"Really. Does that mean you can cry on the spot?"
Some actors can, but most of them, at least the one's I know, have to at least work it up a little before it can happen.
I have heard that question, hell, I can't even count how many times.
And really it is one that has bothered me, because it always digresses into the question,
"What kind of actor are you if you can't?"
It is said in jest.
Regardless, it stings, digging into an area of misconception about what actor's do.
And for all the truth I have just written-today is the first day that I thought about it differently.
The heart of acting is simplicity. It requires the mastery of one thing: vulnerability.
The ability to fully open oneself and respond truthfully to what you hear from your fellow actors.
Vulnerability allow actors access to all their emotions; unimpeded by anything, so they can reach, explore, and share everything.
That is the craft I love and the job I do.
Many actors have problems crying on stage and screen
I am one of them
And today I wonder - what kind of actor am I if I can't access everything?
So - I'm learning to cry.
Never stop striving for your passion.
Find something everyday that helps you to grow in and become better at what you love.
"The heart of acting is simplicity. It requires the mastery of one thing: vulnerability. The ability to fully open oneself and respond truthfully to what you hear from your fellow actors. Vulnerability allow actors access to all their emotions; unimpeded by anything, so they can reach, explore, and share everything. That is the craft I love and the job I do."
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts -
Is it possible that the key is to open one's self to one's self rather than to just the offers from one's fellow actors? I'm reminded for some reason of the bug-alien guy in the first Men in Black movie. Obviously, some portion of you needs to be "Geoff in the driver's seat", keeping track of blocking, fight choreography (as needed) prop running etc. Is it possible however that in order to fully access the ability to do things like cry "on the spot", it's a matter of being vulnerable to one's self in a manner that we're essentially conditioned OUT of as we mature into adulthood in Western society? You may be reacting realistically - in socially conventional terms - to the offers you're getting from the other actors, but you may need to be vulnerable to yourself in a way that is socially "unrealistic" or "unexpected", and to make that pathway something --- regularly accessible, because by habit right now, it's likely not - in order to bring the emotional authenticity you are aiming to realize in the scene. Does that make sense?
In that segment, if you replace "acting" with "life" and "actors" with "humans" or "people" - it still makes complete sense. The art of life and the art of acting are one and the same. Imagine then, what the practice of being open to vulnerability brings to the art of life, perhaps?
Acting is reproducing what people think they see, what they want to see, not what actually happens. So everything becomes more extreme - the need to cry, death throws, etc.
ReplyDeleteAny actor would have difficulty doing something they rarely do in real life. Sword fighting, for example. It takes practice.