The following are excerpts from the book, Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making, by Michael Caine.
(xiv) "A tour bus pulls up pretty smartly as [we actors] are crossing the studio lot. Fans come piling out of the bus. The driver is trying to corral the actors into signing autographs on our way in. Most of the actors escaped the crowd through a side door. I, on the other hand, knew the bus driver had a job to do, and I was going to make him look good. I signed every autograph on that bus. No big deal, right? Until I tell you that the young driver of that bus turned out to be Mike Ovitz."
(3) "They say you've learned a foreign language when you start dreaming it. A film actor must be able to dream another person's dreams before he can call that character his own."
(14) "Plays are performed; movies are made."
(22) "You're your first best audience long before anybody else hears you. So don't be an easy audience. Keep asking for more."
(25) "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."
(43) "Anticipation is the enemy of all actors. It wreaks particularly savage havoc in films because the camera sees everything, especially lack of spontaneity."
(49) "Do not use rehearsals to give your all as an actor ... if you rehearse a risk, it is no longer a risk."
(52) " ... when I first started, they'd say, 'This is your stand-in,' and there'd be this great-looking young guy standing there. Eventually, one morning you come in and they say, 'This is your stand-in,' and there's this old fellow, standing there with a bald head, wearing a wig."
(59) "Competence is ... treasured far more than erratic brilliance."
(59) "The film actor knows how to reduce a performance physically but not mentally ... your mind should work even harder in a close-up than it does during other shots, because in the close-up, the performance is all in your eyes; you can't use the rest of your body to express yourself."
(68) "Movie acting is a delicate blend of careful preparation and spontaneity. The art of new-minting thoughts and dialogue comes from listening and reacting as if for the first time. [When you have no lines] ' ... sit there and listen, thinking of wonderful things to say, and then you decide not to say them. That's what you're doing in that scene.'"
(73) "Less is more ... very often you can do a completely blank look. The audience will project their emotions on your face."
(78) " ... the obvious trap was to play a German like a man trying to do a German accent; so I decided to play my character like a German trying to speak perfect English."
(89) "You've got to base your character on reality, not on some actor-ish memory of what reality is ... the audience mustn't see 'an actor,' they mustn't see the wheels turning."
(96) "The moment you feel foolish, you look foolish."
(96) "When you flesh out a character to make him real, your tools are the aspects of yourself that apply ..."
(99) "In real life, each person is always in sympathy with his own motives."
(103) "Honest men speak fast because they don't need time to calculate."
(131) "Cutting away to a strong reaction shot on your slightly misplayed line can give the impression that you delivered it far more effectively than you actually did."
(138) " ... small-time experience ... adds up to big-time ability."
(138) "Learn the confidence you can only gain under fire."
(xiv) "A tour bus pulls up pretty smartly as [we actors] are crossing the studio lot. Fans come piling out of the bus. The driver is trying to corral the actors into signing autographs on our way in. Most of the actors escaped the crowd through a side door. I, on the other hand, knew the bus driver had a job to do, and I was going to make him look good. I signed every autograph on that bus. No big deal, right? Until I tell you that the young driver of that bus turned out to be Mike Ovitz."
(3) "They say you've learned a foreign language when you start dreaming it. A film actor must be able to dream another person's dreams before he can call that character his own."
(14) "Plays are performed; movies are made."
(22) "You're your first best audience long before anybody else hears you. So don't be an easy audience. Keep asking for more."
(25) "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."
(43) "Anticipation is the enemy of all actors. It wreaks particularly savage havoc in films because the camera sees everything, especially lack of spontaneity."
(49) "Do not use rehearsals to give your all as an actor ... if you rehearse a risk, it is no longer a risk."
(52) " ... when I first started, they'd say, 'This is your stand-in,' and there'd be this great-looking young guy standing there. Eventually, one morning you come in and they say, 'This is your stand-in,' and there's this old fellow, standing there with a bald head, wearing a wig."
(59) "Competence is ... treasured far more than erratic brilliance."
(59) "The film actor knows how to reduce a performance physically but not mentally ... your mind should work even harder in a close-up than it does during other shots, because in the close-up, the performance is all in your eyes; you can't use the rest of your body to express yourself."
(68) "Movie acting is a delicate blend of careful preparation and spontaneity. The art of new-minting thoughts and dialogue comes from listening and reacting as if for the first time. [When you have no lines] ' ... sit there and listen, thinking of wonderful things to say, and then you decide not to say them. That's what you're doing in that scene.'"
(73) "Less is more ... very often you can do a completely blank look. The audience will project their emotions on your face."
(78) " ... the obvious trap was to play a German like a man trying to do a German accent; so I decided to play my character like a German trying to speak perfect English."
(89) "You've got to base your character on reality, not on some actor-ish memory of what reality is ... the audience mustn't see 'an actor,' they mustn't see the wheels turning."
(96) "The moment you feel foolish, you look foolish."
(96) "When you flesh out a character to make him real, your tools are the aspects of yourself that apply ..."
(99) "In real life, each person is always in sympathy with his own motives."
(103) "Honest men speak fast because they don't need time to calculate."
(131) "Cutting away to a strong reaction shot on your slightly misplayed line can give the impression that you delivered it far more effectively than you actually did."
(138) " ... small-time experience ... adds up to big-time ability."
(138) "Learn the confidence you can only gain under fire."
No comments:
Post a Comment