All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 118 - Working with Actors Part 1

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there are a lot

of very effective

wonderful directors who make great

television shows and great movies that

that feature wonderful

performances and they don't really know

how to talk to actors they don't really

do much and the reality is if you are

meticulous in your casting and you then

create an environment where those actors

you know are allowed to bring to the

character that which they understand of

that character um you have a very very

good chance of having wonderful

performances so as much as I love to

modulate

experiment uh and and uh collaborate

with actors

uh it's it is not the most important

thing that I do on a day of directing

the most important thing I do is that

overview of the story and understanding

how to Stage IT how to capture it how to

get it within the lens uh you know the

frames that that that we're trying to

create and create an environment where

those actors um you know can give it

their best and then protect them and be

there so that if they are moving off in

a wrong direction that's when you can

that's when it's imperative that you

have the confidence and the relationship

to be able to move in and and help but

it's not essential that you lead them

it's essential that you protect

them I'm very lucky because I I have a a

reputation most people know that I was

an actor and so there's an inclination

on most Act part uh to to trust me so

that's that's a huge advantage that's

always been a kind of a building block

of my U process and my and my and my

career uh so I have a lot of confidence

still you do have to begin to build a

working you know relationship and a

collaboration and it it begins with

discussion and beginning

to understand how the actor relates to

the character

and how they relate to what you have to

say about the character because a

director is a powerful figure um and um

and so is the actor and I don't

necessarily mean in terms of status it's

that that actor has to take command over

that character you don't you don't want

somebody who just hits the marks and

says the lines you want somebody who's

trying to inhabit it and bring something

to it uh you you need them to be uh

responsive to directions so that you you

know if you if you uh disagree with a

choice they have the flexibility to give

you what it is that you think you're

looking for that the script demand so so

you need to find this kind of um this

equilibrium this give and

take different actors approach things in

very different ways and the sooner you

can identify that um you know without

starting some kind of um emotional

Wildfire uh the better

sometimes if actors intellectualize too

much they

freeze and you can over discuss

something and there are some actors who

really need very very little Direction

and they benefit from the simplest of

directions

faster more

Pace um slower just giving them a result

you know louder um uh and then there are

other actors that if that's the way you

directed them they would feel like

puppeted um robots and they be angry and

they'd be they feel that you're you're

actually um you know you're being

reductive and they they operate from a

psychological place and you're you know

you're undercutting that you're

undermining their their process they

might not say

anything um but they you know you've

you've you're not helping them you're

not helping them and um so in talking to

that actor or actress if what you need

is is speed or Pace it's the you know

it's the the pauses are too long simply

it's as simple as that but you feel that

they they may not respond to you know a

very simple uh result oriented Direction

very well then you may talk about the

urgency of the situation you may talk

about uh you know how uh how much time

pressure uh the characters are under

right now or how they don't want to

leave too many gaps because the other

person might start to take the take

charge of the conversation and you know

and you you you you you work with it

psychologically from a from a very real

world um kind of a place and so it's you

know it's it's uh a lot of that comes

comes with experience but uh it's uh

very interesting for me and a lot of fun

to understand actors and understand how

to help them really uh and how to help

them help me help the movie uh and

that's that's always uh you know

ultimately the goal

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new

directors um who you know have not been

actors have not particularly been

professional actors or dedicated uh

performers um I think it

is vital to to take some acting classes

and some scene study classes and you

never have to be in front of a camera in

your life but it's I think very

important to begin to understand the

grammar the language of acting acting

teachers talking to you it's just like

directors really uh and and also

understand how terrifying and

anxiety-provoking the acting experience

can be so that you can have some empathy

uh for what it is that you're asking the

actors to put themselves through um

emotionally along with all the the

physical pressures once you once you

understand that

and once they know that you can speak

that language and that you do have

empathy and you do understand you can

also know when to cut

through um the anxiety and and push them

into performing Under Pressure which

sometimes happens you know very often

film acting a lot of the time is is

boils down to how good can you be you

know when uh the sun's about to go down

and uh the director going to lose the

scene uh if the if the moment isn't

isn't right and you have to do it then

and only then and it has to work you

know you you need you need to be able to

with confidence say I know you're

anxious about this but just trust the

material um you know it's you're you

know I I've seen what you're doing with

the character it's working go do it um

and you know you gain that confidence by

being around a lot of actors and you

know and actually acting and I'd say try

to be in plays and things like that so

you actually have that performance

anxiety you understand

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it a situation where the actor is is

really

failing um and and you don't know how to

fix it is to begin with a failure in the

director's preparation because had there

been a a proper casting process had

there been a rehearsal process uh I'm

very confident that you know you the

director wouldn't be confronting that

kind of situation still with all of it

um you don't always get the luxury of of

that kind of time and preparation with

an actor or sometimes you do all that

and there's still you know a moment of

where it's where it's frozen

and this is why you try to operate with

efficiency when you're working it's not

because it's cheaper it's because you

can buy more time to to stop and deal

with um those kinds of of of problems

during the course of a shooting day you

you can you know you can find a way to

get the 45 minutes you need to stop now

and and and really you know achieve a

moment help the actor get

there I would say that um if an actor

was struggling uh um say with something

really difficult emotional say I would

suggest you know slowing it all down and

uh taking a moment and having a private

conversation and uh again if you've

already learned how your

actor uh responds to Direction it may be

as simple as I'm not feeling the emotion

you're not going far enough um and then

letting them talk about that and and you

know you turn it into a discussion and

have the crew standing by and the minute

you think that it's that that that

person has come to some sort of epiphany

or understanding you try it again you

roll it some people um might need you

know a deeper sort of psychological

discussion here um sometimes a great

thing to remind the actor is what what

their character is going through it

sounds rudimentary and basic but

sometimes if you if you say what do you

what do you think your character why is

your character in this position now why

why why you know why is he or she

emotional and uh and then they say well

because my uh you know my my my you know

because my child is missing well but how

do you feel about your child missing why

is it that upsetting well because of

course I miss my child yeah but should

what well I should have been watching my

child oh guilt you know I don't I think

we need to add that to this I'm not

feeling that um now they've got an idea

a word to hang on to um very often if an

actor can give you the word and you can

say Ah that's the

feeling go do that then you know that's

a that's a bridge for them to um to get

to to get to that moment um but the the

best thing is to have had a lot of

conversations not so much about the

result but about the process uh so that

you you know how to talk to your actor

at a given moment

I have to tell one story

here um I was probably still 34 years

old a young young director but an

experienced director at that point and

uh and I was working with the Great

American character actor and Stage icon

Jason robarts Jr won many awards uh

Oscars Tony's you know Emy and he was in

um had a important scene in in

Parenthood he was a key character in the

movie Parenthood which was a comedy but

there were some very dramatic scenes as

well and um he didn't have a chance to

rehearse on the movie I I didn't know

him very

well and unfortunately we had to shoot

the most dramatic scene first so I

didn't have a chance to really get to

know him so we're doing this scene it's

a scene where his son played by Tom Hall

is disappointing him Tom h has always

been his favorite son the the the

youngest who he adored and and the Tom

Hol character is a bit of a screw-up and

this is a scene where he had he really

has to as a parent come to terms with

his shortcomings his disappointment and

all of it and we're shooting it and it's

the an angle on favoring um Jason and

it's important this is really going to

be the performance

angle and uh I didn't I didn't wasn't

feeling you know the level of emotion or

hurt or pain that I expected to that I

thought was right and yet I didn't know

really how to talk to Jason so I went up

to him and I said you know I assumed he

didn't want just a quick piece of

Direction you know just result oriented

piece of direction that he he'd want to

you know talk about the psychology and

the emotion of it and so I was I was

saying uh you know this is uh after all

of these years and all the times that

you've stuck up for him finally seeing

it right and he reached over and and

touched my hand

and um you here he was in his mid-60s or

something this formidable you know

presence and he said Ron do you do you

want a sadder

face and I really just thought oh okay

here's the veteran just you know making

the young director feel like an idiot um

but I don't know what else to say I'll

call him on

it and um and then my assumption was he

would pull some sort of ridiculous face

and then we'd come back and it would

sort of begin a calibration and a negoti

iation and we would you know we'd get to

something that was was better and uh and

I said well yeah I I maybe uh maybe it's

just that maybe it's maybe a sadder face

let's let's try a take like that and I

went back and cameras rolled the scene

developed and that moment came and it

was so full of Truth and so full of

honesty that I I was moved watching it

and it's the take that's in the movie uh

and it's a wonderful performance and I

realized that for 60 something Jason

Robards after a lifetime of

acting he he no longer needed a lot of

conversation to get to a different level

of emotion uh whatever that might be he

he just needed to identify it it was

like punching in a number it was put in

the word and that gear was there he knew

where it was now I guarantee you he

wasn't just putting on a mask he knew

how to get to the place actors can be

stunning my wife Cheryl has a degree in

Psychology and in her senior year at Cal

State Northridge in order to get her

degree she needed to to do an experiment

and in the class they had said that um

people could not really um control their

emotions but if you hooked them up to

the sort of like a lie detector test

they they they couldn't

significantly um sort of clinically uh

statistically move the needles and I

said I don't think that's true I bet

actors can do it and she said they say

actors can't and I said well you want to

try the experiment so we got 20 actors

and 20

non-actors and let them have 15 minutes

of just summoning up emotions to see

whether they could get a reading and

three of the 20 non-actors could make

the needles move 17

couldn't 17 of the 20 actors could make

a move move like a house on fire they

had them going all over the place uh so

it wasn't enough for her to go and write

a paper and get credit for it uh she

would that would have been a longer

experiment but I think uh that U

experienced actors have a a kind of

access to facets of their personality

and emotions that that really other

people don't um non-actors just don't

appreciate they don't understand does

also make them you know um sensitive

people people and um and and rather

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