Carey Mulligan: Currently An Oscar© Best Actress Nominee.
So young, so very talented. One of the two actor newcomers who shouldered a film, almost entirely, by themselves this year. The other, also an Oscar nominee, Gabourey Sidibe.
They both possess acting skills that blow most actors, twice and three times their ages, out of the ballpark.
I’m still ga-ga-ed. I am. No fooling. The more you really believe that a character in a film is really living and breathing what is happening on screen, the better the actor is, at acting. When you don’t see them ’act’, then what they are doing, onscreen or onstage, is actually good acting. When you can see the acting, the actor isn’t performing well. When you can’t ‘see’ them acting, and you only see the character, then it is fine acting. You are seeing something great, then. You are seeing art.
Truly great acting isn’t easy. The easier it appears, the harder it is to do.
It’s easy to lie, onstage. It’s almost impossible for most people, onstage, to tell the truth. To be authentic, to experience true emotion. Hell, it’s almost impossible for many people to experience emotion, fully and outright, in their daily lives. To easily express it.
I know what kind of depth, craft, and artistic awareness that it takes to turn the work that these two actresses turned out, takes. It’s so beautiful for me to watch them. The work of these two young women made me sit up and stop complaining about how the art form of acting is getting lost.
Really. If you haven’t seen both Precious and An Education , please do. Maybe watch them twice, if you can take it. One time, to get lost in the emotional experience of each film. And so you can get lost inside the characters that these two actresses so masterfully created.
I only suggest to see these movies a second time, to watch and see if you can see them do it. Do what they do. It’s really something, when you look at how real they are. How they are able to be those people they play.
If you can take it. I say that again, because I don’t know if I could do a second time…both these films hit deep into the emotions; Precious especially, packs a punch.
Here’s video of Carey Mulligan talking about an aspect of acting that isn’t commonly shared.
What are the specifically different working experiences; when playing a lead, and playing a supporting role? Some of this stuff surprised me, and it made sense.
I’ve never carried a film. I’ve never been the main lead of a television show, even though it said so in the credits. I was credited as a star of the show, but I really supported the real lead actor of the show, who really was a star. A household name kind of star.
Like most professional actors; in my past I had enough smaller roles to know what it’s like. I know that pressure. I know what she’s talking about, when she defines it. When an actor has only two days of work, one day of work, even a week of work; if it’s a small fraction of time of the entire shoot, as an actor, you feel that extra pressure. You only have a certain amount of time, and it’s ticking. Anyway, there’s never an abundance of time, on a film set; and there’s a get-in-hit-it-and-get-out mentality to supporting roles. They don’t want to spend a lot on your salary, and they don’t want to use up a lot of film.
Supporting roles, too, are named that because they are. Supporting actors support the stories of the lead actors. They support the acting of the lead actors. There’s that pressure too. Sometimes, it’s a give and take between the supporting actor and the lead. Sometimes it’s not.
This is why I urge all actors, young and old, beginner and even the very experienced, to keep on working on their acting craft. For me to tell the inexperienced how badly they need serious skills, and very reliable skills, is not nearly as descriptive as it should be. Because whatever your skills are, no matter how great, as a supporting actor you will only get a fraction of that on that film. You better hope that you know how to leave your best piece there.
Because film lives forever.
Supporting player also means that the actor that the audience is focused on, is not you.
It shouldn’t be you. Your job is to play your part so real that your character is woven into the story, a part of the story. (That’s why it’s called an acting part.) If you are bad, you will stick out. Ruin the story. And your own career. You won’t be supporting the other actor, either.
If you are good, then you aren’t trying to be great. You aren’t performing out the wazoo, in other words. You are authentically real.
Most producers and directors are satisfied when a supporting player does that a supportive to the script and lead actor kind of job. That’s a professional actor. That means they breathe a sigh of relief because they hired the right actor for the job. They won’t have to fire you. The more authentic you are, the more you make sure you contribute to the story, that you weave yourself into the cast and the script; the more they will hire you for other parts.
And here’s a real secret and it’s a real paradox. It’s also against human nature. As actors, and people, we want to shine. We want to stick out. Naturally, that’s how we rationalize that we will advance.
Well, get this funky contradiction, the less you think about getting noticed, the better an actor you will be. The more you focus on blending in, the more respect as an actor you will get. The more real you are as an actor, without putting on a lot of attention getting stuff; the more professional and better actor you is how you will be perceived, and regarded.
For the professional actor with a strong craft, he or she is busy focusing on their craft and the role. Preparing for what is needed to do the scene, authentically.
When Carey Mulligan talks about being supported, as a lead actor…
She means support from the entire film crew. Especially, from the director and producers. The film’s success is dependent upon the lead actors. No amount of technical innovation or even great script can survive with terrible lead acting. The opposite is also true, on both sides: Great acting can make even bad tech and sorry scripts seem worthwhile.
It means she got to try different scenes different ways, that she was able to discuss her acting choices with the director, if she wanted. She got lighting tests to make sure she was lit to her best advantage. She had hair-and-makeup people just out of camera range to make sure that her hair matched exactly as it was in the last shot, etc. She had doubles of costumes, in case anything got spilled on hers. Most of all, she had the time and space to act. To relax into her character, and to have prep time, and time to do it well.
And if she didn’t do it as well as she knew she could have, she had another day to best it. Most actors never have that experience. Even those that work, a lot.
Underneath the video where Carey Mulligan talks about her acting experiences, I posted the new Wall Street trailer. It’s Carey Mulligan’s first acting role in an American film; and Academy Award Best Actress Nominee or not, it’s how she got a SAG card. She didn’t even have a one when she got so much notice, as an actor, for An Education; it’s a British film…and, at the very bottom of this post, is the trailer for An Education.
Here is a link to Oscar Prep, which is my Awards Season Blog. I posted a video from Newsweek, where the two young actresses I mention in this post, do a little more talking about acting, and their experiences.
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:~Dana
Thank you for sharing this, Dana! So insightful and true.