Acting in Film

shined. Reliability is also functioning well under pressure when the camera rolls. Just to come out even against everything that's flung at you requires a high level of alert competence. I let that police helmet distract me.

"QUIET!" AND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD SUCH QUIET
    And in the midst of your necessary alertness, let's not forget that you have to achieve relaxation. Movie acting is relaxation. If you're knocking yourself out, you're doing it wrong. So one of the first things you have to learn is how to overcome nerves. Preparation is a big step toward controlling those nerves. All the work you do beforehand is going to help subdue the fear. All your preparation points come together to create a safety net. And everybody needs one. Remember: in film acting, you don't usually know the director's intentions until you get on the set, and terror may strike the best of us under those circumstances. There's the big director and his big star; they and everybody else are all waiting poised for you to come up with this great thing that you're paid so highly to do. There's the moment when they say "Quiet!" and you've never heard such quiet. It's deafening. You can hear the blood in your own eardrums. Then the director says "Action!" If you're not experienced, that moment turns you into a sort of nervous automaton.

    The social situation doesn't help much, either, particularly if you're the new guy and the movie's been shooting for a while. Everybody's saying, "Hello, Charlie. How ya doin? Get me a cup of tea . . . " And you're standing there not knowing anybody. Then over comes your star-usually a pain in the neck, a bit conceited, and doesn't talk to you because you've only got a small part-and you stand there, nervewracked. It's especially scary if there's a big scene going on and you have the last line-your only line.
    It's no wonder I have sympathy for one-line actors. I've been there. The troops come down the hill, the beach explodes, and you say:
    "Quick! The Germans are crumming!" (One line!)
    "Who got this guy?!"
    The casting director comes in and says, "What's the matter?"
    "This guy can't say one line!"
    (You're standing there cursing yourself.)
    "All those troops have to come over the hill again!" (Because of my crumming line!) "It'll take two hours to put the explosives back in ..."
    Then the great star says his long speech absolutely perfectly, yet again; and you say:

    "Quick! The Germans are crumming!" Then you ask desperately, "Can we post-synch that? Will it be all right?"
    And the director says, "NO! We've got to do it again!"

     

Preparation

    "You're your first best audience long before anybody else hears you. So don't be an easy audience. Keep asking for more."

    So to avoid all that horror, prepare. Apart from anything else, preparation uses up a lot of the nervous energy that otherwise might rise up to betray you. Channel that energy; focus it into areas that you control.
    The first step in preparation is to learn your lines until saying them becomes a predictable reflex. And don't mouth them silently; say them aloud until they become totally your property. Hear yourself say them, because the last thing you want is the sound of your own voice taking you by surprise or not striking you as completely convincing. If you can't convince yourself, the chances are that you won't convince the character opposite you, or the director. You're your first best audience long before anybody else hears you. So don't be an easy audience. Keep asking for more.
    I learn lines on my own; I never have anyone read. Nevertheless, I try to learn lines as dialogue, as logical replies to what someone else has said or as a logical response to a situation. You'll never find me going down the page with an envelope, blocking out my own speech and revealing the one before because it then becomes nothing more than "cues" and "speeches." If you haven't grasped the logic of why you say a particular thing, you won't say it properly or convincingly. And if your thoughts aren't linked to what you're saying, then you won't be able to say a line as if you invented it on the spot. So you must be familiar with the whole conversation, not just your own bits. One of the most crucial jobs you'll have as an actor will be to know what you're thinking when you're not talking.

    01880 universal Picures, a Clvisicn of Universal City Studios, Inc. Courtesy of MCA Publishing Rights, A Division of MCA Inc.
    THE ISLAND
    Directed by Michael Ritchie.