| So there are probably as many acting methods out there as there are actors, although "pretentious" or "inflated" seem to describe the lion's share of those that I've met. Not that you'd notice, but I have in the past taken an acting class or two and picked up a few things, though a lot of it was generally so poignant that I'd drop it right back down again. Yes, look it up, poignant is right. The point here being that I place little value in "method" or "sense memory" or "the script", and simply subscribe to James Cagney's reported advice: "Learn your lines... plant your feet... look the other actor in the eye... say the words... mean them." I don't why Cagney spoke with so many ellipses, perhaps he was short of breath when he said that. David Mamet wrote a book about acting called "True and False" which fits right in with James Cagney's and my acting style. Mamet basically believes that if you just stand there and say what you mean and mean what you say, you're doing your job. I think the Mad Hatter or someone said something like that to Alice too, so maybe it should be taken with a grain of salt. In any event, all actors are trying to achieve the same thing: truth. I had an acting teacher that used to say there are no right choices or wrong choices, there are just choices and then better choices. Generally he was saying there were better choices than whatever choice I had made. Acting class never quite worked for me, because I was always bored. I think maybe if I had stuck with it I would have advanced my craft more quickly and more predictably, but dear god maybe I would have just quit altogether years ago! Boredom is deadly in any endeavor, not least of all in the performing arts and Parkour. I've often wondered what I would be doing today had I chosen another career, another goal, another dream. It's an odd thing to wonder, since it can't happen. I can't have done anything besides act and, you know, have a day job. There's no real frame of reference for wondering if I'd gone into painting or dance or medicine or crime-fighting, since that isn't what I did. It's like wondering "Gee, what would my life have been like if I hadn't have been me?" Though I'm not religious now, I've obviously also picked up a lot of useful stuff from those two or three times I went to the Church of Religious Science. That's kind of what I do, I guess. Not get too heavily into anything in particular and just pick up the bits and pieces that I want and like, then mash it all together into something useful. Continue enjoying the season finale, everyone. You still have a couple more episodes until my death-defying entrance (which we haven't shot yet, oops!). So take the next couple Mondays and go to the bathroom, get a snack,what have you. You have time. |