From studying and honing the craft to having a certain look, being an actor has never been a cakewalk. In an industry where jobs can be offered primarily, and sometimes solely, on a photo, it’s bound to take a toll on mental health. With the rise of the social media age, active platforms and follower counts have become part of the audition process. One of the stars of the upcoming comedy It Takes Three has spoken out about feeling the weight of social media.
From director Scott Coffey, It Takes Three is a John Hughes spin on the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story. When the coolest guy in school, Chris (David Gridley), discovers that the new girl, Roxy (Aurora Perrineau), sees through his popularity and good looks, he enlists the class nerd, Cy (Jared Gilman), to take over his social media accounts to add substance to his style. Chris is able to be a completely different person online than he is in real life, and that got me thinking about how much people have become dependent on social media. I spoke with star Aurora Perrineau for an interview with CinemaBlend and she shared the following about how social media has become necessary for actors:
I think this whole, like having a certain amount of social media followers to get a job is like a new thing or newish in the past couple of years where like, it'll be between you and another person for a job. And then they ask you how many followers you have. And you're like, I'm not making a social media [project], really, what are you talking about? And then, you know, you get beat out because someone has a million followers or whatever that is. And that's something that we didn't really see before. And I didn't really take it seriously up until the past year and a half. Because now, followers, to relate it to like older times is equated to having some kind of clout as an actor. So if you're doing a bunch of movies and everyone's seeing you, then you have clout, but now it's so oversaturated with projects that now it's like, oh, well, the clout is showing up on the social media because we know this person, people are following them, so they probably will watch them. So it's still the same. It's just mutated into something, a little different.
So the number of social media followers is now factored into casting decisions. This does make sense because as Aurora Perrineau mentioned, the market is oversaturated. We now have more content than ever and more places to view it. It feels like there’s a new streaming service every day and it’s easy to get overwhelmed when choosing which to subscribe to and what to watch. To help combat this from the filmmakers’ perspective, it’s a good solution to hire talent that can promote the film to a built-in audience that is already predisposed to see what said talent performs in.
On the other hand, this can be a huge undertaking for working actors. Staying relevant is harder than ever. Every social media platform has different best practices. How do you choose which to focus your time and energy on? When do you get a break from being “on” if you have to spend your town time building your social media presence?
It seems like a lot, but Hollywood is ever-changing, and actors like Aurora Perrineau are taking it in stride. She gives an absolute standout performance in It Takes Three where signals are crossed and hearts are broken, but in this postmodern rom-com nothing turns out exactly as you’d expect. It’s funny with a few sad but very relatable and necessary moments that tell a heart-warming story of friendship and self-acceptance.
Watch the trailer for It Takes Three here. The film is now available On Demand and Digital. There’s one less decision to be made for what to watch tonight.
