So, I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment, but I did it again. I went back to audition for that movie project I tried out once for before. BIG mistake! Or rather, BIG waste of time and cab fare!

I hadn't heard back from the director concerning my first audition, but I kept seeing the ad up looking for actresses in my range, so I had to find out what was going on! I sent an email late Friday night asking if there is any chance I am still in the running and on Saturday morning I was awoken by a text message telling me to check my email and respond asap. So, I booted up my lap top and went to my email account and got an email telling me where to go.

I called to say that the time was not good for me, but the director insisted that I had to come that day because he had other actresses coming at the same time and he needed us all there together to make the decision. So, I caved and said, "I'll be there."

I copy the address and get in the taxi. When we get to the area, I called the director for clearer directions and got dropped off at gate of some university I didn't know. I called again and he said someone would be down to pick me up. I waited...and waited...and waited. Then I saw two other foreign ladies coming to the same place I was and they seemed to be waiting, too. So I asked them if they were here to audition for the movie and they said, "what movie?" Ok.... So, I tried to call again but the line was busy. I noticed the other lady was on her phone as well and thought--she MUST be talking to the same guy. So, I asked again, "are you sure you're not here for an audition?" They said that they were there to look at someone's apartment and then the one lady remembered that the guy had said he was a filmmaker. I was furious! Were these the "other actresses" he told me about?? My instinct was to leave right then, but I was already there, so why not stick it out?

Finally, a young Chinese lady came down and asked the three if us, "are you here for the film?" I said I was but the other ladies still didn't believe me that we were going to the same place until we asked the guard whom we had both given our phones to in order to know if we were in the right place. He told us it was the same man we were talking to. So we all headed up to the apartment. The Chinese lady told me that she was not his assistant and that she was just here to audition as well, so she had no idea what was going on. She had a similar theory that the man was crazy. He had asked her to pick up two people for the film and one for something else, but didn't say what. My guess is the apartment hunters. And so we picked up a younger girl there for the audition along the way.

So there were three of us there for the movie "audition" and two there looking to rent a room. It was me, the Chinese girl, the young British girl, and the two older French ladies. We arrived at the door of the director's apartment. He answers the door and tells us to come in and take off our shoes. I am the first one to do that when he gets a phone call. He starts yelling into the phone some terrible directions in English to the person who is obviously lost. He is saying "Listen to me! Listen to me! You are on the street...go down the street and wait at the gate." And I can hear her saying, "Which street? I don't know where I am!" And he says, "Give the phone to your driver." "I'm not in a taxi," she says. "Then give the phone to a Chinese person." (then in Chinese, he says) "Where are you?" (Chinese) "At Mengxi Hotel." (Chinese) "Tell her to go down the street and wait at the gate."

I'm thinking, obviously this woman doesn't speak Chinese so why would telling another Chinese person the directions help?? So, I tell him to give me the phone and I gave her directions to the place. Meanwhile he ushered us into his living room and sat us actresses on the couch while he gave the French ladies the tour of the apartment. We sat in the living room for some time and then the Australian girl (with whom I had spoken on the phone) called again and I went down to meet her.

When I came back with the Aussie, the French ladies were frustratedly trying to leave and the director was all but physically stopping them from going. I dragged the Aussie back to the living room to wait uncomfortably on the couch while the Frenchies and the director had a yelling match for several minutes then finally managed to get out the door. I guess they didn't want to rent the room.

So, the director finally comes in the living room says almost nothing, but puts in a DVD of an old Chinese movie with no English subtitles and says, "Watch this movie very carefully." The British girl says, "But we don't speak Chinese." And he says, "Try. If you don't understand, you can ask her." And he points to the Chinese girl who he apparently expects to translate the entire movie for those of us not fluent in the language. I have already had enough and said to the other girls that I am planning on leaving. I asked them if they are interested in staging a mass exodus with me, but no one seemed game, so I stuck around. The director had left the room while we "watched" the movie and would periodically return every few minutes to make sure we were paying close attention. We weren't. I felt like we were in high school.

There was another man in the living room the whole time who stayed relatively silent and unnoticed. He was introduced to us as "the cameraman." The cameraman and the director had a few words after about 20 minutes of us sitting on the couch alone. We asked the cameraman what the director said and he said, "He will give his speech soon." OH NO! I remember his speech from last time! I would not be sticking around for that again. I was already plotting my escape and kicking myself for again wasting my time.

The director came back in the room and we started asking questions. The British girl said, "Why are we watching this movie? What are we supposed to learn from it?" And his response was, "That is your question. Do you have any more questions?" We all said, "YES!" Then the Australian girl said, "What is the movie about? What is the length of time needed for filming? How many days are we need and when?" "Those are your questions," he said. "Do you have any more?" I said, "I have one question. Are you going to answer our questions?" He looked at me for a second kind of blankly then looked off into the distance and nodded. I was done. He had proven himself to be quite unproductive and relatively insane. Without saying a word, I stood up, grabbed my bag and walked out of the living room, stopping in the foyer to put my shoes on quickly. The director started asking, "where is she going?" The other girls said they didn't know. "Come back! Where are you going?" he shouted. I'm putting on my shoes as quickly as possible. The Aussie was a true pal, "Maybe she's going to the bathroom." I'm fiddling with the front door latch trying to get out. "The bathroom is the other way. You are going the wrong way!" "OK!" I shouted back. Then I opened the front door walked out into the hall, closed the door and punched the button to the elevator, hoping that he would not try to follow me. (Although that would make this story more interesting.)

I stepped into the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief. I had escaped and I am determined not to waste another moment on trying to work with this person. I suppose I should just stick to the stage acting anyway.