Actors and acting thread

I've been thinking for a while to start a thread about acting- techniques and all that. If anyone has any experience or input or comments questions or concerns, id like to hear about it

 

Watch this trailer from 1:40 looking only at Bob Hoskins and ignoring the animation.
Now think of the difficulty acting this in an empty studio, remembering that the animation was added afterwards and he was acting purely from a script.
Bob told me that it was the most challenging film in his entire career.

 

I love actors and actresses.

 

Whilst commuting to and from London I used to travel on the train with several well-known actors, Lord Olivier, Dora Bryan to name but two.

 

I miss being on the stage.
I was in a dozen musicals, easily.
Way WAY off Broadway. Little Theater groups and college drama club.
Not the singer my mom was; she was a New York Metropolitan. Opera Company mezzo soprano before I was born then had a radio show when I was little (songs by Sharon, the Irish hour), but I enjoyed it.

 

I'm no singer or actor myself, but I have a passion for Opera - just love it !!!

 

I like theatre but I am guessing your in the same boat as me at the moment . Very few are happening because of the lockdown rules.

 

Yes darlin' - sort of, but just t'other side of the South downs from me is Glyndebourne Festival Opera - but it costs 'an arm and leg' to go there !!!

 

I've thought about taking an acting class just for the hell of it because it seemed like it would be fun to act. A community college not far from here offers a class. Of course, that was before the pandemic, so it will have to wait, unless there's something online.

 

I recommend it. It IS fun.
I was a "triple threat"...could act sing and dance.
In a wheelchair now so no more dancing.

 

I went to the La Jolla Playhouse acting school back in 1958. Same one as Dennis Hopper went to. There were acting, dance, and speech classes and I had to try out in front of some folks to get in, by way of a cold reading. Cost a 150 bucks to attend. I had been the lead in high school plays and thought I would try the business out. I met Rita Moreno , James Whitmore and a few others that I now forget. I lost interest, but probably wasn't good enough to make a go of it in any case. Kind of a cool experience though. But I really respect actors when they lose themselves in a demanding role and do a good , convincing job. One of my favorite , all time performances ----which was hard to believe such a beautiful woman could do so well in acting and appearance was in Monster where the serial killer, Ilene Wuornos was portrayed by Charlize Theron. Amazing performance for which she got a well deserved Oscar.

 

Aw2

Acting class was a blast.
I was just good at it a career though.
I was almost 6 feet tall so was too tall to play the lead
Usually. In:
Oklahoma! I was Ado Annie, the girl who "cain't say no"
Oliver! I got lucky there. No love scene, so my height wasn't an issue.
Annie I was Mrs Hannigan
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers I had had my double mastectomy so I played one of the brothers, Adam
Paint Your Wagon I was a boy again...played crusty old Ben (the part Lee Marvin played in the film)
On and on it goes..
But you get the idea.

 

find these 2 books if you can: ACTORS ON ACTING: THE THEORIES, TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICES OF THE GREAT ACTORS OF ALL TIMES TOLD IN THEIR OWN WORDS. 1970 New Revised Edition edited by Toby Cole and Helen K. Chinoy. 713 pages. Part 1 begins in Ancient Greece and Part 13 begins in early 19th century America and about 60 pages later begins 20th century American actors and acting.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE ACTOR by Yoti Lane (1960). 224 pages.

 

I was in a few bad movies which shall remain forever nameless. One thing that surprised me is how atrocious the acting can be on set, and how little the director cares about everyone getting it right because these days the clock ticking means money lost. And the worst failure for a director is to go over budget. That said, I was really impressed at how good editing can turn some of those atrocious acting shots into something passable. For example, say someone shouts “Get to the choppah!!” and makes a stupid face, a good editor might cut to a reaction from a more serious actor, or even a B-roll filler clip while the atrocious line is being said. Stitch it together with a good score & sound effects, and suddenly you’ve got a decent scene out of a real turd.

It’s for that reason that I rarely admire film actors as much as stage actors, or in films I look for long continuous shots of an actor delivering a powerful monologue. Those are the actors worth noticing. But if the film keeps cutting every 60 sec to a different camera, you know the actors probably sucked and the editor was working overtime!

 

Editing and the musical background is as important as any aspect of the process,IMO. Music would be an obvious one--you don't play a polka in the background of Schindlers List!! I often wonder about the amount of control directors have on the actors ----are the actors playing their parts according to what the director wants out of the actor? Is the director pretty much just along for the ride when a known, serious actor perhaps like Marlin Brando is doing the emoting? The answers to my questions could be --all sorts of combinations could apply , I suppose. One can hear of actor friendly directors, stern task master type directors, etc. Again, I suppose all shades and colors apply, as it were. All and all, movie making--- how the final results end up sure takes a hell of a lot of people to get it done properly. Most are done fairly well including all the crafts involved in putting them together, some are very, very well done and get the deserved praise and then there are the movies that are game changers and are the best that can be done ,including setting, story, music, acting, directing,and the required crafts as mentioned.

I can remember sitting in my little darkened hometown theater in the 40s as a kid , wide eyed at the huge screen displaying myriad genres of splendor to me----White hatted cowboys dispensing with the black hats, ( hidden message there?)Indians whooping and hollering, heroes, dastardly villains, wonderful comedy, the news from around the world-----it was wonderful. Sunday and Monday--two movies, a cartoon and short subject-----Tuesday and Wednesday--same thing--different movies ,cartoon and short subject----Thursday and Friday --two new movies, cartoon ,short subject and Saturday by itself. I mean how much fun could a kid have????? Never missed the changing of a program in the summer--that's how much!!! And it cost me the outrageous sum of 12 cents on any day!!

 

This reminded me of the brilliant "alternate trailer" someone did for The Shining. Definitely shows how music can make or break a film (and an actor's career)!



I soo envy your movie watching experience in real theaters. I caught the tail end as a kid in the late 80s as VHS & DVD began replacing the big screen. And nowadays I hear kids usually watch movies on their ipads. A far cry from the magical experience you described!

 

lol I would never call myself an actor, although I really wanted to be once. I was just lucky to live in a budding movie town (Atlanta) which had a lot of opportunities since it wasn't saturated with actor wannabees like NYC or LA. We had a local rag that published open casting calls (for low budget flicks) where all you had to do was show up on time and you'd get a few lines to make a fool of yourself

I've heard how tough it is for real actors to get roles in Hollywood, and it's a real shame. I think favoritism rules the job market out there, and it's impossible to crack it no matter how good you are.