In “Resident Alien” on Syfy, a creature from another planet, played by Alan Tudyk, has arrived in Colorado and awkwardly assumed the human form of a small town doctor. Only a small number of people know his true identity. Everyone else is in the dark, including the enthusiastic if not terribly perceptive sheriff, a key element in the show’s sardonic sense of humor played by Corey Reynolds.
“I love playing this cantankerous, goofy kind of guy,” said Reynolds. “This is the best job I’ve ever had in my entire career. I started on Broadway in the musical ‘Hairspray’ and all of my work up until I moved to L.A. in 2003 involved singing and dancing, and most of that was driven by comedy. I came from the comedy world and wanted to prove my dramatic chops, so I made the switch from comedy to drama” — notably as a far more competent member of law enforcement on TNT’s “The Closer.”
As a result, Reynolds is better known as a dramatic actor, and “Resident Alien” was an opportunity, he said, “to come home to my comedic roots.”
When asked about a worst moment in his career, Reynolds recalled a cringeworthy commercial audition that coincided with his time on “The Closer.”
My worst moment …
“This was back in, I want to say 2007 or 2008. I was on ‘The Closer’ and one of my cast mates, J.K. Simmons, played the police chief on the show and he booked this endorsement deal with Farmers, the insurance company. And he reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m doing this commercial campaign and they asked if there are people I work with who are good at improv who might come in,’ and I said, ‘Sure, of course!’
“Now, I hadn’t really been to too many commercial auditions — in fact, I don’t think I had been to any in L.A. — and I just assumed it would be the same as film, television or theater auditions. I thought, no big deal, but I remember feeling really stressed and flustered when I got there because I couldn’t find parking and I was late. Finally I go inside and there are probably 150 or 200 people there. Just a sea of people. The place is packed and it was all these separate offices where a bunch of auditions were happening. It was like a cattle call. And it was hot. It was like a sauna steeped in desperation.
“Here’s how auditions usually work: You go in, it’s just you in the room, and you read with the casting people. But this was different. I was wading through all these people and eventually I find the casting people handling Farmers and they were like: ‘OK, stand over there and then we’re going to group you.’ And I’m like, group me? What are they talking about? It was so weird and so different from any audition I had been on before.
“This is when I started to feel very out of place, if I’m being honest, because I had a job at the time. I had a good job. And I was starting to feel really bad about the fact that I was there potentially taking a job from someone else that might need it more, as I’m looking around this room.
“So then a girl comes over and groups me with three other people and tells us we’re all going in together. She takes us in the room and they’ve got this easel that has pictures on it that are frames from the commercial that we were supposed to react to. All of this is foreign to me. The premise was: We were these Farmers Insurance agents who were being lectured on how they covered different things, like a helicopter being stuck in a tree.
“So there’s a casting guy reading a narrative: ‘At Farmers, we cover just about anything.’ And then there’s another guy behind him going, ‘Thup-thup-thup-thup,’ making helicopter sounds. And the other three actors I’m in there with are watching an imaginary helicopter fly across the ceiling and I’m just staring at the guy who’s going thup-thup-thup-thup and thinking, I don’t really understand what we’re supposed to be doing (laughs).
“I was supposed to be Insurance Agent No. 4 and I missed my line. And I just panicked and started to sweat. And when I say sweat, I mean sweat. Because it’s bad enough if you ruin an audition for yourself, but I’ve never been held accountable for possibly costing someone else a job for being so bad. And eventually I said, ‘Guys, I hate to do this, but this is not for me. I don’t want to be responsible for these fine actors here not getting the job. So I’m just gonna go.’
“I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. I wanted to run. I was drenched in sweat. Flop sweat. Desperation sweat. Just-want-to-get-the-hell-out-of-here sweat. I was so embarrassed. I was also kind of frustrated with myself.”
Maybe part of the discomfort was that Reynolds had reached a certain point in his career and —
“I shouldn’t be here, that’s what I thought. I shouldn’t be here because I’m past this point in my career. And this could potentially take an opportunity away from someone else who needs it more than I do right now. And I shouldn’t be in here in this cashmere sweater, I’m sweating my butt off because it’s 95 degrees in this room!
“‘The Closer’ was a big hit at the time, you know what I mean? So I felt like there were some people who absolutely recognized me from the show and were like, ‘What the hell is this guy doing here? Are you trying to take all the work?’ I definitely felt that type of energy, of people thinking, my God, if I had your job, I wouldn’t be here. What are you doing here, man?
“And I’m generally an anxious person. I’m an introvert by nature and I’ve had to work to be more of an extrovert because of the career choice that I’ve made. But I’m not a crowd person. I’m certainly not a ‘everyone look at me, I’m sweating, I don’t know where I’m supposed to be’ kind of person. I really needed help and I usually have a PA (production assistant) who would pull me through the crowd and take me where I needed to go. But no, I was alone and it was really hot and I didn’t know what I was doing (laughs).
“I had to go to work later that day and I told everybody how terrible I was (laughs)! And I told J.K. the next time I saw him, I was like, ‘Dude, I do not think those people are going to be calling me, I couldn’t see the helicopter, I got distracted by the thup-thup-thup-thup.’ And he laughed, he thought it was hilarious. But he gets it — the guy’s won an Academy Award and he’s one of the most gifted actors I’ve worked with, he can see the thup-thup-thup (laughs). I’m a big fan, that’s my dude.
“I haven’t gone in for any commercials since. That was the last commercial audition I ever went to.”
The takeaway …
“In the grand scheme of my life’s journey, it was humbling. I was feeling like hot stuff because I was on this hit show — I think ‘The Closer’ was the biggest show on cable at the time. And going to that audition, I hit a wall. I could not get on the same level as these actors who were more experienced at doing commercials, which is its own skill and talent. I was a sprinter who showed up to run a marathon and it was humbling to get left in the dust and feel out of place. I got a greater sense of respect for every level of this craft. Not everybody can do everything.
“I mean, hey man, I’m a Tony-nominated actor who has worked with Spielberg and been featured in Academy Award-nominated films, but I could not see that helicopter thup-thup-thupping across the sky (laughs)! I just couldn’t get it.”
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