Seamless Art

This week I watched a few movies starring great actors, Daniel Day Lewis and Johnny Depp.  
Regardless of your opinion of these two people, they are recognized by the majority, as people who define the craft of acting.  

What amazed me while I watched these films is how seamless it all felt.  I am not sure that is the best word for it, but it is the one that I use and it is the one that came to my mind while I watched. What I mean by seamless, is that there never appeared to be a struggle or a glitch, there was no point when I thought "ahh that is where the actor had to work at that piece".  The character in the end had no seams in them. The analogy is that actors put on a costume called character and I was unable to see the seams of the costume and thus was drawn in enough to view the actor as that character.  When I sat back to reflect on this fact I was struck with the idea that it all seems so easy; this acting thing. From there I was taken to a point in my past and a discussion that came up.

Friend:  "Acting is easy, any one can do it. Just get up, memorize some lines and say them in front of people."
Me:  "Yes, anyone can act, but it takes a special person, an artist to do it well and make a living at it."

The argument I put forth is simple.  Everyone can act and everyone has.  If you take the time to watch children at play you will see what I mean. When kids play, they play for keeps.  They will tell you the rules of the game, they will set the scenario, they will give you your role and then they will go there.  I really mean go there. A child will dive in, head first and come to a state where they truly believe and buy into the role they are playing.  Anyone who breaks that reality and does not play to the fullest, well they get thrown out. Kids get mad at each other for not playing good enough, for breaking the reality, for not fulfilling their role and fights ensue.  This is the reality of childhood and it is the foundation for great acting.  We go all the way in, and everybody who is with us on stage or screen has to do the same or there is no show.

Now somewhere along the line kids loose this ability to play so deeply.  Not everyone, but many.  A mother chides them for not growing up and playing too much, a friend laughs at them or picks on them, a teacher says that it is not a good idea...so many reasons.  When these reasons start to sink in then the walls go up and the fear of diving in and being chastised, ridiculed, picked on, singled out, etc. takes over and the play weakens.  This is now one less actor in the world.

Those of us who choose acting, step into the ridicule every day, we face the thoughts and memories of people who have given us a version of "no" and we work really hard to find the ability to dive in head first without hesitation to believe everything that is laid out in a script for us to play with.  We have a million different methods to do this, and each of us finds our own keys, we do our homework if you will and we entertain you.  For those out there that are viewed as the greats, they are special individuals who open that deepest box (or maybe they were lucky and never had there vision tainted, it does happen occasionally) and go all the way, beyond what others who are good can do.  These are the actors who to me appear seamless, that they are so far in, I cannot see the stitches where the costume attach to the actor.  What amazes me more than anything is how easy it all looks when we watch but how much work I know went into getting there.

Something to strive for definitely.