Alcuni approcci teorici di riferimento sulla leadership

Good actors always find something in themselves to help make the scene exciting. In interviews and in writing, many of our best actors have said that one of their fears is that they will not be able to get in touch with whatever it is that will let them go beyond believability and come up with an exciting and unexpected performance. It takes a lot of work, but try to find something in yourself relative to the circumstances that both you and the direc-tor haven’t thought of before. One advantage of film is that the direcdirec-tor can always reshoot until he gets a scene that works.

JEREMIAH: Debra, you play the wife, and Harry, you’re her husband, who’s coming home after being fired. Don’t rehearse with each other, just memorize the dialogue.

While they are memorizing, I block the camera movement with other actors. Debra doesn’t know that I told Harry that there is a pistol in the pocket of the coat in the closet.

JEREMIAH: You guys ready? Okay. Action.

INT. BEDROOM. DEBRA.

(Harry enters the bedroom. He stumbles through the door, slumps on the bed. He knocks an open suitcase off the bed.) [The workshop laughs.]

JEREMIAH: CUT! What are you doing Harry?

HARRY (to Jeremiah)

It says he just had a car accident.

JEREMIAH: But the accident wasn’t that serious. You’re not hurt. Start it again.

(Harry re-enters. His wife, Debra, is packing her suitcase.) HARRY

Where are we going?

(Debra says nothing, keeps packing. Harry walks to the closet, roots around, and turns around with a gun in his hand. She turns to get something out of a drawer and sees him.)

Good Actors Make Things Happen 107

DEBRA Harry . . . ?

(Harry sticks the gun’s muzzle up to his neck. Debra stays with the scene. She takes a couple of careful steps toward him.)

DEBRA

Give me the gun please, Matt.

JEREMIAH: (softly) Debra, be careful! The gun contains blanks. If it goes off it could seriously hurt him. Don’t jerk or touch the trigger when you take the gun.

DEBRA (to Jeremiah)

I can’t. What if something happens? I hate guns.

JEREMIAH: Debra, focus on the situation. You’re an actress, this is your job.

You can do it.

(Debra approaches slowly with caution. She reaches for the gun. Her hand trembles.)

DEBRA (fearfully)

Please Harry. Don’t do this.

We can work this out. Listen to me. Stop. Think about this.

(Harry smiles and turns his head. Debra’s eyes fill with tears.)

DEBRA (crying)

Why are you doing this?

JEREMIAH: Excellent! That’s a Print. (to the workshop) I expected her to be frightened when I told her how dangerous the situation was. But I didn’t know she would cry. The tears are a bonus. Okay, do the rest of the scene.

(Harry takes the gun from his neck and points it at Debra.

She backs away.)

DEBRA (frightened) Harry . . ..

(Harry starts to laugh. Debra, frightened, stares at him.

She realizes that he is just playing with her. Then she becomes angry.)

DEBRA (angry)

You’re so immature. You’re a spoiled little boy who always gets his way. Not this time.

It’s over.

(She continues packing her bag furiously.)

JEREMIAH: See how a director, by controlling the situation with suggestion and through blocking the actors, can help you get honest performances. Notice I never told them how to act. I just changed the circumstances.

LOU (to Jeremiah)

I’m curious. Debra cried by accident, but how would you go about making her cry if the scene called for it?

JEREMIAH: It’s difficult. One of the things you look for in casting sessions is whether or not she can deal with the emotional stuff in the script. But your job as an actor is to learn how to come up with tears. Let’s see if we can get some-thing different. Debra, see Harry’s desperation and get him to stop. This time, you know the gun’s not loaded and it can’t go off.

DEBRA (to Jeremiah)

Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?

JEREMIAH: I was helping you to accept the situation. (to the workshop) When Debra thought the gun was loaded it frightened her. In the movie At Close Range,there was a scene where Sean Penn was holding a gun on Christopher Walken. Penn stepped out of the scene and said to the prop person, loud enough for Walken to hear, “Give me the loaded gun.” Then he stepped back into the scene. This put Walken in a different frame of mind. He wasn’t sure if the gun Good Actors Make Things Happen 109

was real or blank, and that gave him more to work with. Debra, after we’re done, look at your tape and see the difference between the two takes.

DEBRA (to Jeremiah)

I could feel the difference.

JEREMIAH: Good. Now Debra, try to take the gun. You love Harry. The last thing you want to see him do is commit suicide.

(Harry is sitting on the bed, gun in hand.) DEBRA

(loving)

What are you doing?

JEREMIAH: Kneel down next to him and touch him gently. Now, say it again.

DEBRA

(lovingly, touches his arm) What are you doing?

JEREMIAH: (to the workshop) See the difference? See how the physical action of touching makes the scene better. Good directors, especially in emotional scenes, put the actors in physical and mental positions to evoke feeling. She is kneeling, which puts Harry in a stronger position. When she puts her hand on his arm, we can see them become intimate, and the scene becomes more real.

Her loving gesture adds feeling to her line. Much of acting is simply relating. It keeps you honest, gives you a point of focus, and brings out the appropriate feeling.