Link to video

At the end of last year, a colleague mentioned that he wanted me to star in his short film. He said that I was the perfect person for the part, apparently because of my demeanour. Intrigued, I agreed to it.

Two weekends ago, I went to his house to film it. We discussed it for about two hours, and I got myself prepared for the role. In spite of his reason for casting me, it still felt very out-of-character and therefore unusual for me. Nonetheless, I didn't want to disappoint both him and me, so I persevered with it. However, I had to change some of the dialogue to better suit, well, me.

We waited till sun down to film it, since it was meant to take place at night. About five hours later, filming was wrapped. My colleague edited it over the next few days, all the time talking excitedly about it with me. He was obviously having a good time with it.

And "Blackout" was the film. He's submitting it to a few film festivals, and I eagerly await the good news.

Acting is definitely not easy. As a person who is conscious of my surroundings, it was an especially difficult time for me. I simply had to zone myself out and just pretend that I was somewhere else. Professional actors either have mastered the art of zoning out or are absolutely not self-conscious, or maybe both.