Classes this week March 21 & 22
Some weeks it is easy to be a gentle teacher and
others...
I suppose every teacher has a style. Mine
invariably differs depending on mood or whether I have had to skip a meal due to
being too busy. Most of the time, however, my "style" is generally pleasant,
funny, passionate, and I would hope encouraging. The hardest part for me is
when I have to "get tough" on a student. This is born of my feeling that I am
asking actors to trust, to bare their emotions, and allow themselves to be
vulnerable in class. Sometimes an actor truly believes that he or she is doing
so but it is often because that actor's self protection mechanisms have become
so deeply ingrained that they do not even know they are doing it themselves.
What you get from these actors is ultimately a "character" being "real" rather
than just that person being there. This is especially true of actors that are
accustomed to entertaining the group and those that are especially uncomfortable
with being observed in exercises. I will begin by gently pointing out what they
are doing, by correcting them, by reviewing the rules of the exercise, but in
the case of many of the aforementioned actors it is necessary to remove the good
humor from my demeanor and be as direct as possible. The danger here is that
when you strip away someone's protection mechanism and point out that what they
think is being "honest" and "genuine" is, instead, untrue... they often feel
attacked or take it personally. At the outset of classes I always tell my
students that, when I critique work and exercises, all of my comments are
professional and never personal. I am committed to never making personal
criticisms in front of the class. However, when an actor cannot drop his/her
shell, that is both a professional and personal issue and blurs the line a bit.
If students tough that moment out and take the note as it is intended they
advance by leaps and bounds. If they take it personally they disappear. My
hope is that they trust me and my professional opinion enough to know that I
speak as someone who believes in their ultimate ability to become what they
desire to be.. an actor... and this is this is a necessary
step.
On another note... I am sitting
here listening to the pigeons have sex on my rooftop and it makes me just want
to grab a big stick and beat them to little piles of feathers. Ahhh Spring.
For those of you that don't know.. they moan, coo, coo, coo, cooo, cooooo, COOO!
At that point I assume they have a little birdie cigarette. There is nothing
like having a pigeon orgasm as your alarm clock in the morning. At least they
wait till the sun is up. UGH!
I depart
to shoot Ruffian tomorrow AM at 6AM. Production has been kind enough to arrange
all my travle and is taking good care of me. I spent this week searching for
information about my character Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps. Online there is
limited info regarding him. He has a son who recently married. There is one
picture of Dinny where he is receiving an Eclipse award for his service to the
sport of thoroughbred racing. That's about it. So, I did what any respectable
actor portraying a living figure would do, considered finding him and talking to
him. I went online and found four possible phone listings for him.
Wait, what is this at my feet? Hmmm,
looks like a line... a colorful ethical line. Do I
cross?
Actually, I made one phone call
before I saw that line and stepped back behind it. As an actor you have a
couple of things to keep in mind. The person you are playing may not know they
are in the script. IF they find out they may not like how they are portrayed in
the script. They may not like the fact that YOU are portraying them. They may
not want their privacy invaded by some actor spelunking for information. MOST
IMPORTANTLY, the CHARACTER in the script both is and isn't the PERSON it's based
on. The character serves a dramatic purpose in a story BASED on real events.
He or she was included to advance the plot, to create conflict, to fulfill a
dramatic purpose. What you find out about the real person may conflict with
that. YOUR ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY IS TO THE SCRIPT. Repeat that many times to
yourself as you back away from the ethical line.
As I backed away from my ethical line,
I called my agent first who suggested calling the casting director. I called
Mark Fincannon who then called the producers with my request for more info on
Dinny. They responded with the name and phone number of our primary advisor on
this project, Bill Nack. He was a reporter during the events in the script and
has played a large role in seeing this film come about. I will talk to him
later today and brief you on how that goes. At that time, I will also tell you
a story about finding out too much about your character from when I did Gods and
Generals. Talk to you again soon.
Posted: Thu - March 23, 2006 at 09:41 AM