Acting in Film

set off for the airport. They persuaded me to come back, but I'd made my point.
    I'm completely against interfering in other people's performances. Get on with your own contribution and leave everybody else to the director. He may be looking for qualities you never thought of, or he may edit the scene in a way you never imagined. And no matter what the other actors do-stop, blow their lines-you continue your scene right to the end or until the guv'nor says "Cut."

INSURANCE

    SLEUTH
    Directed by Joseph L. Manldewicz. 20th Century-Fox, 1972.
    Pictured with Laurence Olivier.

    Insurance may sound like a mundane topic. What's it got to do with movie acting? Well, on a set, the continuity person writes down everything that happens, including the cause of a delay on a take-for example, "it rained" or "the door fell off its hinges." The continuity person also writes "Actor, , one hour late," if that's the case. If a movie overruns and the budget is blown to bits, the producer goes to his insurance company, and the insurance company asks to see the continuity sheets. If your name features heavily on those sheets, you suddenly find you're not getting the job offers. It doesn't matter how big a star you are; the history of the cinema is littered with people who were uninsurable. Orson Welles, one of the greatest talents in the cinema, couldn't bring in a film on time, and as a result he had great trouble raising money.

STUNTS
    Films often make huge physical demands on an actor; but the actor who tells you he does all his own stunts is a bloody liar. Insurance companies almost always prevent actors from doing their own stunt work. When you hit your head, the insurance agent gets the headache.
    But, of course, for some pictures, for authenticity, you will have to acquire certain skills, some of which may give you very little pleasure. Actors who can't ride nevertheless must look good on a horse, at least while the camera is rolling. They may, though, fall off five seconds after "Cut!" I had to learn to scuba dive for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. I never thought I could because I'm claustrophobic. But I managed. And there was always a professional diver close by, just in case. If I raised my hand, he would whisk me to the surface-it was like asking to be excused to go to the lavatory.

    The vital thing is to know where to draw the line. If necessary, you can say no. After all, you're your own commodity. Your body and your face are all you have to offer, so you need to look after them. On Billion Dollar Brain, which was on location in Finland, the director, Ken Russell, wanted me to jump into a hole in the ice. I had a Finnish stand-in, so I went up to him and said:
    "Want to earn some extra money? Warm up in the sauna and then jump into that hole in the ice."
    He looked at me. "What?"
    I said, "You know. Like the Finns do."
    He said, "No they don't; they'd have heart attacks."
    So he refused to do it, too.
    In The Island I held up filming for hours, refusing to go into the water because there was a shark. The director, Michael Ritchie, asked me when was the last time I heard of a movie star being eaten by a shark. I said, "I'm not worried about the last time; I'm worried about the first time. I'm not about to be the first movie star to be eaten by a shark."
    The only time you will be asked to do a real stunt (which is precisely when you must never do it) is on the last day of shooting, when they don't give a damn what happens to you. Anyway, if you think about it, what's the point of getting an actor to do a stunt when there's a guy on the set who has trained all his life to do this job? It's selfish to do a stuntman out of his opportunity. So, remember, if an actor tells you he does his own stunts, he's a liar, or selfish, or both.

    S Orion Pictures Corporation. All rifts reserved.
    DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
    Directed by Frank Oz. Orion, 1988.

    But one day you're going to be in a studio and the special effects technician is going to come up to you and say something like this:
    "On `Action,' that wall will be blown out, but don't worry about it; it will crash away from you. The roof will come down, but don't worry about it; it won't fall on you. The floor will open up and you'll drop down into some water, and there's a shark, but don't worry; we've taken his teeth out. Then, as you get out of the water, a poisonous snake will crawl up your trousers, but don't worry about it; we've got an expert from the zoo and he's just