And You Don’t Need to Ask About Your Motivation, Either

National Public Radio’s Gloria Hillard filed a report for Weekend Edition about the increasing demand for actors playing corpses on various TV cop shows such as CSI. Among the reasons why one would willingly subject him or herself to playing a corpse: screen time with the principal actors on the show, not to mention crucial time with the director; getting a guaranteed close-up; and, you’re paid $136 for a day’s work plus lunch. The downside, however, is the fact you’re often prone on an autopsy table for hours on end, nearly nude, and have to endure layers of forensic make-up. How do actors maintain the stillness and lack of breathing? One actor told Hillard that “you take yourself to a meditative state.”

Listen to Hillard’s story here.