acting : page 2*....----.Talent Development Resources --..home page...site map
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acting : page 2*....----
that's horrible" - like auditions
You know, Scott [Coffey, director of her film ‘Ellie Parker’] was a struggling actor for many years as well and he'd gone through years of those horrible auditions, losing your dignity and being told who you are and believing it because of your self-esteem levels.
"We talked about these experiences, and he had had this idea.. to do this film about an actress going from one audition to another..."
She says that what makes acting so addictive, is "because you love what you do. It's the creative thing that when you're actually acting, between action and cut, THAT is fun, or even in the drama class or whatever forum you're doing it in.
"It's the other stuff that's horrible – the exposing yourself," referring to the often debilitating audition process that she embarked upon for almost a decade prior to her attention-grabbing role in Mulholland Drive.
"That's what ‘Ellie Parker’ is more about, not just about the acting experiences, auditions, managers, agents and stuff, but about a young woman who is putting too much emphasis on other people's opinions of herself, and therefore wrapping up her own identity in these people who couldn't possibly know who she was. So that struggle for integrity and identity is more of what we were trying to say."
[darkhorizons.com interview by Paul Fischer, March 14th, 2005]
Naomi Watts stars in and produced Ellie Parker (2005)
~ ~ ~ ~
I loved it [acting] because I was such a frightened kid. I was scared of my own shadow.. very, very timid...
As an actor you just dive right into the role and that's what it's all about. The sad thing is where does one serve one's apprenticeship when you're first starting out.. Being a product of Hollywood.. that's very difficult...
They ground you out like sausage in a meat grinding factory. It was very difficult. I mean I loved all the stuff because I was a wide-eyed kid [in the 1950s] but it's not easy.
I'm here to be the best human being I possibly can be.
Tab Hunter [Larry King Live October 10, 2005]his new bio: Tab Hunter Confidential :
The Making of a Movie Star> related topics :
introversion / shyness...spirituality
~ ~ ~ ~
David Strathairn
You can either cash in on what you do really well--if it's one or two things that you feel most confident about--and thereby build a career around that, or consciously choose to make sure you're re-educating the casting people, producing people, and directors that there's more to your choices than just those things.I have turned down a lot of things because, first of all, I don't know that I'd enjoy being part of that story, and sometimes because there are slots which are easy to be put into and you try to avoid those so that you can continue to grow and explore other realms of acting.
> photo as Edward R. Murrow
in “Good Night, and Good Luck”
~ ~ ~ ~
Jamie Foxx:
CCH Pounder taught me one thing. She said, “Characters are like putting on a coat. You put the coat on while you work, you take the coat off after it’s over.”
You need that freshness. I know people who stay in character, and it’s the worst thing in the world.
You can’t go out. They’re still in their character and the character residue is too much. I like to go do it, flip it on like a light switch and then flip it off. .. that’s what keeps things fresh for me.
3blackchicks.com interview about “Ray”
~ ~ ~ ~
If I only worked in theatre, I would get a little bitter and feel small. I enjoy being pulled in two directions; film and theatre are worlds with different concerns, rewards, expectations and rules. To run backwards and forwards between the two forces me to examine what I really think about acting and to cultivate a beginner's mind about what I do for a living. Willem Dafoe
- from the book On Acting - by Mary Luckhurst, Chloe Veltman // (photo : Steve Granitz / WireImage.com)
> more books : acting
~ ~ ~ ~
 "If
you are a theater actor," says Frank
Langella
in his acting teacher role [on "Unscripted"], "you tend to think you
are the crème de la crème, and you tend to look
down on
movie stars, movie actors; if you're a movie actor, you tend to think
that television actors are low on the rung; if you're a television
actor you say to yourself, 'Well, at least I'm not doing commercials.'
"What
you want to do is, you want to somehow find a way that you can have a
small percentage of your work be something that you can be proud of." "They are the abstract and brief chronicles of the times," as Shakespeare wrote, but also of something beyond time. |
 They
have learned to speak more distinctly than the rest of us, and to stand
and walk and to place their bodies in space, so that they sound and
look the way we only imagine we do, the way we would like to sound and
look and move. More
than that, a great actor understands abandon -- they grow big by
letting go, become larger than life all the better to represent it. > from article : Hardly the most minor of gifts - A combination of abandon and ability once dismissed by Katharine Hepburn, acting gets its due respect in HBO's soul-baring series "Unscripted." By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times Jan 9 2005 > site for HBO series "Unscripted" - interviews with actors etc |
~ ~ ~ ~
acting and knowing yourself
I don't know that this makes me special, but I think when my work really became profound, when I began to think of myself as an artist, was when I began to really get to know myself better -- through therapy, through asking my friends "Why do I keep doing this?"
Living an aware life as best I can. I then started to translate that into my work, where I was able to use facets of my self and facets I see in other people.
Anything that's in another person, also is in me. We all have everything.
I can choose as Jane Lynch to express it or not express it, but I can always use it for a character. Very rarely have I come across a character -- and I've played some doozies -- where I say "I don't know where this person lives." Usually that's when the writer doesn't know, either.
Jane Lynch - from AfterEllen.com interview
by Sarah Warn> related pages :
counseling / therapy.....the shadow self~ ~ ~ ~
Mira Sorvino on acting to be more of your real self
I have a lot going on inside me, and even though part of me is bookish and quiet and would like to hole up in a library, the other half really wants to express itself and acting allows for that. ...
Marlon Brando once said to me, "Some people act in order to escape what they are; that is not the case with you. You act to become more of what you are. You act because you cannot be all the things you are in life."
I think that was an astute observation; I don't look to escape myself, I look to distill certain aspects of myself in uncut form as a character. All of my characters are me, just little pieces of me. ... The disguise actually liberates me rather than hides me. It magnifies me. It's like I'm a schizophrenic with all these people living inside of me and then I let them out to play in various roles.
Mira Sorvino
reel.com interview by Rod Armstrong, about The Triumph of Love (2001) / photo : Jeff Vespa ©WireImage.com
~ ~ ~ ~
Often the most amusing and gripping aspect of a movie is to watch ordinary actors or actresses (e.g., Melvyn Douglas and Ina Claire in Ninotchka) contend with a more mind-blowing presence -- a star personality who seems to draw life from a source beyond the mundane (e.g., Greta Garbo in the same film). This inner radiance is one sign of the anima--and it is why actresses asked to portray the anima so often are spoken of a stars and are chosen more for their uncanny presence, whether or not they are particularly good at naturalistic characterization.
from article The Anima in Film - by John Beebe, M.D. / bio:.Greta Garbo: A Life Apart
related page:.....depth psychology...
~ ~ ~ ~
"There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk."
~ ~ ~
"If I ever start talking to you about my 'craft', my 'instrument', you have permission to shoot me."
~ ~ ~
"I try to make movies that I would want to go see rather than ones I would just want to do as an actor. I want people to have movies full of romance and hope and empowerment, something they can escape into and feel good about. I love happy endings."Drew Barrymore ... [imdb.com bio]
~ ~ ~ ~
.. .. You know, in rehearsals for Private Lives, Lindsay Duncan and I would both say to the director, "You know, you have to realise that we're right up against the edge of our ability here." ... We discovered our love of the play in rehearsals, and... that came out of a deep respect for the skill of its construction. And when you start to eventually analyse how a piece of work is constructed, it sort of asks you to be in a Restoration comedy in the first act, to switch to Chekhov in the second act, and [to] finish up in Feydeau in the third. |
And
those are very different horses to ride. (Smiles) ... And so I think
that
at every performance of that, certainly you're aware of how difficult
the
job can be. But also of how much fun.
And the same is true of Harry Potter. And you have to use your instrument very differently, you know. On film you're perhaps spending most of the time waiting to work and so you've got to keep that energy release in check... but not let it go to sleep. /// [Acting on stage] is a very unpredictable thing. The nights when you're feeling most tired and most.. remote from being in any way capable of doing it, you go out there and some piece of alchemy happens and you're freer. The nights when you're feeling free in the wings and you go out there, then suddenly something tightens up. I don't know, maybe we need the equivalent of a sports psychologist. ... It's a live event and so you're at the mercy of.. some version of the elements when you go out there. It is unpredictable... and so it should be. Alan Rickman from interview by Tim Sebastian, BBC News 24 - May 5, 2001 photo
as Dr. Alfred Blalock in HBO Films:
|
~ ~ ~ ~
I don't consider myself to be a quote-unquote good girl. I'm not prim and proper and polite. I'm very honest, and I love talking about sex, or people's deviances.
..
..I love psychology. I like listening to or talking about any personality traits that are unusual. That's what I like about acting.
I like to play any character that allows me the freedom to explore it and teach the audience something they didn't know, and show them a journey they identify with... or be inspired, or moved. Anything that touches someone's heart is important for me.
There's just something amazing about [acting]. It's a great life! It gives you so much freedom. You can write and read and play the piano... and pursue other things.
And plus you get to be all these people. You get to explore psychoses without actually going nuts.
Alicia Witt ... [filmcritic.com interview, 2000]
*related pages :*...*personal qualities.......nurturing mental health : acting.......the shadow self~ ~ ~ ~
I just thought I'd always wanted to show off.. acting is showing off. Wendy Hiller
(1912-2003) [Associated Press, 1992]
~ ~ ~ ~
 .. .. But most of her marketable future rests on the fact that she bears an uncanny resemblance to Drew Barrymore. Becca belongs to that bizarre sub-culture of celebrity look-alikes, average guys and gals like you and me who are constantly getting comments from strangers like, "Hey, you know who you remind me of?" The celebrity doubles get work at car shows, birthday parties and any place that can't afford to pay the real thing to make an appearance. Becca uses her Drewness to gain entry to the middle levels of glitterati society. |
Her
looks had got her in the door, and of that she wasn't going to be
ashamed.
She was determined to be assessed by her merits as an actress
alone.
The others -- the cheap Cameron and the Kit, the sleazo Billy Bob and the off-the-rack Benicio -- were lame and starstruck. They looked sad and out of place, like the losers left standing in musical chairs. She hoped the people who mattered would see through her Drewness to the Becca Mondrain within. Lucky for her, Being John Malkovich's Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are planning a movie about celebrity look-alikes and they've got their eye on Becca, as well as her new boyfriend Rusty, a Russell Crowe wannabe who has the Aussie's hot-temper down pat. from januarymagazine.com review by David Abrams
|
...~ ~ ~ ~
.. .. I wasn't in it for the money or the fame; to me it was all about the expression of something I could give that maybe no one else could in quite the same way. I felt like I had a real purpose. But suddenly, when the directors maybe aren't that great and the roles... there is nothing you feel you can contribute. I didn't want to stagnate as a person. I wanted to keep developing. I got more into my painting and artwork. I felt that at least I was growing and becoming more [fulfilled] rather than sitting around Hollywood and waiting for a good script. ... I certainly didn't have any experience as a trained actor. But I have a keen, keen imagination. I love living fantasies, so all I did was just put myself into [the character]. It was definitely giving of myself [to a role]. I didn't have any technical ability at that time. If I had tried to act, I wouldn't have been remembered at all today. .... |
 .. .. When I worked with some directors who weren't as good, they tried to tell you everything you were supposed to be thinking. That didn't work for me. I had a hard time with that. As much as I am vulnerable, I am also strong-willed in a funny way, and I needed to express my own sense of creativity. Kim Novak from
article: An enduring bombshell - Kim Novak, now retired and
photo at left from "Vertigo" (1958)
|
~ ~ ~ ~
I used to say, 'Ava, try to speak out and don't be afraid to be heard.' But she was actually a little bit afraid to be heard because she was so unsure of her abilities. I think her abilities were really unlimited [if only] she had had the proper training and the privilege of coming along slowly before she was given the big roles. ... I must have told her hundreds of times that she had it in her to be a great actress, that all she needed was a little more courage to attack, to go at a scene with the intention of selling it, of grasping the audience's attention and holding it. ......
Gregory Peck - about encouraging Ava Gardner
........
A painter paints, a musician plays, a writer writes - but a movie actor waits.
Mary Astor.. (1906 - 1987) - from her book Life on Film
~ ~ ~ ~........
Also, some actors who are quite emotional give a very restrained performance, and can incredibly transmit on an emotional level. Judi Dench [right] has given some very restrained performances that knock us all out as an audience. Paul Newman has been described as most compelling when appearing to do nothing at all. from Supporting creative achievement - an interview with therapist Lynne Azpeitia
....~ ~ ~ ~
| There
was very little rehearsal [making films with her husband John
Cassavetes].
And John had an interesting idea, and I think he was right. Actors
customarily
talk with other actors about what's happening in the scene, telling
what
they're thinking, how they got to this place, and so on.
That was forbidden. We never ever spoke to another actor about our character. His theory being, let it build up and let's see it up on the screen. See, you never knew what was coming, really, and a lot of the edginess of John’s films comes from that. If you rehearse and discuss and analyze, you can take all the life out of a scene. **Gena
Rowlands
***[Venice,
Aug 2002 venicemag.com] ***** |
 |
~ ~ ~ ~....
A very talented client had attained enormous success as a working actress and doing voice-overs for commercials and cartoons. She also wrote and performed a cabaret act featuring songs and her own original jokes. She crashed into a wall of frustration and depression several years ago and sought to understand why she couldn't seem to break through into larger public recognition despite her driving hard work and the critical acclaim she received for her cabaret act.
We discovered her belief that, "One strives and suffers, then someone will eventually give you your big break, and with that fame comes the promised joy." It became apparent to her that she was trapped in an obvious set-up for her creativity to be linked with struggle and disappointment.
The centerpiece of our work was to break down this belief and focus her creativity on a project that gave her joy throughout the process rather than expecting the joy to come in the form of a big career break.
from article: Counseling Issues with Recognized and Unrecognized Gifted Adults by Mary Rocamora
~ ~ ~ ~
I don't just want to be an actress. For one thing, I don't want to limit myself by defining myself by my work, and even at that, actress is only one of several "names" that could be applied to my working life. I want to fill my life with verbs. I want to act. I want to write. I want to be a friend. I want to love. I want to create. I want to spend my life alternating between intense periods of doing, and intense periods of being. To act, one must live and interpret. The process is a way of life.
Caryn Shalita - from "Thoughts on Being an Actress" on her site: caryn.com
~ ~ ~ ~
 .. Do you have the courage to stand apart or the desire to fit in? Which of these questions fall under the heading of which title? Both the artist and the entertainer are subject to judgement and are reactive to psychological influences. ... from article The Artist versus the Entertainer, by janedoe |
If
I were ever successful at being a mainstream actor that simply studied,
went on auditions and played the roles for which she was cast, I doubt
I would have ever explored the realm of being a writer, director,
producer,
or filmmaker.
However I was never quite successful as a mainstream actor. I desired more than to be a part of just any old production. I have always been selective as far as what I wanted to act in and invest my time in. Even so, my ability to be discerning never took away from my desire to act. Being a writer, director, producer, and filmmaker, were all born from a simple need to act. How could I act without a script, a director, a producer, or a filmmaker? I became them to become me... so that I can merely be an actor. Janedoe***photo and quotes from her site: janedoeintegrity.com |
~ ~ ~ ~
| John
Turturro: Do you look
at acting as a job or
do you look at it as your constant companion?
Jennifer Jason Leigh: I look at it as my life. I invest almost everything I can in it. I'm happiest when I'm acting - I know that about myself. I do a lot of head stuff before I get there, but once I'm there, doing my part, it feels instinctual and it's where I'm freest. JT: Ultimately, Jennifer, do you think acting is a way for you to get at the truth - not just the truth of the characters you play - but the truth of who you are? JJL: I think there's an overlap, because if you're going for something that's honest, you have to be very honest with yourself. You're facing the truth about yourself all the time. Some of those truths you don't always welcome, because they can highlight your limitations or your inabilities. These are the stumbling blocks that you have to get past somehow. JT: That can be exciting, though........JJL: It's exciting and it's paralyzing. ............[Interview, Jan, 1996] |
 |
*related pages:.....anxiety.......intuition / instinct........the shadow self--~ ~ ~ ~
more:**acting: page 1............acting: page 3....--*acting : page 4 .......**-
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