Understanding and Developing a Scene

Many actors try to gain insight into the character they are playing by writing reams of backstory and character description. For me, being a triple Aries and terribly anxious to get on with things, that approach is a struggle.

Here are David Mamet's thoughts on understanding and developing a scene that I've found very helpful in adding immediacy and specificity to my role. In fact, I printed this out and carry it in my wallet because it's especially useful for cold reads.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Moving Performance from Michael Shiflett

Image
Actor friend Michael Shiflett , who played my husband last month in Andrew Evans' short film, Anna and Thomas, plays the Vietnam vet in this video.  I had to share it as it's a lovely, understated performance. Michael often plays tough guys, but when a tough guy dials it down it can be so moving....
Read more

Acting Tips: Bryan Cranston on Auditions, Actor Jealousy, and Working

Image
I'm a firm believer in learning something from those who are successful at doing it. ("Those who can, do," as the saying goes.) Actor autobiographies are tremendous resources of information on how an actor achieved success, as are the many bon mots that turn up in actor interviews posted online. Very often, or so it seems to me, the breakthrough occurred not with some change in technique but with a simple change in the actor's way of thinking, as multiple Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston demonstrates in this slyly recorded snippet posted on YouTube. Going into an audition to "do" a job rather than "get" a job can take a lot of pressure off of your performance and enable you to "let it go" when you finish the audition. By the way, motivational coach/speaker Evan Carmichael posts the "Top 10 rules for Success" for various actors, which always have some positive takeaway. Here's what he posted for Cranston. It's well wort...
Read more

Frank Capra on the Art of Directing Actors

Image
In my free time, I love to read books about filmmaking, especially autobiographies of great directors. Recently, while reading Frank Capra 's  The Name Above the Title , I came across this gem on what distinguishes great directors from the pack. It could have been written yesterday (just add "CGI" to paragraph 3). Here is what he said: "This is the artistry of the film director: convince actors that they are real flesh and blood human beings living a story. Once actors are themselves convinced, then, hopefully, they will convince audiences....Does a star, paying his hotel bill, pay it to a bit actress or to a real cashier? A bit actress, perhaps hired for one day, will be just a bit actress to herself and to audiences. But let the director give her an identity--an only daughter worried about her mother in the hospital, a wife anxious about her husband losing his job, or a woman in love going to a party that night with the man of her life--and that bit actress become...
Read more