The
Thespian Ten Commandments: Part 2
(by Herbie J Pilato, Acting
Magazine Contributor) |
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What
better time to explore the balance of
emotions that encompass acting (and
it's five remaining central rules)
than at the Holiday Season. The
personal, family and professional
gatherings that take place over the
next few months are filled with all
kinds of dynamics. Dynamic dynamics -
and not so dynamic dynamics. "I think
I'll ask Paige to marry me on New
Year's Eve." "Will Uncle Fred act like
an idiot again this year about
Janine's turkey stuffing?" "Just ONCE
I'd like to visit the Mission downtown
and volunteer to feed the homeless and
the hungry. I'm SO sick and tired of
sitting at a full table and listening
to everyone who has everything (who
are in event, actually 'full of
themselves') complain about how 'bad'
they think they got it."
Well, as the great Mahatma Gandhi once
said (and I really don't know if he
said it in real life, 'cause I only
know first hand that the Oscar-winning
Ben Kingsley said it as Gandhi
in the 1982 iconic film of the same
name), "I know a way out of hell" -
which brings us to Number 6 on the
list of The Thespian Ten
Commandments:
6. Keep quiet and speak at all of
the right moments and/or Speak only
when spoken to: You wanna know
some of the best acting I've ever seen
Tom Cruise perform? It was in his 1999
film Magnolia, when he played
probably one of the silliest
characters I've ever seen ANYONE play
on screen - or off: the misogynistic
self-help guru Frank Mackey.
Through the middle of the film, a
journalist arrives to interview Frank
who thinks, as usual, that he has the
situation under control. But he does
not. The reporter is manipulating him,
like Frank has done with others his
entire life. He's been loud, obnoxious
and over-bearing which, as with any
bully, has of course hidden his
insecurities. But now, in this scene
with the reporter, he's grown quite
quiet. That's right. Quite quiet. So
much so, that the journalist wonders
why. "I am silently judging you,"
replies Frank, who realizes that he's
been duped - and is trying to regain
control of the interchange - which he
ultimately does. But this time,
through silence and by NOT losing his
head. Here, Tom as Frank gives the
line delivery of his life. He's not
jumping around the screen spewing
vulgarities in his underwear and
looking absolutely ridiculous (as he
does throughout the rest of the
movie). Nope. He's just sitting there,
saying nothing - and taking full
command of the scene in the process.
The point is, in acting, it's not
always so much what you DO say, but
what you DON'T say. Sometimes, it's
all about the power of silence in
between the spoken word, the proper
pause, and what you can do with a
silent stare - as opposed to an open
mouth. That being said, sometimes we
have to let the OTHER actor do the
talking (scripted or improv'd), and be
the strong silent type.
7. Walk and move on a line at all
of the right times: If you have to
know when to speak and when to shut up
as an actor, you certainly have to
know when to walk and move. The
question is, can you chew gum and walk
at the same time? The answer is: not
always - and nor should you desire to.
For example, let's say you're playing
a female character with a very
life-altering secret that needs to be
revealed, and you've been waiting for
just the right moment to spill your
guts. In other words, you're pregnant,
and you have to tell your husband, but
you really don't want to because he's
not the father. Johnny Bridgework,
the mailman's first cousin on his
mother's side. - HE'S the father.
Needless to say, you're in quite the
predicament, with a major truth to be
told - and you just can't blurt it
out. And as an actor, you can't walk
all over this line of major
revelation. But this is what you CAN
and SHOULD do. You have to pace
yourself properly. Let's say the exact
line is simply: "I'm pregnant." You
don't want to say this line while
moving, because you'll "throw it
away." So, instead, you move first,
AND THEN say it. If the director has
guided you to walk over to the sofa
and sit down in the process of your
revelation, then you say it either
BEFORE you ultimately sit down, or
AFTER but NOT DURING the walk over to
the sofa. Again, we employ the power
of silence - especially with
interpreting such a monumental
character revelation.
8. Keep up your energy and stay
alive even when you (or your
character) is dying: One of the
most important things you can do
besides that you're PERFORMANCE is
likable (even when you're character is
not, which see Part 1, Commandment
Number 4), is keeping your performance
ALIVE even when you're character is
dying. That is to say there is ENERGY
in every emotion that you perform on
stage, in film or on TV. Living
energy. Dying energy. Happy energy.
Sad energy. Even smart and
not-so-smart energy. Make sure you
have the right kind of energy for each
sector of your performance as your
character. In other words, just
because your character is dying in the
final act of Lester Loses His Right
Nostril that doesn't mean your
PERFORMANCE has to die along with him.
Keep your energy up - to the bitter
end.
9. Don't over/under re-Act. Do it
just right: Remember Goldilocks
and the Three Bears? "This
porridge is too HOT…This porridge is
too COLD….But THIS porridge…yes…THIS
porridge is JUST RIGHT." That's how
your acting should be. JUST RIGHT.
Certainly, not just WRONG. Again, it's
all about balance. If you're
interpreting a character that must
raise his or her voice at a particular
time in a given play, feature film, TV
show, etc., then you don't want to
scream through the ENTIRE feature
film, TV show, etc., do you? Of course
not. All that screaming will take away
from the real moment when you SHOULD
be screaming (which see Jason
Alexander's much-too-much screaming as
George Costanza in the latter,
failed seasons of Seinfeld).
The point is, you need to BUILD UP to
that scream. Milk that scream. But for
pity sake, don't scream all the way
through your scream…er, I mean, scene.
And by golly-wog, please never -
whatever you do, please don't scream
at your acting partner (co-actor) OFF
screen - which brings us to final
Commandment…
10. Be courteous and generous with
your scene partner: Ain't nothing
like a kind and courteous person to
work with. As I look back on a few of
the plays that I have directed in my
career, I think about, of course, some
of the actors I cast in the roles. I
remember casting one less talented
actor over a multi-talented actor,
because the less talented actor was a
good person and easy to work with, and
the multi-talented actor was a
complete moron with an ego the size of
Kansas. Life is too short to work with
egomaniacs. You don't need him. And
the industry certainly doesn't either.
So don't be one yourself - and you'll
ALWAYS have work. And isn't that
what's it's all about?
Herbie J Pilato
is an Actor, Writer, Producer, and
Singer. The author of several books on
pop-culture (including Bewitched
Forever and The Kung Fu Book of
Caine), Herbie J has appeared on
or helped to produce hundreds of radio
and TV shows, including E! True
Hollywood Stories on Bewitched
and David Carradine, A&E
Biographies of Elizabeth
Montgomery and Lee Majors, The
Learning Channel's Behind the Fame
specials on The Mary Tyler Moore
Show, The Bob Newhart Show,
LA Law and Hill Street Blues,
the Sci-Fi Channel's
short-lived but critically-acclaimed
Sciography series, as well as
several segments of Entertainment
Tonight and the special DVD
release of Kung Fu: The Complete
First Season. As an actor, Herbie
J has appeared on everything from
Highway to Heaven to The Golden
Girls to The Bold and the
Beautiful. And he's directed
mainstage productions of A Phoenix
Too Frequent, Leonard Malfi's
Birdbath, and Little Shop of
Horrors. Herbie J was
recently seen as a Cultural
Commentator for Bravo's
upcoming five-part mini-series, The
100 Greatest TV Characters of All-Time
(on which he also served as Producer),
and served as a Consultant on Nora
Ephron's Bewitched feature film
(starring the Oscar-winning Nicole
Kidman, and Will Ferrell, Shirley
MacLaine, and Michael Caine), while a
special ANNIVERSARY EDITION of
his book, BEWITCHED FOREVER, is
available now. To place your order for
this book, or to contact Herbie J for
any other applicable reason, please
feel free to email him at
hjpilato@aol.com or his agent,
Jennifer DeChiara (JennDeC@aol.com).
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