My 5 Unbelievable Personal Stories From Tom Hanks' Film A Man Called Otto

In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you 5, actually maybe even a little bit more, unbelievably personal stories of working on the Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto. When you watch this to the end, you're going to have a much better insight as to what actually takes place, the audition process, and I've got a special bonus as well. The one thing actors absolutely have to do to give a better audition. So let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Actor and Model Quick Tips channel and the Acting Career Center, where I share information from my 38+ years of experience working as a full-time actor. Hey, and if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, uh, click the subscribe button, uh, the notification bell, and if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's really helpful. So the very first thing I wanted to share with you was talking about the audition process for A Man Called Otto. It's not unusual, but it was a little bit different. You know, normally, you know, actors will get the sides, we, you know, record, audition for a particular role. Yep, maybe it might be— maybe the casting director has a thought of 2 different roles for the actor. For my audition, I think there were 6 roles. There were 6 principals that were being cast for a scene at the train station as we're standing on the platform. And so I didn't have any particular thoughts as to which one I wanted more. Look, getting a chance to work on a Tom Hanks film Seemed pretty incredible to me. So I was just excited getting the opportunity to do the audition. As it turned out, I got cast as the guy who falls off the train platform and the business guy, and I get saved by Tom Hanks right before I get run over by a train. That was pretty cool. Number 2, So in the sides, it talks about this guy falling off a train platform and being saved by Tom Hanks's character Otto. Now, I had to make a decision for myself. What caused me to fall off the track? Was I trying to kill myself? Did I slip? What happened? So when I got to the set I walked over to the first AD, the first assistant director, because the director wasn't around. And, and look, I didn't know anything about personalities of people. Sometimes walking straight over to a director might not be the best thing to do depending on who the director is. But I walked over to the first AD and I said— yeah, I introduced myself and I said, so look, I'm the guy who's falling off the train platform. I wanted to find out, could I talk with you or maybe the director about the scene. And he said, oh, absolutely, let me take you to the director. So he brought me over, and I felt a little bit uncomfortable. He was having breakfast, and I walked into his room, and he said, no, no, come on, sit down. So I explained to him these were my thoughts because I had also— I had done research on this. Fortunately, I've never had a heart attack, and so I really don't know what a heart attack looks like, you know, what actually takes place. And I made some phone calls to some doctor friends and I got some ideas, but I actually wanted to see it. And so that was my game plan. That's what I was thinking of. This guy is having a heart attack. So I sat down with the director and I said, look, I just wanted to throw this at you and see what your thoughts were and see if you agree with me. That this guy is heading to work, he's got his briefcase, and all of a sudden he has a heart attack and falls. And he goes, absolutely, that makes sense to me too. Perfect. So we got that one worked out. Number 3. So I was told ahead of time I was going to have a stunt double, which made sense to me. Falling off train tracks, the train track platform down onto the tracks, it's not something I've ever experienced in my life. I'm not a stunt performer. I've done some precision driving, which means, you know, you're driving a car, you've got to park in a certain— or stop at a certain spot, be able to move the car back to the first position, and, you know, things like that. I'm not doing 360s or 180s or anything like that, but I could do some basic precision driving. Never have I ever fallen like that. It was like an 8-foot drop. So I met the stunt double. He was a really nice guy, very experienced. They flew him up Texas, which is where he lives, and we were just talking about the stunt world, and he was mentioning to me like a lot of the projects that he worked on that actually I've seen. He was really, really good, and I watched him. I was standing on the— so basically we would shoot the scene, I walk up to the edge, cut, and when it's time for the stunt double to do the fall, I walked over across the tracks to the other platform across from me, and I was standing behind the camera. I just wanted to watch this guy's work, and he was great. He was really, really good. And they had him walking up a little bit, having a heart attack, falling over, landing perfectly every time. And he did it a couple of times. It was great. So go back, and we're shooting the opening scene again where I'm walking towards the end of the on the platform. And all of a sudden, the first AD walks over and says, hey, the director wanted to know, would you be comfortable doing, doing the fall? And I, like I said, I've never done this, but I thought, this sounds like it could be a great experience. And I immediately said, sure, yeah, love to do it. So he said, great. He said, look, let me have you talk with the stunt coordinator. Which I did, and I wouldn't have done it if they didn't have the stunt coordinator there. They didn't have other stunt doubles who were really very generous, very kind. They talked to me, and we learned very— or I learned very specifically how to do the stunt, what not to do. Like he said, whatever you do, don't fall forward and land You know, on your chin. He goes, you might get paralyzed. You could snap your neck. Don't have your arms folded because you could break your arms going down. You got to land on the side of your face. It just has to be a complete fall. There's no hesitation as far as showing that you're not really sure. What's that? And it was kind of like— and look, I've never jumped out of an airplane, but it kind of felt like that sensation where you're ready to jump out, you're really scared, but you just let go. You let go. Now, what I did in preparation, along with meeting with all those people, And once again, they were really, really helpful. One of the things that was also hard was practicing walking from the end of the platform all the way to the edge, because I had to make sure that my feet were slightly at the edge of the platform where I could feel the edge of the platform. Then I knew that if I fall— Fall. If I fell straight over, I would hit the mats, I would hit the pads because you don't want to miss the pads. And there were 3 of the stunt people, including the coordinator, standing by the tracks just in case it looked like I was going to miss the pads, or if I bounced a little, they were there to catch me so I didn't actually land on the tracks. So anyhow, it was, it was a lot. I would have to count in my head to make sure. I had to get this feel. I knew about how many steps I had to take. And then I could feel it once I was there. Then it's just a matter of feeling the heart attack. And I watched, you know, a few videos and just let your body go. And that's what they did. And the reason why— and I'm sure, I mean, nobody told me, but I'm sure the reason why they asked me to do it, because the stunt double was phenomenal, I'm sure it's for editing purposes. And when I watched the film, it made sense. If they use the stunt double's version, then they're gonna have to cut away Once I'm standing on the platform this way, I could just walk out there and just fall. And so it was a really wonderful experience. I'm glad I only had to do it a couple of times. It's a little scary falling flat on the side of your face 8 feet, but it worked out really, really well. My 4th story, let me just tell you The atmosphere on the set, at least for the couple days that I worked, it was just phenomenal. And it starts from the top. It starts from the stars, the director. People were just really, really kind. And look, I get it when you are a well-known actor and everybody wants autographs and everybody wants to shake your hand and people want to do selfies, which You shouldn't be doing. I get it that sometimes, depending on what's going on in your scene, you might not want to be involved with anybody. I mean, I know, like, if I have a pretty serious scene coming up where there's a lot of dialogue and I like to kind of separate myself from people because I'm trying to concentrate and get prepared. For a couple of these things that we were doing, it really— at least For, for Tom Hanks, there's like almost no dialogue at all. I mean, like, he's done this a million times, but the fact is he was just so kind, so generous, so appreciative of what everybody was doing on set, whether it was the extras. He made sure that he talked with them and thanked them. And there were people in buildings across from us who were waving, and he would wave back and talk. And so when you have that kind of feeling on the set, you feel like you want to do everything you possibly can. And I can tell you, the, the scene that I was in, you know, here after the fall, now I am lying face first onto steel railroad tracks in the snow. They created snow. It was cold. I'm cold, I'm wet. It's not like I had a bodysuit on or anything. I've got a jacket and a suit on. I'm— it's a miserable kind of situation to be in, but it didn't matter because, at least for me, everybody was so phenomenal. I would have done anything. And if it— If it was Getting wet, if it was feeling cold, my face was freezing. My legs were all cut up from being pulled up the platform. Fortunately, they had a medic. They cleaned things up really quickly. But when— and look, let me just tell you, it doesn't always happen. And that's okay. Look, sometimes you have a job and people aren't so great and it's rough and people can be a little nasty and you figure out a way to get through it. That's fine. Boy, if you can be in a situation where people are just so wonderful, it really changes things. So hey, by the way, if you happen to be starring or at some point you're going to be starring in a project, please be nice to other people, create a nice atmosphere. It really is— it's a wonderful way to go into work. Number 5, you know, it was really pretty amazing. So I did, you know, a couple of these stunts And not only at one point did Tom Hanks walk over to me and say, hey, you okay? You need anything? You want some hot tea or anything? But also his wife, Rita Wilson, who was one of the producers— I believe she wrote some of the music for it as well. At one point she walked over and she thanked me for being a part of the project and also inquired about my health, which You know, once again, it's, it's such a, a great way to work as a team, and people just really, uh, were all very nice to each other. So anyhow, I just wanted to share with you some of those behind-the-scenes, uh, situations. And if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. And I did promise I was going to give you a special bonus video, and if you look right up here, you'll see the link, and you'll learn the one thing you've got to do to give a better audition. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.