Leta and I were talking for a bit yesterday about process. She asked me, "Do you do things like figure out what Austin's favorite food is?"

I explained that I like to have an answer for questions like that, but I'm not all that hardcore about building a complete backstory for my character.

But since she asked, Austin's favorite food is campfire food: hotdogs on a stick and 'smores. There was a camping trip, Austin was maybe 8 or 10 and Lee was 14, and it was the last time that the old man went with them, before he started bingeing. And it was the last time that they were all happy together. It was the last moment that felt real.

posted: 11:36:50 PM  

I haven't hurt myself working on a show very often. (There was the time that I played Eeyore that trashed my knee...) And I certainly haven't done anything that required stitches. This show may turn out to be the first.

Let's see, tonight I whacked myself with the trashed typewriter at the end of scene 9.

And then we were running scene 5. I (Austin) storm for the front door to find Saul, to find out why he's dropping my project. I'm supposed to get through the door, only to remember that Lee has my car keys, which brings me back into the scene.

Well, the carpenters had added some additional latches and locks to the door (Mom is "security-conscious," you know). One of the new latches was locked, which I discovered when (no, after) I got to the door. Maybe a little too much in the moment, I started banging on the door with the side of my hand, maybe four or five times, until I regained composure and unlatched it.

So I'm tending my bruised knuckles during notes, and John says the words that can freeze any actor's blood: "That thing at the door? That was great! Keep it!"

posted: 11:28:14 PM