官方艺术家
Jeanne Hartman
演员, 导演
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Actors, Don’t Deny Denial for a Believable Performance!
By Jeanne Hartman
Author of “The Right Questions for Actors”
www.JeanneHartmanActorsDetective.com
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Actors are taught in classes to find out about the role they are going to play. They learn to look for what they want in the scene and to be aware of the person they are talking to. Yes, I find they sometimes forget to do this, but after a while most actors in auditions do look at those choices. And that’s good, but there are so many more details you can investigate.
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Details that just make your character so real, so believable.
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And just one of them is to look at what your character denies. Ergo, the title of this blog. DON’T DENY DENIALS!
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Hey I hope I got your attention, because I was thinking about all those juicy, wonderful choices that actors forget to use. You know those reasons why people do what they do and think what they think. Those unproductive, neurotic, unhealthy thoughts and choices that we as human beings go to the therapist’s office to fix but as actors those choices are FABULOUS for our characters.
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And one of those many neuroses is DENIAL. Of course we all can see so clearly when SOMEONE ELSE is in denial but not so easy for us to see it in ourselves. Hey I’m not in denial, of course not!
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Why check if your character is in denial? Why is this helpful? WELL! Let’s imagine you are playing a serial killer. Now come on, he (or she) has got to be in big denial. He is in denial that what he is doing is wrong. He has to justify why it is a good thing to kill people over and over and over!
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Yes, that’s obvious but even with “more normal” characters you can recognize their denial thoughts or maybe I should say “non-thoughts”.
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Let’s look at another example. You are playing a spouse who is lying to their partner. Now if this is in a film or television show, we know that this lie will eventually be revealed. In real life when a person lies or deceives that person believes what they are doing is the right thing to do. Now is that a denial? Probably. So you need to look at the reasons why the character justifies what they are doing. And part of this usually includes denials.
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Frankly this is a great place to search for the really interesting, juicy details of this flawed character. This is where you will find choices that will make this person seem real, believable. Your audience will relate to these imperfections more than the “perfect, heroic choices” that we give our characters. And if the writer has not given your role enough flaws, enough blemishes this is where you can include more.
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We don’t believe characters that do everything perfectly, know everything and seem to always do the “right” thing. We relate to those flawed characters that take the right path in spite of themselves. Sometimes the writer helps you understand why your character does what he does and sometimes the writer does not. But either way, you, the actor, can find a good reason to do what their script requires even though the leap in action may feel like a big one and sometimes even an unbelievable one.
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This is where you, the actor, can make use of the flaws of your character’s thinking. And denial is one of the ways for you to make sense of your character’s actions.
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Frankly, this part of the investigation can be a lot of fun. (Don’t tell people who think acting is not work anyway.) It is the time to let your imagination go free, open up the possibilities. Since we never actually hear what these thoughts are you can use whatever works for you. Whatever makes sense to you. Whatever helps you to create a really good reason for your character to do what he or she needs to do according to the script.
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Over the years actors will say to me, “…but my character wouldn’t do this, it doesn’t make sense.” I just smile and ask them, “How many real people do you know who always, always, always makes sense? How many real people are logical in everything they do?”
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So far in my over 25 years of coaching, no one knows someone like that.
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Now you realize that for each character you play if you want him to look and sound like a real person, you need to find those thoughts and choices that make no sense but your character does it anyway. Hey, we love to watch those characters on the big screen, the little screen and on stage.
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So start with denial. I’ll give you some ideas of where to search. Look at his or her morals or lack of morals. Where do they break the law? Do they get along with their family members? If not, why not? What troubles them and why? These questions will get you started but don’t stop, keep going.
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If you would like to practice finding the juicy denials of your character, take a look at some roles on television, film and theater. Right now Breaking Bad is a new hot TV show. PLEASE! Of course the leading man character has plenty of denials for you to notice but I think most of the other characters do too. Frankly any of the Oscar nominated movies this year could give you plenty of characters who have a lot of denial. In theater, take just one Tennessee Williams play, any one of them and you will have plenty of characters with denials. And don’t get me started on Shakespeare!!!
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And if you dare, just look around at your family or friends and you can study denial there too. But beware it is best if you don’t share this information with them. They will not appreciate it or go ahead say it they will DENY it!!!! See. Lots of material for us actors!!!
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