Case in point; one of the most difficult audition I ever had was for a Macintosh commercial. Go figure. The character I played was a father who worked out of his home. The scenario was simple, I am typing away on my computer when suddenly I hit a key that brings up a photo of my daughter. Sadly, she was recently killed in a car accident. I reflect. Not your typical upbeat commercial fair. In the initial audition we were asked to simply talk about a sentimental moment in our life. I’m a sentimental guy, no big deal there. At the end of the session the casting director asked me if I could cry on cue. Thinking of myself as a “well trained actor” I said, “Of course. Whatever you need.” I got a callback. When I arrived for the second audition a few days later I was escorted into a dimly lit room by a very solemn assistant. She told me to relax and “find my mood.” Finally, after about 45 minutes of sitting by myself, I was taken into an audition room where there were about 15 people waiting for me. The director spoke first. He asked me to have a seat about three feet in front of the camera and face the lens. I did. He then told me to imagine a computer screen right were the lens was. He said, “When I say ‘action’ I want you to type on an imaginary keyboard just below the lens. Then after 7 seconds glance up at the screen. Stare at the screen for another 7 seconds while you work and then when I cue you, and not a second before, I want you to hit a key. When you do, it brings up an image of your daughter who just passed away a few months ago.” He then said, “I want you to take 10 seconds and really contemplate the picture. Remember your daughter, all those memories. But, I don’t want sad thoughts. I want you to reflect on the happy moments. At the end of 10 seconds I’m going to cue you again with my hand and I want you to start to cry. But, wait until I cue you. When you cry we want to see a combination of happy tears and sad tears. But make sure we see about 20% more happy than sad. This commercial won’t work if you’re too sad.” He literally said that, “20% more happy than sad!” No pressure there! I wanted to say, “How many tear drops would you like on each side? I can do anywhere from one to seven?” Talk about an insane audition. As I mentioned, they had warned us beforehand that we had to be able to cry on cue, so I was ready for that part ,but little did I know I would have to do it with a specific percentage of emotions at exact predetermined intervals down to the second. Somehow, and I have no idea how, I managed to do it right on the first try. It’s one of the few times in my acting career where I really felt like an actor. I was eternally grateful for all the years of training that I had forced myself to do. The funny part of this story is that they ended up dumping the whole commercial because they realized the concept was too depressing to sell computers. Really? You think!
Admittedly, it took me years to get to the point where I was that comfortable using and manipulating my emotions. Maybe you’re the like me. When I first started acting I struggled to get any emotions at all. Every great now and then I could get a little anger going but for the most part society and my parents had effectively trained me to stifle my emotions, to bury them deep where they wouldn’t disturb anyone. When I first started acting I remember reading a book that said if you struggle with emotions and have trouble crying you should go to therapy. Being the eager-to-learn newbie that I was, I took the advice and set out to find a good therapist. Ironically, it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made but it still took me years to get comfortable crying in front of strangers and on camera.
If you’re not comfortable being emotional in front people you might have troubles being a professional actor. Not that every part is emotional but, as you may know, writers don’t write about politically correct, stable people in unemotional circumstances. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Audiences love to see ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances having to deal with extraordinary levels of stress and emotion. Thus, if you want to play the majority of parts you have to be able to go there. My roots in my training are Strasburg, Chekhov and the Method. Admittedly, because I was raised to be an unemotional person, it was a great way for me to push myself and get inspired to be an actor. I wasn’t as comfortable with emotions as I should have been and the Method forced me to embrace that part of my being. Once I got in touch with my emotional side the next logical step was to add the intellectual side of acting (for more info on that see last weeks blog).
If you’ve taken a class of mine or have been following these blogs you know that I believe in a three-part acting technique. Step One: break down the script intellectually. Know what it says, what you want, what are your obstacles, what are your stakes, what’s the situation, etc. Step Two: make the script personal to you. Get emotionally attached to the story, your character, the other characters, the situations and even the objects within the story. You have to be personally involved in everything on a deep, emotional level. Ultimately that’s what connects you and the audience to the story. Step Three: throw it all away. Now that steps one and two are done just be yourself in the scene and trust that the work will be there. The first two steps are homework, the third step is the actual acting. But, you can’t do steps two and three if your emotional instrument isn’t well trained and available. If your emotions aren’t flowing during your scene, it’s dead,. You’ve lost your audience. Great acting is all about chemistry. And great chemistry is all about being emotionally involved.
The problem with most actors is they function primarily on an intellectual level. They think about how to say each particular line, what to do with their body to express the feelings of the character or how to precisely display how their character acts and reacts. They rely on their preconceived ideas more than their instict. We can thank our high school acting classes and community theaters for that. The problem is, acting is not an intellectual art. It’s an emotional one. It is best expressed from a heart, not from the brain. Clint Eastwood said it best. He said, “Acting isn’t an intellectual art at all... it comes out of the animal part of the brain.” Or, to quote Meryl Streep, “I am interested in flying, not thinking.” Of course I’m not saying that our brain has to shut off when we act. If it did we’d be missing our marks, forgetting our lines and, frankly, we’d probably be psychotic. Great actors always know they’re still acting. There are plenty of things our mind needs to focus on when we act but if we are highly skilled actors those things become secondary and merely a part of our technique while our primary focus is on the chemistry of the moment.
I’ve been a photographer since my early teens. I was trained by my incredibly talented uncle who studied under the masters like Ansel Adams. He drilled into my head skills like proper framing, accurate focusing and precise exposure. Under his tutelage I practiced those things over and over again. Needless to say, now when I shoot I never think about framing or wonder if my exposure is correct. Those things have become instinctual and second nature. It’s like driving a car. I doubt you have to think about where the gas pedal is anymore or how to properly brake, you just do it without thinking. That’s how it should be with acting. All the intellectual work and all the emotional work should be secondary and instinctual. It shouldn’t be something you have to think about. Hopefully, you’ve practiced it to the point to where it has become automatic.
I read a great magazine article a while back on John Malkovich. The interviewer was gushing on about what a great actor he was and how he was so skilled at being emotional. And then he asked a question I’ll never forget. He asked him, “How do you cry when you have to do an emotional scene?” Malkovich answered, “I don’t know, I just cry.” The truth is John is so practiced at his craft that getting to that level of emotion isn’t something he has to think about anymore. It’s just another tool in his actor’s toolbox. And that is exactly where we all need to be if we want to be acting on John’s level
Years ago I had the privilege of seeing Michael Crawford in the original production of “Phantom of the Opera” from four rows back. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I have never been so moved by a performance in all my life. I was completely bowled over watching this master at work. If you don’t know the story, he plays a disfigured musical genius who falls in love with and trains a beautiful singer only to learn that he can never be with her. Apparently, Michael arrived three hours early before every performance in order to allow himself enough time to warm up, relax and go to that deep, emotional place where he is willing to risk everything for love and hope. As I watched him sing and act from a few feet away I felt as if my heart was literally being torn out of my chest. I saw the love and passion in his eyes turn to aguish and torment as he faced the horrible truth that he was loosing the only thing that mattered. I couldn’t help but think, that’s our worst fear; to be alone for eternity, loveless and unloved. And Michael went there, night after night. And, he took me with him. He let himself love more than imaginable so he could be destroyed more then imaginable. I sobbed for days after that performance. It changed me unlike no other performance I had ever seen. I vowed to find love and embrace it as deeply as he did even if it meant loosing it as tragically as he did. Had Michael not been willing (and able) to go there I would never have been affected the way I was.
Do yourself a favor, study the great actors at work. Watch how effortlessly they access their emotions and yet stay completely focused on the chemistry and tasks at hand. Ask yourself, can I do that? Can I hit my marks, say my lines, connect to the other actors as flawlessly as they do while hitting all those deepest of emotions? Here’s a little homework, check out some of the movies below and just watch the acting. Put yourself in their place. If you don’t think you can act on that level... then get to work. It takes a lot of practice to master your emotions like these guys.
Here’s a sample of a variety of my favorites:
Robert DeNiro in “Raging Bull”
Meryl Streep in “Sophie’s Choice”
Ellen Burstyn in “Requiem for a Dream”
Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon”
Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”
Gena Rowlands in “A Woman Under the Influence”
Brad Davis in’ Midnight Express”
John Hurt in “The Elephant Man”
Maria Falconetti in “The Passion of Joan of Arc”
Sean Penn in “Mystic River”
Marlon Brando in “Last Tango in Paris”
Charlise Theron in “Monster”
Ryan Gosling in “Blue Valentine”
Aleksey Kravchenko in “Come and See”
Gary Oldman in “Sid and Nancy”
Sissy Spacek in “Carrie”
James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause”
Klaus Kinski in “Aguirre: The Wrath of God”
Bjork in “Dancer In The Dark”
Min-sik Choi in “Oldboy”
Jon Voight in “Coming Home”
Bruce Dern in “Coming Home”
Michelle Yeoh in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
Jim Caviezel in “The Passion of the Christ”
Martin Sheen in “Apocalypse Now”
Monica Bellucci in “Irreversible” (if you can stomach an ultra-vilent film)
Samuel L. Jackson in “School Daze”
Jane Fonda in “They Shoot Horses, Don't They?”
Anthony Hopkins in “Shadowlands”
Roberto Benigni in “Life Is Beautiful”
Anna Magnani in “The Rose Tattoo”
River Phoenix in “Running on Empty”
Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Emma Thompson in “Sense and Sensibility”
Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”
Hilary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby”
Lamberto Maggiorani in “Bicycle Theives”
Timothy Hutton in “Ordinary People”
Chishû Ryû in “Tokyo Story”
Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in “Leon: The Professional”
And, every single actor in “Schindler's List” and “The Deer Hunter.”
Mark Atteberry is an award winning actor, teacher and photographer. As an actor his work includes features like Miranda July’s "The Future” and Ang Lee’s "The Hulk.” His recent TV work includes “Luck,” "House M.D.," “Justified,” "The Closer," “The Mentalist,” "Dexter," “Criminal Minds,” and "24." Mark is internationally known for his advertising, documentary and headshot photography. His clients include NBC, CBS, A&E, Bravo, CAA, ICM, WME, and Big Lots. Mark regularly teaches and lectures on the topics of "Branding, Marketing and Type" and "How to Succeed in the Entertainment Industry." He has authored or co-authored several books on the subject including the best selling, "Working Actor's Guide to LA." For more of Mark’s acting credits go to: www.imdb.com/name/nm0040992. For Mark’s headshot photography go to: www.idyllicphotography.com. And, for Mark’s classes go to: www.beaworkingactor.com
