On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:14:26 -0700, Stuart McKelvie wrote:
Dear Tipsters,
As has been pointed out in this thread, some actors, particularly those
who have played nasty characters, have received threats, suggesting
that people conflate them with their role. And do you think that some
people might have voted for a certain California governor because
they thought he was really a tough guy? And what about a certain
Republican president? However, to some extent, and perhaps more
so with type casting, people may be selected for roles because of
what they are like, perhaps on the assumption if you play yourself
a bit, it will appear more authentic.
Perhaps but there are different schools of acting that train actors
to play roles based on different criteria, such as "classical acting"
(Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier are examples) see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_acting
And "method acting" (Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are
examples) see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting
There are other approaches as well. In all cases, I believe, the actor
attempts to bring a character to life even if that character is nothing
like
the actor in real life (one hopes this is especially true for actors
that
portray serial killers ;-). I believe it was Olivier who, when asked a
question by someone who assumed he was a method actor about
how he got into his character (method acting is where the infamous
"What's my motivation?" comes from), he replied that he didn't, he
used "acting" instead.
NOTE: some directors may cast people with no acting experience into
certain roles because the person's actual personality captures the
essence of a character's personality or style of response. This is
rarely
done with characters that have major roles but a notable exception is
the movie "The Jackie Robinson Story" which starred Jackie Robinson
as, well, you know. In these cases, the actor's and the character's
personality are essentially the same. However, even in cases like this,
is a person really playing themselves? Or is their behavior affected by
the fact that they are being observed and playing a role -- what role
does the director's and other actors expectancies play in altering what
the actor does?
On the other hand, my favourite actor, Peter Sellars, was like a
chameleon.......he could play so many roles effectively that you would
often
not know it was him unless you knew in advance.
Alec Guinness is a comparable actor. In the movie "Kind Hearts
and Coronets" he plays 8 different characters including a female; see:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041546/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
And his roles in different films show tremendous range, from Fagin
in "Oliver Twist" to Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars" and so on.
Laurence Olivier is similar but I think that one might see him as
a more "formal" actor because of his Shakespearean roles but
one should also keep in mind the characters he played in "The
Entertainer", "Marathon Man", "The Boys from Brazil", and
"Sleuth".
And here is a psychological question: if an actor plays the same role
many
times, would the constant practice (and positive feedback if it is done
well)
start to shape the person in that direction? In other words, given the
laws of
learning, how separate can an actor keep the role and their self?
This is an interesting nature-nurture question about the stability of a
person's personality. Depending upon one's definition of personality,
an actor's personality should remain relatively stable over time (if my
reading of the personality research lit is correct) but the characters
that one plays does not. Does a person's personality change towards
the personality of the character that one plays or does the characters
one plays become more like the actor's personality?
Consider Sean Connery in the movie "The Hunt for Red October"
where he plays a Russian and speaks Russian with a Scottish
accent -- Connery is playing Connery playing a Russian. Compare
this to the actor Kelly Macdonald, specifically, in her role in the
Robert Altman movie "Gosford Park" where she speaks with a natural
Scottish accent (she is Scottish) and her role as Carla Jean Moss in
the Coen brother's "No Country for Old Men" where she nails the
West Texas accent; see:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_country_for_old_men/news/1704043/kelly_macdonald_on_no_country_for_old_men_the_rt_interview/
In Macdonald's case, she is clearly acting her roles.
One final comment: consider the following quote from IMDB about
"No Country for Old Men":
|When Joel Coen and Ethan Coen approached Javier Bardem about
|playing Chigurh, he said "I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I
hate
|violence." The Coens responded, "That's why we called you." Bardem
|said he took the role because his dream was to be in a Coen Brothers
|film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
Like I said above, it's a good thing actors playing serial killers don't
take
on the character's persona. ;-)
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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