My First Big Job
- Feb 2, 2017
- 3 min read
You know that feeling when you know you’ve worked really hard on something and when it finally pays off you still can’t believe that you made it? Well that was my initial reaction to when I found out I was going to be playing the younger version of Wilmer Valderrama’s character in Minority Report. During the audition process for the role I told my agent how excited I was for it not only because it was a Sci-fi show with an amazing team behind it, but because I had my hopes that I would get to meet an actor I grew up watching. By now must of us have heard of “That Seventies Show” and we can all point to Fez, the foreign exchange student that ends up making friends in Wisconsin.And the fact that would be playing him was a dream come true.
The process was very rewarding and I loved to experiment with the Venezuelan accent. But after a couple of callbacks I had the feeling that I would end up getting the role. And this feeling followed me for the next two days. I was having a little nap before work, the day was very gray and I really wasn’t looking to work a night shift. And all of the sudden, my phone rings. As I came out of my peaceful state I realised it was my agent calling. At first he was very serious and started asking me very vague questions such as how are you and how was your day, ect. And then, in a very comical way he said. “Okay, so I have some news for you. You remember that audition for Minority Report? Well, you got the part.” I could totally hear the excitement in his voice and even after I said thanks and got the details for the shoot, I still couldn’t believe I was finally going to work as a professional actor. When the actual day of shooting came, I was introduced to the director, who in this case was Adam Kane, who had this really relaxed and chill demeanor. And as I went through the various trailers I finally arrived to my trailer and the makeup team showed up. This is when I realized that I had a stunt double. How cool is that!
Once we went through a few rehearsals it was now show time. The studio bell rang, the camera was rolling and I felt like I was in a completely different world. The world I wanted to be in.
Take after take, I still couldn’t believe I was actually there. There was a moment where, we wanted to shoot this scene where people came in from the window and knocked the front door open. We were originally going to use my stunt double but the director changed his mind at the last minute and decided he wanted my reaction on camera and so I did my own stunts, and I can tell you waiting for the glass to explode behind me and all that adrenaline going through my veins, I don’t I’ve ever heard my hear pound so hard before. And the best part of my day was when I saw someone enter the set, tweeting about the show and started laughing at the similarity between himself and the young actor in front of him. I was now in the presence of Wilmer Valderrama himself.
We managed to chat for a bit and I will never forget his words when I told him how honored I was to be there, he said “More than feeling honored should feel proud of yourself for working this hard to get to where you are now. You are now a professional actor. Enjoy it.”
Probably one of the most rewarding experiences in my life and it also served as a turning point of sorts. It was the moment I realized I could do this and how much I enjoyed being an actor. I hope you liked this little story. If you have any similar stories share them with me, I would love to hear about them. Keep working hard and you’ll eventually get there.
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