Friday Links

“You’d better come along,” the policeman instructs Archie on the cover of Archie #114, published way, way back in 1960. Obviously, this scene takes place before some important Warren Court jurisprudence, but we can’t help but wonder what Archie did to earn the attention of local law enforcement. (By the way, back in July 2011, we showed you Archie’s encounter with civil litigation.).

Friend of the blog Maxwell S. Kennerly of the Litigation & Trial blog has a piece entitled “The Legal Ethics of Going On A Date With Opposing Counsel.” How about that? Says he: “I’m not in the business of giving out relationship advice, but I can give a handful of pointers relating to protocol in the legal world.” Check it out.

Well, you knew it wouldn’t be long before we returned to the topic of My Cousin Vinny, that movie of movies. In an interview with Will Harris of The Onion AV Club, Bruce McGill, the actor who played Sheriff Farley in My Cousin Vinny, shares some memories of that role.  Published earlier this week, the piece includes these thoughts from McGill:

BM: Well, I think that was just [casting director] David Rubin. I just went in and read, and I think I read really well, but I think David Rubin is one of the great casting directors. He was an assistant at that time, but I just think he’s a wonderful casting director and one of the best readers with you, which makes a difference. When you go in and the casting director reads with you, if they can’t read and they’re not a very good actor, the scene suffers, obviously. But I think I got the part from the read with David Rubin, but the first thing Joe Pesci said—and I knew Joe from New York, and I see Joe a lot out here on the golf course—and in a very Godfather-ly manner, “Yeah, y’know, I approved you for that role.” [Laughs.] I said, “Oh, thank you, Godfather, thank you!” I’m sure he did, and I’m glad he did.

But, you know, it’s not any one thing. There’s a cumulative effect to getting good parts as a freelance actor, because you’re only as good as your last job, and you have to keep going out and getting them. Unless you’re part of the finance structure, by which I mean a bankable star, which I never was and never will be. That’s why actors who might not be such great actors but are bankable will have a great career. But mine is different. I’ve got to sell myself every time. And I embrace that gladly now. I didn’t always. There was a period of time where I thought, “This is irritating. I’ve done 70 movies. Why won’t you just give me the job or don’t give me the job?”

Then I ran across the following phrase: “There are two kinds of people in the world: the very, very wealthy and salesmen.” And I knew I was not in the former camp, so instead of looking at auditions as what I used to call “grovels.” I used to say, “Oh, I can’t play golf, I’ve got a 2 o’clock grovel.” I really did! And even when I said it, I’d say, “That’s not a really good attitude.” So then I ran across that phrase about the two kinds of people, it happened instantly. [Snaps fingers.] In the blink of an eye and the passing of a thought, I went from calling them “grovels” to looking at them as sales opportunities, as if I were selling wrenches. And I would go to a buyer and say, “These are my wrenches. They’re the very best wrenches for your job. Here they are, and here’s the price.” So I began to look at auditions like that, and I’ve never had a problem with it again.

Of course, I don’t audition for things I’m not interested in doing. I don’t have to do that anymore. And now I’ll still go and meet and… Actually, agents think you should not read, that you should just go and meet and discuss what you would do. And I don’t think so. I mean, it depends, but time and time again, I think that if you’re a good actor and you prepare well and you can audition well, you should. Because you may knock somebody else out of the box just by being better in the room.

You’ll recall that back in March we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the release of My Cousin Vinny and featured interviews with the director, the writer, and several members of the cast. We had actually requested an interview with Mr. McGill, through his representation, to no avail.  Alas.

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