Acting in Film

milked it."
    And what you say to him is, "Mr. Special Effects Man, let me see you do it first."
    He will say, "We haven't got the time. I'd gladly do it, you know, but we'd have to reset the charge, get the snake out of my trouser leg, put the roof back . . . It would cost fifteen thousand dollars in lost time to do all that; it would take all afternoon to reset. Otherwise I'd do it."
    You look at him and you say: "You do it first."
    Always have a stunt demonstrated to you before you do it.

PROFESSIONALISM
    As a leading actor in the movies, you are paid to pick up a picture on the first day of shooting, put it on your shoulders, and take it triumphantly to the end. But this doesn't give you any right to be a prima donna. I was on a film with another big male star, and because they mucked him about one day and kept him waiting around, when we got on the set the following morning at half past eight, he sent a message saying, "Because you kept me waiting four hours yesterday, I'm going to be four hours late today." We couldn't work without him, so we all just sat there. Everyone was watching me because I was the other co-star; they were wondering how I was going to react when he finally appeared. So when he turns up, I call him over. I say, "Come here." He's looking a bit truculent because he's expecting trouble from me. I say, "Thank God you did that. I was out all night last night, so I was really tired, and I hadn't learned the dialogue. I didn't know this bloody scene. Now I've had three hours sleep, I've learned the dialogue, and everything's fantastic. The point is, I'm going to a party tonight; can you do this again tomorrow?" He was never late again.
    I used to lose my temper. I would fly off the handle quite quickly in a work situation. Then I worked on a picture called The Last Valley by James Clavell, who had been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. James looks like an Englishman, but he really thinks like a Japanese. I lost my temper one day, and James just looked at me and let me finish my ranting and raving. Then he said, "Come with me, Mike. Let's go 'round the corner and sit down." Ile sat me down and talked to me about the Japanese theory of losing face. No matter what the reason, if you start to scream and shout, you look a fool, and you feel a fool, and you earn the disrespect of everyone (even if it's the producer you're screaming at). I've never lost my temper in a work situation again. And never, ever, under any circumstances, shout at anybody who is lower on the ladder than you are. It would be taking a monstrously unfair advantage.

    ®1982 Warner Bros Inc.
    DEATHTRAP
    Directed by Sidney Lumet Warner Brothers, 1982.

KEEPING THE RUSHES IN FOCUS
    At the end of each day, people on a film sometimes go to see the rushes. I never do. Everybody buys their yachts after the rushes and goes bankrupt at the premiere. Anyone you speak to about the rushes says they're wonderful. You say to makeup, "How were the rushes?"; and they say, "Just wonderful. Her lipstick was wonderful." You say to hairdressing, "How were the rushes?"; and they say, "Wonderful. You should have seen your wig. It was great." Everybody only watches out for his own thing. If you go to the rushes, you will only watch yourself. But in actual fact, your character should be a stranger to you because it is someone else. The director, if he's any good, will tell you what you were like far more accurately than the rushes will. To my mind, all you can tell from rushes is whether you are in focus, and even then the projectionist may have screwed up. You should remember also that if you don't go to rushes, you get home earlier. I'm also known as Quick-Start Mike because the moment I hear "Cut! Wrap!" I'm off and away.

    Here's one last tip with a moral for film actors. It's something I noticed after going to Hollywood parties with big-name actors, big-name producers. Every time I went to an actor's house, the walls were covered with pictures of himself. Every time I went to a producer's house, the walls were covered with Lautrecs, Van Goghs, and Picassos. Just bear that in mind.

     

Directors

    "You've got to be flexible. Directors do a massive amount of planning and homework, and if after all that your director decides to throw it all out of the window and shoot spontaneously, then you must follow his lead."

    The director's word is basically law. That's why they say film is "a director's medium." And there are some actors who can