Multi-Facial

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Movie
Original title Multi-Facial
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 20 minutes
Rod
Director Vin Diesel
script Vin Diesel
production Vin Diesel
music Vin Diesel
camera Ted Sappington
cut Kenna Doeringer
occupation

Multi-Facial was produced as a short film by Vin Diesel in 1994 , with himself in the lead role. It tells the story of Mike, an Italian-African actor who is faced with a variety of professional and emotional challenges while looking for a role. It was through this film that director Steven Spielberg became aware of Vin Diesel and hired him for his film Saving Private Ryan (1998).

action

The film opens with a close-up of the tattooed Mike telling an anecdote full of profanity in an Italian accent. He reports how he fought with a man in a bar because he looked at his girlfriend. The story ends with Mike realizing that the man was gay and that is why he beat up his girlfriend. He is now very surprised that she no longer calls him.

The following pan shows that Mike is auditioning for an Italian role in front of a jury. The casting director shows his interest, he asks Mike to speak Italian and tells him that they will come back to him. When the director asks who the story came from, Mike says it was a true story that happened to a friend of his. Then Mike calls his agent - but without an Italian accent. He complains that the monologue (which was just made up) shows him in a bad light and that he worries that he won't get the role after all. Then Mike wipes the tattoo off his arm and goes to the next casting.

At the next casting for a commercial, Mike meets a black friend who is also auditioning. The two talk about their film career and Mike talks about the casting they have just attended. Again he complains about the monologue, which was completely inappropriate in his opinion. His friend tells him that he got a role in an international commercial. But Mike replies that he'd rather not do commercials since no great actor has ever started commercials. Before he can audition, the casting director comes and tells Mike that he is "a little too bright" and shouldn't audition. Instead, he recommends Mike auditioning for a Spanish role on a soap.

Mike goes to this casting and reads a dialogue with a Spanish actress. They play an argument, but when the actress speaks Spanish, Mike doesn't move on. When they leave the audition, she guesses that Mike doesn't actually speak Spanish at all. She recommends casting him for a soap that only looks for Spanish-looking actors. Mike refuses, saying that none of the major actors have ever appeared in a soap.

Mike later attends another casting call in which he talks to a woman for a role. The woman says that he is very suitable for the role. Mike reads aloud in strong slang , but the casting director breaks off and says that he is looking for a " Wesley Snipes guy".

Mike then goes to a casting where the decision makers already know him. The casting director reads Mike's résumé that he can rap and Mike starts rapping too. Then Mike sits down and begins a monologue about a young man who watches his father perform the play " A Raisin in the Sun " on a stage . During the performance, Mike believes that his father is trying to encourage him to become a great black actor. Later, after his father dies, Mike realizes that his father wanted more from him than become a black actor. He wanted his son to just become an actor. When the monologue ends, the casting director is impressed by Mike's presentation. However, he admits that he was looking for an actor with long hair like dreadlocks for this role . Mike leaves the casting and he is promised to get in touch if he is still needed.

After a cut, Mike sits upset in a café. From a neighboring table he overhears a conversation between an actress and a man. The woman says that she is frustrated that she is always labeled a "blonde chick". When the waitress arrives, the actress orders coffee, "not too light and not too dark". The film ends with Mike muttering to himself "not too light and not too dark".

production

Multi-Facial was written, produced and directed by Vin Diesel. The 20-minute film is autobiographical and refers to his own frustration in finding work as an actor of mixed ethnicity. In the early 1990s he returned to New York from Los Angeles , disappointed with his own failure in Hollywood . Diesel's mother then gave him a copy of the book "Feature Films at Used Car Prices," a book about low-budget productions. Diesel said of this book that it gave him new courage and motivated him to make his own films.

Vin Diesel wrote the script for the feature film Strays - Live Your Life ; but since he was still unknown at the time, he was unable to raise funding. Instead, he decided to make a short film and wrote the script for Multi-Facial in five days. He produced and directed the film for $ 3,000, and completed it after three days of shooting. Diesel wrote and also recorded the music for the film. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the response to the film and stopped working on it. After his stepfather encouraged him again, he finished the film after a final revision and had it shown in the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan. He received an enthusiastic response. The film was also shown to a standing audience at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival . In 1997, Steven Spielberg saw the film and therefore wrote a role in Saving Private Ryan especially for Diesel , making it his first major role.

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