Working with actors is probably my favorite part of making films.
One thing that can often happen to actors though, is what’s sometimes called “being in your head.”
This is generally the result of the actor trying to direct or somehow judge their performance as they are doing it. This is death to a performance. Especially on camera where there is nowhere to hide. Theater has enough built in artifice about it, that I think it’s easier to cover up this kind of thing. It’s not ideal, but I think a play performance is salvageable if an actor gets in his head. But not on camera. The camera sees all. And if you’re not there, everyone will know.
If I see an actor getting into their head and they can’t get out, one of the things I’ve been doing lately is removing all artifice from the situation. I tell them there are no characters, there is no scene, there is only actor A and actor B, in this room, right here, right now. And then I get them interacting on this very real, immediate basis.
For instance, while rehearsing something last Fall, I would take one of the actors aside and give him some specific actions to do toward another actor. These were pretty loopy, but when he did them as him in this room, right here, right now, the other actor suddenly reacted with truth and realism. She was genuinely surprised that Actor A was doing this crazy stuff. Which is exactly what her character was supposed to be in that scene. But she didn’t have to act. She just had to be there, and the circumstances outside her control worked on her to make her actually surprised. Taking the scene into a pure, real state of just you and me in this room, right here, right now, I was able to get the actors grounded in the reality of the moment. Then we started building up the scene again from that point of truth.
Another thing I like to do with films, is rehearse in as close to the actual environments as I can. Now this is obviously not possible in many cases. Locations can cost money, be time sensitive, etc. But in some cases you can certainly do it.
We’ve rehearsed a scene on the subway, when that’s where the scene would take place. This caused the actors to settle into the behaviors they would really have in that situation. They didn’t have to pretend or “act.” They just had to be, and allow the naturally stimuli of that space guide their behaviors. When they thought people were listening to them, they would adjust, become quieter, etc. In one case there was actually a fight in the same car, and the actor had to continue with the scene under those actual circumstances. This meant she stopped and listened to the fight, as so many New Yorkers will. Then she went about her business. But being in that environment, where she could not control what was going to happen, really freed her up to just be in that that moment, in that space. And out of her head.
Last night, Feb 28th, the location was a deserted industrial section of Brooklyn. And the character was supposed to be alone in this area, in danger from some unknown assailants. In a case like this, it’s easy to set up the circumstances, and then throw stimuli at the actor. I might be down the block, making noises behind her. At one point, I might make noises as if I was running up to her and about to overtake her. This indeed caused real fear in her. Fear she had to really fight to control and achieve her objective.
These can sound like a tricks, and many directors have been accused of abusing actors to get performances out of them over the years. But I think it’s extremely valid to give the actor actual, physical stimuli to work with. And most importantly, stimuli the actor cannot control, so that they genuinely never know what’s going to happen next, thus are forced to be in the moment and out of their heads.