Sometimes The Thing That Misses: The Story Of Samuel White Stepping Up

Sometimes The Thing That Misses: The Story of Samuel White Stepping Up to Take the Lead in the Award-Winning Indie Feature, The Victorians. By DWIGHT A GABBERT.

It was the night before the first day of shooting, and our lead actor was nowhere to be found. While the rest of the cast had been grinding through rehearsals in the back of the studio for the previous three days, our lead was stuck in LA, held up on another gig. Communication had been solid during the casting process, so there was no reason to think we should be worried. But we were worried.

When I picked him up from the airport, his lack of enthusiasm and overall demeanor should have been a red flag, but I brushed it off as jet lag. Walking through the studio and meeting the cast didn’t elicit the energy we were expecting. When he started moping and complaining about a headache, feeling sick, and a recent breakup, we knew we were in trouble.

I suggested that he get some rest, and he retreated to the makeshift bedroom we had set up in the Editing Suite. When he emerged a couple of hours later, our line producer, Zala Opara, took him for a walk down the street. When they got back, she gave us the bad news: he was leaving.

Whatever the truth was behind it, he was clearly overwhelmed by the whole experience. We just couldn’t understand it. He had never shown any signs of apprehension during the casting process, the multiple Zoom script readings, or when acting out scenes with his friends and fellow actors in London, who were also eager for a role in the film. It just didn’t make sense. All of a sudden, he had become a different person.

So, I drove him back to the airport, and he caught the next flight out of Amsterdam.

When I returned to the studio, our producer, Laetitia Miles, and Zala were already fast at work reviewing audition tapes. Out of the seven roles, this was the only one where we didn’t have a solid backup plan.

The wheels were turning in Zala’s head; she had already pulled up footage of our 1st AD, Samuel White, from his acting days at university. After watching one of the scenes, a simple piece of dialogue in a café, it was obvious to everyone that Sam could act.

He read a few scenes with Jordan Maycock and Ali Rodney, who were incredibly patient and supportive, and the chemistry was undeniable. Sam memorised the script quickly and was more than ready for his first scene the next day.

I can still remember Sam saying to me, “Dwight, if you want me to, I can really do this. I can memorise these lines in time… I can do this.”

This was the quiet calmness of a confident young man who seemed to have an old-soul understanding, doing his best to provide a real-time solution in our time of crisis. Far beyond whatever ambitions he might have had to be an actor, there was just a solid man who had our backs.

That same maturity and confidence comes through beautifully in his performance.

Throughout the shoot, we would occasionally tease Sam that he was letting “the acting” get in the way of his responsibilities as 1st AD. No one really expected him to wear both hats, although he did his best.

Always present. Always lending a helping hand. Constantly reaffirming the feeling that it was always meant to be.