The Acting Solution

When you feel yourself getting nervous remember this: nerves shmerves.  Everyone gets nervous. Everyone gets the jitters. Big deal? So what? 

The more you are afraid of something, the more you empower that thing you’re afraid of. Instead of allowing your nerves to work against you, figure out a way for them to work for you. Allow them to help you focus. Learn to love them. Look forward to them. Use them as inspiration. Use them as energy. But whatever you do, don’t try and suppress them. You can’t squeeze nerves away. You shouldn’t try. You’ll only make them more powerful. That’s why it’s a good idea to turn that nervous jitter before a performance into an ally.

 Stop obsessing about your nerves. Quit looking for a magical way to make them go away. There are no elixirs, pills, diet regimens or deep breathing techniques.  Forget it. You get nervous. So what? So does everyone. Focus on the needs of the scene. Get to the point. Win your argument. Affect the other person you’re talking to.

An actor is given a bit of direction and says, “My character wouldn’t do that.”  The first thing I think is: how do we really know that?  How do we really know what a character would do?  People are fickle. It’s hard to say what someone would do.  Every day we hear about people doing the oddest things. People you thought you knew, the guy next door. I tend to remember the things people did that were out of character more than I do the things they did that were in character. We find it far more interesting when people behave in ways we don’t expect.

Years ago, I was directing a play and I asked an actor to stand up from his chair when another actor approached him. The actor said “My character wouldn’t do that.” I said “Why not?” He said “If my character stands up, he’s going to take the guy out.” I said “What do you mean take him out?”  He said “Fight him, take him down, hurt him.” I said “Well, don’t do that.” He said “No, my character would do that.” I said “Well, can you ask your character not to do that?” He said “No.” I said “Could I talk to your character and ask him not to do that?” He said “No”. 

So I fired him. 

Gosh, I hope not.

The last thing we need on a set is an actor who actually thinks he’s Blackbeard the pirate. Wouldn’t it stand to reason the actor would look out at the camera crew and wonder what the blarney they’re doing on his ship? Wouldn’t he be completely confused by the camera crew? Blackbeard doesn’t know what a 35 mm camera is -- he might think it’s a cannon. 

The director is going to need the pirate to hit a mark. Is the pirate going to be comfortable hitting a mark with his peg leg? How’s he going to feel when he discovers that he in fact doesn’t have a peg leg? What’s he going to do when he realizes he has his leg tied up behind him? Isn’t he going to want to straighten his leg out, and get some circulation back into his calf again? Of course he is.

This is what it all boils down to: do you own it? Are you truly the owner of what you’re saying? Too many actors borrow their ideas, never really owning them. You need to own what you say. Appreciate the subtle difference between borrowing an idea and actually owning that idea. 

 Let’s say, tomorrow morning someone who works for Greenpeace talks to you about their organization. You didn’t really know much about Greenpeace, but upon hearing about their latest endeavor it strikes a chord. You feel yourself well-up with emotion about their cause, and the more you listen, the more it affects you. Suddenly, you have taken on a new point of view; their newest crusade has become very important to you. You now own that point of view.  Now, when you share your thoughts on Greenpeace with someone else, you’ll naturally be more persuasive than an actor who is pretending to care.

If you don’t need to change something about yourself, don’t change it. Most of the time you can find an aspect of yourself that is suitable for any character.  Don’t preoccupy yourself with how different you will be as “The Doctor”, “The Plumber”, “The Mechanic” or even “The Pirate”. 

Dialogue and the situation will generally dictate your character. If you start talking about how it went at your veterinary clinic today, we’ll assume you’re a veterinarian. If you talk about how hard it is to get proper pipe fittings these days, we’ll assume you’re a plumber.     

There will be situations where you will have to change the way you are. You might need to have a limp, or a speech impediment. You might have a mental or physical handicap. The point is to concede as little as possible to your character. If you don’t have to change something about yourself, don’t. With the right costume and the right hairstyle, saying the right words in the right situation, we’ll assume you’re who you say you are. In your next film with a whole different get-up, scene, set of circumstances, we will assume you’re someone else.

Concern yourself with the objective of the scene and stick to that. If you have a penchant for accents or mannerisms, then you have a talent for it and it’ll come into your work, but don’t preoccupy yourself with these things. Keep in mind that you’ve spent your whole life being you. You have the market cornered on you.  By using a part of yourself in everything you do, your work will always be uniquely yours.  It will have your stamp.  Don’t preoccupy yourself with trying to reinvent the wheel.  

In life we don’t put our effort into trying to believe the world as it enfolds in front of us, we simply choose not to disbelieve it. Most actors waste a lot of energy trying to convince themselves of the realities in a given scene. If an actor is fighting to convince herself, how on earth is she going to convince the audience? In life, we don’t try to convince ourselves we are who we say we are. Of course we are who we are. Who else would we be?

 Let’s say the phone rings and a neighbor informs you that your cat has been hit by a car. You hang up the phone. You’re sad. You don’t know for a fact that your cat is dead; but since you have no reason to doubt your neighbor’s call, you believe it -- not because you want to believe it, but because there’s no reason to disbelieve it. Here’s the distinction: an actor in a scene will try to believe the facts of the scene; a human being in a similar situation accepts the facts. 

 It takes more energy to convince yourself you’re something you’re not than it takes not to question it. It’s the path of least resistance.

Don’t worry about trying to believe. Just don’t disbelieve.

Most of the wisdom we gain is a result of what we learn from the mistakes we make. In scene study, it’s just as important to find out what a scene is as it is to find out what it isn’t. In rehearsal we learn just as much about our show in the things that don’t work as in the things that do. What’s important is that we try.  Don’t preoccupy yourself with the outcome. If you try something that doesn’t work, or if you goof, what difference will it make? Who cares?  

Sometimes actors don’t try things because they’re afraid of looking foolish.  You’re going to look more foolish trying not to look foolish than if you tried to look foolish. The reason is this: the first way is based on fear, the second on courage. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s the quickest way to learn. 

Don’t be the actor who is afraid to look bad. Be bold. Get those first 5000 mistakes out of the way as quickly as possible.