This Is What Stops An Actor From Getting Into Character - Michael Laskin

what's your advice to actors on finding their character finding their character within a certain script or within who they present as the full person of who they are the latter the latter okay um my advice on that is to be open to it to really I mean the cliche is you're enough you are enough a cliche that's kind of true but it's only true if what you're presenting is examined and and nuanced and interesting um you know don't there's there's there's kind of a show biz life there's a backstage life and then there's life and my advice is get involved in life do something real and um you know certain people are just more inherently interesting than others this is human nature but to find that person that is your the core person that you present that kind of populates everything um that just takes time and it takes patience and it takes uh kind of being honest with yourself as to you know who who you are and and what you know I I what did I watch last night I watched who was it I'm blanking on it now I've been watching The Morning Show which I think is so good and um oh is this actor I haven't seen him for a long time he's an older guy named Paul Guilfoyle who's been in tons of stuff I haven't seen him in a long time and he's older than me which means he's really old but he's like I went oh that's Paul gilfoyle wow where has he been but he just is there I mean he's just he's he has not only found that thing he's he is that thing and it's a little bit like the Jack Warden story that I told I think I don't know how you the advice is just to be open to it and to be willing to be honest with yourself about who you are because that's the whole ball game as far as Who You Are dominates what you can do in in the film and television world so you really need to get acquainted with yourself you need to be you need to like yourself when people say they don't get me well maybe they don't get you because you don't get you once you start to get yourself people will start to get you is it's been my experience but that takes a long time some people never get there and some people get there pretty quickly what's your advice for finding a character within the script when you say finding it you mean um owning it owning kind of branding it bringing your own take to what the director sees well you're in charge of some of that and there's some of that you're not in charge of all you can do is as my former student said pretend that what's happening is happening to you personally all you can do is make it personal the other stuff you're not in charge of there's all kinds of um forces at play that that kind of subvert that I think that it's it's knowing it's kind of also knowing what your strike zone is everybody's got a strike zone like by that I mean not everybody has to have a huge range I mean I think that is the that is the the goal of the young actor I can play everything I can I can do all these parts I can play an old man even though I'm not an old man I can play an Irishman but I'm not Irish they'll get an Irishman okay they don't need you to get they'll get an Irishman so I think understanding who you are and understanding where you fit and being okay with that because otherwise trying to please them is a Fool's Aaron there's no pleasing them whoever they are we always talk about them they don't get it they don't get me well they don't get you because you're not present and you're not bringing yourself to the work and it sounds complicated it's really simple but until you make that turn until you make that pivot as an actor understanding not just paying lip service to but understanding that you are enough if the you that is presented is fully examined and interesting then it becomes easier but otherwise it's this you know trying to please them that's what that's the the on on the tombstone of every failed actor I tried to please them does that make sense it does do you think it happens more with younger people uh yes and no I mean it happens younger people some of them just are are moving on instincts totally they don't even understand the subtlety of that question some of them so and so they're blissfully ignorant and sometimes that's great because lightning strikes you know they go oh him and you don't even know what you don't even know what you got but you know that I've seen that happen a lot but um it happens all the time because we want to please we want to be picked we want to get the gold star up in the wall and be told we're good and we want to get that affirmation and if we didn't want that we wouldn't be human but we don't always get that I mean the failure rate if you can call it that that's a harsh term is significant I mean how many things do people audition for and when do they actually book something and I see these things on we were talking about social media earlier booked it at the beginning on Instagram and stuff booked it I wanna I wanna have one says didn't book it still chill still happy didn't book it because that's the reality of it right I mean that is the reality of it booked it it's like this whole thing of just presenting this kind of phony uh confidence and and and confidence is a hard one thing and everybody's happy when you books I mean you know your wife or husband or your partner everybody's happy when you get a job because sometimes it's a great job too but um it's that it's knowing who you are it's it all comes down to that I mean it's just simple that way for me how do you know what your character's flaw is um great question I don't know that every character has a flaw particularly in film and television when you're doing more functionary roles let's say you know that's a really good question and I don't know if I have a good answer for it but I think there's two things that I I often tell people to think about that's one of them and the other one is does your character have a secret like what are what are you not saying sometimes what you're not saying is far more important than what you're saying what you choose not to say uh in a scene like I'm gonna I'm not going to say that I'm going to say something different so you you you watch a character shift Focus so that's what you choose not to say is very revealing what the flaw is sometimes it's real self it's really evident in the script you know if you're playing a murderer we know what the flaw is or we know about the the Baseline of the flaw is uh but for those more um Garden variety roles sometimes they don't have a flaw in my opinion if we took that scene where I'm the HR manager or your Superior writer and maybe I don't want to let you know that it's been in your computer so I hey I need to talk to you so then what what could something that I how could I express it without actually saying that you know we've seen you know online gambling coming from your computer if I am holding this secret what's a good line what's a good way to play it um good great question like uh almost like um starting out I think uh not as a performance evaluation but I just want to talk to you about you know what's going on are you happy things good good you know um take a look at this does this look familiar to you shoved thing it's mortified what is that you're doing that here you're doing that at home both places do you need help we have HR department we want to help you because otherwise we have to remediate this or we're gonna have to let you go so I don't know if this is answering your question but it's it's kind of understanding the way in you know the way in is look if she was a he or she was a horrible boss and was very confrontational that's a different scene entirely if it's if if the motivation of the boss is I really like this person here she does a great job I want to try to remediate this but this is a big problem that's a different scene entirely and it also comes down to what else do we know about that character what else do we know about the boss what else do we know does he or she have uh their own secret like I don't know if you watched uh Ted lasso I haven't watched it great show I hear good things there was a you know it's about it's about a football team soccer team we call it soccer and they had a they had a sports psychiatrist and and part of the season this um African not African-American African black woman uh in England and she was just fantastic and and uh really substantial and then we find out later on she got a drinking problem that's very well hidden so does the act the actor does the actor have to play that from the very beginning the actor has a secret the character has a secret the character has a substance abuse problem but the character is also in a position of authority and reverence she's a mental health professional she should be above reproach but she's not she's a human being so depending of the vagaries and the subtlety of the script you know but some stuff is just cut and dry and very flat that way B minus writing is what I call that right interesting so then I'm sort of confronting you on your secret but I had let's say I have a shopping addiction yeah but I don't want anyone to know that so I feel uneasy about confronting you exactly okay interesting yeah

Channel: Film Courage

Views: 12,883

Keywords: Authentic actor, how to direct, how to act, directing 101, acting 101, Acting tips, acting advice, Michael Laskin, directors, actors, acting, working with actors, filmmaking, interview, film courage, filmcourage, story, screenplay, authentic performance, directing, confidence, acting teacher, acting audition, creating a character, audition, theatre, theater, dramatic arts, performers, motivation, artists

Id: HBGOH-f2zf4

Length: 11min 9sec (669 seconds)

Published: Mon May 08 2023