The Rehearsal (2022) s01e04 Episode Script

Do you like spaghetti?
- I do.
- Great.
When you were young,
did you ever hate one of your parents?
I don't think so.
- No? I did. I hated my dad.
- Really?
I was very angry at him
because he wasn't there.
I put my parents through hell.
- I drank like a fish.
- What did you drink?
Vodka, tequila. I did drugs.
- Acid.
- You did acid?
Yep.
- What?
- Cocaine.
- You did cocaine?
- Yep.
And that sent me into a lot
of destructive behaviors.
What are you doing
with the noodles there?
I'm seeing how done they are.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
It's beautiful in rural Oregon.
And the town of Eagle Creek,
my home base for this project,
definitely has a lot to offer.
But if what you need is a consistent
supply of professional actors
for all the rehearsals
- Bye.
- Bye. See you later.
regular trips to a big city.
You need to go where the actors are.
During this process, I've discovered that
an actor's sense of authenticity
can vary vastly from one to another.
And I wanted a way to create
a standard for the level of realism
I needed for this project.
I had recently launched
The Fielder Method Studio
in LA's NoHo Arts District
as a recruitment camp of sorts,
to find and train up-and-coming actors
in the specific techniques
needed for this show.
Unlike a normal role where
the worst thing that can happen
is someone changes the channel
if they don't like your performance,
you know what I mean.
Like, with this show,
if your performance isn't accurate,
you could ruin someone's life.
Preparing an actor for a rehearsal
is sort of like a spy mission.
And I wanted them to learn
how to do it themselves,
as well as improve on mistakes
we had made in the past.
So, is your method based upon, like,
literally a slice of life with this person
and then creating reenactments
based off this one experience?
My point is that
this didn't go far enough.
Okay.
Sounds like we're going to secretly
follow somebody around for a while.
- Stalking?
Okay, you guys are getting
ahead of this. Good.
But I often find myself
intimidated by actors.
Stella Adler says, "you can be
representational, which is action based."
"Or you could be representational,
which is behavior based."
- Stella Adler.
- Stella Adler.
- And then, yeah.
- What is her thing?
They have a way of channeling
other people's emotions
that I don't fully understand.
The most playful chakra
is your third eye, right?
It's your creative mind as an actor.
That's where we want to live.
Just in hearing you talk about this,
it's like the Suzuki Method
- Suzuki?
- Yeah, and it's about filling the form.
Okay. And what's the best way
to fill in the form?
Just do the action.
- Do the action.
- Yeah.
Like in the deep reality of the action.
- Sure.
- Yeah.
And by the time I gave them
their first assignment,
I was feeling a little insecure.
Okay. So now we're going to put some of
what you guys learned today into action.
You're going to go out into the real world
and pick a real person
to become your primary.
And you're going to secretly
observe and interact with them,
and find out as much
as you can about them.
And then, you're going to come back
tomorrow dressed like them. Okay?
- Okay, cool. See you later.
- Bye.
After spending time with people,
I'm often left wondering
what they actually think of me.
So, once the class was gone,
I tried a little experiment.
I decided to recreate the class using
different actors to portray each person,
so I could relive the day
from a student's perspective.
My hope was to gain insight
into how each lesson made them feel,
so I could improve it for tomorrow.
you could ruin a person's life.
I picked a random student to inhabit.
An actor named Thomas,
who was sitting on the side of the room.
Putting myself in his headspace,
I noticed this teacher wasn't very good
at connecting with us.
Your character research needs to be
sourced through real-world interactions
with the person you're portraying.
It didn't seem like he had ever taught
an acting class before.
to put my name, like, in a method?
- No.
- Everyone does that, yeah.
- No? All right.
I wondered if my fellow students
felt the same way.
But I couldn't really see their faces well
because of how the chairs were arranged.
We were all facing forwards.
And this formal environment
made the whole class a little less fun.
So your assignment
for the rest of the day is,
you're going to go out into the real world
and secretly observe your primary.
But it felt like
the method itself made sense.
Nathan explained it all clearly
and it was actually sort of intriguing.
Maybe there was something to it.
I guess I'd have to keep
taking the class to find out.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- We're circling. That's cool.
- Yeah, circle today.
- Hang out. Have a seat. How's it going?
- It's great.
It's good to see you. Hello.
I asked her how her day was going,
how long was her shift.
She's working till midnight.
She's really tired.
I found her Instagram through geotags.
Then I found her Twitter
and I found her TikTok.
She's having a breast reduction soon.
Her name is Amanda.
I felt way more in sync
with the actors today.
The vibe in the room felt so much better.
Yeah. So, my primary's name is Henry.
He is a barber.
- You had to get your hair cut then?
- He was a barber. Yeah, I did.
- You got a haircut?
Yeah, it was nice. Yeah.
- Okay, cool. Good.
But I noticed some students
were struggling with the assignment.
Thomas, what about you?
- Well, I went to an Acai Place.
- Acai?
- It's kinda like a smoothie bowl.
- Okay.
And I thought
this would be a good opportunity
to show them I knew what I was doing.
personal information about your primary
as some of the others.
The environment kind of begs for you
to go through the line and then leave.
Right.
The physical space is asking
you not to be there.
Yeah. When you got your order,
maybe spill it on the counter
and he would come to your aid,
and that would break down some
of those social barriers
that you're afraid to cross.
- Just disrupt the situation?
- Yeah.
And then maybe it might lead to a more
personal conversation perhaps.
Okay. Got you.
When I relived the day
from Thomas's perspective,
it proved my instincts to be right.
Thomas, what about you?
So my primary was at an acai bowl place.
- Acai bowl?
- Acai bowl, kind of like a smoothie.
The circle felt just as good
from a student's perspective
as it was from the teacher's.
And I felt really special
when Nathan pulled me aside
to give me one-on-one
guidance after class.
And that'll help break down
some of the social barriers
that you're afraid to cross.
- Thank you. Yeah.
- All right? Good luck. Good luck.
- Thank you.
- Okay. Great.
After reliving day two,
I basically found no issues.
I felt Nathan gave every student
a lot of attention
and made us feel comfortable
in the process.
Maybe I had nothing
to worry about after all.
back in my real home.
Once in a while, I would try
to check in with Angela.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three. One, two, three.
One, two. One. One. One. One
- All right.
- Oh, my God.
Now that the actors had studied
it was time to physically embody them.
- I don't know.
- You don't know? Okay.
- I don't know if it works.
- What's that tool here?
But over here,
tie iron.
- Tie iron?
- Tie iron, yeah.
- T-I-E?
- I believe so.
Bananas under the cans.
But I now knew that
to take on the mind of a stranger,
it wasn't enough to just talk to them.
The level of immersion
had to be deeper.
I am in the process
of arranging for all of you
to work in the actual jobs
of your primary.
Or, at least, as close as we can get.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
I don't want to work.
I was noticing the more extreme
my method became,
the more these actors
seemed to respect me.
If I'm not going to go all the way
and get out of my comfort zone,
how am I going to know where I can go?
So, yeah, thank you for just the space.
But when I caught up with Thomas,
something felt off.
Yeah, so, how did it go?
Yeah, what happened?
- Did you get personal? Did you?
Yeah. The deeper conversation
was hard to accomplish.
- Did not spill the bowl.
- Okay, yeah.
telling him that I lost my lucky
guitar pick that I got from my dad.
- Okay.
- Is that true?
- No, that was a lie.
- Okay, okay, got it.
- Yeah.
I don't really like lying to people,
in general.
- Yeah, neither do I.
- Yeah.
this is all so fascinating, so,
what are you going to do?
Right.
Thomas's ambiguous emotions
were hard for me to read,
but then I got the sense he had been
uncomfortable with this method
since the very first day.
So, yeah. That's what makes me feel
kinda weird about it sometimes.
The Fielder Method.
Which was interesting because
I had not felt that when I was him.
So rather than recreating today's lesson,
I decided to experience
that first day again
to see if I had missed something.
- Hey, I'm Nathan.
- Thomas.
- Thomas? Good to meet you.
- Yeah. Good to meet you.
- Yeah, have a seat.
- Sure, yeah.
- And, just hang out.
- Okay, great.
This time I was focused
on really getting into his mindset.
So I just kept saying
to myself in my head,
"Your name is Thomas
and you're an actor."
"How do you feel?"
I have a show that requires
a specific type of performance.
Almost immediately, I felt a rush
of excitement come over me
when I remembered
there were cameras filming me.
HBO cameras.
I love being on camera.
But I wanted to play it cool,
like I didn't care that much.
With this show,
you could ruin someone's life.
Wait, what is this show?
Is this a show
about an acting class?
Am I supposed to be acting?
Something doesn't make sense.
If you're training actors for a show,
why would you be filming the training?
I wanted to ask, but I was worried
it would seem rude.
I didn't want to stand out.
I wanted to impress Nathan.
"Fielder Method" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Fielder Method!
All right, thank you guys. All right.
Hi, thank you for coming to the first day
of the Fielder Method,
we're so excited to have you.
If you want to participate in the show,
you just need to sign
this appearance release.
- Okay.
- Thank you.
There are so many pages!
I don't know any of these legal terms.
This would take me hours to read.
Thank you so much.
But everyone else is signing it,
so it must be all right.
It's all standard.
Signature is on the fourth page.
- Right. Sorry, yeah. Okay.
- Yeah, no problem.
- Great, we'll see you tomorrow.
- Yeah.
Reliving the day again as Thomas
made me realize
there was a whole other layer to his
experience I hadn't considered.
- Thank you so much.
- Thanks again for today.
- Yeah. Thank you.
- I'll see you. Yeah.
And I wondered if was going far enough.
I had just sent these actors off to work
for an entire week as someone else.
But how much is enough?
How do you ever know
you truly understand someone?
So I started visiting Thomas
working at the acai bowl place.
- Hey!
- Hey! How you doing?
Going through the exact experience
he had with his primary.
- How many siblings do you have?
- Pardon me?
- How many siblings?
- Brother, two sisters.
- Brother, two sisters?
- Yeah.
Do you want Nutella,
peanut butter, almond butter?
And returned to class the next morning
to live the second day again.
I'm a dog walker for this dog walking app
and my primary was this director
But this time, it felt different.
I think you're the first person
in the history of this project
to actually get inside
their primary's home.
It's amazing.
I think that deserves
a round of applause. Yeah.
And I began to question the tactics
this teacher was encouraging.
see how he responds to that.
But every night when I went home,
it was still my house.
My marble coffee table.
My TV.
My black and white toilet.
The illusion was shattered.
So, I suggested to Thomas
that he move into an apartment
that reflects the living situation
of his primary, to immerse himself fully.
Did you find out his living situation?
Yeah. I found out that he lives
with the couple of his bandmates,
actually, pretty close to here.
Sherman Oaks area.
Okay.
Cool. How soon can you move?
As soon as I have to.
So I rented him a similar place and hired
two actors to play his roommates.
- Tex and Matt.
- Sup, man?
- They'll be your new roommates.
- Hey.
I told him I would collect
his mail for him
and water his plants while he was away.
Plant in my bathroom.
- Just a little bit.
- Okay.
And be careful 'cause it'll overflow
the little water catch dish.
All right, sure. Great.
- All right. Have fun.
- Okay. See you.
See you.
But I really wanted to do more than that.
So while Thomas was going deeper
I would go deeper into mine.
sleeping where he sleeps.
I was now Thomas 24/7.
I continued following the lesson plan
until I was working at an Ubatuba also.
A different one from Thomas,
so he wouldn't know.
in, like, an apartment.
Okay. Cool.
How soon can you move?
It was beginning to dawn on me how
This is Tex. And this is Matt.
- Hey.
- They'll be playing your roommates.
- Nice to meet you.
- How are you?
to make in pursuit of their dreams.
Maybe I could get your keys.
- I can look after your plants.
- Sure. Yeah.
Or get your mail while you're here.
But no matter how deep I went,
there were still parts of Thomas
that were a mystery to me.
But maybe that's as close
as you can get.
And that last step in understanding
someone is always just a guess.
All right, Ashley.
When they finished their week of work,
I had all the actors return
for a final showcase.
That looks like two inches.
All right. Sam.
It's hard to know what exactly is hidden
beneath the smile of an actor.
- Would you like your bowl, sir?
- Thomas.
But once in a while, it's nice to just
pretend that everything's okay.
- "Fielder Method" on three.
- One, two, three.
Fielder Method!
I was in L.A.
longer than I had planned to be,
and I was sort of nervous
to get back into family life.
I wasn't sure how it would feel.
- Hey, Dad.
- Hey!
- Hi.
- Is Angela here?
- Hug? Can I get a hug?
- Yeah, yeah. 'Course. Hey.
- Good to see you.
- Yeah, how are you?
- Just going to put my stuff upstairs.
- Okay.
Yeah.
- Maybe I can. Maybe I can show up.
- It could be fun! It could be fun!
Everyone was being so warm and
welcoming, making me feel at home.
But for some reason, that felt wrong.
I was telling him that he's more
mainstream and I'm more underground.
Like, I like to find
eclectic underground artists.
Adam was 15 now.
I had been gone for nine years.
Was this really how he would see me?
Maybe I needed
to make some adjustments.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up, Dad?
- Mind if I come in?
Yeah, no problem. What's up?
- How's it going?
Trying to write some songs, sorta.
- Oh, yeah. Cool.
- Yeah.
Do you mind if I talk to you
for a sec as you?
What's your name again?
Adam.
No, no, like,
could I talk to you as the actor?
What's your real name?
- Joshua. Joshua, yeah. Joshua.
- Josh. Josh. All right, Josh.
Sorry, yeah. I know we talked
Yeah, just you for a moment.
after being gone for nine years.
How do you think you'd really feel?
Maybe resentment to him.
Maybe a little bit.
"Hey, what's up? You doing good?"
I wouldn't like that at all.
- "You didn't take care of me."
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, you know,
it's like that sort of thing.
Do you mind if we try me coming home
again, but using that?
- Like that feeling? Yeah, totally,
- Yeah.
- Okay. Okay, cool.
Hey!
Look who decided to show up.
Good.
Do you know anyone
or any friends of yours
who have been through anything
similar to this?
Maybe spend time with one of them
I think that's actually a great idea.
I think I can definitely do that.
Hey.
How you doing?
You want to see a card trick
or something, like a magic trick?
No, Dad. I'm not five.
Yeah, he's been like in and out of jail
a lot. Juvenile. Juvie.
I think he actually has a kid on the way.
- He has a kid?
- Just with like someone.. Yeah.
So what age was he having sex?
- Like 13, probably, like 12.
- He was having sex at 13?
I'm sure of it. Yeah, most likely.
If not 13, at least 14.
Hey!
Are you leaving?
Yeah, I'm going
to hang out with some friends.
Okay. Where are you going?
My friends. We're probably
going to go drinking.
You're going to go drinking?
What type of drinks will you have,
do you think?
Tequila, vodka.
Just some stuff like that.
- Tequila, okay.
- Tequila.
You can't go drinking.
You're only 15.
What do you mean I can't go drinking?
I need to make sure
you come home safe.
You're the one
to talk about coming home?
Okay, come on. Hey!
Adam?
What's going on?
I just think he's upset that I haven't
been there most of his life.
Okay.
I'm going to fix it.
Good.
you don't have to come out
a little something. It's a guitar pedal.
I know you like them.
I guess they make the guitar sound cool.
Maybe one day
you could show me how it works.
Like, I think drugs is, like,
the next level.
- Yeah.
- Drugs, you name it.
He's done it probably.
You know, like, cocaine or like,
you know, Molly and that stuff.
And that's all 'cause his dad situation?
- I mean, yeah. I think so.
- Okay.
I think it is.
You're not a dad! Okay?
You weren't then and you're not now!
Your anger is not going to go away
if you numb it with drugs and alcohol.
Okay, this was the problem I had.
I hated my dad and I went
to drugs and alcohol.
I wish I would've been spared.
I wish my parents
would have sat me down
and talked to me
like we're talking to you now.
They didn't. They didn't know how!
I'm not going to let that happen to you.
- What drugs are you doing?
- Why would I fucking tell you?
What? Are you going to go
to the fucking cops?
And that's why I'm talking
to you about it now.
- I'm not a snitch.
You're a fucking disaster, my guy.
can we end
this fucking conversation now?
- Hello, Angela?
- Hello.
Just a thought, how would you feel
about going back to age six?
Could you help me understand what
the purpose would be of going back?
- What were you thinking?
I'm willing to do that.
Whatever you think is needed
for the show, that's fine.
- Okay, cool. I'll talk to you in a bit.
- Okay. See you.
Adam?
Adam?
Adam, Adam, you okay?
Are you okay? Breathe. Breathe.
Breathe. Breathe.
- Angela! Angela!
- What?
Adam, stay with me, are you okay?
What's going on?
Okay, it's all right.
I don't know what's happening.
I don't know what's happening to him.
I don't know.
I don't know what's happening.
I don't know what's happening with him.
I don't know. I don't know.
He's got pinpointed pupils,
hyperventilation.
High end-tidal.
Looks like an opioid overdose.
Okay, with hypertension we need
to consider benzo involvement.
I agree.
We'll start by assisting his breathing.
- Okay.
- Hit him up with some Narcan.
Blood pressure 96 over 50.
Respiration, six.
- O2 stat, 86.
- How are you feeling? You good?
You okay?
What are you doing? Don't. No.
Stay, stay. You're safe, Adam.
- What's happening?
- Hey!
Have you seen
a 15-year-old boy around here?
No, I haven't. I've seen an older man
walking around over there.
An older man? No, no.
That wouldn't be him. Okay, thank you.
Adam?
Sorry. Sorry.
It's easy to assume
but when you assume what others think,
maybe all you're doing
is turning them into a character
that only exists in your mind.
The nice thing is, sometimes all it takes
is a change in perspective
to make the world feel brand-new.
All right, Adam. Let's go home.
Is that it?