All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 119 - Working with Actors Part 2

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whenever possible I really prefer to

build on what the actor's Instinct

naturally is kind of gets back again to

that six of one half a dozen of another

idea um when an actor uh is is executing

uh a move or

you know an approach to a line of

dialogue um or or you know any

performance Choice uh if it's something

that just kind of comes organically from

them they they they understand it uh on

a on a on a on a very uh honest level

personal level and um I I love building

on those moments when they coincide with

the needs of the scene and you know and

then that's that's that's my job and I I

I F whenever I can find those things to

use I really make a point of it because

I want them to also know that I'm you

know I'm trying to connect this to the

the sort of a a Truth uh an honesty that

they can build on I think it sends you

know the the the right the right signal

to the actor that they're the

collaborator uh as well um and um and

the other thing is it's it's also a show

of

respect um you know on when you're going

very very quickly sometimes you have to

pre-block it and hopefully the actors

understand but you know they're not

creating as much then they're they're

executing the director's plan and great

actors proficient actors you know they

need to be able to do that and then they

all they all can but you're not you're

not making artists of them you're not

inviting them to you know to express

themselves to make creative choices and

contrib tions uh that they understand

and I think I think the more you can

create that environment where they

participating uh in developing the

choices I I just think there's um an

intrinsic value in that that audiences

are ultimately going to

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appreciate trying to manage a um you

know an

ensemble um can be very very tricky

because um you know

often if you get three actors going in a

scene they may not all approach the work

the same

way um they they they may

not find their stride in the scene in

the same way um you may have uh one

actor who's very improvisational and

another one who's you know who depends

so much on thorough preparation and and

that as a director you need to

understand that that's like another

value of

rehearsing um and uh sometimes when I'm

in during the prep I'm talking to an

actor I'll I will say uh privately I'll

ask do you do you have do you have a

pattern do you you know do you do you do

you feel like that you benefit from more

takes and you get better as it goes

along or you find that you you know you

feel like your best work is is generally

in the first few takes and then you get

stale um and I can work with that answer

either way sometimes but the mere fact

that you had the respect and the

foresight to ask is is is Meaningful to

an actor but um you know sometimes I'll

go into a scene and knowing that um you

know actor a tends to Peak early

and actor B uh benefits from you know

doing a few extra takes becoming a

little more comfortable seeing what the

other actors are doing so that means

that I might do something like start

with the coverage the tightest shots on

actor a first right away and then go to

the a wide shot and and then come back

around and start covering actor B

because that's given actor B 10 or 12

takes to sort of work with the scene and

learn it but you caught actor a early uh

when they were sort of at their Peak um

and um you know and sometimes you simply

can't you can't make those sort of

adjustments but I think it's important

to to be aware not be oblivious of the

fact that different actors work in

different ways when I directed the movie

Cocoon Moon I was young I was under 30

um and I was working with four

venerable

high-powered and very very different uh

actors in terms of their style and the

way they approach their work I had one

actor Wilford Brimley who's a brilliant

improvisational actor brilliant um and

uh then I had Don amichi uh who wound up

winning an Academy Award for his role

and he was an old school Hollywood forly

trained highly disciplined actor but the

idea of of not you know executing the

dialogue as written to the

comma uh was alien to him would throw

him um he he liked to know where his

Mark was Wolford Grimley didn't want

marks because that was an intrusion on

his spontaneity then Hume Cronin was a

great theater actor and even and also a

playwriter

he had he could he could sort of bridge

Both Worlds because he was also a writer

so he sort of enjoyed the improvisation

but he was highly prepared and then Jack

Guilford was really from Comedy he was

from Vaudeville and Broadway musical

comedy and and and and sitcoms and um he

understood comedy rhythms and he was

always looking for the joke the place to

kind of come in and he and it wasn't

about naturalism and so I'd have to talk

to these these men in different ways get

jacked to be a little more you know a

little more natural to throw things away

to to to to not try to to to play to the

to the to the audience to to sometimes

slip donamichi a line that he could

pretend was an improvisational line so

that he felt like he was part of that

that sort of improv spirit and and give

Wilford Brimley The Space to feel like

that you know he wasn't being rigidly

controlled there were times when I

couldn't succeed in pleasing everybody

there were times when it times upset

them but for the for the most part uh

you know I I think you know all their

Styles came together but I had to be

aware almost every day of how to how to

sort of work with the Ensemble uh and um

you know and find the right approach to

the scene to you know to sort of benefit

whoever was carrying that scene the most

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camera

angles and and um and stylistic choices

relating to camera movement and lenses

definitely influence performances at

times um if you're if you're playing uh

a scene wider well then body language

matters more it's a little bit more like

theater where the whole body has to

factor in um and if the actor is if

you're if the actor is a some somehow uh

awkwardly Frozen in a spot and you have

a you know a wide composition because

you want the environment to factor into

the to the scene in some way uh you

might need them to move more you might

need them to you know to to use their

arms more loosen up and you have to find

a way to have these kinds of

conversations with actors without

throwing them uh you know into some sort

of state of confusion um likewise

as you get closer with your coverage

sometimes it's important that they have

the capacity to to steady themselves to

not move around too much and still

preserve uh something that feels honest

and emotional um and connected to the

connected to the moment but in reality

you've chosen to shoot it in a way

that's restrictive and yet they you know

they need to have the the adaptability

to be able to work with that and you as

a director need to know that you're

you're now expecting them to adapt and

you may need to help them sort of bridge

that Gap from the freedom they may have

felt when they were doing The Wider

shots to this this restriction or if

it's the kind of actor that you don't

want to restrict then you need to make

other kinds of choices um perhaps use

handheld or or stay away on telephoto

lenses so they don't feel the

encroachment of cameras um sometimes

when you're working with uh actors who

aren't quite as experienced

um kids for example uh it's very very

useful at times to try to go on longer

lenses further away so that they sort of

lose track of the idea that they're

being

photographed um and it makes them a

little less self-conscious a little less

nervous a little less anxious you're you

know you you may stumble into some

naturalism and a and an interesting

choice that really brings the scene or

the moment to Life by choosing to shoot

it in a way so that they don't feel as

observed um and uh so you know these are

all the kinds of things that that um um

you feel as an actor and you begin to

understand just how frightening acting

can be it's I don't care how experienced

you are it's emotionally

unsettling um it's a it's a kind of a

it's a kind of an elevator ride because

when you're preparing to shoot and then

rolling you know your adrenaline goes

and you're focused and you're trying to

trying to achieve something and then the

the director moves on to the next setup

and you know the actor almost never

trusts that they really got it right

they're never sure even if they go back

and look at the monitor they're

uncertain there's an uncertainty there

that's very

unsettling when I moved from having

grown up as an actor in front of the

camera

to um you know full-time directing one

of the one of the first things that I

noticed was

that I found that

mentally directing was less exhausting

than

acting at least a difficult day of

acting with with challenging

scenes uh at the at the end of a day

with you you know emotional scenes or

really specific uh highly choreographed

comedic scenes you I'd be just mentally

drained at the end of a day of

directing I I wouldn't feel quite as

drained and I I wondered why and then I

I realized well when you're directing

the minute you get there people start

asking questions your own adrenaline

kind of pushes you up to a certain level

and you kind of sustain that level of

attention and Focus mostly throughout

the day until it's over and that's part

of what the energy of being a director

is uh is um you know that's the that's

the energy level that's

required actors go up and down up and

down up and down on a difficult day of

work and it's uh you know you you're

just you're just often fried and then

you also have that uncertainty on on you

know on the way home after a tough day

of acting you you know your legs and

feet and back hurt more as a

director but sometimes your head hurts

more as an actor