About the Film
What is real love? New York filmmaker Matt Herron spent over 15 years peeling back layers of expectations and disappointments to explore how we allow fear and loneliness to sabotage lasting love.
The result? An unprecedented film for which writer/director Herron blends two genres (documentary and narrative) to create an absorbing new storytelling platform that explores one of the most profound issues confronting singles today.
On the surface, "AUDITION" is a cautionary tale of how a one-night stand goes from sizzling to tragic when a young couple's desperate search for love becomes unsustainable by physical attraction alone.
Behind the scenes, a different drama unfolds as 100 of New York's finest actors compete to portray the young couple in the film's explosive finale as their short-lived romance spirals out of control. Until then, each scene is presented as a unique compilation of the best performances from multiple actors.
It is when the film is experienced as a whole that we realize that Herron has blurred the lines between fact and fiction so seamlessly that it is challenging to distinguish what is real and what is not.
"In the end, the characters' search for love parallels the actors' struggle for success," Herron explains. "The film looks at rejection, the feelings of being replaceable, the dangers of instant gratification, but the incredible strength of optimism and independence in the face of it all."
Where did the concept for "AUDITION" come from? "After a personal break-up in the late 1990s, I was looking for a concept I could shoot in 24 hours. Then one day I was having coffee with an actor friend who had just come from an audition, and on top of our usual dating saga chitchat, she was recounting all the behind-the-scenes gossip from the audition.
"In that moment a light bulb went off. Inspired, I spent the evening hashing out a mathematically-based diagram that showed how an entire script could be shot in a day through a power-in-numbers approach.
"I then saw how a universal dating horror story could fit and be told in this format through all these different actors and in turn question love itself. Little did I know it would take me over 15 years, a lot of favors, and my savings to prove that," Herron says with a laugh. "Focusing on performance, ultimately we shot over seven days, but the first act does retain the original concept, capturing almost half the screenplay in less than a day."
