g-one wrote:Interesting but odd. A bunch of other people were auditioning for a role they hadn't prepped for? Like auditioning for a role as a dancer but you can't dance?
Or the role was something else initially, and he made some latte's that sealed the deal?
I don’t really have much knowledge of the acting business, so anything I say here should be treated as uninformed conjecture, to be overruled if anyone actually knows anything.
But, my impression of the plight of aspiring actors is, it’s a pretty tough business. Anything for which you audition, will have dozens or hundreds of others competing against you. You get called out for an audition at short notice, you need to get time off from your regular job waiting on tables or driving the bus, and your odds of getting the job are considerably less than one percent.
So if it’s a job portraying a lawyer, can you afford to say, oh, I’d better spend a lot of time and effort learning what it’s like to be a lawyer? Oops, didn’t get that one, the next one is as a soldier, I’d better learn what it’s like to be in the army. Well, didn’t get that one either, the next one is as an auto mechanic, I’d better learn how to fix cars. If one took that attitude, I think one would get very few auditions, and still fewer parts.
In this case, the actor got the part not because he prepared and learned how to be a barista because that’s what the part required; he was working as a barista because he needed money to stay alive while he tried to break into acting. He had some luck. If he hadn’t auditioned, someone who didn’t know how to operate the coffee machine would have gotten the job, and maybe would have quickly studied up and learned how before they started shooting.