I have a very good friend, who attended acting school, and whose dream it was to be "an actor". All conversations eventually turn to this topic and are consumed by it. When they first came to the big city, and we bonded, I bought into it. As time moved on, I began to be a bit more realistic. Eventually they had a minor supporting role, in C list movie along side a C list star and got put on the DVD cover which was on the ASDA chat for a week ( I guarantee I could name it here on one of the UK's biggest chat forums and not one single mumsnetter will have seen it ...). The process took a few days, and they are on screen for minutes, blink and you miss them. The talk about these roles, having make up, a dressing room, a car to collect them, their name on the DVD box, has gone on years and has become the central point of their existance. Returnging back in their small town, living on benefits before the big auditon comes, their " career" and their dreams are what every converstation turns to, coddled by elderly relatives, they are indulged, but it is clear they have peaked. They don't have the talent, drive or ambition. Frankly it is a delusion which keeps them afloat and functioning, rather than grasp the nettle of real life. I have tried to suggest that if they love acting so much, they could join a local drama group, or even a big city company, and act alongside a real job. They think all of this is below them. They don't want to mark tnheir card because it will affect the big role which is just around the corner. Even though I love my friend dearly, treasure their freindship, and enjoy having them as part of my life, I realise it is all a fantasy. They didn't want to be "an actor" at all. They want to be a "star", they want the adulation and recognition and respect and social status, to be recognised and to be treated special. My friend, in the nicest way possible, is some sort of narcissist, not in a malicous way of treating others badly, but in the perception and desire for being special and above the rest. I worry for my friend, because bit by bit, their family all see it for what it is, and that reality is going to be a big bump. My friend does not have any publicity, but if they did, I would suggest it has gone to their head. It's all a delusion, and everybody is kind,.
If MM is as talented as her admirers suggest, rather than podcasts and documentaries, and vacuous and frankly suspicous charity ventures that seem to be gobbled up in expenses rather than money getting to some sort of needy, surely she could auditon for an acting role. If she was such a great actress, surely she could have her pick of roles ? Or maybe, like my friend, she is deluded with her own sense of importance.