Choosing and Researching a Project

Choosing and Researching a Project 

                                                       

Ideally, actors will commit to a good script they can believe in, and they'll go about the job of helping bring it to life. On the television program Inside the Actors Studio, host James Lipton asked Actor Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty) how much he relies on instinct and spontaneity when choosing (and acting out) a role.

Spacey replied, "A lot. And then the trick is to make it look like you didn't ever think of it before. I always want an audience to have the very same experience that I had when I first read it. The moment I read it, the nickel drops and I say my god I have to do this. And so it's a process of tearing it apart, of figuring it out, of understanding every aspect of it as much as you can. Not to the point where you kill instinct or where you over rehearse it, but to try to get it back to that feeling so that an audience experiences that incredible realization, that wonderful moment of laughter or joy or tears or whatever it is that I experience when I first read it. I trust that first read."

For Spacey and many other actors the choice of a project is governed first and for-most by the story. He, unlike many other actors however, generally doesn't want to know any other elements; who's directing, who's in it or what the pay is; he finds this distracting. "If I don't respond to the story, if I don't think it's a story I should do no matter how good the part is then I try not to go near it because I probably shouldn't do it."

Unfortunately, through the process of filmmaking, scripts are often edited and revised to fit time constraints, budgets, etc. Often this means that the original script the actor committed to is no longer as good as it could have been. The actor finds him or herself depending on the script for a decent performance, no longer able to create a multi-dimensional, authentic character.

This is just one example of what an actor must deal with on a day to day basis during the filming process. "I advise actors to take their part out of the script," states actress/director Nina Foch. "Take the actual pages out and put the rest in a drawer. Then read the pages at least once a day. You need to know what's required of each scene and how to help it be better."

For many actors, part of making characters and scenes most effective is by doing research.

ACTORS MUST GET INVOLVED IN THE ROLE. COMPLETELY.

WR