Pressure

Which are the pressures that create SHIELDS around you?

Who do you HAVE to be?

What is the image your character ASPIRES?

What STOPS  her?

What is the carrot?

How do failures affect him?

Why does he succeed?

The Soul

Believe that the soul exists. That "it," is the essence of your character.

That your body is flexible and malleable to fill this soul.

This will help you understand your abilities to become many different characters.

Nostalgia

I was reading messages on my FB page when I ran into a picture of my first High School play, Grease. Looking at the photograph, I felt something bitter and sweet. My curiosity stopped me to look up the definition of the word (nostalgia) and to my surprise the Greek etymology describes it as  a two word  sandwich: "Homecoming", and "pain, ache."  Those ancient Greeks had their way with words, my man.

As I always do I play with ideas in my head, poking holes at my grandiose realizations and pity. I shortened the length of time to be nostalgic to just the last second of my life. Why would I feel any nostalgia at all? Is it my inability to fully appreciate the love in my life and all the self help cliches I am so sick of reading and seeing?  Don't know, don't know. But, yes I do. We all do.

How can this beautiful Greek word help me better understand the characters, the story and my ability to relate which is at the heart of this internal research.

As an actor maybe it becomes a flag of HOW NOT TO DO IT as the unconscious force of unhappiness tempts me with the could have's and should have's.

Seek a Reaction

In the process of finding what sparks your reality in a scene think in very concrete terms what type of reaction you are expecting or attempting to get from your partner.  It is so much purer than your own emotional state.

Copy a signature

How much of ourselves reflects through our roles?  All of "the self," right? I believe that this is the key which opens the door to greatness, BUT...it is equally dangerous, leading to cardboard characters. Why? I am not answering that yet.

I want you to ask two or three friends to sign their name for you.  If you are a teacher, the exercise is really cool as you can post giant poster board or similar on the wall and have all the students sign their names, a little larger for all to see.  It is not to practice your Oscar autographs nor acceptance speeches, just your plain ol' signature.

Whether at home or at a classroom, try imitating your friend's signature.  Sign it, three, four times and then sit back.  No matter if your a gifted forger (remember those school notes as kids?), you are going to see something extremely peculiar.  And that is, who you are.  Your quirks, your style, the way you squiggle an "A" or massacre yours "V's", or slash your "T's", will show up. That's who you are. Now, when you see these differences and you try and correct them, you will see yourself still fighting to be able to imitate the original signature because the way you write a particular letter is going naturally try to express itself.

The same occurs when you are working on your role.  That signature you are "copying" will have your stamp on it, however be vigilant of your personal traits that surface on this signature which do not belong in your performance.  It is a form of artistic discipline directly attached to whatever reality the author has put on paper, quite more obvious to the actor when you are playing a historical character.

Brave, Fahrenheit 451, (the shot of the little boy looking at the burning of books from window)

The language between God and humanity is very personal. And it remains God's language.

Thirteen Days in September, Ghandi, I spit on your grave, Savages, Spiderman

Active movie week. Never tire of the first two, one for historical reasons, the second not only for the history, but the direction and performances...my eyes tear every 2 minutes on that movie. Sir Kingsley, one for the books, one for the books.

So much said with so little in Ghandi. The small physical gestures, never forget that. Mr Attenborough's masterpiece as a a director.

Listen to your conversations this week and document every circumstance when people have smiled at you, smiled at your each other, or you have smiled at them. Think about what has happened at each exchange. It is much more prevalent that you would imagine. Use it in your character studies.

Think of someone who loves you unconditionally. If you fail while being true to your art, would they berate you? No. Then, think of them when taking artistic chances (not self grandeur), when auditioning, whether in spirit or thought, that person will catch your fall. What are you waiting to be great right now?

What I saw this past week:
Birth, Valhalla Rising, Kramer vs Kramer, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Some folks call it a Sling Blade, and Prometheus

On Directing

The camera is your character's intent.
The camera is the state of the character's mind in the scene.
The camera is the action of the scene.

You must pick the shot that sells the story forward.

This week..King of Devil's Island, Submarine and the Killing of John Lennon. Good films, the last one got better toward the end, you almost wanted a different ending.

Watch cartoons.  See how easily you see each characters role, place, "the fit" within the story, so easy to understand. The villain, the hero, the angel, the devil... Why then do we struggle so much identifying the same simplicity with our roles?

Think about the true meaning of the word "role."

Danny Boyle's Sunshine. Saw it last night and as expected I am always blown away by this guy's vision and shot set-up. Not sure if the story unfolded enough for me or if the characters had any chance to develop, nonetheless it is a visual candy store and for sci-fi fans, a real treat.

Saw Shame, directed by Steve McQueen, starring  Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan and James Badge Dale. Not your usual script,  the movie deals with the subject of loveless sexual addiction.  The director was able to keep the subject raw and the lead actor was stunning in the manner in which he revealed the beauty and ugliness of his obsession. I recommend it.

Objective

Replace the word objective with the word intentions.

Structure for the actor

Structure in art should not be visible. Or should it be? Does structure by definition require knowledge and understanding? Is structure limited by our own knowledge and understanding? Is structure a framework of thought to try and understand the nuts and bolts of a "thing?" These are all questions I have been asking myself as I continue to study screenwriting and working on my scripts. Raw, unpretentious "goo" for the actor.

Perhaps structure are guiding lights that we place way in advance of our creative journey to maintain our voice clear and focused.

Be light

Saw Rabbit Hole. Wonderful film and a beautiful lesson in playing dark places. A couple is grieving and living  pain over the death of their young son.   Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart pulled off in my opinion one of the most underrated performances in cinema; nothing but brilliance. Watch the film and see yourself in the roles. Think about what choices would you have made as an actor and if you are patient, look at the internal path that would have produced the most honest understanding of yourself as the character. So easy to have been melodramatic (and by this I don't mean over the top as I LOVE OVER THE TOP), yet both of these gifted actors delivered light, yet deep portrayals of a couple living a nightmare.

It requires very little thinking and TRUE risk taking. If the audience sees your acting out of the risk, you failed.