After watching The Border

It's always an interesting experience watching myself on TV or film. I can't help but recall how we shot the scene on the day and then how they ended up editing it.

So often, TV editors, especially, seldom use the actor's best performances, but rather focus on "getting the lines" and often let matching go out the window. (By matching, i mean that if one actor's head is tilted left in one angle, but tilted right in the other--it causes a jump cut, which makes me crazy because it kicks me out of getting caught up in the story.) Film editors are much more careful when it comes to this and usually have more takes of material to work with.

Last Thursday I watched myself on The Border and didn't cringe. The character is so far removed from who and how I am in real life, it was interesting to see if I could actually buy into believing it wasn't me. Well, I didn't of course, but it was fun trying. I sometimes wish I could redo a line or wish they'd used a better take, but the actor is powerless in what becomes an editor's medium. That's why I try to ensure that my takes are bulletproof as much as possible. Matching matters to me, so that it becomes easier for the editor to pick a good performance IF he's paying attention to matching.

Of course, it would have been nice to score a head credit for my guest star part, but CBC tends to be very arbitrary with credits for their non-star guest roles. Despite having more dialogue than anyone but the guest lead, I didn't score a head credit, while actors with less screen time did. Go figure. (I realize this might seem petty, but head credits are a way of raising profile for future work.)