Zoe's Auditions

Zoe's Auditions

Bruce Von Stiers

Zoe is a young actor making her way across Los Angeles doing auditions. At each audition she is trying for the part of an autistic teen. What makes her the most qualified for the role is that Zoe is autistic.

This is the premise for the short film Once More, Like Rain Man. It is a comedy with some dramatic moments.

Zoe does a great audition, only to have the director ask what her autism superpower is. The producers ask about her powers, “you know, like Rain Man.” So, you kind of get where the title of the film is coming from.

Zoe is not exactly what they are looking for or the producers and directors really want something like Dustin Hoffman's character in the film Rain Man.

Zoe's dad, Gerry, takes her around to the auditions. After each she comes out and tells Gerry that they've had her say Fuck. At first, I didn't know why this was a thing for the film, but it did add some comic relief for each scene. Especially as Zoe and Gerry are keeping track of how many times she has to say the word during her audition trek. And as they are first talking about it, Gerry tells her sometimes to win you've got to play by their rules. This factors into the final part of the film.

In one of the scenes, Zoe's mom is arguing with Gerry about the girl's well-being. It seems that Gerry is trying his best and that Zoe is really talented. If she would only get a break.

Bella Zoe Martinez stars as Zoe. She also wrote the screenplay. The story for the film was based on her actual audition experiences as she is autistic herself.

There are quite a few people who appear in the film. There is Glory Simon and Andrew Carillo as producers Zoe auditions for. Joe Mantegna is the director who asks Zoe what her autism superpower is. I've been a fan of his even before he played Joan's dad on Joan of Arcadia. And I am huge fan of his David Rossi character in the Criminal Minds franchise.

Kristen Hager plays Zoe's mom. She co-starred in the show Condor and had a recurring role in Chicago Med. Matt Jones is Gerry, Zoe's dad. You might know him from his role as Douglas on Bob Hearts Abishola. Late in the film Scott Krinsky plays a director. Even though he's been in a lot of stuff, my favorite role of his was as Jeff Barnes on Chuck.

Other actors in the film include Felix Pire, James Paxton, Barry Papick, Naia Schroder, Jenee Le Marque, Sosie Bacon, Tracy Reiner, Vella Lovell and Carly Fahey. Many of the people on screen have extensive backgrounds as either actors or behind the camera as screenwriters, directors, producers and camera crew. This was filmed during the actors strike, but as an indie production it didn't violate the rule of working during the strike.

Some of the actors in the film have also been part of the movement to allow people with autism to fully participate in acting and other facets of the film and stage worlds. Tal Anderson and Alex Plank are two of those people in the film whose work involves autism advocacy.

The film was directed by Sue Ann Pien. She also played a casting director in the film, who apparently likes Gerry. As someone with autism, she has championed the movement I mentioned earlier. Her previous acting credits include Ballers and co-starring in As We See It, a limited comedy series about autistic roommates. Kristy Tully was the director of photography. She worked on shows such as Shameless and with Pien on As We See It.

The film was produced by Susann Ellis Spurgeon, Melissa Martinez Areffi, Darren Dean and Andrew J. Areffi. The film's executive producer was Ramin Delijani.

Once More, Like Rain Man is a film that has I wasn't sure I was going to like. An autistic actor auditioning for roles? How would it be played out? Would autism be accurately portrayed or would the character just be a caricature of an autistic person? I have a few friends who have autistic family members and a niece whose son has a nonverbal form of autism. So, I was concerned as to how the character would be presented. What I found was that, not only was the Zoe character portrayed well, but she was also funny and smart, with a definite sarcastic wit. And I did find that I really liked the film a lot. It had a lot of humor during situations that appeared to be very stressful.

The film has won several film festival awards. It won the Audience Award at the Healdburg International Short Film Festival. It won the Best Comedy Short at the LA Shorts International Film Festival and the NoHo Cinefest. And it won the Best Short of the Season at the IndieX Film Fest.

Once More, Like Rain Man is also an official selection at the upcoming Santa Clarita International Film Festival.

To learn more about Once More, Like Rain Man visit the film's' official website at https://omlrmovie.com/

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