Key Points
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Eric Dane recounted his failed audition for 1996’s Riders of the Purple Sage during the height of his drug addiction in his 20s.
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Dane shared he read lines with one of his acting heroes, Ed Harris, during the audition.
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Dane’s posthumous memoir My Book of Days: A Memoir in Momentsis out now.
Eric Dane revealed that he botched an audition in front of one of his heroes in his posthumous memoir My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments.
The late actor, who died in February at the age of 53 following a battle with ALS, opened up about his struggles with addiction in his book. He wrote that he went through a “dark period” in his 20s where he “did every drug imaginable.”
During this time, he landed an audition for the 1996 TV film Riders of the Purple Sage, a remake of a Western based on a 1912 Zane Grey novel. Dane was a fan of Ed Harris, who played gunslinging Jim Lassiter opposite his wife Amy Madigan’s ranch owner protagonist Jane Withersteen.
“I love Ed Harris. He blew me away in the film State of Grace, costarring with Sean Penn,” Dane wrote in his book. “Harris acts with a combination of subtlety and power, never wasting a single move. I’ve studied that film, his choices. I’d love to be an actor like Ed Harris. I’d love to meet Ed Harris.”
Despite wanting to impress Harris, the Grey’s Anatomyalum admitted that he had “fallen into a hole so deep” at this point in his life that he found it difficult to focus on preparing for the opportunity.
“I have days that I get so high I disappear into darkness. I don’t know if I will wake up. I reach a state of mind, a level of existence that approaches death and bliss at the same time. These are lost days. These are the days of the demons. Five thousand times I ask myself, What the hell are you doing? I try to talk myself out of my lifestyle. I try, but I can’t do it. I can’t give myself a convincing enough argument.”
Dane noted that he was physically dependent on drugs at this point and struggled to stop using. Although he was able to land “a few small jobs” and never worked while high, he was fumbling his burgeoning acting career.
“I’ve gone from an actor who occasionally does drugs to a drug user who occasionally does acting,” he said. “This is how I arrive at the casting office for Riders of the Purple Sage. I greet producers, casting directors, and other suits, and then I stop dead in my tracks. Sitting on a folding chair in the center of the room, waiting to read with me, is Ed Harris.”
The Euphoria actor admitted that he was caught off guard by Harris’ presence and confessed that he came to the audition “completely unprepared.” Dane said that he had gotten distracted by his drug habit, so he wasn’t ready to perform in front of the Westworld star.
“He smiles warmly, and we start reading the scene from the movie,” Dane recounted. “We finish, and it’s obvious to everyone in the room that I’m no good. Ed Harris, his eyes still on the script, says, ‘Let’s read the scene again.'”
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Dane said his second attempt “may even be worse” than his first. In a sobering moment, he shared that his role model looked at him with disappointment. Entertainment Weekly reached out to representatives for Harris for comment.
“Ed Harris slowly lifts his head, fixes his sky-blue eyes on me, and stares,” Dane said. “I read the message in his eyes. What the f— was that? What are you even doing here? Why would you come in here unprepared? It’s disrespectful to me, to everyone in this room, and to the project. And you’re selling yourself short. Is this who you want to be? Is this who you are? But all he really says is, ‘Thanks for coming in.'”
My Book of Days: A Memoir in Momentsis available now where books are sold.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
