I talk with actors about anything the script brings to mind from my own life and experience. You may want to talk to people who know something about your character or his circumstances, or find out what the story means to them. Listen to them and take what is useful. But don’t ask them how you should play the character. That’s your job. Be open without making any decisions.
Make Big, Extravagant Choices
Actors often think they can’t make extravagant choices—be “big”—in film because it will look too extreme on screen. But size doesn’t matter. Truth does. In film, the settings, even period settings, are real. If the actor makes a choice that has more to do with style than reality, no matter how conservative it is, it won’t work. And conversely, if the moment is totally real for the actor and true for the character, the audience will buy it, however big or exotic.
Most of the time I am trying to get actors to do less on film—to let the camera do the work of acting while the actor allows himself simply to respond, listen, and talk without showing what he’s feeling or thinking. But we must be free to go anywhere, including big, extravagant choices. Bigger is not necessarily better, but it is necessary not to censor your response, because those risky, bold choices are often our best. The actor’s unbridled instinct, when totally truthful, can add an element of danger or absurdity that can make a good script an astonishing one or take an actor’s career from good to great.
Kevin Kline’s character in A Fish Called Wanda is a perfect example of how big and outrageous a character can be on film. Otto is stupid, dangerous, easily frustrated, and easily enraged by any reference to his stupidity. When he opens a safe and finds it empty, his confusion and rage lead him to shoot this inanimate object as if it were a person he wished to kill. His sexuality is based on smells and Italian food terms, and his idea of torture involves shoving French fries up a character’s nostrils and eating his pet fish. It’s all idiotic, but it’s the character.
As I described in chapter 2, the genesis of this character emerged while Kevin and I were taking Otto’s lines off the page. Before filming begins, go as far as possible if something strikes you. Once you’re shooting, take your chances. If it’s too much, the director will tell you. However, you must keep exploring and doing different things each “take.” Be brave. Make a fool of yourself. Remember, filming is the same as rehearsal.
ON SET
Just before shooting begins, the actor and director meet to talk about the character and specifically how each sees him dressed—his costume. This is very important because then there are costume fittings, as well as make-up and hair tests for camera. So the actor must know the script and character in order to offer insight into the way the character should appear on camera.
Sometimes there are rehearsals for a few days or a week with the director and other actors, during which time rewriting, discussions about the script and locations, and even some blocking for specific scenes may take place. But as a whole, it’s not the same as the long period of rehearsal in theater. It is best for the actor to stay loose during these rehearsals. Use the time to get a feeling for the other actors. Don’t worry about any decisions made here. They will not matter once the director and cast are on location. Then, the acting and shooting will be stimulated by the reality of the set.
Many actors like rehearsals in film, but I don’t. It isn’t enough time to really rehearse but it’s enough time to tighten the actor if he takes it too seriously. So stay loose! Explore as much as you can but don’t give too much away at this point. This is usually not the best situation to show everything. Save it for the filming, when it’s for real.
The same goes for the read-through of the script that will take place with the whole cast in front of the director, the writer, the producers, and the studio executives. This occurs just after camera tests and rehearsals. It’s often a harrowing experience for the actors, but there’s no reason to worry. No matter what is said here or in rehearsal, it is the actual shooting that counts.
The key thing is to keep the process of exploration going all the way through the shooting process. When Kevin Kline got ready to film A Fish Called Wanda, I told him that it was necessary to improvise in character with the cast and crew as he came onto the set for each scene. His character was so bold that he had to do this as a way of warming up for the takes. He told me he continued improvising between takes as well. Often an actor isn’t finished with the possibilities of a take when the camera stops shooting. Continuing gives the actor and the director more choices, choices that can be incorporated into the next take.
Don’t consciously try to repeat an impulse that worked. Actors often say something like, “This one take was great. The director loved it, but the lighting or the sound wasn’t right. When we re-shot it, I couldn’t get it back, and we did a lot of takes.” If this happens, don’t try to get it back. Go somewhere else, anywhere else. Even if you blow the next take, the take after that you will be back on your instinct and back into exploring.
Working with Direction
All the good directors I have known either say very little and let the actor work it out, or they make good suggestions that they are perfectly willing to let go in favor of the actor’s instinct. Kevin Kline recalls that on the set of Sophie’s Choice, Alan Pakula told him, “Whatever I said before the take, if you get an impulse, fuck what I said!” This is a very smart and generous thing for a director to say, because it empowers the actor. It gives him the freedom to be impulsive, and that is best for the film as well as for the actor. Unfortunately, it is rare for a director to make such a comment.
There are many distractions for the director during filming. He’s responsible for every choice made—not just the actor, but also the costumer, the director of photography, the set designer, set decoration, props, sound, and on and on. So he has a lot to do. Because of these distractions, the acting is often the last thing on the director’s mind. It’s difficult, almost impossible, for him to stop everything in order to truly concentrate on a scene or fragment of the scene, and it’s easy to miss subtle acting. Usually, everything seems too slow for the director. The most common direction on set is “pick up the pace,” “get rid of the pauses,” “speed up the rhythm.”
It’s important for the actor to remember that the scene as you do it is unedited. Eventually, the director can cut out pauses in the editing room. So take your time and respond instinctively and impulsively. That will be best not only for you, but in the end for the director as well. I’ll explain more about this in the section on playing the close-up.
It takes a long time to set up a shot. The lighting and camera crew will be at it for a couple of hours or more before the actor is called to the set. Directors have producers and production supervisors pushing them to shoot fast. But the acting will probably be the shortest part of the filming process. So if you are not finished with the shot and think you can do better, even if the director is satisfied, ask for another take. Most directors will be pleased to give you another go at it because it may lead to something much better. And it really doesn’t take much time. Once they go to the next shot, there is no chance for another crack at the moment.
Acting on the Day of Shooting
Let me give you an overview of the shooting day as it almost always happens. Shooting the scene is usually geared to the technical demands of camera, lighting, and set, not to the actor. The filming starts from a distance, taking in the whole scene in the master shot, and then gets closer and closer as the day goes on. So at first, everyone in the scene will be filmed from beginning to end. Then, as the camera gets closer, the shooting gets more specific. Usually, in the name of technical efficiency, the camera will film all the shots from one side, that is, getting closer and closer on one actor first. For instance, if there are two actors in the scene, the next shot will be a medium “two-shot”—that is, the actors will be shot from the waist up—followed by shots that (1) show the actors in profile, (2) favor one actor, and (3) capture the actor ov
er the shoulder or back of the other actor. Finally, there will be a close-up shot on only one actor. Then, when that actor’s close-up is completed, the camera is moved to the opposite angle and the crew re-lights and re-dresses the set for the same shots on the second actor. Usually, all the takes will be shot from beginning to end. If there are more than two actors in the scene, the process will be repeated for each actor. So the actor goes over the scene from beginning to end, again and again, both on-camera and off-camera, over the course of the day.
You must give the best you have on the day of shooting. On film, that’s the only day for that scene. You have to trust yourself on that day. Because in the end, you know more about the character than anybody else in the room. If you don’t, you’re not good enough to play the character. It’s as simple as that. The director may have a million things on his mind on the day of shooting, but an actor has only one.
The Master Shot
The filming day starts with the master shot, in which the actors run the scene from beginning to end. The shot is a large one that takes in the full scene. The actor doesn’t have to define the way he will play the whole scene in this shot. It is a general outline of the blocking of the scene. In the final cut of the movie, the master will be used mostly to establish the setting. Little if any of the acting in it will be used in the final edit.
First, the actor is called to the set to rehearse the scene with the other actors, the director of photography, and the director. The scene does not yet have to be memorized. (The “sides” for the day—the scenes to be shot—are copied and distributed to the whole company first thing in the morning.) It’s usually a relaxed rehearsal. After rehearsing, the actors are off to costume and make-up, while the lighting is adjusted for the camera and the set is dressed.
During this time (an hour or two), the actor can go over the scene and finish memorizing, if necessary, or he can look over the previous scene in his trailer. But there’s no reason to get anxious. This is only the beginning of the day.
The actor will be recalled to the set and a few more rehearsals will take place to set the marks for the actor. A mark is a taped line on the floor placed by the camera crew for the actor. That mark indicates where the actor must stop a movement to be in focus within the scene. This often creates a lot of problems for young actors because if they are too aware of the mark and too diligent about hitting it, their movement may seem false or awkward. And if they are delivering lines as they move, those lines may sound stilted because of the distraction. But if you don’t hit the mark, you’re out of focus, so the scene is stopped.
It is best to look at the mark and walk over to it several times just to feel out the move in rehearsal. When “action” is called, forget about it. You either hit the mark or you don’t, but worrying about it will screw up your acting. Remember, this is film. If you miss your mark you get to do it again. It’s useless to hit your mark and not be free. Sometimes the crew will put a sandbag on the floor as a mark so you can’t miss it. But don’t think about it when shooting begins. (Supposedly, Spencer Tracy would walk up to his mark, look down to make sure he had hit it, and then say his line. No one ever bugged him about it.)
Don’t give too much in the master shot unless the director tells you that this is the shot he is going to use in the final edit. Keep it simple. Don’t worry about flubbing your lines. You’ve got plenty of takes to get it right.
The Camera Moves Closer
As the camera moves closer, the scene comes more and more into focus for the actor as well as for the audience. But there is still a long way to go until the close-up. Scenes can take several hours, even a whole day or more, to film. And the last shots are the most important. It is crucial that the actor stay emotionally loose through the process and not give all his emotions away until the close-up. Otherwise, he will be used up by the time he needs those emotions most.
So the actor has to pace himself. He must keep his concentration available for the take, but in between set-ups for each shot—gaps of about two hours, usually—he should not think about the scene or expend a lot of energy. In emotional scenes, young actors tend to over-prepare and to spend themselves before the most important shots of the day. It’s a long day, typically ten to fourteen hours. If you have prepared yourself before the day of shooting, don’t press now. Wait until just before the take to get back into it. Stay calm, and your concentration will be accessible when you need it.
The Close-Up
The close-up is what movies have that theater doesn’t. With the close-up, as Glenn Close puts it, “You can look straight into somebody’s soul.”
The close-up can be the easiest shot for the actor, or the hardest. The closer the camera, the less the actor has to do. If he is in the moment, everything he is thinking or feeling, and every shift in what he thinks or feels, registers. But because the camera is such a sensitive instrument at close range, if the actor shows us what he’s thinking or feeling, it will be too much. He must not demonstrate his thoughts or feelings.
This is where trust comes in. The actor must trust himself, and only himself, to know if he is feeling or thinking. He can’t trust anyone else to take his measure at that moment. And that holds true even when the director asks him to give more. During the shoot, the director may be distracted, or he may be watching the actors on a television monitor, where subtle reactions are difficult to see and nothing looks like it’s enough. In movie theaters, the close-up will appear on a big screen. If the thoughts and feelings are there, the audience will see them. So will the director, when he looks at the dailies a couple of days later on a full-scale screen. And no matter what he asked you to do during the shoot, he isn’t going to appreciate overacting in his close-up. He may not love you on the day of shooting for resisting his suggestion, but he’ll love you in dailies, and even more in the editing room when he’s putting the film together, if you trust yourself and don’t Act.
Jim Gandolfini told me that the first time he acted opposite John Travolta in Get Shorty, he couldn’t see him acting at all—even from a few feet away. Travolta seemed not to be doing anything. But when Jim saw the film, there was plenty going on. And the camera had caught it all.
There are other aspects of the close-up that can make it difficult for the actor. Because the camera itself may be very close to him, he has to act to a mark—an X—taped onto the camera for the actor’s eye-line. This odd situation is necessary in order to match the complex camera angles that for an audience mimic two actors talking to each other—when in fact the other actor may be saying his lines from an awkward or even unseen place off-camera. Odder still, sometimes there’s no actor there at all. The lines are said by the script supervisor from behind the camera. In this situation, which happens frequently, you can’t force your concentration. Instead, simply make yourself available to the line so you can let your imagination wander.
Show as little as possible. Let the line into you. Look at the X without staring. Let your mind and imagination take over. Take a breath in and out, and say the line. If you don’t have a line, just listen.
When he was doing the remake of Rear Window after his accident, Christopher Reeve remembers, “The director wanted to get really close—a lot closer than I’m used to.” Chris’s character was supposed to be sitting at his window, looking at the people in the apartments across the street. But what he was actually looking at were two pieces of yellow tape on a black curtain. The actors who were to play the people in the apartments weren’t even on set yet; their activities would be shot after dark. The director talked him through what was supposed to be happening. “Nothing could be more artificial,” Chris recollects, “being told what was happening across the way and the imposition of the camera. I had to let that fuel my imagination rather than be inhibited by it. Thanks to all the work we’d done and to my life experience, none of that bothered me. I really didn’t care. The emotional life was full because I was free.”
At one moment, Chris recalls, “The camera is ve
ry, very close to me, and I am looking across the way. This beautiful girl is getting dressed to go out. At first I see her in her underwear, and there’s a smile of appreciation. But then it changes to longing and sadness, because I’m in a wheelchair, and I could never be her partner or any woman’s partner.”
Even with the camera only a foot or two away, Reeve had been able to relax and access his emotions. His imagination had been set free by the sense that he “had nothing to lose,” and didn’t care whether he was being filmed. For him it was a breakthrough: “I don’t think, when I look at it, that I got caught Acting in the movie.” In fact, he got a Golden Globe nomination and his fellow actors voted him their Screen Actor’s Guild Best Actor Award for this performance.
ACTING IN EPISODIC TELEVISION
Acting on television is basically the same as acting in film. However, there are some problems specific to television. Most of them have to do with time. An hour episode—almost the length of a feature film, really—is shot in seven to ten shooting days, as opposed to the six- to twelve-week schedule for a film. So more scenes must be shot each day than in feature film production, and the process tends to rush the actor even more. But rushing wastes time. It causes more mistakes, and it leads to routine acting—to obvious and melodramatic choices, comic choices that aren’t funny, and over-pushed emotions.
Sometimes hurrying is the actor’s response to the pressures of sustaining a successful series. Regarding his long-running role in The Sopranos, Jim Gandolfini says, “Sometimes you’ve gotta drum up all this shit all the time. You’re like, Oh, Christ, here we go again. Especially if you’re working a lot. You’re like, If I just say it real fast, maybe they won’t notice. Maybe they’ll move on. But you can’t do that.” Rushing shows.
How to Stop Acting Page 14