From The Mind of Merc - Rejected Actors

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about drama schools.

Following on from last month's post about publishers, another area in which those with questionable senses of judgment potentially negatively impact the enjoyment in the world is drama schools.

It is a well-known adage that those who can't, teach. But maybe they also can't judge.

Here is a list of actors who were initially rejected or expelled from their establishments of dramatic education:

Rejected
- Carey Mulligan: This Oscar nominated actress was rejected by every drama school she applied to (thankfully Julian Fellowes was able to help her start her career)
- Rosamund Pike: After being rejected by every drama school she applied to, she landed a part as a Bond girl in Die Another Day
- Daniel Craig: Future Bond actor, Craig, was rejected by RADA, LAMDA and the Young Vic before being accepted at the Barbican
- Hugh Jackman: The award-winning actor - best known currently for his role as Wolverine - was rejected by NIDA but got into WAAPA
- Tom Hardy: This versatile thespian was rejected by RADA and expelled by the London Drama Centre (though fortunately he was allowed back in the following year)
- Rachel Griffiths: After being rejected by the National Institute of Dramatic Art, she joined a local community theatre group which led to her award-winning performance in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding
- Anthony La Paglia: Also rejected by NIDA, this award-winning actor's career took off when he made the move from Australia to America
BONUS - Steven Spielberg: This globally-renowned director was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Cinema not once but twice(!)

Expelled
- Denholm Elliott: The much-loved award-winning actor was asked to leave RADA after a year
- Jon Pertwee: The future Doctor Who actor was kicked out of RADA for refusing to be a wind (this was after he was rejected by Central due to his lisp)
- Charles Laughton: Consoled his fellow thesp, Pertwee, with the quip that 'All the best people get chucked out of RADA'
- Rodney Bewes: This Likely Lad was expelled during his final year at RADA
- BONUS - Alec Guinness: Failed to get into RADA as the scholarship was not being offered the year he applied

Again, it makes you wonder how many more skilled and capable thespians never got the chance due to some misplaced judgement they experienced from those they faced at their crucial time. 

From The Mind of Merc - Rejected Authors

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about publishers.

One thing that bugs me (and which I constantly seem to run into) is people who have achieved (or usually placed themselves) in elevated positions of judgement with the power of life and death of other people's hopes, dreams and ambitions.
Personally nowhere is this (and its inherent issues) plainer than in the publishing industry.

There are undoubtedly countless unfortunate souls whose slaved over creations never saw the light of day as they failed to please the people to who they were submitted and on whose approval their distribution depended. The reason I say this has inherent issues is that it is undeniably flawed. As demonstrated/For example, here is a list of books that were rejected by the publishers who received them:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling: This global phenomenon was rejected by 10 publishers before an agent's daughter persuaded him to take a chance
- Chicken Soup For The Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen: After 33 rejections, this book finally found a publisher and has sold more than 80 million copies in 37 languages
- Dubliners by James Joyce: 22 publishers turned down Joyce's debut novel before it finally hit the bookshops
- Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore: This 19th century classic was rejected 18 times before finally being published in 1899
- M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker: The book that inspired the classic TV series was turned down 21 times before finding a home
- Carrie by Stephen King: After getting 30 rejections for his book even King rejected it. Fortunately, his wife persuaded him to try again.
- Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell: This book was rejected 38 times but ultimately earned a Pulitzer Prize and a film adaptation
- Dune by Frank Herbert: 23 publishers rejected this Hugo award-winning cult classic that spawned 5 sequels and 2 film adaptations
- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: After 5 publishers rejected her novel, Montgomery buried it in a hat box. 2 years later she tried again
- The Diary of Anne Frank: This was rejected 15 times before Doubleday agreed to published it and subsequently sold 25 million copies
- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer: 14 agencies rejected this vampire romance novel which subsequently sold 17 million copies and spawned a film franchise
- The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks: 24 agencies turned down this film-inspiring novel which was sold by the 25th agency for $1 million
- The Thomas Berryman Murder by James Patterson: This bestselling author faced 31 rejections before going on to produce 19 consecutive No. 1s
- A Time To Kill by John Grisham: 16 agencies and 12 publishers turned down his debut which sold out immediately on publication
- The Help by Kathryn Sockett: Rejected by 60 agents, it ended up on the bestseller list for over 100 weeks, sold 7 million copies and spawned a film adaptation
- And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss: After 27 rejections, Theodore Geisel had lost hope until he encountered a editor friend
- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller: Rejected 22 times (which is supposedly the reason for the title of this new famous book
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding: Golding faced 20 rejections before finding success with a less critical publisher
Other rejected authors include: Agatha Christie, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis, Dan Brown, Beatrix Potter, Judy Blume, Kenneth Grahame, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, John Le Carre, Ursula K. LeGuin, J. D. Salinger, Meg Cabot, Alice Walker, H. G. Wells, Herman Melville, George Orwell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, Joseph Helier, Richard Adams, Vladimir Nabokov, Paulo Coelho and The Diary of Anne Frank 

To me, this says the said publishers don't actually know what they are looking for, what will be popular and therefore what they should accept and/or reject.

A suggestion further demonstrated by the fact that an experiment conducted in 2007 showed that Jane Austen would even struggle to be published nowadays(!)

Thankfully nowadays there is the option of self-publishing so we run a decreased risk of being without the aforementioned rejected classics. Still, it makes you think how many more there might have been...

It Shoulda Been Me - !!!NEW!!!

(And, now I'm back from my hols, on with the blog posts!)
Today a slight twist on an *NSync song. Before, the singer was confident that they would be chosen by the object of their affection. Oh, how wrong they were...

It's Gonna Be Me It Shoulda Been Me not by N*Sync

I feel so hurt, babe

Just want to cry
I believed we were so close, oh..
I remember you told me
That I made you believe in
Love for all time
Was it just a line?

After all that we’ve been through
Thought I was the one for you
I thought we would be together
For e’er and ever
But yet when you finally,
Decide to get married
Chose wrong,
It shoulda been me

I’m still in shock, babe
I can’t move on, ‘cause you know
That what you did was wrong
I was too blind (too blind), to see
But even so, I know it shoulda been me
All that you said

Goes round in my head

After all that we’ve been through
Thought I was the one for you
I thought we would be together
For e’er and ever
But yet when you finally,
Decide to get married
Chose wrong,
It shoulda been me

It shoulda been me

I hope someday
You rue the day and see
It shoulda- shoulda- shoulda- shoulda-shoulda

It shoulda been me

All we’ve been through
Was not enough for you
Thought we were good, yeah
I was so wrong there
When finally (finally)
You find ‘true love’
Chose wrong (chose wrong)

After all that we’ve been through
Thought I was the one for you (for you babe)
I thought we would be together (thought we would be)
For e’er and ever
But yet when you finally,
Decide to get married (get)
Chose wrong, (chose wrong)
It shoulda been me

After all that we’ve been through

Thought I was the one for you
I thought we would be together (thought we would be)
For e’er and ever
But yet when you finally, (But yet when you finally)
Decide to get married
Chose wrong, (chose wrong)
It shoulda been me