Don't call them, they'll call you.