The Great Acting Blog: “Be An Explorer”

The Great Acting Blog: “Be An Explorer”

A few years back, I wrote and produced a short film. It wasn’t a conventional film, it was art house, minimal, exploring the minutiae of human behaviour and while we were making it I took a lot of flak from cast and crew. They didn’t understand the style of the film or what I was doing with it so they dismissed it, treating it with contempt. It was a shame because our results were strong. The problems I had had, created enormous stress because I felt as though I had failed the film in some way. I felt as though I had let traitors in through the gate – through hiring the wrong people, I felt that I hadn’t protected the film. However, after a more rational consideration, I realised that I just needed to tighten my process for choosing collaborators – I needed to work with those who broadly shared my aesthetic outlook, or those who were at least willing to make a departure and go on the journey.

It’s hard to find people who are willing to take a chance on the untried. It’s hard to find people who want to participate in something truly artistic rather than the same old, same old. The same old, same old is safer, more comfortable and there is less prospect of criticism because it resembles yesterday’s success. It’s not however, easy to take a chance on an unratified artist. This is why I say that actors must gain a deep aesthetic understanding of the form they are working in – it enables them to identify new talent, those who are worth working with. The work of a true artist, work that is new and individualistic, will not look like that picture your drama school teacher painted for you.

Switch it around. Instead of waiting to be discovered, instead of waiting to be chosen, you go out and discover somebody, you go out and choose the new artists. Find the new writers, find the new filmmakers, find the new directors, find the new actors. Discover them. Choose them. And see where it takes you.

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