Posted by Dana Kaminski on 8th February 2010 in great acting
Three Male Actors Gave Acting Performances That Were Oscar-Worthy This Year.
Yet, you won’t find them on the either the list of Best Actor Nominees, or Best Supporting Actor Nominees, on the Oscar Ballot [link].
I wrote about what was distinctively great about each of these fine actors’ performances, in movies that came out this past year.
As actors, they distinguished themselves, whether or not they made the very short Academy Award Ballot…Which only has room for 5 actors.
And, they distinguished themselves; whether or not their movie sold a lot of tickets, or whether or not enough Academy voters were able to see their performances, to vote them in.
Each one of the names, below, is a link to anOscar Preppost, on why their acting was superb…
Posted by Dana Kaminski on 30th November 2009 in great acting
Acting Sad :: Not About Crying-On-Cue, It’sAbout Authenticity Of Emotion
In my own, private, acting-stash folder, I’ve been saving these photos of well-known actors:
Willem Dafoe
Daniel Craig
Ed Harris
Forrest Whitaker
Gabriel Byrne
Michael Madsen
Paul Newman
Tim Roth
Ryan Gosling
I think these photos are an homage to the beauty of emotional truth. To real, authentic emotional acting. To these male actors’ craft. Each still photo provides, in a glimpse, the beauty that is the art of acting. The depth of great acting.
I look at them, myself, from time to time. These photos honor my craft. They remind me of why I committed myself, so passionately, so assiduously, for a very long time…to developing a masterful acting craft.
Sometimes, these photos renew my faith in the industry; when I’m feeling skeptical, or think it’s all about money, marketing, beauty, comics… These guys are well-known professional actors with longevity, and it is clearly not accidental. This special group is famous for a reason.
Posted by Dana Kaminski on 31st October 2009 in great acting
During Gabourey Sidibe’s Audition, The Acting Portion Was Utterly Convincing
She was Precious. Director Lee Daniels liked her audition, very much.
Then, she did something that surprised the heck outa him.”Hark”, he said…”She speaketh.’ [Not really...]
Lee Daniels: After The Acting Part Of The Audition Was Over…
He and she started talking. And, then Gabby Sidibe, who hadn’t had an acting job, or acting class, for that matter, ever…
Spoke completely differently than the way she spoke during her acting audition, for the lead role of Precious.
Yes, Daniels did say that…that when she started speaking normally, he knew she was an actor. That is what set her apart from the 400+ other potential Precious-es. Gabourney Sidibe, Bedford-Stuyvesant-born, candidate-number-too-high-anymore-to-count-for-the-director, and actress-who-was-never-an-actress and who-really-didn’t-want-to-go-to-the-audition-so-much; spoke almost like what he described as ‘Valley Girl’, when she was just being Gabby. Yet, as Precious, she spoke differently, and as believably, as if Precious was actually her true self.
That’s acting.
Which Is What You Will See In The Film, When You Go To See ’Precious’.
I guess that’s gonna be a big problem for Gabby. Her portrayal is so right-on; and reasonably, invisibly understated. Her acting is so deep, so pure, so real, he felt that she was a veritably castable Precious, just like the other 400+ candidates in his file drawer, as Lee Daniels explained. But, Gabby Sidibe got the job, because when she was done trying out for Precious, when she wasn’t being Precious, she was being Gabby. And Gabby was a psychology major enroute to getting a degree. She’s a well-educated, verbally expressive, differently cadenced, grown woman.
Not an abused girl, not a withholding girl, not an invisible-type personality. Gabourey Sidibe is an articulate, actualized, accomplished individual.
She is so confident, so actualized, and entrusted the director so deeply, that her performance is so withheld, quiet, and accurately understated; it’s gonna whiz right over most people’s heads. It’s so real, and so tear-wrenchingly silent, understated. Precious is buried; a child whose real-self never saw the light of day.
If you read the psychology, you know then, that that is how abuse, especially sexual abuse, is survived. Detachment.
Precious is detached from the rest of the world, by girth, by non-affect, by laconic invisibility.
There are scenes where the camera is behind her, and I almost felt that her head could just slide right down into her back and she could almost disappear into herself. Her own physicality.
Rare is an actor who could use a physicality in that way. To express a subtext. To hide. Female actors are almost always called on to use their physicality in more ways than males; ‘their look’ is often the first description on an audition breakdown. Sometimes women are cast for parts for looks, alone. By either appropriateness of physicality, and-or attractiveness, sexual appeal. Or simply cast because the actress had a type of attractiveness that appealed to the director. Or the ‘team’, of director and producers.
Gabourey Sidibe, whether intentionally or not, used her physicality in acting the part of Precious in a radical way, for Hollywood. And in an acting sense, it’s remarkably evolved. It may be because she really has not had any public attention before, so she was able to be very free with her body, and use it as an adjective. And an adverb.
Ms Sibide may not even know, because it appears that she works from instinct and trust in the director, so the grace in which she employs her body to act; even while keeping that body still, is remarkable. The freedom of the way it is used. Her body glides as an acting instrument, like a large mammal hypnotizing us with it’s balletic grace, as it glides miles swiftly through the silent water.
This actress creates Precious with her body. With an ne’er-before-seen lack of body-focus, there is no pre-engendered ball-and-chain of self-awareness, and do-you-think-I’m-sexy emanating from her pores. That creates something else, something so subtle, yet remarkably groundbreaking in an critically artistic sense. Without that, this actress was naturally freed up, which enables Precious to emanate from her pores. And this person, Precious, does. Gabourey Sidibe stands still, silent; and the life of the character emanates so strongly from her physicality, because she lets it do so. Don’t think for a second that it’s not either a remarkable gift, or something that anyone could do. Neither is it “her”. It’s not.
When asked, Gabby Sidibe answered that she could play Precious so organically, because Precious was someone “she recognized”, she knows a lot of girls like Precious.
Don’t be fooled by the ease in which this character flows from her, throughout the movie; nor by the reticence of the character. It’s far more difficult to play a quiet character, than a loud. It’s easy to invent all kinds of aspects of a character; it’s a far more fun way to act, and it’s a surer way to get attention in a scene. I know there was at least one acting legend who said “Acting Is Being”. Well, here’s your example of that.
This newcomer actor, this virgin, Gabourey Sidibe, holds her own focus and more, silently, in scenes with some of our most famous, current, American divas. Divas who are used to commanding the attention, all on their own, of audiences of many people. Audiences of many loud and raucous people.
She does it emotionally effectively, as well. The life of this character has been beaten down, and f’ed down into such a secret place; that you’d have to wonder, how does an actor play someone who, in their life, has survived by not acting. By doing nothing? By letting it just happen to her, again and again and again while still a child, it’s all she knows?
I can’t answer that. I can only tell you that the director Lee Daniels, and the actor, Gabourey Sidibe, made it work with this one, somehow, with both their conscious magic. Some unconscious stuff too, maybe some channeling.
The credit, profoundly, does belong to the both of them; and the rest of the cast, too. This kind of performance cannot come about accidentally. Lee Daniels expressed a suspicion that ‘bias’ or ‘racism’ was the reason people supposed Gabby was ’simply playing herself’. I disagreed with him. I told him that his direction was so rare and unique, in that it prioritized the “real” in the scenes, in the acting. [How gifted that is! It gifts us too!]
And that we, as an audience, and obviously our critics as well, are so inured to a certain style of acting, that most people assume that when acting is so believable; they assume, wrongfully, that it isn’t acting.
I’m not saying the acting in Precious is seamless. It’s not. It doesn’t matter. The authenticity of it’s finest moments, of the acting, in this film, are so raw and pure, their beauty is indeed precious. A rare and wonderful moviegoing experience. In Precious, there is some real acting going on. Precious, pure acting.
There are scenes where the camera is behind her, and I almost felt that her head could just slide right down into her back and she could almost disappear into herself. Her own physicality.
Rare is an actor who could use a physicality in that way. To express a subtext. To hide. Female actors are almost always called on to use their physicality in more ways than males; ‘their look’ is often the first description on an audition breakdown. Sometimes women are cast for parts for looks, alone. By either appropriateness of physicality, and-or attractiveness, sexual appeal. Or simply cast because the actress had a type of attractiveness that appealed to the director. Or the ‘team’, of director and producers.
Gabourey Sidibe, whether intentionally or not, used her physicality in acting the part of Precious in a radical way, for Hollywood. And in an acting sense, it’s remarkably evolved. It may be because she really has not had any public attention before, so she was able to be very free with her body, and use it as an adjective. And an adverb.
Ms Sibide may not even know, because it appears that she works from instinct and trust in the director, so the grace in which she employs her body to act; even while keeping that body still, is remarkable. The freedom of the way it is used. Her body glides as an acting instrument; like a large mammal hypnotizing us with it’s balletic grace, as it glides miles swiftly through the silent ocean water.
This actress creates Precious with her body. With an ne’er-before-seen lack of body-focus, there is no pre-engendered ball-and-chain of self-awareness, and do-you-think-I’m-sexy emanating from her pores. That creates something else, something so subtle, yet remarkably groundbreaking in an critically artistic sense. Without that, this actress was naturally freed up, which enables Precious to emanate from her pores. And this person, Precious, does. Gabourey Sidibe stands still, silent; and the life of the character emanates so strongly from her physicality, because she lets it do so. Don’t think for a second that it’s not either a remarkable gift, or something that anyone could do. Neither is it “her”. It’s not.
When asked, Gabby Sidibe answered that she could play Precious so organically, because Precious was someone “she recognized”, she has always “known a lot of girls like Precious”.
Don’t be fooled by the ease in which this character flows from her, throughout the movie; nor by the reticence of the character. It’s far more difficult to play a quiet character, than a loud. It’s easy to invent all kinds of aspects of a character; it’s a far more fun way to act, and it’s a surer way to get attention in a scene. I know there was at least one acting legend who said “Acting Is Being”. Well, here’s your example of that.
This newcomer actor, this virgin, Gabourey Sidibe, holds her own focus and more, silently, in scenes with some of our most famous, current, American divas. Divas who are used to commanding the attention, all on their own, of audiences of many people. Audiences of many loud and raucous people.
She does it emotionally effectively, as well. The life of this character has been beaten down, and f’ed down, into such a secret place; that you’d have to wonder, how does an actor play someone who, in their life, has survived by not acting. By doing nothing? By letting it just happen to her, again and again and again while still a child, it’s all she knows?
I can’t answer that. I can only tell you that the director Lee Daniels, and the actor, Gabourey Sidibe, made it work with this one, somehow, with both their conscious magic. Some unconscious stuff too, maybe some channeling.
The credit, profoundly, does belong to the both of them; and the rest of the cast, too. This kind of performance cannot come about accidentally. Lee Daniels expressed a suspicion that ‘bias’ or ‘racism’ was the reason people supposed Gabby was ’simply playing herself’. I disagreed with him. I told him that his direction was so rare and unique, in that it prioritized the “real” in the scenes, in the acting. [How gifted that is! It gifts us too!] That the audience cannot believe that what they are watching is anything but real.
The acting is that authentic. And that we, as an audience, and obviously our critics as well, are so inured to a certain style of acting, that most people assume that when acting is so believable; they assume, wrongfully, that it isn’t acting.
I’m not saying the acting in Precious is seamless. It’s not. It doesn’t matter. The authenticity of it’s finest moments, of the acting, in this film, are so raw and pure, their beauty is indeed precious. A rare and wonderful moviegoing experience. In Precious, there is some real acting going on. Pure, precious acting.
My best,
;~Dana
Actor Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe
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Maurice Sendak on Spike Jonze And The Movie, For Actors…
In this mini-movie, Sendak talks about director Spike Jonze, and Jonze’s film version of the author’s book, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.
(…If a playwright, screenwriter, or novelist; said that same things about an actor who played a character that they wrote, it would be the best an actor could aim for.)
:: Film :: Where the Wild Things Are ::
Here’s some excerpts, with the video below. Following that, is the HD trailer, for ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.
Maurice Sendak, on Spike Jonze:
What I’ve seen him do, He’s turned it into his without giving up mine.
But embodying mine with Spike Jonze.
And astonishing me at how it maintains it’s peculiarness, as it were.
What flows through the whole thing is such a strange feeling,
I’ve never seen a movie that looked or felt like this.
It’s his personal-ness.
He’s not afraid of himself.
He’s a real artist that lets it come through the work…
He’s touched me very much, Spike’s touched me very much
There will be controversy about this.
He’s done it,
In a more brilliant modern fantastical way.
Which takes nothing from my book.
But enhances, enriches my book.
The ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ Featurette
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ Trailer
…”Let The Wild Rumpus Begin”…
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
If you are interested in learning more about how Spike Jonze developed the movie from this classic book, I ran an interview that I found where Jonze describes his artistic views and processes. Here’s a link to that post on Hollywood Actor Prep :: Ingenious Moviemaking.
Posted by Dana Kaminski on 3rd March 2009 in great acting
Actor thinks, while onstage: “How am I doing?”
The Answer: Badly.
Word. The real job of an actor is to be the character that he is playing. I call it the “Acting Principle of Reflection”™.
It is an even exchange, I mean: an actor finds the elements within himself that work for the character, the parts of himself that
make that character truly starts being real. He connects to the work, in the moment, on an emotional level. Thus, he becomes alive.
So, then, does the audience. When a character starts to come alive like that, the audience connects with the character.
There’s not much “pretending” in great acting.
“Make pretend” is what goes on in a pre-school playground. Authentic acting is when things are alive.
I have an old friend, character actor,Irving Metzman, who always
said, “As soon as the audience notices your acting, you’re cooked.”
Meaning, if-or-when they notice the acting, the actor has just failed.
Acting shouldn’t be seen.
He also said, that an audience should never leave the theatre talking about the acting. Not even, how great the acting was. Nor “isn’t that actor so handsome…” And not this one:”Wasn’t so-and-so’s acting so good??” Instead, you want an emotional, visceral, audience reaction.
If they were able to think and observe, with an outsiders eye, then they were outside. You only want them ‘inside’. Inside your life, as
that character you are playing; feeling and going through whatever
that character is going through.
If the audience leaves the theater, at the end, saying things like, “Oh I really
wish they wound up together.” or ” I just couldn’t watch when Mickey
Rourke took his final leap off the ropes” or “That guy changed his
world!” or “I was crying at that part, and I am still so sad”. These
are expressions of their visceral involvement. Emotional involvement.
Attachment. Connection. Identifying.
Surprise: That’s when they’ll say your acting was great.
That’s the kind of experience that makes them recommend the film to
friends, to spread the word. It makes them care about the movie. Care
about the actor. It also makes actors get Oscars.
When the audience experiences your character’s experiences, as their own. they identify with the character, emotionally… In-the-moment, as the story unfolds.
It’s just not possible to do that with “acting”. Not that kind of connecting. Because somehow, the audience will sense that you aren’t “real”. Isn’t the purpose of an actor to make the character real? And, to further
the story of the play or movie, his part in the script is to complete
the story, as a whole.
Actors’ employment is called ‘getting an acting part‘.
That’s why it’s called a “part”. That’s also why you were hired.
Do you think the writer slaved over that script, bit by bit, so that the audience could be watching how real or fake your accent is? Or that you are careful how your hair
falls over your eyes? (Etc.)
As soon as you detach, the audience instinctively, reflectively, will detach too.
And then, the thinking begins…you, and then your audience, and then…your acting will be judged.
You don’t want them to be sitting there, judging your acting. Even if
they are judging it highly. (Which they probably won’t, because if they are out of the story, they won’t think it’s ‘good’ or that you’re good! Most likely.)
Simply, if you are being judged, at all; by the audience, then you are not working at the level that you are obligated to; it means that you are
not acting at the highest level you can. It means that you are not
at, or above, the necessary “set point” of making it real, making
the story come alive.
Thus, you are not “on purpose”.
The audience is never buying a ticket, because they wanted to pay to
be an acting judge, or to be a film critic. (Film critics don’t have
to pay for tickets.) They buy tickets because they want to get lost in
the story. Involved.
Please share this, but don’t worry. If you think that you are spreading golden lessons to your competition, um, you are .(*Wink*)
But, we are just getting started on this, and theory is all this is. Next few posts, you’ll realize that knowing this, and then being able to do it, are worlds apart. Sorry, but true. That’s why it’s called “great acting“.
"So many great painters, great musicians, great geniuses ended with nothing. With broken hearts in rooms with broken windows. I want to see artists sitting at the table that decide the outcome of their lives."
--Bono
©Dana Kaminski, Hollywood Actor Prep
