If you want to be a successful actor, you must learn to live in the moment and find inspiration for your work in everything.
Not too long ago I watched one of Paul Bettany’s lesser known projects. He has a fantastic line that, even though it’s very grabby, most people toss it aside as soon as the scene is over.
“The fear that people experience when they’re standing on the edge isn't the fear of falling. It's the fear that they might actually jump off.”
He delivered the line while standing on the edge of a skyscraper looking down.
We’ll get to what that means for your acting career in just a moment. First, take a second to really think through what that means.
With well written scripts, entire characters can be summed up with a single, punchy line that drives the entirety of their actions.
This happens with characters like Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) in Titanic saying “I’ll never let go.”
It seems minor but you can tie every one of their choices in the film to that one line. We’ll come back to that in a sec.
First, I want to come back to what it means for you and your acting career.
If you want to be a successful actor, you have to be able to deliver incredible results on set and build amazing characters.
We’ve talked about this considerably in the past but we’ve never gone over this point, which is probably the most important one.
So, if you want to be a successful actor this one thing you must do...
What most acting coaches teach is to come up with your character’s motivation, but delivering a world class performance goes way beyond that.
You must speak to your character’s inner desire and bring that into the present moment. Here’s what I mean...
Even something simple like a running scene can carry a lot of depth.
To deliver a standout performance you have to determine if you are running for exercise or running for your life. It’s not just running!
If your character is running for exercise in the scene, what's behind the exercise? Is it for speed training, stress relief, cardio health?
Each one of those layers can add something to your character.
The kind of tired you would be from a 5 mile run just for the sake of cardio would have a different breathing style than someone who didn't worry about pacing. This is because if they were stressed they likely just ran until they forgot about the problem and they just wanted to leave it all out on the road.
At the end of the run, they would be panting heavily, be very loose in their stance, and probably have a blank look on their face.
Compare that to a character who ran 5 miles for the sake of cardio. At the end of their run, they would be tired and probably panting (but with shallow breaths since they would have paced through the 5 miles).
Their stance would be a lot more controlled, and they would have a look at least leaning towards accomplishment.
After going through a few layers, you do hit a point of diminishing returns. You will know when the layer becomes redundant or useless.
Typically that's when you get to something that is irrelevant to the story or that doesn't add any value to the character choice.
For example, if you were favoring your left leg because there was a pebble in your right shoe (and that doesn't come back to relevance later) that would be the point where you chased that thread far enough.
In the clip I mentioned earlier, the tone and the look on Paul Bettany’s face while he was standing on the edge of a skyscraper would have been different if he layered the scene differently.
He was being cavalier, because he wasn't actually afraid of falling. Also, he was a wall street guy so risk is something he deals with every day.
In the same scene, a school teacher would lead with fear, making the emotional mix and the layers totally different.
In the beginning layering will take time, but you will get to a point when you can do it in seconds.
Take each scene and work through it like the runner’s example we went through as you prepare your character.
Then, make micro adjustments as you go. There will be times that your delivery just won't feel right. Go through your process again and make adjustments.
You will even be doing this process on set from time to time.
This is how world class actors build phenomenal characters and deliver memorable performances.
If you want to be a professional actor, you have to be able to deliver on set. When you do, you will work with people that want to collaborate with you over and over again.
However, you need to have enough opportunities to get on set if you want to build a successful acting career.
A good friend of mine always says “if they don’t know you, they can’t hire you.”
Once Casting Directors and industry decision makers know about you, you have a chance of getting in the room, but you have to go beyond that and give them every reason possible to call you in.
Having a powerful industry reputation is key to getting in the room, and I can help.
To make yourself stand out once you’re there requires that you have something to bring to the production that no one else can.
Your talent will shine through, especially if you use the exercise we just went through to prepare for your audition.
Beyond that,make sure you have an additional edge, and a platform is a great place to start. Everyone knows how powerful social media is and having good numbers to point to during an audition can give you an edge over other actors that can’t.
Here’s how I can help you get the ball rolling on social media and add legitimacy to your account.
If you have any questions on what we went through today or even if you just need someone to bounce ideas with, I’m always only an email or a comment away.
I’m happy to help however I can because I sincerely want to...
See you at the top,
Scott