Acting Project

Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival

This is my second year teaching an acting workshop for the Youth Program.

Lot's of fun. Great kids.

What does it take to become an actor?

Director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, The Four Feathers, Elizabeth: The Golden Age) is often asked that question...

Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

He has an interesting answer in his blog:

"You must want to be beyond the needs of being accepted as being glamorous and beautiful. Looking for acceptance from other people is to put yourself at the doorstep of unhappiness. Acting is not an indulgence. Do not do it unless the passion is for the art of acting,  even if that is expressed through stage, and  no matter how small the exposure is – even street theatre" 

"The passion to express stories through the process of acting should be paramount rather than aspiring to live and emulate the lives of the people photographed in the Bombay Times. Do not be led by falsehood. I am presenting to you the answer to the question “what does it take to become an actor” – not what does it take to become a star.  For that there are enough people teaching acting in 3 months."

"Acting takes incredible discipline. Your body is the instrument through which you express yourself, like a violin is the violinist’s instrument. It takes years of discipline to create mastery over your body and voice. It takes years of introspection and hard work to learn how to use the inherent emotions in you, to be able transfer them seamlessly to your mind and emotion and from there seamlessly to your body and voice. 

The discipline and ‘riyaz’ of an actor is no less than that of a classical dancer. Moments of absolute truth are the most satisfying moments in any art, and the only way you know them, or recognize them, are because you feel closer to something infinite, some power beyond yourself that seems to be in control of your emotions, you body, your heart, your mind. Those are the moments to aspire to and just a few in your lifetime will make you a true artist."

"You  asked me a a question about the art of acting I assume and not the commerce. The second I know nothing about and do not care to. You go to the Gym, get great pictures taken, discover your best angles, and go to parties to network. Get a six pack or a great body and go to photographers that know how to exploit those assets and then later photo shop them into perfection. Being attractive on the outside may be important, but the ‘art’ of acting is to be attractive on the ‘inside’."  

I will repeat his last line,  "The art of acting is to be attractive in the inside."

Another director, Charles Marowitz, said something like that but in a more pragmatic way, "There is no such this as boring acting, just boring actors."

 Lastly, Mr. Kapur's answer reminds me of Stanislavski's letter to a young actor:

"An actor is a teacher of beauty and truth. For this an actor must rise above the mob by virtue of his talent or cultivation or other capacities.  An actor must be above all a cultured person, be able to pull himself up to the level of the geniuses of literature."

A play I am directing.

Notes on Comedy

You can open a door funny.

(Think the Marx Brothers)

You can open a funny door.

(Open a door and it falls off its hinges.)

But you can’t open a funny door funny.

 

Thanks Dave Harris for passing on this comedy koan he had heard in a class. I like it. Sounds perfectly reasonable. The point being something like: You don’t have to exaggerate the comedy.  Trust it.  Don’t push.  Let it play for itself. Don't gild the lilly, comedy wise.

 

However upon further reflection, why couldn’t an actor open a funny door funny? Why couldn’t the character being doing something funny as they open a trick door?  I don't want to over-think it...  But I get the point. 

 

The 17^th century Russian comic playwright Nicolai Gogol, who is considered the father of modern realism, wrote some great advice for actors playing comedy:

 “Above all beware of falling into caricature.  Nothing ought to be exaggerated or hackneyed, not even the minor roles… The less an actor thinks about being funny or making the audience laugh, the more the comic elements of his part will come through.  The ridiculous will emerge spontaneously through he very seriousness with which each character is occupied with his own affairs.  They are all caught up in their own interests, bustling and fussing, even fervent, as if faced with the most important tasks of their lives. Only the audience, from its detached position, can perceive the vanity of their concerns.  But they themselves do not joke at all, and have no inkling that anybody is laughing at them.  The intelligent actor, before seizing upon the petty oddities and superficial peculiarities of his part, must strive to capture those aspects that are common to all mankind.  He ought to consider each character, what it is that consumes his life and constitutes the perpetual object of his thoughts, his idée fixe. Having grasped this major concern, the actor must assimilate it so thoroughly that the thoughts and yearnings of his character seem to be his own and remain constantly in his mind over the course of the performance….  So, one should first grasp the soul of a part and not its dress.”

Chico Marx playing piano.  Why?  Because it's awesome:

Me Talking about Acting & Theater on a Talk Radio Podcast

Wait for the 1:15 music intro...

April 24th @ 8pm

 More Info & Reservations:  www.AmericanTheaterProject.com

Field Trip

The awesome Josh Tariff, who works at my apt building, is performing at i/O West.

Join me this Wednesday April 14th 11:00pm-12:00am.  i/O West Theater 6366 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood.  Tickets are only $5.  Box office at 323.962.7560  i/O West Show     Buy Tickets

Here's Josh talking about the show & one talking about the improv pioneer Del Close.  Mr. Close is considered one of the greatest influences on modern improv comedy.

Colin Farrell wins an IFTA

This is cool.  Colin won the best actor for the Irish Film and Television Awards.  It's Ireland's equivalent of an Oscar.

Video of acceptance speech.

Actors Before a Performance

For twenty-five years actors have given Simon Annand unprecedented access to photograph them in the intimacy of their dressing-rooms during the 30 minutes before curtain up - 'the half'.

Just looking at these photos makes me nervous.

Kristin Scott ThompsonDaniel Day-LewisIan Mckellan

Tilda Swinton

Check out this excellent (short) documentary on his photography of actors.

The Half - the photography of Simon Annand from Ganos on Vimeo.

 


 

"In order to express a most delicate and largely subconscious life it is necessary to have control of an unusually responsive, excellently prepared vocal and physical apparatus."   Stanislavski