Dead Eyes is a podcast about the actor Connor Ratliff’s mission to find out why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the TV series Band of Brothers. Although we know why Tom fired him, he fired Ratliff for having “Dead eyes”.
It seems like an open and shut case, but like all the best journalism, it makes something from nothing and this podcast ekes out three series on the basis of this one-time showbiz kiss-off. And the show isn’t really about this one event, it’s about rejection in general. Not failure, note, but rejection. Two very different things.
I love this podcast, obviously. It’s full of so much genuine rage, pain and hurt. Not just from Connor Ratliff but from the queue of indignant actors and other creatives who have had their work, or just their faces, rejected. I particularly enjoyed the story from TV series Mad Men star Jon Hamm about how his agent was told to stop sending him in for pilots by a certain TV studio because “Jon Hamm will never be a TV star”.
A thing that has surprised me about life is that if you do anything even slightly creative, the rejection never stops. You get rejected in your teens, then in your twenties, then in your thirties and then in your forties. It just goes on and on. The only thing that you learn is that rejection doesn’t matter. It smarts like a clumsy smear test, sure. And after an especially bruising round of rejections you might need to just be quiet and alone and spend a lot of time folding your kids’ pyjamas while listening to Sheryl Crowe and thinking to yourself, Dad was right, I should have been a lawyer, but after that period of mourning you need to get back out there.
Particularly because no bastard will ever tell you to stop. When I talk to people about submitting their work and they shyly say “… or perhaps they will just tell me to stop writing!” I say, Listen, no-one will ever do that. At best they will say “I’ll probably kick myself later!!!!” at worst they will ghost you. Oh, the ghostings I’ve had! I get it, no answer is your answer, but still. I’ve got a list. Written in my blood.
Dead Eyes is a wonderful companion if you are in an active rejection mill. It is also generally a wonderful piece of broadcasting to enjoy if you did take your Dad’s advice and became a lawyer and are reading this from your £6m villa in Italy.
Next: WTAF is going on with Jennifer Aniston’s haircare brand? I wrote a piece for The Times about LolaVie (for that is its name) back in … hang on… Word says September last year, and then this Sunday just gone Sarah Jossel in Style was permitted to have an email exchange with Jennifer Aniston in which she talked about the LolaVie “Glossing Detangler”, currently the only thing in the range, and then JA deigned to talk about the next product, which is a “Perfecting, Leave-In Conditioner” SORRY BUT ARE THESE NOT THE SAME THINGS?
Bitch, are you launching a haircare range or not? And why are you fobbing Style off with a lame-ass email exchange and getting all coy about your frankly paltry offering? Show us what you’ve got or stop wasting our time.
Perhaps this weird peek-a-boo marketing dance is because she knows the awful truth: you’ve either got great hair or you haven’t and no random celebrity endorsed product is going to change it that much.
Prove me wrong! Have you used a random celebrity endorsed product that has significantly changed your hair? Please leave a comment for the group in the handy box below.
At 63 with fine hair I’ve had good results with Hairstory no foaming stuff - resisted till I got a good size sample in a mix box - and use it with the silicon scrubbing brush. All the fine baby hairs round the hairline have definitely improved. Expensive but I only do one application each wash (every 2-3 days) and it goes a long way. Also easy for travel - no conditioner required.
I have v fine rubbish hair that I dye diff colours to make it exciting and the thing my lovely hairdresser told me to do is if on holiday EVERY time you go in water coat it with tiny bit of conditioner/olaplex afterwards to stop it destroying itself. Genuinly amazing how it didn’t go flat and frizzy and weird. I pass this on.
I’ve just bought hershesons duo of products and have CONVINCED myself that it will solve all my hair problems (it won’t but I have hope and that’s all that matters)