Acting in Film

Waiting can be as tiring as doing, but you've got to save the best of yourself for when the camera rolls. Then, when it does, be ready and able to give not merely the best you've got, but give precisely what the director wants, sometimes under demanding working conditions: in lousy weather, wearing a crippling costume, and mobbed by distracting crowds who can't tear themselves away from this fascinating event on their doorstep.
    The single most startling principle to grasp for the theatre actor entering the world of film for the first time is that not only have you got to know your lines on day one, you will also have directed yourself to play them in a certain way. And all this accomplished without necessarily discussing the role with the director, without meeting the other people in the cast, without rehearsal on the set. The stage actor is used to slowly wading into the play's reality. First a read-through with the assembled cast to acquaint him with the broad outline of the author's intentions. Then the director's view. Then maybe a free-for-all discussion. Gradually, book in hand, stage actors splash themselves with gentle doses of the play, scene by scene, starting with Act One, Scene One. Pity the poor stage actor who is about to be immersed, Baptist style, in the movies. Plays are performed. Movies are made.

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    CALIFORNIA SUITE
    Directed by Herbert Ross. Columbia, 1978.

    There may be rehearsals, but that is by no means certain; and more than likely, if you have them, they won't be for you but for the benefit of the camera people! And despite all your preparation, you have to remain flexible. You might have to incorporate new lines or physical changes at a moment's notice. Panic is prohibited.
    It's very tough for the theatre actor to understand that the other actors' performances aren't really his business. Whether he is helped or hindered by the other actors' performances in the shot, he must react as if they have given him exactly what he wants, even if he feels shortchanged. Remember, unless you are actually looking through the camera and seeing the shot, you can never know if all the performers are delivering the goods or not. Half the time, movie acting is so subtle that the actors on the set with me will say:
    "I don't know what you're doing."
    And I say, "Wait till you see the rushes." (Sometimes I've even said that to the director.)
    Once a director said to me: "I didn't see that, Michael. I didn't see that on the take."

    And I said, "Where were you sitting?"
    "Over there."
    So I said, "How do you expect to have seen anything? The lens is over here by me."
    Another tough challenge for a theatre actor presents itself when he has to summon up an actor who isn't there-that is, talk to the camera with no actor behind it. Mostly the off-camera actor is there and will be very generous with his time and give you just as intense a performance as he did in his close-up; but sometimes he's needed elsewhere and you have to cope by pretending he's there when he isn't. At this point, I don't care if he's there or not-in fact, I usually suggest he go home. I could do it to the wall because I hang on to the emotional memory of how it was in the shot when he was there. The only completely disconcerting moment occurs when the continuity girl stands in for a passionate bit and drones away, "I - love - you - darling - but - I - have - been - unfaithful," and you have to emote away, "Oh, God, no! Please don't!" That's a bit difficult.
    Discipline is necesssary at any level of film acting, but in some ways, small parts are the hardest. It's terrifying to have to say just one line. I did it in about a hundred pictures. I played a police constable in The Day the Earth Caught Fire, for instance. I had to hold up the traffic, direct cars in one direction, trucks in another, and say my ONE BIG LINE. When finally I thought I knew what I was supposed to be doing, and the director obligingly said "Action!" inevitably the police helmet came right down over my eyes! I couldn't see where to direct the trucks and I couldn't remember my line. The director said to me: "You will never work again." (By the way, there are some things you never say in the movie business: that's one of them. It usually turns out that the person who says it never works again.) The point is that reliability is at a premium in films. And reliability isn't only punctuality or making sure your shoes stay