John Badham On Directing - 2nd edition. John Badham
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Название: John Badham On Directing - 2nd edition
Автор: John Badham
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Культурология
isbn: 9781615933266
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Elia Kazan: What you talk about is what they want out of a scene—why they are going into it. You keep them concentrated on the “objective.” If you do that, at least you’ll have clarity. If you talk about what the character is feeling, you’ll get nothing but simulated emotion.6
Let the actor explain themself before you stupidly jump in and say, “That’s wrong. That’ll never work.” Why? Because if you jump on their idea without at least looking like you’re considering it, they will get defensive. When actors get defensive, they get emotional. When they get emotional, their egos get in the way. When their egos get in the way, there is no talking to them. Reason has flown south, and the chill of winter descends. You have to allow the actor time to express themself and really hear them out before you say, “Wow, that’s so interesting because I had thought it might play this other way. Tell me more.” Now you hopefully have a dialogue going, a dialogue that will lead to understanding between the two of you, not a monologue from you, Ozymandias, all-powerful director. An understanding that should be about trying to find the best version of what you’re both thinking.
John Rich: On All in the Family, we’d read the script line by line, and anybody who had a question could speak up. Sometimes I’d say, “Does that make sense to you?” If they said, “No, not really,” I’d ask, “What would you say instead?” Some writers were very upset by that. But I got tremendous performances. When we were staging, I never told them how or when to move on a line. “Find your own way, I’ll help if you get tangled up.” Paying attention to any actor’s instincts really brings out the best in them. They are so much happier than one who’s been told to stand here, move there.
Remember, we’re talking about actors who don’t trust directors, actors who are used to being run over roughshod by directors. You always have to ask yourself, “What if they’re right? What if there is something here I can use?” If an actor’s idea is harmful, you need to search for clues about what’s really bothering them. So “Tell me more about how you see the scene” is not just pampering them and manipulating them through the process; it’s the therapist’s time-tested way of getting to the bottom of the problem.
Very often, it can come down to something very minor in the scene, like a stage direction or a wardrobe or prop choice. Even a particular line of dialogue can throw an actor off. That’s why I love having the writer on the set. Actors respect writers. A writer can tell the actor the very same thing you just said, and the actor takes it positively, whereas they may think the director is shining them on.
Isn’t it better to have this conversation privately before you get to the set? Of course it is. It’s not a public forum. Don’t give sensitive notes in front of other actors or crew. It’s embarrassing to the actor and often blows up on the director. A private conversation is always less stressful and less likely to cause a pissing contest.
Patty Jenkins: The most important thing that I try to seek out is a few moments, whether in person or on the phone, to sit and talk through the script with the actors. “Here’s why I see this happening. Here’s where I see the turn. I felt like so-and-so would be angry here. What do you think?” “Well, I was thinking that they are angry, and that they’d hide it.” “Oh, very interesting.” So that you at least are completely on the same page about what performance you’re trying to achieve: “Okay, we agree.” So now you’re not fighting that out on set. You’re not standing on set saying, “I think I’d walk over here.” And if you’re arguing about a deeper-level issue, you can sit and talk, and try to get on the same page before shooting begins.
By listening, you not only get the actors’ thoughts, but you have an enormous relaxing effect. They get to see your face, not just on the set amongst a horde of other faces. They get to see it up close and personal. You’re there to ask about them, not to give orders. Suggestions, maybe, but not orders.
A while ago, I took my wife to the hospital for a procedure that, though not a humongous deal, would scare anybody. She was no exception. As she lay on the gurney in the pre-op room, her heart ran a two-minute mile. Soothing words from me had little effect.
After a few minutes, the anesthesiologist came in, gowned for the procedure. He introduced himself and paid attention to her as though she were the only person in the world. Nothing much was said beyond “How do you feel?” and “Do you have any questions?” and “We’ll take good care of you.” He said he’d see her in a few minutes and traipsed off to the operating room. The change in her breathing and heart rate was beyond dramatic. It dropped like a stone, and a smile returned to her face. When they wheeled her into the operating room, she was as calm as calm could be.
Afterword: The procedure was successful, and her recovery was definitely helped by the anesthesiologist’s visit beforehand. Why would that work when my words didn’t? Of course, the anesthesiologist’s bedside manner helped, but what is more important was that his being the doctor carried gigantic credibility. So too with the director. No matter the actor’s trust level before you come to visit, it will be greater afterward. You’ll be able to tell it right away on the set as you rehearse.
Brad Silberling: What I always make a point of doing when I’m shooting is to get in as early as I can and spend a little time with the cast and just ask them questions to get to know their characters. And of course, you learn about what they’re going to be like as actors. You can get a real quick sense of someone’s process by asking a few questions about how they like to work.
For me, some of the most constructive times that I ever had to direct the actor was at the audition, where you have a somewhat calm place to sit and make adjustments with them and really see what they’re like as an actor. When they show up on the set, I could say, “Hey, do you remember the work that we were doing in the audition? Keep going that way.” So you use your casting time as directing time. I find that even happens with costume fittings. I’ll make sure that I drop by at costume fittings so we can keep talking about the character and the scenes. Use any moment you can. Because otherwise, you may not get any other rehearsal time.
Failure Is Okay
A final note on this subject: Major psychological studies of people show again and again that one of everyone’s biggest fears, by far, is speaking in public. If you thought that this did not apply to professional actors, you were very wrong. More than anyone, they understand that what they do today, especially on a recorded medium like film, video, even YouTube, is going to be around forever. For ever. That would make anyone nervous. And sometimes, the more someone acts, the more they understand the long-term ramifications of what they are doing, and the more nervous they become.
This means that the director has a big job with every single actor, every one, not only to encourage them, to make them feel comfortable, but to let them know that it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to screw up. Because only with that attitude can an actor feel free to experiment, to try new things, to go outside their comfort zone. Only in that way can the actor let go of all the safe, proven, crutchlike solutions that they’ve relied on for years. To do that, they need the express permission and encouragement from the director to leap off the cliff, knowing the director is there to catch them.
On an episode of the TV series Psych, we had an actress whose character was written to go crazy, physically berserk, writhing, screaming in one scene. She was supposed to be so violent that Sean and СКАЧАТЬ