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Conclusion

How It Happens

Let’s say that you are a teenager who has auditioned for a part in a movie. You meet with the casting director. He likes your reading and calls you back. On your second callback, you meet the producer. A day later you have another callback for the director. The next day you have a fourth callback, and you see some of the competition. Several are actors you recognize. Your first thought is, “How am I going to get cast for the part over these guys?” On this, the final callback, you read with a real veteran, the star. The audition happens so fast you are in and out before you know it. On the way home you go over the interview in your mind, what you shoulda, woulda, coulda done but didn’t. You get angry with yourself because you know you could have been better. This was your big chance. Your agent will probably never speak to you again. You might as well pack up and go back to Detroit. You are hyper, waiting to hear something, anything. You check your answering service seventeen times hoping, but nothing. After a week you assume you didn’t get the part.

A month later you get a call from your agent to tell you that you got the part. They want you in Camden, New Jersey, by tomorrow morning. You find the script and fly from Burbank to Camden. You try to study the script on the plane, but you fall asleep. You check into your hotel room and you barely doze off when your phone rings. The PA picks you up and drives you to the set. This is a big-budget movie, and everything is happening much too fast. The second AD gives you your sides. Your scene is less than a page of dialogue. As you read it you realize, “Wait, this is my big scene with the star.” The second says, “The director always starts with the hard stuff.” “But this is my first major film.” The second answers, “Hey, lighten up. Don’t worry, they’re pros.”

The Second escorts you into makeup and wardrobe and then to the set. The director is working intently with the director of photography setting up the shot. The star turns to you: “Hey, congratulations.” You smile because you don’t know what to say. The director approaches and asks, “Are you ready?” You tell him that you just got the call yesterday and didn’t have time to work on the script. The star says, “That’s the way it always is. You’re memorized, right?” You answer, “Yes.” The star smiles. “Then we’re ready.”

Remember the Jimmy Cagney precept of working on film? “Don’t bump into the furniture, hit your mark, look them in the eye, and say your lines.” This is what every good actor does. When you look another human being in the eye you are forced to relate. Rehearsals for performance happen during the shoot.

To make a creative edit of the film, the film editor needs repetitions of action in a multiple selection of shots and camera angles. The director will know when your experience is truthful. Trust the star; he’s a pro. He’ll guide you through. No matter how many times you repeat a scene, you never know what this star will experience next. So pay attention to him and look for the five emotions. Is he sad, happy, fearful, loving, or angry? Relating to the other actor puts you in a creative place.

The director decides to cover you first. “This scene,” he says, “it happens before the Supreme Court pronounces its sentence on the star, who you know is in jail for a murder he didn’t commit.” The director senses that you’re a bit edgy, and in a calm voice says, “We’re going to start off with the scene with you sitting on the stool talking with the star. Just talk to him. You’re a talented actor, I trust you. Just talk to him. He’s your best friend.”

The jail environment of the prison set helps you accept the fact that the star is imprisoned. The AD says, “Roll sound.” You get a shot of adrenaline. You look at the star, who is very loving, and this calms you down immediately.

The material reads simply enough, but are you skilled enough to get the maximum emotional mileage out of the scene? Now let’s see how the pros do it.

The above is an imaginative and hypothetical description of what might have taken place. The scene, of course, is from the film, The Hurricane, the director is the very talented Norman Jewison, and the star is Denzel Washington, one of the most talented actors in the business today. The teenager is played by Vicellous Reon Shannon, who has been working since he was ten years old and has nineteen notable TV appearances. After you see the scene, you know why he beat out the competition. You can learn by watching the movie and studying these actors. Following is how they actually did the scene.

Denzel Washington and Vicellous Reon Shannon are brilliant. Both actors concentrate on the other actor’s emotions. Washington and Shannon both express love for each other. Shannon is saddened by Washington’s plight and cries. The Art of Not Knowing happens when Shannon cries; and when Washington responds to Shannon, he covers his own pain with a spontaneous laugh when Shannon says “I’m gonna bust you out of here.” They are Giving and Receiving when Washington reaches through the bars and wipes Shannon’s tears, a courageous move. They share intimacy when Shannon fearlessly responds by receiving and kissing Washington’s hand. The bars that separate them add to the realism and create physical conflict. Both actors accept the circumstance, a heightened stake to a life or death. Their acting raises this scene from mediocre drama to an extraordinary piece of work. The actors are not consciously aware that they are practicing the Five Arts of Film Acting. But they are. Again, view the scene in the movie.

The five arts in a single scene. For an honest, unexpected performance, make the other actor more important than what you personally think, and respond to what you see and hear.

The above might not be the exact circumstances under which this scene was actually cast and shot, but it often happens this way.

Summary

Have fun. Enjoy acting. Never complain about the work. You are working and thousands aren’t. Appreciate everyone who works in this business. The guy giving tours at Universal might someday turn out to be the most powerful agent in Hollywood. Be kind to everyone.