Reference: StudentFilmmakers Magazine, June 2007. Actors Are Not Plug-and-Play: Getting A Scene On Its Feet by John Badham. Pages 36 – 37.
Many directors expect actors to be like Apple Computers: Plugand-Play, performing perfectly right out of the box (or the makeup trailer). Writers work for months on a script; directors take weeks to create their vision. Actors are often cast only a couple of days before the shoot and have little – if any – time to prepare. I have had actors come on set at 7 am having only received the script at 10 pm the night before.
Nobody likes to talk about it, but the truth is, for this reason, many actors come to a set having sort-of learned their lines but little else. They have vaguely thought out what their character is trying to do in the scene or some character business.
That’s when our impatient director makes his first big mistake: in the interest of time, in the interest of his “vision,” he starts telling the actors where to stand and when to move. Frankly, this is a terrible way of staging a scene.
Actors need time to catch up to everyone else on the crew. They are not machines; they are fallible humans desperate to do their best.
What other way of staging a scene is there? It’s one of the best kept secrets in the black art of directing. It’s easier, it saves more time, and best of all: the results are electric.
Let the actors help you find the staging of the scene.
Any good educator knows that the best way to teach is by letting students discover things on their own. Students learn more from the workshops where they put things into practice than lectures.
Savvy directors apply this same principle to filmmaking, by letting actors have the freedom to discover the staging of a scene with very little input. As actors work their way through a scene, they will discover what it is really about. They learn the scene’s dramatic logic more easily and clearly than if the director dictated every move.
A director who tries this for the first time will see his actors create unexpected and exciting moments that he never envisioned.
The talented Jenna Elfman told me: “When we rehearsed EdTV, we worked on an empty sound stage that had the set taped out on the floor with rehearsal furniture. Ron Howard, the director showed us where the doors were, and that was about it. Then he turned us loose and let us discover the scene by ourselves. What was great was that he trusted us to use our own creativity. He put the acting first and then worked the cameras around what the cast was doing.
However, I find so many times on other films, it’s cameras first and acting second. It always makes me wonder why directors hire creative actors and then don’t let them create.”
“But I don’t have time for this,” you say? You are on a super tight schedule and don’t have time to tape sets out on the floor and “mess around?” This will never work! Can this possibly work? You bet. Here’s how.
One: gather the cast on the set and let them say the words of the scene aloud without any emphasis or meaning. Let them listen to the other actors for the first time and ease themselves into the creative process.
Two: get the scene on its feet by giving them a place to start, no more. “Christine, what if you come in from that door?” and “Bill, how about if you’re at the refrigerator? Move anywhere you feel like. Play around, try anything that occurs to you. If you don’t like what you are doing, try something else.”
The first time actors try it will be a mess! They’ll walk all over the place, off the set, even out to the parking lot. Check out the camera crew as they panic over how to light this mess.
In 1974, I was shooting a remake of the French Classic “Diabolique,” with Tuesday Weld and Joan Hackett. We were
staging a scene where Hackett’s character tries to defend herself because she thinks Weld’s character is her enemy. I had done my homework, and I knew how I wanted the scene staged. Was I going to share my ideas with the actors? …..You couldn’t have gotten that information out of me with a subpoena.
The producer, Aaron Rosenberg, ever mindful of the schedule, looked at his watch: 4:23 pm. “Where do you want us to go?” asked Joan Hackett. “Wherever you want,” I told her. She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Go ahead just experiment with it. Find out what works for the scene.” I said. Joan got this weird look on her face. The next thing I know, she grabbed the heavy poker from the fireplace and chases Weld who tries to escape. This was NOT in the script.
It was very dramatic. It was also way over the top.
Rosenberg turned even whiter than normal. “What’s this? What are you doing?!”
I didn’t reply. When the women breathlessly finished I gave oneof my patented brilliant directions: “OK, try it again”.
This time, the two actors didn’t move around as much. But Hackett was still waving that poker around. The producer is now thinking about firing me.
Then I had them do it a third time and a fourth time. By now, Hackett had abandoned the poker without a word from me and the two actresses had developed an exciting version of the scene, closely resembling the staging I had stashed in my pocket. But with one big difference: the actors came up with it, and they owned it. They were creatively invested and also understood why these choices worked dramatically.
I checked my watch. 4:31 pm. Elapsed Staging Time: 8 minutes.
Richard Dreyfuss told me, “I want to be able to feel with a Director that I’m a creative partner in this endeavor. Anything that happens that makes me feel otherwise I am going to resent.”
Oliver Stone said, “Shooting Alexander I found that Angelina Jolie would sometimes pre-choreograph a scene in her head. So, what do I do? I’m not going to fight and say, ‘That’s not the way it was set up or the way I want to light it.’ I say, ‘Okay, show me,’ and then she shows you her way. I’d respond, ‘Fine, I see it. Now how about trying this?’ And then you let her explore your alternatives.
You lead everybody as much as you can. Sometimes the actor is way ahead of you and knows better what he can do or say. ‘I don’t need that line. I can show it’”.
“What do you do when it doesn’t work and everything sucks?” you ask. Aside from the fact that this almost never happens, you still have that piece of paper in your back pocket! Once the actors have explored a scene themselves they will be receptive to your thoughts and adjustments, especially if they’re not making the scene work. I find myself saying things like “when you go over to the couch can you sit on the other end? That way I can get you in the shot easier.” Or “Would it work better if you wait to sit down until you say this line?”
Very important: notice how I never give orders, I ask questions. Now you have creative partners working with you to solve this sticky problem. And this can be a godsend.
Mel Gibson’s attitude is “Even if an actor comes up with ideas that you don’t think are the right way to go, always, always, say, ‘Try it.’ Even if you’re up against the clock. It’ll become apparent quickly if it’s not working. This person is trying to help you. Accept the help. He’s only going to make you look better. There are directors who are really cranky and miserable, and people help them anyway.”
Martin Scorsese is the poster child for director openness. In “Casino” he cast the great LQ Jones from “The Wild Bunch.” LQ came to rehearsal the day of shooting with several unusual ideas.
LQ Jones: “I couldn’t believe how open Marty was. If I’d tried that with Sam Peckinpah I’d of eaten a fist sandwich”
Kurtwood Smith: “If a director is always saying “No, no, no, no, it’s got to be this way.” Then pretty soon you just sort of give up and wait for him to tell you what to do. Or you fight him, and then all that does is create a lot of tension.”
Good ideas always win over pride. If we don’t listen to actors’ ideas, we might as well use Computer Generated Characters that do exactly what we tell them. They will be about as interesting too.
John Badham (“Saturday Night Fever,” “WarGames”) is a noted film and television director and producer. His book, “I’ll Be In My Trailer: The Creative Wars Between Director & Actors” (written with Craig Modderno), will be released by Michael Wiese Productions in July, 2006.
