"Look closely. I'm doing a Gerard Butler at the Hobbit press conference!"
Grow a beard and you´re someone else. Would I be myself on this blog?
I could do this post in two ways: as myself or as someone else.
That someone else could imply a different version of me.
Now why do I feel so insecure to study and adapt other bloggers´ writing styles?
Proof: Me doing a RA Frenzy
There is no denying: The Beard is gone already. RA news has been updated already. There was an impression already. The first time I saw above photo I instantly thought: Gerard Butler. My perception was that he entered the press conference in that mode and later shifted back into himself. Oh, that sounds like tough words, but you know I´m not like that. So I had beards in mind and made the beardy website as joke to play with, which was consoling to Servetus who is going through rough job rotating times, see beardy website here RA The Fellowship Of The Beard. Secondly, I wanted to see some Gerard Butler films and last week there were a couple of those on my tv: 300 and The Ugly Truth which is about how natural one has to be when to attract a partner. Then, I saw a handsome actor in the paper and checked him out to find myself curiously pondering his social mask. Then I saw another ´beardman´ Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film Die Another Day, in a torture scene, which was as I recall the talk of the town and that scene has elements which I can compare with the Lucas North´ torture scenes in Spooks. Don´t want to compare, but it´s a bad streak of me. Read on, there´s more....
But before I forget, I would like to tell you that men with beards appear to be more natural and are yet very amused by that primal feeling beards give. When my SO sports a beard on occasions, he grunts, chops wood and moves rocks in our garden. Before, the times I had to talk to him to hold onto his stubble for longer than two days, are numerous. Once he went to a week of survivalling, talking about primal manhood around the campfire. By the time he came back, I was so afraid of his warrior look that I made him sleep in the shed. Since then he sports the beard more often. So although I´m happily married, bless him, I still compare him to, well you know who I mean. Like I said a bad streak, so really, read on!
Proof: Me doing a Funny Violet
There is no competion, something RA followers like to think. Wakey, wakey, the competion is massive, and very impressive! *nods seriously with crinkled forehead*
Besides, are you ready for a bit of an Stanislavsky method acting class today also? I take it you'd done your physical exercises. Take your chair and sit in a circle. Listen receptively.
Our topic today will be:
Being authentic or trying to be that by 'living naturally' and study the phrase psycho-physicality.
Proof: Me doing a Looking Smart Violet
Now I do a Looking Smart Violet and read from The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin, which I can´t recite yet.
Stanislavsky´s method acting training is all about by training body and psycho together to achieve a sense of inner-outer co-ordination. This means that what is experienced internally is immediately translated into an outer expression, and (conversely) what the body manifests physically has a direct and acknowledged affect on the psychological landscape. By true listening in a state of receptivity on two levels, one to own inner activity and one to performance partners, one can have the courage to respond playfully to the everchanging nuances of each moment. The actor should be aware that the actor´s body is the interface between the inner landscape and the world-at-large. The more expressive your body can be, the more variations of character you can play.
Acting comes only across as ´living naturally´ when one has a finely honed technique and can repeat the acting realisticly, especially when it comes to acting within artificial conditions of the stage or the technical demands of the film set. And that´s the paradox of realistic acting - truthful, natural, spontanious -as everybody does with playing different roles in daily life where there´s a difference with stage or film between believing in what we´re seeing with believing in it´s possibility. (*)
Acting comes only across as ´living naturally´ when one has a finely honed technique and can repeat the acting realisticly, especially when it comes to acting within artificial conditions of the stage or the technical demands of the film set. And that´s the paradox of realistic acting - truthful, natural, spontanious -as everybody does with playing different roles in daily life where there´s a difference with stage or film between believing in what we´re seeing with believing in it´s possibility. (*)
We will demonstrate that with beardy actors!
First example: Bradley Cooper
My eye felt on a promotional picture of Bradley Cooper, actor, labelled as ´American hunk´ in a recent news article about the film ´Limitless´. I have never seen his work, so I looked for a number of YT clips to find out what he's like. I found this Details interview which was amusing in itself.
Remarkable: the man is
Question: Is BC doing an All American?
Task: Study more of his clips.
I've seen several of these Inside the Actor´s Studio interviews with James Lipton, founder of this acting school. Very insightful. Plus these interviews have the household, offbeat question: "What's your favorite curse word?" Mine is ´bozo´ in this scene from the film Ruthless People (1986), on which I chewed for quite some years.
To study his acting, I include this clip of the Limitless Trailer with a promising storyline in which his lifestyle improves by taking these brain pills.
Remarkable: he's very American
Question: If an European does a 'Bradley Cooper', how much of that will come across authentic?
Task: Study Hugh Jackman.
Example two: Gerard Butler
Preparing to be a King in ´300´ Remarkable: A lot of training between shots and making this film looks like a guy's thing
Interview for The Ugly Truth Remarkable: three women wrote this funny romcom The Ugly Truth with as GB as macho 'sexist'!
Acting in The Ugly Truth. Remarkable: the man/woman jokes work!
One cannot get enough acting advice for beardy scenes Sir Ian Mc Kellen talks about acting in LOTR :)
Question: Who are you when you are performing?
Task: Keep that in mind
Apologies to RAFrenzy for my bad impersonation.
Apologies to those (actors), who can shoot holes in this blogpost.
(*) see chapter 1, page 17-19,21 of the Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin.
This example is why I like to read about acting.
Question: Suppose you feel shy and insecure, how do you truthfully exude 'rough around the edges'?
Task: Try to be Scottish.
Example three: Ian McKellen
One cannot get enough acting advice for beardy scenes Sir Ian Mc Kellen talks about acting in LOTR :)
Question: Who are you when you are performing?
Task: Keep that in mind
Contemplating thoughts:
From King Lear: "Who is it that can tell me about me?"
Monty Python joke: "You´re all individuals." "No, I´m not!!"
Apologies to RAFrenzy for my bad impersonation.
Apologies to those (actors), who can shoot holes in this blogpost.
(*) see chapter 1, page 17-19,21 of the Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin.
This example is why I like to read about acting.
Screencap: RANet
