Click here to meet Danielle on the 8 Sided Forum!
Let me tell you about the single most perfect audition any director has ever seen, and let me preface it by saying that both Gerard and myself were hesitant to post open casting calls for the three big female supporting roles of Heartsgaard. For us, these challenging, fun characters provided a great opportunity to rope some of the fantastic women in our acting community into the 8 Sided gameplan. Frankly, neither of us wanted strangers.
When the women we were interested in turned out to be unavailable, Gerard braved the wilds of NowCasting and brought me the results. As soon as we saw her headshot, Gerard and I agreed that Danielle had something to offer the production. Still, we weren't really sure what.
For my part, hindsight reveals just how profoundly I underestimated Danielle. Gerard took some time to check out her reel, and he suspected she might have a few surprises up her sleeve. All the same, neither of us were ready for what came through that door.
In fact, I'm still not sure how to explain it.
First, understand that the character I most wanted to see Danielle audition for was Renny. This is a woman who plays Lady Macbeth on stage, and who winds up sleeping with everybody in the production - including our foolish hero. Because there are so many ways to seduce somebody, because anyone as smart as Lady Macbeth is also as smart as Renny, and because I wanted to see how playful these actresses really were, I asked these women to come in with a prepared Macbeth monologue. Forget the script. Give me Shakespeare.
Ok, now file that away. We'll get back to the Shakespeare.
Drew Barrymore is someone I admire very deeply. Those who follow my twitter know that I came out of Whip It gushing and gushing about everything that cast and crew accomplished, and about how the ever-loving direction of Drew Barrymore was the lynchpin that made it all work. Look at her career! Through Flower Films, it seems like she's produced roughly half the movies she's been in!
Flower Films. Think about that a moment. How many producers, women included, would be willing to build their reputation on posy power?
Every single time you see Drew Barrymore, she's giggling with her cast, giggling with her DP, giggling with interviewers - basically, she giggles. People, I ask you: Who works that way?!! Who the hell produces a successful film full of independent actors about a sweet but damaged family going through a roller derby crisis?
If you're not paying very close attention to everything Drew Barrymore is doing, you're missing it.
That's who walked through the door. While we explained our master plan for world domination, Danielle K. Jones giggled and played with every idea we gave her. This girl is made of visionary glee, I thought to myself...
...which was exactly the moment she unleashed the stormy fires of Hell. Like a cheery little cartoon mouse with a five ton sledgehammer stashed behind her back, Danielle K. Jones wallops us poor, hapless mortals with MacFUCKINGbeth. Vital, pulpy, outrageous, sexy, wrathful, and forceful as a solar flare disintegrating a rocky planet that got too damn close.
Disintegrating is the word, actually. She did that famous monologue about how she'll eat some babies if her husband doesn't get off his ass, and her performance was disintegrating.
Then she giggled.
People! Visionary glee! Disintegrating, face-melting Shakespeare! If you're not paying attention to everything Danielle K. Jones is doing, you're missing it.
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