HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

For Some Actors, It Seems Like Bad News, But It’s Actually Good.

If there are not shortcuts, and there is no such thing as being ‘discovered’…

Then you have to be a good actor to succeed.

The good news about that is that professional acting is about great acting. A great actor has a kind of insurance.

The really great good news is that each and every actor who really expands and grows, as an actor, expands and grows throughout their life.

And a career such as professional acting with its unreliable reputation, can ebb and flow, but one thing profound thing does not change.

No matter what happens, for the actor that honors and has developed a craft; no one can take that away. Nothing can.

At the end of the day, it’s a mighty valuable thing to possess. (That’s something that you’ll just have to take my word for, perhaps.)

Don’t trust this entirely?

Well, good. You shouldn’t.

Yes, there are other ways, other reasons that actors get hired. Even acquire acting careers.

But none of them are reliable methods to become a professional actor, nor to survive, once you do. They’re based on chance. Who would try to achieve the important goal of their life, by leaving it up to chance?

But, if at an actor has great talent, great abilities; then the irregularities and unpredictability of the business become secondary.

Trailer for Iron Man 2 With Mickey Rourke

Iron Man 2 Poster with Mickey Rourke, courtesy and copywright ©Paramount Pictures.

Best,

Dana

Please remember to share this. Thank  you.

 

When Sean Penn Accepted His Best Actor Oscar, He Transformed Before Our Very Eyes…   

He went from Bad-Boy-Sean 

…To a wise, seasoned, actor-statesman.  

(And I do like both those Seans; and all that magnificent talent and sensitivity, in between.)

Yes, he gave a dignified thanks to the Academy Members, and to the public. He even began with by alluding to his bad reputation.

“I want to make it very clear that I  do know how hard I make it for you to appreciate me–often.”

As he went on, he managed to include everything. Everything pertinent. Everything that actors are aware of, and need to know in order to play any character.  The things that most people don’t notice, or pay any mind to, or dare speak of, even though they may be thinking about it, consciously. Or may be acting on it, unconsciously.

He mentioned it all; and he did it gracefully, and so decently. With aplomb. A comfortable stance; that was both regal, and, at the same time, was ‘everyman’.

He spoke of the message of gay rights, human rights, which fueled Harvey Milk’s adult life, and ultimately, brought death.  That same theme steered the movie ‘Milk’, and, judging by Penn’s acceptance speech; it was the same message, and his passion for it, that made him choose this role, and guided his performance.  It seemed to dominate  his speech,  when he accepted his Oscar.  It was this part that got the strong reaction from the crowd.

To be a great actor, you need to have what is called “a strong inner life”.  Sean Penn didn’t raise his voice, or change his tone, but it was clear how passionately he felt about the theme of ‘Milk’, and what described as “equal rights for everyone”.

Most people have a false stereotype about actors. They think all that actors do is think and talk about themselves.

What I noticed about Sean Penn’s Oscar speech, is that he barely spoke about himself, at all. Not ever.

And, maybe you needed to be an actor, to really hear the importance of the other stuff, as well.  To recognize that which he felt important, to mention.

He talked about directors, and of Gus Van Sant…

“And particularly, as all us actors know, our director either has the patience, talent and restraint,  to grant us a voice, or they don’t.  And it goes from the beginning: the meeting through the cutting room.

 

I’m very very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man as president, and a country, for all its toughness, that creates courageous artists; and this is in great due respect to all the nominees.

 

… Courageous artists who, despite a sensitivity that sometimes has brought enormous challenge, Mickey Rourke rises again, and he is my brother.”

 

Actors are brethren, we are different.  We honor you, Sean.  We honor you too, Mickey. We support you, and we, too, are proud.

Here’s the acting category winners, from the Independent Spirit Awards. First.

Then, I’ll  post the rest of the winners, followed by a list of all the nominees. And some photos.  All in this one Hollywood Actor Prep post.

Best lead (male actor) : Mickey Rourke, ‘Wrestler.’

Best Lead (female actor) : Melissa Leo, ‘Frozen River.’

Best Supporting (male actor): James Franco, ‘Milk.’

Best Supporting (female actor): Penelope Cruz, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’

'Best Supporting' Penelope Cruz

 

 

 

The following are the winners, from the non-acting categories:

Best Picture: The Wrestler

Best Director:  Thomas McCarthy The Visitor

Best Screenplay: Woody Allen Vicky Christina Barcelona

Best First Screenplay: ‘Milk’ Dustin Lance Black

Best Cinematography: ‘The Wrestler’  Maryse Alberti

Best First Feature: ‘Synecdoche NY’  Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Anthony Bregman, Sidney Kimmel

Best Foreign Film: ‘Entre Les Murs’   Laurent Cantet  (France)

Best Documentary: ‘Man On A Wire’  James Marsh

John Cassavetes Award: ‘In Search Of A Midnight Kiss’  

Truer Than Fiction Award:  ’The Order Of Myths’  

Someone To Watch Award: Lynn Shelton  ’My Effortless Brilliance’

Producers Award: Heather Rae  ’Frozen River’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the full list of the 2009 Independent Spirit Nominees.

Best Feature

“Ballast”
Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh

“Frozen River”
Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae

“Rachel Getting Married”
Producers: Neda Armian, Jonathan Demme, Marc Platt

“Wendy and Lucy”
Producers: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani

“The Wrestler”
Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

 

Best Director

Ramin Bahrani, “Chop Shop”

Jonathan Demme, “Rachel Getting Married”

Lance Hammer, “Ballast”

Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”

Thomas McCarthy, “The Visitor”

Best First Feature

“Afterschool”
Director: Antonio Campos
Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond

“Medicine for Melancholy”
Director: Barry Jenkins
Producer: Justin Barber

“Sangre de Mi Sangre”
Director: Christopher Zalla
Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell

“Sleep Dealer”
Director: Alex Rivera
Producer: Anthony Bregman

“Synecdoche, New York”
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel

John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

“In Search of a Midnight Kiss”
Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge
Producers: Seth Caplan and Scoot McNairy

“Prince of Broadway”
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean
Producer: Darren Dean

“The Signal”
Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Producers: Jacob Gentry and Alexander Motiagh

“Take Out”
Writer/Directors/Producers: Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou

“Turn the River”
Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman
Producer: Ami Armstrong

Best First Screenplay

Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”

Lance Hammer, “Ballast”

Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”

Jonathan Levine, “The Wackness”

Jenny Lumet, “Rachel Getting Married”

Best Screenplay

Woody Allen, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, “Sugar”

Charlie Kaufman, “Synecdoche, New York”

Howard A. Rodman, “Savage Grace”

Christopher Zalla, “Sangre de Mi Sangre”

Best Female Lead

Summer Bishil, “Towelhead”

Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”

Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”

Tarra Riggs, “Ballast”

Michelle Williams, “Wendy and Lucy”

Best Male Lead

Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”

Sean Penn, “Milk”

Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

Best Supporting Female

Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”

Rosie Perez, “The Take”

Misty Upham, “Frozen River”

Debra Winger, “Rachel Getting Married”

Best Supporting Male

James Franco, “Milk”

Anthony Mackie, “The Hurt Locker”

Charlie McDermott, “Frozen River”

JimMyron Ross, “Ballast”

Haaz Sleiman, “The Visitor”

Best Cinematography

Maryse Alberti, “The Wrestler”

Lol Crowley, “Ballast”

James Laxton, “Medicine for Melancholy”

Harris Savides, “Milk”

Michael Simmonds, “Chop Shop”

Best Documentary

“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
Director: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

“Encounters at the End of the World”
Director: Werner Herzog

“Man on Wire”
Director: James Marsh

“The Order of Myths”
Director: Margaret Brown

“Up the Yangtze”
Director: Yang Chung

Best Foreign Film

“The Class” (France)
Director: Laurent Cantet

“Gomorrah” (Italy)
Director: Matteo Garrone

“Hunger” (UK/Ireland)
Director: Steve McQueen

“Secret of the Grain” (France)
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

“Silent Light” (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany)
Director: Carlos Reygadas

Robert Altman Award (Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)

“Synecdoche, New York”
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Someone to Watch Award

Barry Jenkins, “Medicine for Melancholy”

Nina Paley, “Sita Sings the Blues”

Lynn Shelton, “My Effortless Brilliance”

Truer Than Fiction Award

Margaret Brown, “The Order of Myths”

Sacha Gervasi, “Anvil! The Story of Anvil”

Darius Marder, “Loot”

Producers Award

Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, “Treeless Mountain” and “I’ll Come Running”

Jason Orans, “Goodbye Solo” and “Year of the Fish”

Heather Rae, “Frozen River” and “Ibid”

 

The Stanislavsky Method, The Technique At The Actors Studio, Strasberg, etc.

I know that there is a lot of fun made of those who are “Method Actors”. 

You’ll hear about the “mumbling” of Marlon Brando, the “not looking at the other character” of Al Pacino, you’ll even hear stuff about James Dean’s behavior.   I remember there was lots written on actor Sean Penn, way back before anyone knew much else about him (or how good he was!) when he was that stoner character in “Fast Times At Ridgemont High”.  On set, at all times, he stayed in character, and didn’t answer anyone who didn’t call him by his character name, in the movie.

It sounded silly to me, at the time.  For that character, especially for that type of film.   (Well, baby, look at him now.) 

You don’t hear much about different acting techniques, anymore.  

Times are different. Publicly, we are more celebrity-focused, than artistry-interested.

The most well-known acting teachers have passed on, so much about technique and what actors use, has gone ‘underground’.

Even Robert Downey Jr. describes his Oscar nominated role (for “Best Supporting Actor”) as a “narcissistic Method actor”.

Since that Downey role was in a Ben Stiller movie, and Ben Stiller was in my acting class, as taught by Actors Studio well-known:  Sharon Chatten…(as was Amy Stiller, Vince D’onofrio, Cecilia Peck, Adrian Pasdar, and those who are not coming to me immediately…but were very talented and whose work was superb…)  …I know that he was very serious about his acting technique, as we all were; that’s why we all found Sharon, and those classes.  (He was the one who recommended her classes, and took me as an observer, originally.)

I know that Ben Stiller studied hard, working at learning the Stanislavsky Method.  Well before he got into doing comedy, or even creating his own stuff.

Now, in his writing, ‘nothing is sacred’. Especially not himself; and not the groups or communities that he is a part of, or born into.   His comedic style is defined by irreverence, and most often, his subject matter that gets “knocked” is within his own experiential realm.  (Note, please, the Jewish Producer, as played by Tom Cruise.  Um, Ben is Jewish.)

Why am I focusing on Method Acting now?

Why did I put up my post about how I am a Method Actor, and how I trained?

Because I am writing for lots of novice actors,  seeking information on how to get ahead, as a professional actor.

Having a good solid, able acting technique is ’square one’ for all actors who wish to become professional.

…You wouldn’t go to a dentist who got an office, a nurse and a receptionist; hung a shingle, and took started filling cavities…who hadn’t trained for dentistry, at a school..(Not even if you believed  him, that he was born-to-be-a-dentist, and even ‘looked like’ a dentist.)

A dentist who wears the outfit, and holds a dental drill, only hurts other people, if he didn’t go to the right school (or any dental school) first…

Actors, who don’t train with a strong solid technique, only hurt themselves.  Unless an actor looks like Brad Pitt, and even if you do! …You need good strong training, first priority.

I saw a video where Brad Pitt said that his early acting heroes were Mickey Rourke, and Sean Penn…

(I put it on my site called “Hollywood Oscar Prep”– http://oscarprep.com.)

They are both nominated for “Best Actor” this year, 2009, for an Academy Award.

Sean Penn already won a SAG award, this year.

Mickey Rourke already won a Golden Globe.

They both have won countless other awards this year, but most importantly…currently, they are two of our finest actors. They have a long history of incredible film work.  Incredible, mindblowing work.

Mickey Rourke, and Sean Penn, are Method Actors.

Here’s a short video, where Mickey Rourke talks about the public perception, and reality of, Method Acting…As well as his own early acting training…

*Hat tip to Newsweek’s Oscar Roundtable, and to The Hollywood Reporter, for the video…

 

Keep your faith in yourself,

;Dana

 

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Casting Director Radar

Listen, whether a Casting Director will admit it or not, their top priority…Radar Level #A …Is not whether or not you are right for a role.

It’s not even whether-or-not you can act.

Nope.

What is it?  

Well, I’ll let you conclude,  after I lay out a couple of things.

 

Making Movies, For Example

Let’s say there’s a movie that you want to act in.

Let’s say that you get the part, and your part shoots in some outdoor setting. (I’m using a exterior shoot as example, but all types of shoots have the similar needs.)

That means, that the sunlight is something that the scheduling, of the entire cast and crew have to work around.  In order to do that, most likely, the crew will be instructed, that day(s), before dawn, to do set-up.

The actors who are written into that scene, in the script, will have to be on set earlier than sun-up, most likely.

That’s so they can get into their trailer / dressing room; get into wardrobe; get into hair-and-makeup….

And so they can have breakfast while all that is going on (***SAG Contract Rules RULE!***)

And all the while, the crew is setting up all the tech stuff needed to shoot a film:

• The electricity
• The lights 
• The camera
• The film
• The set the props etc.

The Film Scene Begins To Shoot, Just About….

…When the sun comes up… Dependent, of course, if all  conditions are right.

 

Let’s Focus Back On You, The Actor.

Let’s say your entire part requires that you have two days of work scheduled, only.

Both of those days are to be filmed at the same location, the same exterior.

Than means, that you have a lot of work to do.  Other work, I mean, besides the on-set acting.

 

 

What would that other work be, that an actor needs to do?

Here’s just some, and these are “expected”.  That means, that every casting director believes that the agent, who sent  you in for the audition, sends only actors that have already trained under a credible and solid acting coach or teacher, that you have a good reliable skill set, and that you can deliver a righteously great, or even adequate performance that will look convincing enough, in the movie, for your two-day, supporting, role.

However, unless you have a substantial acting reputation, there is much that a casting director does not know… that they cannot know, unless you show them, in some way.

Casting Directors Have To Have A Lot Of Faith

(And some incredible ‘radar’, of course)

Because, except for your trumped-up acting resume (that he or she assumes is trumped-up because this is Hollywood…) 

… A Casting Director has no way of being sure that you will do the following:

• Learn Your Lines, Well in advance, and thoroughly
• Have a workable alarm clock, and enough time-organization skills to assume enough driving time and even allow for potential traffic problems
• Have a good car and enough gas, sense of direction, etc that will get you to the Exterior Location
• Get there in one piece
• Get there on time
• Get there sane
• Get there emotionally ready to work…and more…

Note: I haven’t mentioned anything about acting ability.

That’s intentional.

Because not only the casting directors; but the director, the producer, and everyone else there doesn’t want to think about it, but there is a big fear that floats above every project, everywhere, no matter what….When there are more than one person involved.

There is a dependency on that other person.

 

Hiring any actor is always a gamble.

For a major movie, it’s a millions-of-dollars-on-the-line gamble.  

Each shooting day can cost more money than you probably have made in your lifetime, so far.

If you, the actor, stayed out until 5 AM the night (before) or even two days before…

If you don’t take care of your car so it broke down enroute to the set…

If you are a drama queen and just broke up with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or both…

Or even if your alarm clock suddenly breaks during the night before the shoot, so you oversleep

Well, you then not only screwed your own reputation, 

But you screwed EVERYONE involved with the production.

You screw them out of loads and loads of money…

You screw them out of time to do a film, which there never seems to be enough of, technically, anyway

You keep many, many people that have shown up at work, waiting and unable to work

And, you piss them off, big big time.

 

And you make the casting director look like excrement.

Why?

Because… it is the Casting Director’s job to pick the right actors. 

The most dependable actors.

So then, what is Casting-Director-Radar-Priority #A?

 

‘From The Moment An Actor Enters The Room’…

What a Casting Director (and Director, Producer, Writer…) looks for, from the moment an actor walks in, and throughout the entire audition…

 I do believe they use all their senses, and instincts…and experience…and radar… from the git-go, 

…To assess and make sure,

… If they are considering you for the part…

 

…Is That You Can Be Absolutely Depended Upon To Absolutely Show Up.

 

Do you think it’s okay to be a foonk-up?  (As an actor, I mean…other people are not my business.)

In your professional reputation; or during an audition… in any way, shape, form, hint, red-eye, etc?

LIsten,  your personal life is not my business.  (You’ll notice that there is no gossip at Hollywood Actor Prep.)

Actually, none of it is my business.  None of your problems or your personal life, or even your lack-of-professionalism, it’s not my business.

It’s yours.

As an Actor, Your Professionalism Is Your Business

And if you don’t “take care of your business”; especially in that area, then you won’t work as an actor.

 

 

Here’s Mickey Rourke, discussing his own lessons learned, about professionalism, in acting….from  January 27,2009–On the Larry King Show.

 

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Best,
;-Dana

Have you seen Mickey Rourke acting in ‘The Wrestler’ yet?

Are you familiar with the rest of his film acting resume??

If you don’t know his name, it may be because he was ‘outa the game’ for awhile. But…when he was ‘in it‘, he floored everybody. Came out of nowhere, into the spotlight with two little movie scenes; and then consistently gave the rawest, yet right on, performances.

This year, for “The Wrestler“, his acting performance may get the “Best Actor” Academy Award.

I hope so. (If you’ve been following this Hollywood Actor Prep Blog, then you know I respect Mickey Rourke, as an actor. I think he is an fine film actor, with consistent depth.)

His acting ability, talent, and skills, are rare…  Authentic, to the highest degree.

Here is an older interview with Rourke, where he discusses some film-acting experiences; in each, of the earlier films he was in.

Other things Mickey Rourke candidly discusses are:

•  
  • How he got his first movie role
    
  • Auditioning and getting into the Actors Studio
  • Performing at the Actors Studio in front of Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel (with little prior experience!)
    
  • Working with Francis Ford Coppola, on a movie with no script (!) called “Rumblefish” where he created the mythical character “Motorcycle Boy”
    
  • Creating a film script, by improvisation (!) while being assisted, musically, by Stuart Copeland of ‘The Police’.
    
  • The directors on his acting resume who “pushed him to the limit” and who he wound up respecting…
    
  • Which directors were perfectionists, and why he liked that; which directors were unlikable, and what it was that made them that way
    
  • And which ones had unusual ways of motivating the actors…

All of the actors, the directors, that you hear about here… are probably familiar names to you.
You probably, also,  heard of most of the movies that he talks about; because many well-known films reside on Mickey Rourke’s acting resume.

Enjoy!

 

If you would like to view film scenes from some of these movies that Mickey Rourke mentions here, you can find them at this post on the Hollywood Actor Prep Blog.  (‘Time For The Acting Of Mickey Rourke’)

 

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Best,

;Dana

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(All rights reserved by Dana Kaminski…no kidding.)

Academy Awards, In February: 

Mickey Rourke has not acted, in the limelight, for a long time. Now, he’s starring in “The Wrestler”* 

Perhaps you never even saw any of the movies,  which I posted as examples, of Rourke’s great acting talent, in my last Actor-Prep post.  (LInk to those acting scenes here.)

Let’s cut to the present time…I think he is entitled to be nominated for an Oscar, and I think he may win:

Mickey Rourke may just take the Best Actor Category…this coming February…at the Academy Awards.

 

Look, he’s infamous for having a temper, being outspoken.  Some incomprehensible stuff: leaving acting to become a boxer, and getting his head all smashed up…the facial fixes…Vanity Fair articles on his relationship…and, he has dropped out of sight for a very long time.

Yuk. I don’t give a hoot.  I don’t think anybody else does, either.

Why?

Because Talent Trumps All

I’m not talking about acting style, chops, mojo, moxie, ability, appeal; although Mickey has them all.

I’m not talking about beauty, fashion, box office, “Page Six”, or TMZ…

…That stuff isn’t involved in this type of conversation.

That stuff all falls away, and it becomes so plain, clear:

Some people are born with a specialness, born with a blessedness. In all areas of humanity, there are rare ones that are blessed with such a pureness and powerful talent.  Mickey Rourke, clearly has such a gift.

When someone has a gift like that, everybody recognizes it.  Talent, like his, gifts us all.

The human race is proud of those with great talent. 

We love experiencing their talent

and

We are proud that he is “one of us” …a human with such magnificence…we all feel it represents us.

Too Abstract?

Okay, then, I’ll finish up.  A human being with such a powerful and easy talent makes us all look good.

And if the Academy doesn’t fault him; for being too human in the non-acting parts of Mickey Rourke, and votes because of the magic of his acting, then he will win.

He should win. He’s one of our finest, ever.

************************************************************************************************************

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Have a lovely weekend…

;-Dana

 

** “The Wrestler” opens, in theaters, on December 17, 2008.

MIckey Rourke is a preciously, deep actor… In his first feature film, he acted in just a few scenes…and, did more than “hold his own”.

I remember being vexed.  When I left the theater, that night, I remember wondered how such a quiet actor, with regular appearance, in a regular kind of role, could stand out so very much.  

The movie was “Body Heat”, and it starred magnificent actor, William Hurt; and, throughout, the blazing fire of actor,  Kathleen Turner.  

And, still, there were those scenes with Mickey Rourke.

I also can tell you this…”Body Heat” altogether, was a solidly-done movie.. it’s not the kind of film that you’d think an actor, with two little scenes, without any big dramatic moments,  that weren’t central to a juicy plot… …could shine through as a powerful talent…embed himself into Hollywood…and go on to starring roles, from it, right away.

Here’s a clip from that movie, but before you watch it, you need to know that because it’s piece-d outside of the entire film, you’ve  nothing to compare it to.  So it may lose some punch, I’m not sure. (I wouldn’t know, because years later, I still am impressed…from way back then, and I can feel it all down to the pit of my stomach.)

 

 

He’s the real deal, with a velvet voice that never needs to raise an octave or a decibel, in any scene…yet he can play any emotion, or a string of ‘em… like an orchestra plays Bach. And he isn’t even trying.  (No, it doesn’t just look that way…)

He’s got-it-goin-on; he’s got it all going on…way deep inside.

And, we as the audience, know it. We get it.  We connect to it.  On a whole other plane.  Under Mickey’s quiet control.

He’s tough, and that’s why he can act in a film scene with  Robert DeNiro… in a not-so-great script, and equally shine.  Hold his own, and why is that extra special here…?

…Because DeNiro isn’t playing just a man, and he isn’t just DeNiro in his power-prime…it’s Robert DeNiro is playing the LUCIFER, the DEVIL!  The nails, the ring, the identity revelation, and, I say it again: It’s DE NIRO!  

Uh…Any other actor would simply disappear in this scene, with any one of the above,  and no one would notice…Exception: Mickey Rourke.

I’ll bet that when Mickey Rourke was a little schoolboy, and daily attendance was called, he didn’t even have to say “present”, or “here”.  His teacher knew it, already.

Mickey Rourke  has “presence”…

Watch him in this cameo, (alongside, another actor with presence: Jack Nicholson)…in the movie, ” The Pledge”…

 

 

People have asked me, how do you know when something’s good, Dana?  

                            ::.One way, is to watch the acting, without the sound.:: 

Great acting exists without the dialogue. Sometimes, in spite of the dialogue; and, certainly, isn’t led by it.

In this scene, from “Rumblefish”  (overdubbed in a foreign language…) is interesting, because Mickey doesn’t really have any lines.  

Additionally, he’s “downstage“, and two other– magnetic– actors, are “upstage”; young Matt Dillon, and Dennis Hopper.   …Just by nature of position, they should be watched; …and they have all the lines! Mostly, they are in the light!

Francis Ford Coppola made “Rumblefish”, a little over a week after he finished directing his previous film; and there was no script.  It was just a novel.  Most scenes of this movie were created by improv, by the actors on set, in front of the camera.

What kind of confidence, does that show, in an actor?  Mickey Rourke surely is aware that he is being upstaged (it’s right there, in the physical blocking); and he does nothing to alter it…knows he is in one of the highest emotional scenes of the film, and he does nothing to try to get some dialogue in.

It’s improvisation…He certainly could, at any time, alter any of it.

This type of scene, in a script, is called a “turning point”, in the story.  Mickey Rourke has plenty of acting experience, by this job. So, he knows all about that stuff…

He’s doesn’t seem to be trying to do anything at all.  He isn’t*.  

He isn’t trying to “act”, he isn’t trying to get attention, he isn’t trying to be in the light, he doesn’t even seem to notice if he is in the scene.*

Because he knows he can.

He knows his craft.

He knows his abilities.

And he knows that an authentic inner life is the most potent gift that an actor can give, to a scene. To a script.  To an audience.  

It’s the highest of the high, for an actor…

It’s great writing that makes an audience an approving observer.

It’s actor’s “tricks” and bad-or-even-good pretending, that turn an audience, from observer to lofty critic.

The next step is when the audience becomes a passionate, emotional participant.  Separation disappears.

That is when the actor or actors have a strong inner life.  

There’s no acting, just experience.  Same for the audience, it moves from the cerebral, to experiential.

More, on Rourke, coming up in  the next post…

 

Best,

;-Dana