Teaching filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute, George Kuchar insisted that each class collaborate on a project. I, An Actress shows him in action. Student Barbara Lapsley had wanted a short film to launch her acting career, and the class obliged by staging a classic Hollywood screen test. By the time the crew was ready to shoot, only ten minutes of class time remained. In I, An Actress, Lapsley launches into her monologue, an appeal to her philandering lover — played by a draped post, topped by a wig — to abandon “rich widows with their sparkling rhinestones.” Kuchar initially gives direction off-camera but finally rushes into the scene to demonstrate what he wants. The student cannot summon up the hysterical excess of her director but finishes her screen test all the same. In Kuchar films, everyone gets a chance to be a star.
