All language subtitles for Masterclass - Helen Mirren Teaches Acting_Full

So, I just did what I consider to be one

of the most difficult things to do in my

profession of acting, which is to walk

as yourself just to be yourself. Walking

is peculiarly difficult. Um I don't know

how well I did it just now. Certainly

offstage before I walked on. Um first of

all I had my hands in my pocket and then

I thought no that's fake. You're just

trying to be casual. Take your hands out

of your pocket. So I did. Um,

and then I thought, how how do I do

this? How do I be

as real and as natural as possible? All

of this thing stuff goes through your

mind really fast. Um, and then I thought

the only way to do it is simply in my

mind to have the intention, this sounds

so silly, to walk to the chair. That's

your whole intention. You just think I

got to get to that chair and I've got to

sit down and that was all I did. But you

know what?

That was acting because here we have an

empty space. I very much wanted to start

my master class in an empty space. As

you will see later on, this this space

will become uh filled with elements,

with costumes, with props, with all

sorts of different things, all the tools

of the acting trade. But basically at

its heart, our world of of acting is is

an empty space. It's an empty space that

we fill with our imagination, with our

technique, with our philosophy, with our

poetry, with our passion, with our

fears, with our insecurity. It's funny

about walking. You know, I I was um I

was watching a young actor the other day

on television and um this thing of

walking naturally is peculiarly diff

difficult and I'm going to show you what

he did to try and look natural and I'm

going I'm going to do it for you.

What he did was sort of this. He had his

hands in his pocket and everything about

him was trying to look natural. So when

he walked he kind of kicked his feet

like this and you know when he to turned

he kind of to turn turned like this you

know and then when if he did a gesture

it was kind of you know oh I'm so

relaxed I'm so natural you know and it

was it was a it it communicated just

unnaturalenness in our world of acting

we are constantly seeking for nature

nature and art and nature in art. So I

wanted to start this in this open empty

space, an empty space into which we put

our fears, our terrors, our imagination

above all our imagination, our poetry,

our philosophy, our storytelling

because that's what we are. We're

storytellers.

I'm Helen Mirin and this is my master

class.

I lived in a town that was like um the

the British equivalent of Coney Island.

So it was a kind of seasidey,

you know, place for people to go and

have fun at the weekends, get drunk, you

know, put a funny hat on, have a fight.

throw up and go home and that was a

great night out. Um, but anyway, it was

that kind of town and we had the longest

pier in the world and at the end of the

pier they had a show and I remember the

name of the show. It was called Out of

the Blue and um I was taken to see this

show when I was about um

I guess I was about seven or eight

something like that and this show

started. It was a variety show and they

had a comedian who was I just thought at

the age of seven was just the funniest

thing I had ever seen in my life. I I

literally remember falling off my seat

with laughter. And then the dancing

girls came on and they had I never

forget they had blue chiffon. Again, it

was all about the costume. Uh they had

blue chiffon scarves and pink chiffon

scarves and they came on and they

floated their scarves around and I was

absolutely entranced. I I went home on

the train down the longest pier in the

world um after the show just feeling

that a whole new world had opened up for

me. The world of entertainment if you

like the world of a darkened space with

a group of people watching something

where they're quiet and they and they

are transformed by it. um they laugh,

you know, they clap. Um and that whole

process just seemed to me just the most

wonderful magical thing. My mother took

me to an amateur production of Hamlet,

which was, I'm sure, an extremely bad

production. It was probably laughable,

you know, if I, you know, if a

professional went to see it. But I

wasn't a professional. I was a 12 13

year old girl and exposed for the first

time to the world of imagination and the

world of drama and the world world of

storytelling through drama and it was a

cataclysmic experience for me. I was

absolutely overwhelmed by the romance of

it, the the beauty of the passion of it,

the you know the fantasy, the the

extremes of it coming out of my very um

uh you know dull little world if you

like that I lived in very lacking in

drama. Um, so to be exposed to these

extraordinary characters and and the

language, even the language that I

didn't at the time really understand,

but I could tell there was something

extraordinary in this language. My two

great inspirations as an actor was an

end of the pier show, variety show, and

one of the greatest plays by the

greatest playright ever. Um but I think

that that really indicates the

a the breadth of what is available for

us to do and the fact that we shouldn't

be snobby about any of it because it's

all it all play feeds into that same

filling up the empty space. Um, it's

it's that's that's

that is a part of the great tapestry of

what is available to us as actors. And I

and I've always approached all of my

work with the same kind of attitude

whether I'm doing Red, you know, or

doing The Tempest. Um,

you know, you are you're telling

stories, you're entertaining, you are

transporting people and never forget

that fact.

My first role in the National Youth

Theater was as an extra in Coralenus,

one of the um starving Romans.

Hot, hungry. 2,000 years BC. Hot,

hungry. No, not 2,000 years BC. You

know, 500 200 years BC. That was my

mantra before I went on stage. I'm hot.

I'm hungry. And it's 200 years BC. Hot,

hungry. 200 years BC. And that was an

amazing experience. That was my first my

first experience of being in a theater.

um and and you know standing in the

wings and looking up into the flies and

the smell of the fantastic smell of the

theater and to this day I've never lost

my love for that. And then the following

year, the director of the National Youth

Theater decided to do Anthony and

Cleopatra because it had lots of scenes

with big armies and he wanted scenes

with lots of kids running on and off the

stage and I got the role of Cleopatra

and that was that was an amazing moment.

Not I mean I didn't think of it as a

starring role or anything but it was

just incredible to have the opportunity

to work on a role and and that was the

first time in my life I guess I'd ever

really

really had to work on a role. Um,

and you know, I was a young actress. I

had I was 18, I think, at the time. So,

I was stumbling around and really

finding my way, but of necessity,

working off instinct because at the time

that was all I had. Um,

and uh and and that was successful and

really that just kind of launched my

career and then I had the big decision

to make.

Do I stay at college and finish my year

off or do I leave college? I was

training as a teacher incidentally. I I

went to college to train as a teacher.

Um

or do I leave and become an actress? And

I was a bit of a wimp and I was

insecure. So um I stayed on to complete

my training. But as soon as I finished

college a year later, um I found that

people hadn't forgotten, you know, the

this uh this performance. and I got an

agent which was fantastic and I was

immediately offered a role um in a in a

um repatory theater. I did six months in

a repetatory theater before I went to um

join the RSC. They kind of invited me to

join which was um a you know fantastic

for for a young actress.

The RSSE for me, the Royal Shakespeare

Company was my training. It was my drama

school. Um, I was thrown in at the deep

end. But what a great way to learn to

swim. Incidentally, what a great way to

learn to swim. First of all, you're

just, oh my god,

you know, and then you go, oh, oh, okay,

I got I Okay, now I'm floating. At least

I'm floating. I'm not moving in any

direction, but at least I'm floating. My

head is above water, and I'm not

actually drowning. Um and then slowly

you learn because you have to learn

because you're doing it every night, you

know. Uh uh you learn mostly I learned

by watching doing and watching watching

and doing. Um but watching very very

important and I was so lucky that I had

the opportunity to wa watch from the

wings some truly great Shakespearean

actors. Alan Howard being one of them.

Um Ian Richardson who did the original

House of Cards became a great mentor of

mine and watching not with an adoring

eye but with a you know with a critical

eye watching going I don't think I would

have done that there you know if when I

get the chance to be up there and do

something. I'm not going to do that you

know because I don't think that works or

I think that sounds looks or sounds

fake. So watch. Absolutely. But um I

don't think I need to tell you to watch

with a critical eye because I bet you

all do anyway. Um because we do as

actors, don't we? We are we are also

sort of you know jealous creatures.

I would advise many of you

actually in a way more maybe than going

to drama classes. I'm, you know, I'm a

little ambivalent about drama classes,

but what I do believe in is is training

your voice because if your voice is

so developed and so um present,

at least that's one tool you don't have

to worry about, you know, and that's to

do with breathing. And breathing is very

much to do with relaxation. And

relaxation is very much to do with

acting, learning to breathe, learning to

resonate.

Um, you don't, it's not necessarily

about projection, although projection is

very much part of it. And it's very

disappointing to me sometimes. You see a

wonderful actor on the screen. Um, you

know, fabulous at being quiet,

absolutely wonderful, modulated. There's

a lot of, you know, music maybe in their

voices. Very interesting. But now they

have to play a scene where they're

supposed to be talking to 50 people

and you can't talk like this to 50

people because they won't hear you. You

have to talk with some

voice and then you hear this actor who

was talked like this suddenly sounds

like this because they can't produce

their voice. They don't know how to

and it's all become strangulated. So

the idea of freeing your voice, freeing

your vocal cords, it's a process

incidentally I'm still working on. Um

it's a constant work but it's a good

work to do. It's a good basic physical

exercise and that's a good thing to do.

This was what I learned at the RSC

because there was a they we were very

lucky they had voice teachers there as a

part of the company. So you would be

taken off every, you know, every once a

week or twice a week to work with the um

with the voice teacher and and they had

very very brilliant uh vocal teachers

there. Um so you know if you can either

make your own group because you can all

all the um you know if you can't afford

to go to a voice coach um you can

actually read the material and the

exercises and maybe make your own little

group where you do a little halfhour

session together um every day or three

or four times a week or something and

and that's a you know that that's a good

I I think that's a very good training

tool.

And then Peter Brookke came to do what

became one of his most iconic

productions which was of a Midsummer

Night's Dream that I wasn't in. I very

much wanted to be I very much wanted to

play Tatana but my dear friend Sarah

Kessleman got that role and she played

it brilliantly and I was not chosen for

that role. Um but I was on the sidelines

watching and I watched this

extraordinary

genius of the theater work. I had seen

his experimental work in uh in London a

year before and been very very taken by

that and the whole idea of experimental

theater was was exploding at that time.

So I felt that I needed to expand my

understanding,

my preparation as an actor needed to

expand and needed to expand out of the

classical theater which is beautiful

because it's so um disciplined and and

um demanding but into experimental

theater to find freedom.

And freedom, freedom is my holy chalice

that I've been chasing after my whole

life. But to find freedom,

uh,

and so at that time, Peter Brookke, I

watched his brilliant work on Midsummer

Night Stream. Um, and then I I heard

that he was preparing a an international

theater group which was going to work in

Paris.

um to explore what theater was, what

what is theater. I I I thought I need to

join that group. I need to be a part of

that. I need to just push my boundaries

further. Everyone around me, my agent,

my family thought I was shooting myself

in the head by going off to Paris to

work for a year um on experimental

theater.

But it was very much my drive, my

desire. And I would say as especially

now to the actors who are not first

starting out, but those of you out there

who are in the second or third, fourth,

fifth year of your work as an actor,

listen to your instincts. Really listen

to them. Don't listen to your agent.

Don't listen to your mom and your dad.

Don't listen to your boyfriend, your

girlfriend. Listen to yourself. And you

go where you want to go. Irrespective of

whether you think it's going to, you

know, make you allow you to w earn more

money next week or get more followers on

your social media. It's really important

to listen to your own personal

instruction manual, the one that's

inside of you telling you,

you're not good at this. you've got to

learn whatever that instruction manual

manual is telling you. Anyway, I

listened to mine and I went off to work

with Peter Brooke for a year and um we

worked in an international theater

group. So there were French, there were

German, there were African, there were

um Japanese, there were so lang we

didn't work in English, we didn't work

in any language, but neither did we work

in mime. We were trying to find what the

absolute pure essential of theater, the

empty uh space, which is many of you

will know is a book by Peter Peter Peter

Brookke. Um

what is it you do when you fill that

space with your storytelling? And as a

part of that process, we traveled

through Africa for three months. And we

were playing in very very small, not in

towns, but in little tiny communities,

villages,

um, nomadic village, nomadic, uh,

nomadic people. So that was a truly

extraordinary experience on every level

that you can possibly imagine.

So when I left Peterbrook um I came back

to the theater actually I suddenly went

oh my god I'm and I did um

I did Henry V 6 parts one 2 and three

and for the first time I remember this

feeling so well and many of you will

feel it

and when you do feel it it's a great

feeling. feeling when suddenly

you're in control of it and you're not

just in control of it, you're in control

of it in a way that is free because it's

not just being in control. And I felt I

was on and and I'm talking about

Shakespeare now. I felt I was on this

incredibly powerful horse, but I had the

vocal ability. I had the intellectual

ability in terms of the language

for that all to settle and now I could

play with it and it was a great lesson

for me and it's a great lesson for

actors.

The thing that I learned with Brooke

and I really want to communicate with

you and it's such a difficult thing to

learn because when you're an actor you

are constantly looking at other people.

They're all working. Why aren't I

working? You know, or now you're

working. He's doing that. Oh god, he's

so brilliant. Why aren't I as good as

that? But something I learned with Peter

Brookke is that you are you. There is

absolutely no one on this planet like

you. And you to be the actor that you

are, you have to be the you that you

are. You have to fully allow yourself to

be who you are.

Of course, you feed that you into all

these different roles. And when people

say

that you're hiding behind a role, I say,

"No, it's the opposite. You're revealing

yourself within a role. You're always

revealing something lurking maybe within

you, maybe lurking within all of us, but

you're revealing. You're not hiding.

And it doesn't matter how many wigs and

I love wearing wigs and and all those

accutra

at at the heart of what you're doing is

revealing something within yourself. And

so you must don't try to be anyone other

than what you are. If your legs are too

short, too bad. You just got to live

with that. You know, if your hair isn't

long enough or whatever the issues are,

just own it. Own yourself. Own your own

qualities. Um own your own physicality.

Um and go forward. You know, it's it's

it's very difficult because we are

constantly being judged on what we look

like. And I don't mean, you know, are we

beautiful or not. It's not that. It's

like, are we tall enough? Are we too

short? Are we too, you know, blonde? Are

we too dark? Are we too whatever we are.

We're always too something or other that

makes us not suitable for this role. So

we are constantly having to confront

uh feelings of inadequacy and um

wrongness about ourselves. And all I can

say is you're not wrong. You're not

wrong.

You yes, you may be wrong for that role,

but you are not wrong. There's another

role that is that is you that is right

for you. So um own own who you are.

Don't don't fight it. Don't question it.

Don't angst about it.

I want to talk a little bit about

auditions because obviously many of you

will have been to many many auditions in

your life and you probably will go to

many more and I don't have a lot of

words to say about that because you guys

know more about that really than I do at

this point. Um, I know that you know,

you know, you're often given sides, so

you don't really know the whole story,

and that's that's that's a big challenge

for an actor. But I know that you

understand, you have a sense of who the

character is, and I know that you will

often go in a in a sense in a form of

the costume that you think this

character would wear. Um and and that's

a good thing because I think these you

know the people auditioning you have to

make very quick decisions. Um I just

give two pieces of ad of advice. One is

if the people auditioning you give you a

note

in your performance. You've done it once

or maybe twice and then they give you a

note. Why don't you try this? Even if

you feel it's completely wrong,

immediately try to incorporate that note

into your performance because that will

tell the director, the producers that a

you're capable of doing that and b you

are amanable and you know how to listen.

Um

you can incorporate it in and at the end

of it you can say

you know I tried to do what you were

saying. I'm not too sure that that

worked, but you know, but you listen to

the note and absolutely respond to it

and and and try to incorporate it into

your next your next go through the

performance. And I think the other thing

to do is if you've just been given sides

and you don't really know like where

does this character sit, um

I think one or two very judicious and

very pointed questions, intelligent

questions. I think show that you're

thinking that uh you know you can see

beyond you understand that beyond this

one scene that there is a whole piece of

work around it. If you you can ask, you

know, uh, where do you think this, you

know, uh, what sort of background do you

think this character comes from? Or, you

know, do you think I should do, you

know, do you think an accent is

appropriate or, you know, um, I'd just

like to know where this character goes

afterwards so I have a sense of the

direction the film, the scene should be

going in. just if you know if there's a

a a really thought wellought out

accurate sort of question to ask ask it

because again that means that you're

thinking

uh uh you're intelligent you're

responsive and um and I think that's

what people want to see when they they

don't just want to see is this person

right for the role of course they want

to see that they also want to see can I

work with this person. Is this going to

be a living relationship on the set?

I'm going to share something with you

which I really shouldn't because it it

reveals how actually how venal I am and

what a terrible person I am. But um and

and you can only really do this if if

you know if you're being offered nice

roles. But um when I get a script, I do

this. It's it's awful um

to see, you know, they always tell you,

not always, but they often tell you,

"Oh, you know, it's a great role. It's

not on the page, but it needs an actress

like you to do it, and it will be

fantastic." And um I always go, "Okay,

let's see." And so, when I'm given a

script nowadays, I always look I never

look at the front of it. I immediately

turn to the back page

and I see if my character is on the last

in the last scene of the film. If it's

in the last scene of the film, it's

probably a very good role.

Um, not necessarily, but probably a very

good role. So, I read the last scene and

I see what the character does in the

last scene and if they're very

uh present in the last scene as opposed

to just a person off camera basically

saying, "Did you remember to bring the

ball with you?" Um, if they're present

in the scene, that probably means it's a

good role. In which case, I'll go to the

front and read it from the beginning. If

they're not in the last scene, I then

start going backwards through the script

to find out when it last when it last

appears in the story. And if that is a

great scene,

I go, "Oh, this is a good role." Because

look, it's last scene is only, this is

Gosford Park I'm looking at, actually,

and the last scene is only this many

pages from the end. And I read the

scene. Oh, it's a really good scene.

That's a good role. I'm going to read it

from the front.

At this point, honestly, it really

hardly matters how much this character

appears in the rest of the film because

you obviously are going to have an

impact on the film. Your character has

an impact. So, if it doesn't appear

here, now I go backwards until I find

the last moment that the character

appears and oh, here it is. And I read

this scene and nothing really happens.

The character just sort of disappears.

Like there's no scene there. The

character is in the scene, but there's

no nothing really. The character doesn't

do anything. That's a sign that this is

not a good role. There's hardly any.

It's not worth even reading the rest of

it. Um,

but you can go back and back and back

and Okay. now like three quart a quarter

of the way through the scene the script

from the beginning. This is here is the

last scene and I did a a film like this.

It was called um Where Angels Fear to

Tread and my character died

uh halfway through the film but

great scene. So, and then you go back

go, "Ah, okay. Well, uh, obviously this

character e, even though she disappears

early on in the film, she's still got

something something major to contribute

in the story." And then I'll go back and

read it from the front. So,

but that's a terrible thing, but that's

what I do. And you know what? It works

every time. It's funny. It does.

Sophia Toltoy in the last station I

accepted. Oh, because

you know she was such a explosive sort

of um uh

passionate uh ridiculous kind of

Russian. And also I had just done what

had I just done? I'd just done something

that was the opposite. Maybe I just done

Gossford Park or something that was very

restrained, very controlled, very

um repressed. Maybe I just done the

Queen. Maybe it was that. But anyway, I

remember I'd played this very contained,

repressed person. And um and

another trick if you possibly can is

always to choose a role. If you're in

the position of having being able to

choose a role, always choose something

that's the ex as far opposite from the

thing you've just played as possible. Um

you all know that um that people want to

pigeon hole you and they want you to do

this thing that you did before and you

did so brilliantly. They want you to do

it brilliantly again, but you don't want

to do that brilliantly again. You want

to do something different brilliantly.

So, um try really try to resist that.

First of all, be grateful that you're

being asked to do anything. And I'm

still to this day very, very grateful to

be asked to do anything. And I know you

are. Obviously, that's that's, you know,

that's all we want. We just want to be

given the chance to try to do it, to do

this wonderful Caliban thing of reaching

out for the unknown. We want the chance

to do that. Um, and now, okay, here

comes the script. Um and as you travel

through your um hopefully your career um

you will find that this it it changes

obviously at the beginning you just want

a role even if it doesn't have a name.

It's inhuman in a way. It's just this

this cipher that really is usually

serving a purpose for the plot. It's a

plot device very often.

All I can say when you're offered that

kind of role, if you need it, and if you

need the money, take it. If you don't

need the money, don't take it. Uh, but

if you do now, and most of us do, um,

especially when we're at the beginning

of our careers, um, you take the role

and from that point, backstory is always

a great thing for actors. We all know

this about backstory. We know what a

valuable tool it is. We know that nobody

but us really understands that. Um, and

if you start explaining your backstory

to everyone, their eyes close over

because actually it is a bit boring. But

to you it's essential. It's absolutely

essential. So at least

you can enjoy you can enjoy the process

of um

of uh of playing that role on the set on

that day. You know, bring that whole

backstory with you and just play it for

all your worth.

I hate taking my clothes off on on

screen actually. I feel embarrassed and

awkward and um uh and and naked and

everyone else is dressed, you know, and

you've had which I I'm I'm a bit of a

nudist on the quiet. I I love being on a

beach where everyone else has got their

clothes off, but um when you're the only

one, you know, you you do feel, you

know, a bit of a sore thumb, to put it

mildly. Um

but um you know what, you just have to

gut it out. But it's very different now.

So I I can't really equate my experience

with what you guys might experience.

It's so much more commonplace now, men

and women. In those days, men never took

their clothes off and now they

absolutely do. Um and uh full frontal

for a male or female has become pretty

ubiquitous, which I love. Actually, I

applaud that. I think that it's a part

of our ongoing journey towards some kind

of liberation. Um, but

if you're asked to do it, I think you

just have to do it or don't do it. But

if it's in the script,

don't accept a role and then come to

that day and say, "Oh, I'm not doing

that instantly."

If you're not going to do it, mention

that before you accept the role. You can

say, "I want to do this role, but I

don't want to do that scene." That's

legitimate, but you can't accept a role

and then and then let uh your producers

down, your director down, everyone down

by sort of bulking. Um these things can

be discussed before you take the role

and that's the right time to discuss

them.

Luckily, as I moved on through my career

and through my life, the world around me

changed and it obviously has changed

substantially since I was, you know, in

my early 20ies and especially it is it's

changed in relation to how women are

perceived in the world of drama. Um I

think that I was very unlucky in that in

my uh you know when if you like I was at

the height of my um energy and um

uh and I'd learned how to become an

actress. So I'm talking about myself in

my 30s. um you know was a very very dull

and um repressive if you like era for

women in film. But later on when now

we're getting into the '9s, the whole

concept of women playing roles that were

originally written for men started

becoming a reality. It was a joke

before. It was an absolute joke.

Um, and it's hard to battle with what's

a joke. Honestly, it it's easy to say,

"Oh, but why didn't you do this or do

that?" It's very very difficult when the

culture is against you. The first time

I understood what was possible was I was

privileged enough to read the script of

Alien. I was up for a role in it, which

I didn't get sadly. Um,

but I was privileged to read the

original uh uh script uh Ridley Scott

script of Alien and it was brilliant

because the way it was written all of

the all of the characters had names like

Ripley or I don't know Tarn or they had

these weird names that could be male or

female. There was not a single direction

in the script that said whether this was

a man or a woman. It didn't say Ripley

is a tall, athletic, you know, woman

with a fierce determination in her eyes.

That sort of stage direction, which you

often get so annoying. Um,

there were no stage directions at all

for any of the characters. So, any of

the characters could have been played by

a man or a woman. And that was such a

liberating idea for me. I had never

thought of that before, thought that

that was possible. And there it was laid

out for me in this wonderful script of

of Alien. And and from that moment on I

it really transformed my thinking about

who could play what and why, you know.

Um and Alien was quite a long time ago

and it's taken us all and especially the

world of producers and writers and

directors to catch up and indeed the

audience to catch up. But I have had the

privilege fairly recently of playing two

roles that were written for men.

Obviously primarily Prospero. Although

I'm convinced

that if uh women had been actors in

Shakespeare's days, they weren't they

weren't allowed to act. Only men acted.

Um, I think he would have written The

Tempest for a woman because I think it I

think the relationship between Prosper

and Miranda, the daughter, is a very is

a very um uh female relationship.

Um

and then uh I did a film called uh Eye

in the Sky where um the the role

originally was written for a man. But

again it was that kind of role which

absolutely could flip very easily

without changing any stage directions

any any lines.

Likewise Tempest incidentally you just

had to change a little bit of the

backstory but otherwise very few of the

lines of the Tempest had to be changed.

Um, and now I think we've moved even

further on from that where Glenda

Jackson can play King Leah. I presume I

think she played it as King Leah, not as

Queen Leah. So I think our whole

understanding of gender

um race is, you know, we've had a a

black Henry V um and and you know, a

black Hamlet.

that whole understanding is absolutely

crumbling which I think is fantastic

because drama should always

always um uh uh what's the word levitate

itself above um supersede

those kinds of limiting

repressive concepts of what is a man

what is a woman what is a Indian what is

a Chinese person what you know roles

should be open for everyone I had a

terrible experience when I was um it

wasn't terrible, but it was an deeply

uncomfortable experience. I was asked to

be on the board of a of a big um drama

school in England. And I heard this guy

say, one of the old guys who was on this

board, he said, and here you can see

what black actors were up against for so

many years. He said, "We can't give many

places to black people because after

all, how many roles are there for them?"

And I was so shocked to hear those

words. I actually I actually quit the

board. I said, "I don't want to do this

anymore." Um,

and and that kind of thinking uh was so

prevalent and it's really breaking down

now. It's really breaking down and I I'm

so happy to at least I wish it had

happened when I was 30. It's happening

much too late for me. But um

uh at least I've witnessed it. I'm very

happy that I've witnessed that and you

guys should take that and run with it

because you are the next generation.

It's your turn next and you have to

sometimes you have to, as they say,

stick it to the man. But you know, you

take that ball and you run with it and

you just say, "Why don't I, you know,

let me show you what I would do with

this role or that role or throw it out

there.

So now we've decided to play the role

because it's a good role. And now I

start. And obviously the first thing you

do is you read the script trying to work

out who the hell is who and where is

where they are and all the rest of it.

And I often have to make notes because I

forget, you know, Constance is the

daughter of the woman who owns the

house, whatever it is. And, you know,

you work your way through and then you

begin to see where your role fits. So,

um,

let's just look at the basic way of

looking at a script. We just start and

we read it through and we read and we

find our character. Then obviously we

pay particular attention to that scene

exactly

what she says, what it's telling us

about the character.

And if at that point any ideas pop into

your head about the character, about

what's said, about the backstory of the

character, whatever, just scribble it

down on the on the page. Um because I

find that the first instinctive

reactions to a role

are

uh are great

and you often you forget them. You know,

you read and you go, "Oh, it' be great

idea. Oh, what about that?" And then you

and then you're reading on and you've

forgotten it. So note any of those

little ideas, you know, down anything

that you have that you suddenly think,

"Oh, maybe slippers. So, it would be

good if she's wearing slippers in this

scene or whatever it is, any little

thing.

I find the process of writing

very important in in my work as an

actor. I mean obviously

to have a great script is the most

wonderful thing and and everything even

when we improvise we are in a sense

writing the great kind of writing that's

just coming out of our subconscious and

that can be fantastic or it can be very

mundane. It can be kind of stupid and

mundane because improv can go both ways.

it can be inspired

and and inspired in in that particular

way that is as I say coming from your

subconscious and it's true and inventive

or it can be mundane and boring and kind

of stupid. So improv isn't the answer to

everything. Far from it. Um, but in a

way what I often do is I will write

alongside of a scene

very quickly allowing my subconscious to

work just quickly what the the

underlying story of that scene is or um

what maybe is not being articulated but

maybe

uh you know in another world would be

articulated. I'm never it will never be

articulated but that is what is is the

the subtext the subtext of of what's

being said.

Improvisation is incredible tool and in

fact even when you're sh playing

Shakespeare to improvise the meaning of

the speech in your own language is an

very very good tool because it it allows

you access into what is sometimes quite

dense language. That's one use of

improv. Then, you know, improv obviously

just to um enliven or to elucidate or to

um complicate or to bring a whole other

element to into a scene is is also a

fantastic tool. Um and and and it can

lead you into a wonderful sort of

naturalism, which is what we're all

seeking for. Um but there are certain

texts that you do not improvise on. You

just don't because they are structured

so precisely. They're like music. It's

like you don't improvise Mozart.

Uh you know, you don't improvise handle.

And there are certain texts that

uh uh your your improv is going to be so

thin and so pathetic in comparison to

the density of what's written. And um

I've encountered a couple of scripts,

film, literally film scripts that were

really wonderful pieces of literature

that you you didn't want to improvise

around. Um and funnily enough, the cook,

the thief, his wife and her lover were

one of was one of those. The other

writer, for example, one would be

Bernard Shaw, another would be um Harold

Pinter. Um, and there are, you know,

modern writers, Jez Butterworth, you

know, you, these are extraordinary

craftsmen and and improv is really not

going to improve anything. Um, but with

other material, um, it's correct, it's

right, it's fun, it's it's wonderful to

use the tool of improvisation.

I love the first read. I will always do

a first read. I really try and make sure

that I'm there if there's a read through

of the script cuz I love the first read

because I find

I don't look at it. I don't prepare it

at all. Maybe I do this little noting

down or something. But but maybe even

maybe I've read it if I know there's

going to be a first read. I just read it

very quickly

actually without beauty notes or

anything. I just read it quickly.

Hardly. I hardly know the script because

when I do the first read, I want to

discover it the way potentially the

audience is discovering it. I want to be

an audience for the script, but at the

same time, I want to be, how can I put

this? Not an audience for my role, but I

I want the role to just come at me

from left field.

I I want it to um and on a first read, I

I don't hold back. I I go for it, you

know, even if it's completely wrong, but

I jump in and ideas will come into my

head and I'll quickly note them down as

we're doing the read through. Just

little underlinings, little notes. Uh,

cut this. It's very often cut this

because I love cutting my dialogue. Less

less is more. Not in acting, but in

dialogue I find less is more. Um,

except then it's great to have a

three-page speech, but in general, less

is more. But I love that first read

through. I love discovering the dialogue

in my own mouth.

Now we've done the read through and now

uh, you know, we start I'm starting

shooting next week. So, at that point,

now I know what the story is. I've got

an idea of who's who. Um,

now what I do, I do this. I do this.

Sorry, props.

I deconstruct it. Literally, I

deconstruct it. I ask for two scripts or

maybe three scripts.

I take the whole thing apart. No, four

scripts, actually. Um, I take and I take

all of my scenes out and then I I just

concentrate. I I'll have one total

script so I can constantly refer to

where I am and where the story is. Um,

but I'll take my scenes out. I'll put

them in an envelope and then I'll put on

the envelope the day that we shoot it

and then I'll have a whole week's work.

So, I will literally I will now work

week to week to week. I don't know how

other actors do it, but that's how I do

it. Um,

when I was first um, asked to do Prime

Suspect, I'd never I'd never Well, apart

from Cousin Bet, I guess, but somehow

the scripts arrived in a more manageable

form. I was given 4 hours of material

that was all to be shot, you know, over

two months or something.

And it was so intimidating, you know,

procedural drama and just oh my god, I

was absolutely overwhelmed by it. And I

found my what I did was rather like the

police do actually, funny enough, I just

pinned it up all around my room,

my hotel room, so I could h I could see,

stand and have a sense of where I was,

where the story was, what happened

where. So that was how I handled um

prime suspect. But then I learned that

especially over these sort of more long

form things or even with a script I do

it just deconstruct it. You need two or

three scripts because often the the

scene overlaps. It's really annoying

when they printed on both sides of the

page. That's kind of annoying. But um

anyway, I deconstructed obviously

underline my lines as we all do. Um,

so I don't have to I don't have to hold

the whole film or the whole series,

whatever it is, in my mind. All I need

to concentrate on is next the

the the the next week's work. So I'm

always one week ahead of myself. So,

that's kind of how I I personally break

down a script.

I'm often asked why do young actors have

to be interested in Shakespeare?

Young actors don't have to be interested

in Shakespeare unless unless it gets

them by the throat.

It is he is recognized as the greatest

playwright in the history of playwriting

basically and the miracle is that he

wrote in English. So us in America, us

in Britain, it's our it's our natural

language. We we are so lucky that that

is the case because we can understand

the subtleties and the colors and the

the extraordinary layers of meaning in

one line. We can understand um and and

so we're very privileged in that way. Um

Shakespeare is a great

training ground because it's so

difficult. It's much harder than

anything else you'll ever do to try and

find a way of speaking very heightened

poetry in a naturalistic way is very

very difficult. Let alone shouting it in

a big theater. It's like the worst. Um

so it, you know, it's profoundly

challenging.

But the other great thing about

Shakespeare is that you can you can play

those scenes, those lines

every night for you know six months and

almost every night you will find a

different meaning in those lines and

possibly even a different way of saying

it. And that was what I had the

privilege of watching some of the great

Shakespearean actors um do that. And

hopefully my certainly my ambition was

to become one of those myself. Um was to

see how they could on a nightly basis

nightly basis slightly modulate the line

because they were because they were

inhabiting it with a different thought

each time.

And maybe that's where Shakespeare is

also very valuable is you have to think

in Shakespeare. You have to think

because the thought is so profound and

complex. You can't just blah it out. You

know, you have to think as you're saying

it and you have to truly engage and live

it. You have to live it. And in the end,

that's where our art

um resides, isn't it? It's in living the

moment. And we all talk about that

moment and and how difficult it is and

how almost impossible it is and how once

in a while you get there and it's a

miracle when you do. But living in that

moment and and uh

Shakespeare

at its best when it's done to the best

um that's how it is.

I thought by uh to work

we could work on a on a little piece of

uh of Shakespeare.

Um

a famous speech.

I'm sorry. I'm going to take this

sticker off. Um which is the quality of

mercy is not strained.

Don't think I've ever played Porsche. I

can't remember. I played um Narissa, but

I don't think I've ever played Porsche.

I would have loved to have played

Porsche. So, I don't know the speech

sort of off by heart, except for how

sort of famous it is, but the first

thing by far obviously is just to read

through the words

and unpick the meaning. The quality of

mercy is not strained. What does that

mean, strained?

I guess that means you and you find your

own meaning and sometimes what the you

know the literal meaning is is one thing

but I think with Shakespeare you're

allowed to find your own meaning it must

have a meaning for you not no meaning

but I think you're allowed to find your

own meaning because then then the then

the line lives for you

and as an actor that's the most

important thing the line has to live for

you nobody else.

So the quality of mercy is not strained.

In other words, it's not sin. It's not

It should be generous. I think that's

what that means.

It dropth as a gentle rain from heaven.

We That's very clear what that means.

But gentle rain. It's not a pouring

rain. It's just one of those gentle

rains.

Very soft upon the place beneath. It

dropth as the gentle rain from heaven

upon the place beneath. What a

beautifully simple line that is. It just

drops onto the ground below.

Now it starts but it is there's no butt

in there incidentally. It's me putting

the butt in. It is twice blessed.

It blesseth him that gives and him that

takes.

That's what a beautiful idea that is.

You're blessed twice by mercy. Of

course, the person who receives the

mercy is blessed, but the person who

gives it is just as blessed. And that's

very true, isn't it, about life, about

generosity, about kindness.

The mightiest is mightiest in the

mightiest. And that beautiful use of

those two words mightiest

it is

mercy

is

becomes more and more important the

higher you up you are in power. It is

mightiest in the mightiest.

It becomes the throne monarch better

than his crown.

That's very clear what that means. His

scepter shows the force of temporal

power.

Temporal obviously meaning earthly

power. And his scepter is the image of

that, the force of temporal power, the

attribute to awe and majesty.

Wherein do sit the dread and fear of

kings.

So she's brought in the idea of mercy.

Now she goes to sort of describe really

what it is to be a monarch.

His scepter shows the force of temporal

power, the attribute to awe and majesty

wherein doth sit the dread and fear of

kings. So she's setting up this huge the

mightiest of the mightiest the hugely

powerful king.

But mercy,

mercy is above this sceptered sway. In

other words, mercy is more powerful than

the most powerful king. Mercy is above

this septtered sway. And the way of

describing what majesty is, what

political power, whatever septed sway

and the and the use of those two s's

there. It's another thing Shakespeare

you must always be conscious of. You

know, he very often uses words with the

same constinent to give it a poetic lift

or a or or a or a particular feeling.

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.

And there she uses she he Shakespeare

uses the word enthroned bringing in this

whole concept again of majesty of

thrones

but in in this case talking it uh using

it as an image that mercy is enthroned

in the hearts of kings. It is an

attribute to God himself.

And earthly power doth then show like li

like God's excuse me because I don't

know the speech then earthly power and

sorry and and earthly power do then show

likes gods when mercy seasons justice.

In other words,

well, basically what it says, which is

earthly power, the power of kings and

and and and and

presidents,

um

is the most like God's power is most

godlike when it shows itself to be

merciful.

Therefore, Jew,

though justice be thy plea, consider

this

that in the course of justice, none of

us should see salvation.

Think about this,

merchant of Venice. You are asking for

justice. But think about this that

really if we were all before

the ultimate court of justice,

none of us, we are. In other words,

we're all guilty. We're all guilty in

one way or another.

We do pray for mercy. And that same

mercy doth teach us all to render the

deeds of mercy.

So because we're asking for mercy for

ourselves, that very fact should teach

us how to be merciful to others. We're

asking for mercy for ourselves, so why

not be merciful to others?

I have spoke thus much to mitigate the

justice of thy plea, which if thou

follow this strict court of Venice, must

needs give sentence against the merchant

here.

Now I have to work out what this means.

I have spoke thus much

to mitigate the subj justice of thy

plea. I'm I'm asking you to moderate the

justice of your plea

which if you follow your plea to its to

its to its you know legal ends

this court must give sentence against

the Jew. In other words, you I'm not

saying your your um case is wrong, your

case is correct, but why not think about

mercy? So, in other words, it's a

beautiful

little

uh riff on on mercy.

Anyway, so you know that that's the sort

of I I find with Shakespeare this is

quite a simple speech. It's not like

some of Prospero's speeches which is so

complicated but um it's fairly simple

but it it really helps to to um to put

the words into into you know into your

own vernacular as you break down the

speech. Put the words into your own

vernacular. So at least you have an

understanding of what it means for you

and then you can go back to the text and

then you can start seeing where you

breathe which is very important.

uh seeing where the the line has must

carry on, mustn't stop. It's a funny

thing about Shakespeare is that

Australians always sound really good at

Shakespeare

because they always go up at the ends of

their lines. The quality of mercy is not

strained. It dropth at the It dropth as

a gentle rain from heaven upon the place

beneath. It is twice blessed. It blesses

him that gives and him that takes. It is

mightiest in the mightiest it becomes

the throne monarch much better than his

crown. So the fact that Australians

naturally go up at the ends of lines is

very good for Shakespeare. So think

Australian when you do Shakespeare. Um

because what you don't want to do is the

quality of mercy is not strained. It

dropth as a gentle rain from heaven upon

the place beneath. It is twice blessed.

It bleth him that gives and him that

takes. In other words, you don't you

absolutely have to fight this thing of

going down at the ends of the lines. Um,

and the Australian thing of lifting the

end of the line sounds like you're going

on to the next line and on and on. And

that's what you want to sound like in

Shakespeare.

So, the quality of mercy is not

strained. It dropth as a gentle rain

from heaven upon the place beneath.

You got to find the breath for that.

It is twice blessed. And there there's a

there's a it's it's not a full stop, but

there's a semicolon there. And and in

Shakespeare, it it it's good to pay

attention to the grammatical these

grammatical points. It blesseth him that

gives and him that takes. Full stop. So

you can stop there. It is mightiest. In

other words, new new thought. It is

mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes

the throne monarch better than his

crown.

And this is probably where you need

sometimes in Shakespeare you have really

have to find a lot of breath because you

the thought is going to carry through

and it's going to be complicated thought

that will begin with one thought go on

to another and then come back to the

original thought and finish off. So you

have to have the breath to carry that

through or you have to find a moment

where you can breathe very quickly and

then allow it to carry on.

Um,

his scepter shows the force of temporal

power, the attribute to awe and majesty,

wherein doth sit the dread and fear of

kings.

But mercy is above this septter sway. It

is enthroned in the hearts of kings. So

anyway, that's a little understanding

of

the very beginnings of how to look at a

Shakespearean speech. Um,

again,

pay attention to the words, but also pay

attention to the meaning and really

fight to get the meaning out and find

the right places to, you know, to to

what's the word to emphasize, you know,

that there's a famous, you know, thing

about to be or not to be. That is the

question. To be or not to be,

that is the question.

To be or not to be,

that is the question.

To be or not to be, that is the

question. Whether it is noble, I mean

there's like a million a million ways to

play any single um Shakespearean line.

Uh, and if you are playing Shakespeare

in a show where you play it every night,

you have the incredible

material to explore and re-examine and

reinvent

and reinterpret every night. And not m

not not m not not much writing is like

that.

I loved the character of Caliban in The

Tempest because the the idea of this

earthbound

um repressed

creature but who somehow knew that there

was something more beautiful in the

world out there that he was kind of

reaching for but couldn't quite grasp

but he knew that it was there. I don't

know. It was to me it was a very poetic

character. Allow yourself these feelings

of

um

these feelings of hope and uh reach like

caliban allow yourselves to be caliban.

Actually we are actually all caliban in

the sense that we are creatures of this

earth sort of struggling in this earthly

way but we know that there is a this

extraordinary world of imagination of

poetry of invention of inspiration out

there and we are all kind of grasping

and

grasping towards it and and actors above

all painters. And one of my great

inspirations, as I would talk later on,

is Francis Bacon, one of the great

articuls of this incredible desire for

something

that is just out of our reach, but we're

constantly reaching for. And and this to

me is the essence of what an actor is.

Is that yearning for the unknown,

a yearning to

uh

to

show that

to show that other world of imagination

and inspiration to the audience and

allow the audience to participate in

that. That was my my understandings of

what theater was to me. For me, um I

think maybe from this early

um

imaginative journey into Caliban

and this character who was reaching for

something that was unknown, but somehow

he had a he has a sense of it being out

there, but he can't quite articulate it.

I think I carried that through into my

attitude towards acting.

A very good direct Shakespearean

director taught me this. never use the

that I don't know if it's flat or sharp

cuz I'm not musical but that tone that's

kind of like that which is kind of

poetic but it's actually kind of

wishy-washy and terrible because it's

not actually how anybody talks like that

and um use a you know use the positive

tones

absolutely

the direct notes I guess it's notes

Don't use the flat or the sharp notes.

Use the absolute the notes right down

the middle. Um that's also an important

thing with Shakespeare. Um

you don't have to sing it. You never

sing Shakespeare.

Speak it. Um but

speak it with with thought, I guess.

With thought.

you know the I've done two Shakespeare's

on film. I've done many many many

Shakespearees in in the theater. Um but

I've only done two on film. Midsummer

Night's Dream a long long time ago and

then um and then Prosper in the Tempest

with the wonderful Julie Tam directing.

Um

of course there Again,

the material is the same, the impetus as

an actor is the same, but on film, you

do have that wonderful wonderful

advantage of not having to shout, not

having to project. Although projection

can be a a fabulous tool in acting and

it's not to be rejected because some

there's something about a full voice, a

full vocalized performance that is, you

know, can be quite thrilling and

sometimes I do have take issue with the

really severely undervocalized

performances.

I don't mind people being quiet

as long as there's an intensity in

there. But when it's just just quiet,

it's just whispering or mumbling and you

can't re you really can't understand

what people are saying or or it's so

undervocalized, you know, you lose

interest really. Basically,

there is a just

probably my most favorite speech in um

in Shakespeare, which is the

extraordinary speech by Prospero

um which is known by Shakespearean

people as our rebels now are ended or

sometimes just known as our rebels.

people know what you're talking about.

But anyway,

this was a speech that was wonderful to

be able to do quietly

because if you'd if I'd had to shout it

on the stage, it just would have had a

whole different feeling, not just for

the piece, but for me myself, for my

personal interaction with the speech.

And

that's the great

um advantage, that's not the right word,

the great quality that Shakespeare has

is you have a personal interaction with

these words

in a way that you don't have with um you

know even with a a great character or

role as you know Sophia Toltoy or or um

or the Queen or any of the sort of you

know wonderful

roles I've had the advantage to play.

But there you are with those roles,

you're telling the story, you're

servicing the role, you're experiencing

the role. With Shakespeare, there's a

further element that's coming into it,

which is your personal

your personal relationship with what's

being said here. your personal deep

understanding

of these words.

And of course then the audience are

having their own personal reaction,

their own personal journey through

listening to these words. And and I

think this this speech in particular

sort of can express that

it goes our rebels now are ended.

It's it's sorry it's it's at the end of

a sort of she the wizard Prospero the

the the witch play Prosper has has

created out of nothing this amazing

pageant of of fairies and incredible

things in the air and spirits have come

in and singing and and this sort of inc

amazing sort of fantastical pageant has

been created just out of nothing. Um,

and now she's said, "Off with you. We've

got to get down to business now. We got

to get serious."

Um, so she's told the spirits to go

away.

She says, "Our rebels now are ended.

These our actors,

as I foretold you, were all spirits

and are melted into air,

into thin air.

And like the baseless fabric of this

vision, the cloudcap towers, the

gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples,

the great globe itself, yay, all which

it inherit

shall dissolve,

and like this insubstantial pageant

faded,

leave not a rack behind,

We are such stuff as dreams are made on

and our little life is rounded with a

sleep.

I mean what an unbelievable

always gets me this speech.

What an unbelievable

expression of the whole of human life.

The whole of human life is there, isn't

it? And the end of it. And the fact that

we all die and it will all come to an

end. And we will disappear like this as

others take our place, but we will be

gone.

The baseless fabric and like the

baseless fabric of this vision. In other

words, this fantasy that I've just put

up here, this ridiculous, you know,

Transformers in the Sky or, you know,

War of the World or one of those

fantastical,

you know, um, digitally fexy type of

movies

like this silliness up here, this

fantasy,

it will all

and then she and then he Shakespeare

makes the relation between this this

fantasy and our world, the cloud cap

towers. What an amazing phrase that is

in Shakespeare's days when they didn't

have hugely high-rise buildings with

clouds on the top. But he understood

that concept, the huge edififices that

human beings build, the gorgeous palaces

is incredible. you know the Hermitage

Lou you know these amazing the palaces

of the you know uh Silicon Valleys

palaces with their amazing marble

granite top kitchens and all the rest of

it the solemn temples the whole of

religious life all of the temples he

doesn't say which temples can be

Buddhist can be Christian can be Jewish

can be Muslim the solemn temples

in fact the great globe itself.

And then he goes even further than that.

Yay. All which it inherit

everything that comes after this great

globe of unbelievable human endeavor and

human success and and and and

human achievement on this great planet.

And more than that, everything that

comes after

it will all go

shall dissolve.

And like and like this silly pageant,

this silly digital move effects movie

we've just watched, leave not a rack

behind.

Nothing will be left.

We are we are such stuff as dreams are

made on and our little life. Our little

life. He's just talked about cloudcap

towers and gorgeous palaces and and

solemn temples and then he calls it our

little life. It's nothing. It's just

this little moment on earth

is rounded with not with death, not with

anything as grand as death, with asleep.

We just go to sleep. it's over. You

know, you can't you can't say a speech

like that without it

profoundly affecting you. You just

can't.

And to get back to what we were talking

about originally, to be able to say that

the way I've just said it to you um in a

simple way um is wonderful. It's not

It's so for me um it's so much um better

to better for me to be able to say it

than sort of shouted in a in a theater.

It's not to say it couldn't be. It's as

beautiful a piece of writing in a

theater projected, but to have that

personal relationship with it, for those

understandings, that understanding that

is is buried in in the speech, for it to

really land in you deeply in you,

um, is a wonderful thing.

So, give yourselves a treat. Go and get

a book of Shakespeare and just find a

speech and read it to yourself. Just

read it quietly to yourself. Enjoy the

language.

Don't even think about acting. It's

nothing to do with acting. It's to do

with engaging.

And acting at his best actually is to do

with engaging. That's exactly what it

is.

I find if I'm playing just a you know uh

death playing death in collateral beauty

that was like where do I start with that

I know I don't want to wear black that's

that's first one I'm not going to carry

a drive and I don't want a hood. Uh

where do I go from there? So, you know,

it was very very difficult to find the

image that that I felt and the kind of

character that was right for that role.

On the page, it was pretty open-ended.

You could sort of go almost in any

direction. Um and luckily I was in New

York at the time and New York is just so

full of extraordinary, wonderful

characters. Um, and I love just sitting

on a bus

and I take the subway because I want to

see people. I want to see them. I want

to be amongst them. Um, looking, you

know, just watching people real a mantra

of mine is real life is always more more

interesting than anything we can invent.

Always. If you walked out of wherever

you are watching this into the road and

stop the first person you see on the

street and ask them about their

background and their family and and and

incredible stories will come out,

incredible stories. And then you will

also then start noticing things about

what they're wearing and who they are

and the way they speak. And so there

every the the world is full of of

characters, you know, um

and and part of our job as actors is is

to reflect the world around us. That's

what we do. Human beings have an

extraordinary constant fascination

with themselves and how they belong in

this world and how they um negotiate

this world and and how they negotiate

their own brains and their own emotions

and uh so we're fascinated with

ourselves. We paint ourselves. We write

about ourselves

and we act ourselves and and I think

it's fascinating that actors

because actors are profoundly mocked,

you know, by the media and so forth. Um,

in England we're called loveies, you

know, it enrages me that. Um,

in fact, and and actors are thought of

as narcissistic. In my experience,

actors are the absolute opposite of

narcissistic. A tiny tiny few of them

are, but the vast majority are not. They

are not narcissistic people. They are

shy people. They are thoughtful people.

They are vulnerable people.

Um but they're not narcissistic. They're

in it for something else.

And

the world wants what they're in it for.

We want to be told stories. Of course,

we want to be entertained. It's

fantastic. Um but we also want to be

told the more serious stories, the more

profoundly reflective stories of of who

we are, why we are. And those stories

can be told fantastically or poetically

or literally as in you know docu drama

or in the wonderful um early um films

Italian films of of Viscanti and and

Deika and and Paselini. So there's there

are so many ways but we are all in the

process of telling the human story and

um

and that's why we are what we are.

When you're starting out as an as an

actor or an actress, uh, male or female,

inevitably

the roles that you're offered

will be insubstantial,

will not be enough for you to really,

you know, strut your stuff, really

engage, really make that journey that I

know you want to make as an actor, which

is the journey into your imagination.

It's Boy on a bus. Is Boy on the bus

interesting? Can I do something with Boy

on the Bus? He's on the Greyhound bus.

He's just he, you know, he's got three

lines, you know. Can can I can I borrow

your headphones? Think about that little

tiny role and just pack it with as much

information as you can. You know, where

has he come from? Where is he going to?

Um, you know, why does he need

headphones? Maybe he's a little deaf.

Um, you know, maybe he's just lost his

incredibly expensive pair of headphones

and it's incredibly important for him

to, you know, just just try and pack it

with as much as you can get into that

little tiny role. It'll all come from

your own imagination. Um, but do that.

So, uh, now maybe you it's not boy on

the bus anymore. It's, you know, it's

Harold behind behind the Starbucks

barista and he's got a name and it's

Harold and Harold has a mom. Um, and you

look at those two scenes, Harold behind

the bar, Harold with his mom. And again,

what how can I pack it with as much

without twisting the lines or

exaggerating anything, but pack it with

as much. And if you have a great idea,

do not be afraid of going to the

director and giving him your idea. You

know, I've got this idea that Harold the

barista is really bad at making coffee

and he's a real klutz and he just can't

help dropping things. Whatever the idea

is, just go and don't worry if your idea

gets rejected. It probably will.

Sometimes your idea is accepted and

that's great. Um, but you know, don't be

afraid of your ideas and don't be too

precious with your ideas because anybody

can have an idea. Sometimes people treat

their ideas like this. I had this idea.

Oh my god, it's an idea. It's so It's so

fantastic to have an idea. It's not. You

can have a million ideas. You can have

30 ideas in 30 seconds. So don't be

precious with your ideas but and allow

them to come and allow them to be a part

of your invention.

I think if you're if you find yourself

cast in something that is basically a

fantasy in a way that's a wonderful

thing because now you have an open you

have a a an empty palette an empty uh

canvas upon which to put your colors and

you can now make this this character

almost anything you like. Um, with

Georgina for example in the Cook the

Thief, this was a wonderful sort of

visual

fantasy unrealistic but but very

emotional piece. Um, I was playing the

the wife the girlfriend of an East End

gangster. So East End. So now well she's

East End. So uh she's obviously in a

sedo masochistic relationship. why, what

has brought her into that relationship,

you know? Um, and now she's in that

relationship. She's she's trapped. She's

abused.

She's um yearning to get out of it.

Yearning for real love. So, you know,

even though it's a fantasy situation,

you can find a lot of u subtext or or

backstory or intention. And it's very

important to my mind to have those

thoughts in your in your mind because

that's that's what what will always

bring you back

to the to the um you know the uh um the

the the basis the the substructure of

your performance. Um,

you know, it's very important that

that's solid. That sometimes you find in

the theater as well that your

performance is actually when it comes

down to it is kind of on a sandy base,

you know. Um, and the whole thing is

kind of wobbling and nothing is quite

making sense.

The way for any performance to make

sense is for this base to be very solid.

So the base is your backstory,

is your,

you know, your understanding of the

psychology of the character. And once

you've got that secure, then you can go

in almost any direction with it. Because

as we travel through life with our

psychology, with our backstory, me from

South End on Sea and my mom and my dad

and my work with Peter Brookke and my

schooling and my dreams, my desires, the

me and and I travel through life now,

you know, doing whatever I do. Your

character must do exactly the same

thing. It must have a foundation that is

very really pretty deep and and it's

better the more you know and understand

that foundation.

It's not on the screen and you never

share it with anyone. Maybe your

co-acctor usually the director knows

nothing about that. He's not interested

either incidentally but you know it. So

that gives you the freedom then to

invent, to improvise, to

you know to act.

I've always had my secret story, my

secret story about a role in a film.

And this secret story is the one that I

keep I guard very closely to my heart

and I don't share it with the director

or my fellow actors or the um um you

know or or the producer or the

distributor or the marketing people. No

one. It's my private personal story. And

in many of my roles I love I love to

find my secret message within that

within that story. It's really within

the story, not within the character,

within the story. Because I I would say

to you again, remember that we are

telling a story.

We're not,

you know, indulging ourselves in

emotional journeys. That's all about us

and our ego. We are telling a story to

the audience. That's that's why we don't

do it on our own in our bathrooms.

and and later on I'll get into the whole

business of marketing because that

actually is a very important part of

that process. You know, we need

audiences to watch what we do. But but

anyway, you know, we are we are telling

stories and see yourself, see the words

you say, see the costume you wear, see

your set, see the way you move.

Everything must be about telling a

story.

There are these two very different ways

of researching a role. um the literal

research that you have to do um if it's

a imaginative character like um

Commander Powell in Eye in the Sky but

nonetheless a character that you know

comes from real life you know that's one

kind of character you you research their

background what kind of a woman this

would be um and you do all of that

research I guess in

uh

the other kind of research is a is a is

a different thing and it's hard to

articulate. I played a role in a film

called Some Mother's Son which was about

the hunger strikers in Northern Ireland

at the time of of the troubles. It was

an era that I knew quite well because

I'd spent time in Ireland at that time.

Um

and I was playing the mother of a hunger

striker.

Um,

and obviously there was a lot of literal

research to be done in that in that film

of what was the hunger strike, how many

guys were on hunger strike, how long did

it take them to die, you know, how did

it all work? It was, you know, they

would secrete little messages in their

teeth and pass it to the IRA outside the

prison and inside the prison, uh, which

the m the mother would have to be aware

of because she's visiting her son in

prison. There was all of all of those

sort of the um you know if you like the

the the the literal research around the

subject but then I was also thinking who

who is this woman? Why who is this

woman?

She was innocent within the context of

of the story. She wasn't an IRA

operative. It takes her by surprise that

her son is involved. Nonetheless, she's

living in that world. So she, you know,

she's aware of it.

And I suddenly thought, you know, and

this was where my, if you like, my

poetic inspiration came from. Women have

always been on the front lines in wars.

Always. They're on the front lines

without weapons. They're not al,

especially when women weren't allowed in

the in the military. And this whole

idea, oh, it's the men on the front

line. Women are always on the front line

because they're the ones at in their

homes looking after their children when

the when the invading army comes.

They're the ones who have the bombs

dropped on their heads. They're the ones

who have to survive and keep life going.

And I suddenly thought about those women

who

war is happening all around them. They

are not

act um active in the theater of war but

they are absolutely experiencing it and

having to survive it. So if you like

that was my if you like poetic

um uh research

when I did a film called Eye in the Sky.

I I was playing a role originally

written for a man. Um

there are women in the military and

they're very high up women in the

military. So that wasn't a stretch. But

obviously I've never been in the

military. I'm just not a military kind

of a person. Um so I had to learn uh the

kind of woman this would have been. I I

was very curious in who she would have

been when she entered the military. very

similar in a funny way to my research

and my my um my uh work on finding the

Jane Tennyson character. It was a

question of going back to when they were

in their teens and when at the time that

I was making a decision to become an

actress, these women were making one was

making a decision to go into the police

force and the other one was making a

decision to go into the military. both

of which were environments that were

somewhat hostile to women in that era.

So I wanted to think about and

investigate the kind of character who

would know that fact and still go ahead

with that career decision and then deal

with whatever she had to deal with in

the process that led her now to this

point. in the case of Eye in the Sky, a

commander

uh with a great deal of authority. Um

and and to do that, I didn't actually

speak with women in the in the military,

but I I spoke we had a military adviser

and I asked him a lot of questions about

the kind of woman this would be, you

know. Um, but with Eye in the Sky, it

had to go one step further in a sense in

the sense that the the film makes this

woman make a purely military

uh decision that is not influenced by

so-called, you know, womanly feelings.

um which gave the film the director

um Gavin Hood had a a really good

perception that in making this character

female it opened up the discussion for

the audience about the morality of this

decision. Whereas if it had been a man

taking that decision, it would have been

just an assumption. Oh, that's what men

do when they're in the army. But making

that into a woman suddenly made you

aware of the moral issues, the the

purely simple emotional human issues

related to that decision. Um, and it

exacerbated it um in making that

character a woman.

Um

but my function in in my my job in the

role was simply not to think about that

but just to play the role as clearly and

as and and as believably as possible.

when I was in my I guess my early 40s um

I was very very fortunate and being very

fortunate I'm afraid is very much a part

of your world as an actor and I was very

fortunate and the role of Jane Tennyson

in a TV series uh called Prime Suspect

fell fell upon my desk

um I looked it up she was in the last

scene so I was going and she was in

almost every scene so I thought Oh, this

is interesting. Um, and then on top of

that, um, it was a character

not unlike any character one's ever

seen, but but very very strong,

wonderfully flawed and and and brave and

courageous and bloody minded and

determined and funny, you know. It was a

wonderful wonderful role. And the first

thing I had to do was cut my hair

because

uh I had long hair at the time, but um

uh police women in general don't have

long hair and it annoys me when I see

women playing police women, especially

out in the field with long hair. They

don't have long hair because people can

grab hold of their hair. So, and drag

them. So, it's a very practical reason

for which they don't have long hair. I

had very little time to do proper

research for that role. Um, I met the

woman that the role was based on. She

was she was much more um

she was more than what's the word? I

mean fierce and and uh antagonistic

than the character was written. So I

didn't base Jane Tennyson on the real

person really apart from her literal

circumstances. Um but I did meet with

her as you must when you're playing this

kind of role. um like the military

commander or like the police officer. If

you're entering into a world that you

know know nothing about, I think it's

kind of essential to go and seek out

people who are in that world and just

ask them questions. By far the most

valuable

person that I spoke to in my little bit

of research that I did was a police

woman who was in charge of a of a um

police station in in England. And she

gave me a couple of real really good

advice. And the one one was she said,

and this is fascinating, body language,

as you will know from being an actor how

very important body language is. Um, she

said, "Never fold your arms." And it was

very funny because that morning I just

had my costume fitting and there I was

in my all my sort of, you know, policey

sort of suits, you know, straight, you

know, shirts and jackets and all very

sort of policey. And um, and I've been

looking myself in the mirror going,

"Yeah, that looks good. That looks

strong." You know, yeah, yeah, I like

that.

So anyway, then I go and visit with a

police woman uh afterwards. Then that

afternoon she says never fold your arms.

I said oh really why she because she

said think about it folding your arms

actually is a defensive action. You know

we can sit and relax without it's you're

either relax this is how I sit or it's

defensive. It looks strong but you're

actually defending yourself. It's

actually weak.

Um she said always be open like this is

strong.

uh because it means you're invulnerable.

You're not frightened. You're not

defending yourself. You're this is

strong. And then the other thing she

said was touch people because and you

see politicians do this. It's

fascinating when politicians are meeting

each other. You'll watch a unit. You'll

be gone by the time this happens.

Anyway, you watch politicians

meeting each other.

They fight to be the first one to touch

the other one.

You can see them wrestling you, you

know, maneuvering to be the first one to

touch the other one. Gently, politely on

the shoulder, on the arm, you know, on

the middle of the back. What they're

really doing is taking control of that

person. It looks politeness. Looks why

don't you come this way? You know, it

looks like politeness. It's not

politeness. It's absolute physical. Not

intimidation is not the right word, but

it's take I am taking control of you. I

get to be the first one to touch it. The

the person who touches first is the one

who's got dominance if you like. So she

said be open like this and touch people

on the arm, on the shoulder. You know,

it relaxes them if they don't understand

what's going on. Politicians do

understand.

But at the same time you gain control of

the situation. You know the police are

fascinating and I learned a lot from the

police. I learned about costume and the

way costume and we will deal with this

later. The way costume tiny changes in

your costume can say a great deal about

your character. And this is the way you

know police people read you. They go

they you know they look at your watch

and that's an expensive watch. Then they

look at your shoes. No but those are

cheap shoes. Why? Why has this guy got

an expensive watch but cheap shoes?

What's that telling me about his

character? You know, that's a that's a

very expensive suit he's wearing, but

it's kind of stained. It's not clean.

It's not absolutely clean. And does it

maybe he lives on his own? So, they read

character really really quickly. And

again, with body language, they read

body language. So the police I think a

very valuable resource for actors.

Einrand. I had never heard of Ein Rand.

I didn't know about her, not being

American. But the minute I started

reading about her, I realized what a

spectacular,

interesting,

individual, extraordinary character to

play. and especially to play her in the

piece that that was written. Uh it was

called the passion of Einr Rand and it

was about her emotional journey through

this very very intense love affair that

she had. So it was in direct

contradiction

to all of Einran's uh thoughts and

philosophies about objectivity because

when it came to love she was completely

unobjective as we all are. So it was

that um that conflict there that was

inevitably going to be a wonderful thing

to play. There was a little tiny not

much tiny piece of film of her and it

was invaluable. Um with Ein Rand you

know um

such a powerful obviously a powerful

woman that goes woman that goes without

saying but how powerful where does that

power come from? There's this dumpy

little Russian, you know, not attractive

with a weird hairo and yet powerful. Wh

where where can how can I how can I get

to that power? Where's it coming from?

And in that obviously it comes from a a

great intellect and and the thing that

was so clear about Ein Ran was that her

brain was like a amazing chess game. You

know Donahghue or someone would ask a

question you you could see her mind

going if I answer that he'll say that

and then I'll say that and then I'll say

that. So I will go to the endgame. she

went straight to like three questions

down the road because she knew how that

would play out within seconds and you

see that process happening in her mind.

Um,

and I just noticed the other day I was

watching her again that she doesn't

blink and her eyes just go like this all

the time and her she's living inside of

her brain. She's not, you know, she's

her attention is inside always in her

eyes are looking inward to this brain

working the way

with Elizabeth the first. The only

research I could do, obviously there's

no film, you know, there's no

photographs, there's no very little

contemporary

dis uh descriptions because everything

was so controlled and if you dared to

criticize Elizabeth the first, you'd

have your head chopped off. So all of

the contemporary descriptions are

incredibly sickopantic and you know

just you can't you can't take that you

can't read that and believe it. So the

only real people that you could believe

were the ambassadors the Spanish

ambassador the German am Italian

ambassador they were the people who said

the truth about her because they weren't

invested in saying anything else. Um so

I read the ambassador's letters

describing her. Um

and then now the only thing you have are

the portraits. Now Elizabeth the first

controlled her image almost like a brand

like a you know she she was very

controlling about how she was painted.

She, you know, everything that she was

wearing, her rough, her the kind of

dress, the dress she was wearing, this

emblems on the dress, the jewelry,

everything was highly controlled to

present an image to her nation. This is

why she partly why she was so immensely

successful as a monarch

um and and clever as a monarch, but not

very valuable for an actress trying to

play her, you know, trying to get under

all of that all of that symbolism.

The other thing that I'd learned from

Elizabeth the first, and this is why

it's so important to to read

read your history, do that research, but

do it as an actor, not as a historian.

And actors read history in a very

different way from historians. Um,

so I I when I was playing Elizabeth I

realized Elizabeth as as monarchs in

general have to they have to believe

that God has put them on the throne

because if God didn't put them on the

throne then really the throne is

meaningless. Why are they there? You

know it's an accident of birth.

So they have to really believe, really

truly believe that God wants them there

and that's why they're there. A

Godanointed

queen. Now Elizabeth, Elizabeth

above Elizabeth the first above all felt

that

um Godanointed kings and queens should

never be challenged. If anyone rose up

in rebellion against a godanointed king

or queen, they were subject to the most

horrendous,

brutal, brutal treatment because in her

eyes, they had trans transgressed

God's will.

Now she's faced with the problem of

Mary, Queen of Scots, a Godanointed

queen. And unless she

gets rid of Mary, Queen of Scots, her

position is possibly untenable or will

become untenable or there will be

revolution. There will be strife in the

kingdom. It's a it's a real problem.

This why she found it impossible. She

got someone else to say chop off her

head. She didn't she sort of fudged it.

She couldn't say it herself. And I

believe because she did that, I believe

uh Elizabeth first was absolutely

convinced she was going to go to hell

because she had killed a Godanointed

queen.

So by the end of her life, you know,

it's amazing. She stood for three days.

She would not die. She would not die.

Um cuz she knew the minute she went to

bed, she would die. She just refused to

move. She stood in one spot for uh you

know three days 36 no what's three days

in terms of hours can't remember but of

60 odd hours extraordinary and then went

to bed and then died but I think she did

that because she was so terrified of

dying.

So when I was prepping Elizabeth II,

Elizabeth Windsor,

I just, you know, the trouble with royal

royal people, it was like this with

Elizabeth the first. Um, and it was

interesting because I played them both

in the same year. So um, you know, ve

very close together. So I'd just come

out of doing all my research for

Elizabeth first and I'm into Elizabeth

second. And then I thought coming out of

my Elizabeth the first experience I

suddenly had this and I was very really

I was in bits about doing this thinking

I this is I'm going to be a disaster you

know I'm going to be so attacked and I

don't know how to do it and I don't know

what I'm doing and then I suddenly

thought about the portraits of Elizabeth

II

has been very generous with portrait

painters and allowed many artists to

paint her including of course the great

Annie Liberowitz photographing her. Um,

and I suddenly thought, you know what?

I'm going to look at the at the

portraits because I'm going to see what

artists saw in her, not what these sick

authentic, you know, documentaries see

in her. See what artists saw in her. And

in my thought of that, I suddenly

thought that's what it is. I'm doing a

portrait. I'm just another artist doing

a portrait. It's not her. It's not She's

much better at being her than I am, but

it's my artistic interpretation and I'm

allowed as an artist to do that. And it

gave me a it it liberated me. So, um if

you get to play real people,

consider yourself as an an artist in

that sense. This is your interpretation.

Likewise, incidentally, with Einr Rand,

um this is your interpretation and

you're allowed your interpretation and

you're allowed to bring yourself into

it. Um you have to obey certain things.

You've got to look like her and sound

like her and walk like her. You all of

that's got to be correct. But that's

only the beginning of playing a

character, playing a role, I should say.

in the research for Elizabeth II, you

know, you are looking at someone that

that was why I so wanted to look at the

young girl because the young girl when

she was 14 or 15, she didn't know she

was going to be queen. She thought she

was going to be a just a princess. Um

because if her father had had another

mother and father had had another child

and it had been a boy, she wouldn't have

been queen. So, you know, it wasn't

certain. So the mantle, if you like,

hadn't fallen upon her at that point,

which is why I thought it was really

important to

see who that real little character was.

I read was very valuable, a a book

written by her nanny, um, Crawy. She was

called Crawy. Crawford was her name. She

was vilified by the royal family. They

never spoke to her again for daring to

write this book about the royal family.

you know, the Queen and Princess

Margaret when they were young young

children. In fact, it's a very sick

sickopantic book. But in it, there are

wonderful little little nuggets of of

knowledge about this this person as a

young girl. And then I found this little

tiny tiny piece of film of her. I think

she's probably about 12 or 13. I I'm

pretty sure she's in socks and little

one little coat, you know, with a velvet

collar. She's got little gloves on. And

she's in this big black car and there

are these big guys all dressed in black

waiting for her outside the car. And the

car door opens and she gets out, this

little girl. And she does this. You can

see her doing what she thinks she's

supposed to do and doing it as well as

she possibly can. And to me that said

everything about the character.

And I found myself just really drawn to

the young woman, the young girl who was

very she was very lively and and the

things that excited her excites excite

her. horses, you know, certain things.

She can laugh very easily. She can

twinkle. She's got a great, you know,

there's this incredible sense of humor

in there. But when it comes to doing

what you're supposed to do,

there's an incredible sense of duty and

self-discipline

and and practicality and common sense.

Once the mantle did fall upon her and

now I'm looking at the film of her in

her official role and there she is and

she's got her handbag on her arm and

she's always utterly contained and

utterly straight. The hat's on and the

brooch is here and the whole queen

uniform

demeanor is absolutely in place. And I

was looking at this as you do as an

actor doing your research just trying to

find something. What is it that I'm

missing? Suddenly I notice that her

hands which are like this but her thumb

is just twiddling her

like this. Twiddling her um wedding ring

round and round and around really fast

like this. I thought ah there it is.

There's that inner

uh

pulse and it's a fast pulse. It's not a

slow, easy, I'm all relaxed kind of p.

It's a fast pulse and you then you could

see that unbelievable self-discipline

that but it has to come out somewhere

and it just came out in his one little

hand, one little finger going like this.

the nervousness, the insecurity

um that she was constantly having to

overcome.

So, you've you've gone through your

research and you found these little

elements, the the the girl, the the

ring. Now, the question is, how do you

incorporate that into your performance?

Well, you know what? You kind of don't.

It's all it's all it's never literal

these things. It's never it's never um

uh you know mathematical.

It's something that informs

maybe at some point I'm sure I did in in

in the film of the queen. I I I was like

this maybe it wasn't in shot or maybe if

it was in shot maybe it was cut out. I

don't know. But um you incorporate those

elements in in terms of the little girl.

It was just an understanding then of

where that sense of duty and self

discipline came from. It it came from

within her. It didn't come from, you

know, her religiously and strictly

obeying someone else's rules. It was

intrinsic to her. this sense of of

quiet

dignified

um uh duty.

So you know

it's never a literal thing.

Um and if it is literal it becomes

mundane actually. It becomes rather

plotting. Um, so

it it just becomes it must become a part

of your skin in some way in some way.

costume.

What an incredible powerful tool that is

for us actors to have available to us.

Here I am in an 18th century costume.

This is a costume that I have this

period I've worn before. Um, it's a

period I love.

But it's not just the period of the

costume, but it's also

what this particular costume is saying.

I was looking at this and thinking, you

know what, a costume like that on a

woman of my age means that this is a

character who's desperately trying to

look younger than she really is. You

know, it's got a whole little girly

thing going on with it with the little

frills and the little ruffles and the

little bows and and the colors of it,

the pink and the green and it's all very

little little b peepee, you know. So,

it's not just the fact that you're

wearing a period costume, which of

course says an enormous amount, the

hair, which is so fantastic, but also

exactly what within that period the

costume is, the story that the costume

is telling. And I want to talk about the

stories that costumes tell.

So, now we're in the world of costume,

and this is a world that I love.

It's the first building block in your

character. So when I go to the um

costume designer and we have our first

costume fitting, I usually have an idea

of of the look I want or the colors or

the type of costume. And then of course

I'm open to the ideas of the costume

designer because often they have their

own ideas. In a blessed world, your two

ideas are basically the same. That's

often the case. Sometimes you're at odd

with odds with each other and then you

can talk through it and discuss it and

find a common ground. I'm starting with

this costume which is when you look at

all of them is by far the plainest.

Don't be afraid of looking dowy, of

looking plain. Number one, your costume

absolutely must serve your character and

nothing else. Not your vanity, not how

pretty you are or how fat you are or how

thin you are. just serve serve your

character as long once it serves your

character then you can say maybe it' be

a little bit more in the waist make me a

little bit thinner but primarily it's

got to serve serve the character this is

very similar to the costume that I wore

in Gosford Park I was playing the

housekeeper very very dowy absolutely no

vanity whatsoever in the costume um but

the great thing about a costume like

this is what happens up here. You know,

your character can can flourish and can

flower. You're not playing the costume.

The costume is really serving you and

and your character is is given its its

its fullest expression. I mean, now, you

know, we look at something like this

different period. Oh, no, actually, not

so different period comes. That's kind

of 30s. This is kind of 20s. So, not

far, not far apart, but what a different

world we're in here. You know, we're in

the world of of of um party, of

frilliness. I've never worn this costume

actually or anything much like it, but I

wanted to show it because it's an

indication of uh of a completely

different character from that. I mean,

how different could these two people be?

Um it's great to have movement in your

costume and think about that. Think

about what it what it's like when you

move. This would be a wonderful um

costume to wear. If you have a dancing

scene or something like that, think

about whether the costume is going to

move with you. Um, funny enough, there's

another issue uh which is if you're

doing a sex scene is how easy is it to

take off? I had a costume fitting with

Armani once who's brilliant, brilliant

uh costume designer, but I had a sex

scene in that costume and he just did

not get the fact that I had to be able

to take this thing off in camera. He he

just couldn't grasp that. Maybe it was

Jean Paul Goier. Maybe it wasn't Armani

actually, but anyway, it was one of the

two. So, um think about the practicality

of what you're having to do in this

costume. Now, I've worn a lot of um

period costumes in my life. And here we

have a perfect example of a sort of

Elizabethan style costume. Here you

you're in a corset. And if you're in a

corset, it means you can't sit down

comfortably and you can't breathe

comfortably. If the corset is being

constructed for you, um a trick is to

ask for what they call an opera corset,

which is a corset which has elastic down

the side so you can breathe a little

bit. And I'll tell you, after a sort of

14, 15 hour day in that corset, you're

going to be very grateful for that

little bit of elastic in the side.

But when you're wearing a a um period

costume like this, you have to I mean

the great thing is the costume does it

for you in a way, but also I've seen

people wearing period costumes where

they their

um their composure, their um attitude is

completely their department is totally

at odds with the costume they're

wearing. They've got a modern

department, you know, in a dress like

this. The fact is if you have a rough

your head has to be up. That's what the

rough's all about. The corset is giving

you a certain posture. The fact you've

got a krenolin on not krenolin but a

roll here. Elizabeth and roll gives you

that hip thing. So when you sit, when

you move, you absolutely must be

conscious of that. Another thing I've

noticed with uh you know girls often on

the red carpet they got this long dress

on you know and they have to lift it up

to move and they don't they just do

something very awkward just understand

how to lift your skirt up you just you

know it's that you know it's not sort of

that but anyway that's a that's a

complication I love wearing period

costumes because it does half your work

as a character doing Elizabeth the first

obviously That was what I was wearing

all day long. And and the amazing

elaboration of those costumes was just a

fantastic inspiration for me. Playing

the character, the lux luxury of them,

the the um formality of them, the weight

of them killed me. But it it was great.

This is a period I love. I absolutely

love this period. I think because it

flatters me. But again, you're in a

corset uh but a very different shape.

And I love the sort of restraint of this

period. Unlike the Elizabethan period

which was all about sort of if you're

wealthy all about show, this was a very

sort of uh precise and neat little

period. We're talking about in n uh late

19th century period basically. Um

you've got this oh my god what the hell

is that? That's a bustle. So what is

that all about? You know, again, that

gives you a certain position. It was all

to do with pushing your backside up.

That was a sexy thing. And it gives you

this sort of wonderful curve in the back

that becomes again a part of your

character. Um, I played Miss Julie in

this period and um, and and I found the

costume and the attitude that the

costume forced me into incredibly

valuable for playing that sexy but

utterly repressed character of Miss

Julie, whose sexuality was just bursting

out of her, but it was all caught in

this costume. And you know, those things

are great to think about and to use.

Just use them. use your costume. It's

not just a thing you put on. It's a

thing that is informing the history of

your character, the uh you know what the

personality, the everything about your

character. So really en enjoy and use

your costume.

And look at these little shoes. I mean,

look, they're so tiny. I could never get

into these. But look at those neat

little shoes. I mean, can't you just see

the way those little shoes walk down the

road? You know, you walk in a very

specific way in these shoes. Um,

everything about them, their their

little buttons, their little shiny toes,

you know, they they just they they are a

character in and of of themselves. And

shoes are so important. Shoes are so

important. It you know, it's great if

you're wearing comfortable shoes. And

incidentally, if they're not in shot and

if you're not walking in them, wear

something that's comfortable, just say,

"I'm going to wear my trainers for

this." Although, be careful about that

because you walk very differently in

trainers. So, sometimes, even if they're

not in shot, you need to wear the right

shoes. But, um,

uh, you know, be comfortable.

Apparently, Greta Garo would always put

her slippers on whenever shot whenever

her feet weren't in shot, she'd have her

her big comfy slippers on. But um but

shoes are such an important part of the

character. And as you're building the

character in your costume fitting, pay

great attention to the shoes. Can you

wear them all day? Are they correct for

the character? There's all kinds of

issues related to shoes. So regretfully,

I'm going to leave the late 19th

century. And and um

this is a sort of this is a wonderful

fantasy dress. and and sometimes you'll

have the pleasure and the fun of wearing

something like this maybe. Um this is

like an unbelievable mish mash of

medieval and Victorian skirt and a kind

of vaguely Elizabethan thing and this is

back in the medieval days and then we're

up here we're Elizabethan again. Um I it

it's a sort of a fantasy costume,

slightly clowny, you know. You can tell

this has I'd love to know what

production this came from cuz uh it

looks like something out of um you know

uh Alice in Wonderland to me. And um and

of course that's the great pleasure of

wearing this kind of fantasy costume.

It's just unbelievable fun. And it means

that your performance has to rise to the

costume. You can't underplay in a

costume like this. You've got to you've

got to live the costume and you've got

to be kind of bigger than real life.

Um, this is this is a kind of a I wanted

something similar to the costume I wore

as the queen because this was such an

interesting

process. I went with the with the

queen's costumes. Um, obviously all of

this is correct. This has to be on the

right side or actually on the left side.

The pearls and all of that. Um, the

dress has to be right.

But the most important thing with this

costume and I was so lucky to have the

costume designer that I had um was the

lining. The lining and the way the dress

was constructed from the outside. It

looks like a really ordinary dress, but

actually it was perfectly made for me

perfectly. Everything fitted exactly

right. And then it was lined lined in

the most expensive silk. So when I put

this dress on, it just fell onto me like

a piece of melting butter on on mashed

potato.

It was just beautiful. And it made me

feel I instantly felt like the queen.

And not because of what it looked like

from the outside, but because it what it

felt like from the inside. It felt

unbelievably expensive, totally made for

me, you know, immaculate. And um and

this is where I love great costume

designers is they think about those

details. If they don't think about those

details, maybe you can think about them

in relation to your c character. Should

this be uncomfortable? Maybe this

character needs something that's kind of

uncomfortable, you know, and oh, you

know, and they feel awkward in it. or

maybe it's something they feel fantastic

in and they're just showing it off. I

was looking at the shoes actually that

for this uh character and to the eye

immediately they look absolutely right.

They're black court shoes which is what

the queen would wear. But I would reject

reject these shoes for three reasons.

The toe is wrong. It's too pointy.

They've got these fancy little bits in

the back.

too too fussy and the heel is wrong.

It's just too modern. So the whole look

of the shoe is just a little c every

lots is right. It's black. It's suede.

The height of the heel is right. It's

simple, but it's wrong. So, you know,

sometimes, especially when you're

playing real characters, you have to pay

pay incredible attention to details like

that. Maybe in the end you're the only

person who notices that, but at least

you know you got it right.

Um, oh, this is really this was

fascinating.

When I played uh the commander in um Eye

in the Sky, you know, I said, "What am

I?" Well, you're wearing camouflage. Oh

god, how awful. Except of course it was

great cuz I didn't have to really bother

about what I looked like. But once I

when I started talking to the police pe

um uh military people they say ah I I

said what's it like just to you know

wear camouflage. He said oh no we are

very precise about the way we wear our

our camouflage. So there are little

messages in in the way you wear this

that the anyone any military person will

go she got it right or a military person

will go they got it wrong. One is to do

with the way the belt is and forgive me

I can't remember the details right now

but there's something to do with the

buckle that I think it has to be one

side and it has to be on one particular

side and it has to be in one particular

position who knew then I think the

sleeves have to be if they're going to

be rolled up they have to be rolled up

in a certain way like one

very neatly because it's all about

neatness in the military to

really really neat

really precise. Can't be too high. Can't

be too low. I can't remember the exact

details, but I just remember. And the

the trousers have to be tucked into the

boots.

Um, there's something about the collar,

I can't quite remember, but I I couldn't

believe it. There were all these

incredible markers of how to wear your

fatigues uh that were so precise and

I got them all right because I was

fascinated by this. But even in a

costume that's as ubiquitous or as

apparently as bland or as sort of

non-existent as wearing camo,

there are really strong uh character

pointers. You know, if it's someone who

doesn't bother about that kind of thing,

he or she doesn't care about where the

belt is or the sleeves of one sleeves

down, one sleeves up, that it as far as

the military are concerned, that's

making a very strong statement about the

kind of personality that you're dealing

with. So, and then you know you're

wearing these all day which is so comfy

and so fabulous and of course make you

walk in a certain way which is

incredibly important.

Um, when I went to the set every morning

doing um doing Eye in the Sky, I'd march

to the set. I I'd leave my trailer, get

myself into into military mode in my in

my fatigues, my boots, and then I would

march just left, right, left, right,

left, right, get myself into that sort

of sense of discipline

and um obedience that people in the

military have to have. And here, my god,

talk about one street extreme to the

other. I had I had them put this out

just because I loved it and I wanted to

put it on and it's just so cool and it's

so colorful and it's so gorgeous and

it's like a costume, you know, a lovely

colorful beautiful piece of costume and

I don't know when you'd ever wear it or

what. This is kind of cool actually.

This collar. I didn't realize it had

this collar and that's interesting. It's

always quite nice to have something

around your neck because so often on the

screen you're like this. So anything you

put on around here is important and

probably will play quite a lot. You

know, look for something with a little

bit of detail that's high up like this.

So um actually this is quite a good

costume for a certain kind of thing. I

mean obviously it would have to be a

very specific kind of thing but I was

just wanted to talk about

um in a very in a very simple way about

the importance of um of a piece of

costume and and I thought I'd choose

something that's really kind of boring

and

you know not not like spectacular which

is basically basically you know a long

slouchy comfy cardi And I just wanted to

think about if I was in a costume

fitting and the costume designer said,

"I thought she'd wear a comfy card in

this scene." I go, "Yeah, absolutely. I

see that. I think that's right." And she

says, "Okay, I've got these two

cardigans. Which do you think?" So, this

is kind of the process I would go

through. I put put it on. Look at

myself.

That's pretty cool. I like the color.

You know, it's light, which is nice. you

you know if it's a dark set you're going

to show up. Another thing to think about

is what the set's like. It's always

quite valuable if you have the time to

go to the set designer and say, "What

color are the walls for that scene?" And

then and then make your decision about

the costume because sometimes it's great

to wear the same color as the walls.

That can be kind of fabulous. Um and

sometimes you really want a contrast.

So, it's it's good to think about the

design of the whole, you know,

sometimes. But anyway, here we are. This

is just character. So, I'm looking at

this. I like this. It's comfy. I like

the fact it's long. It's almost like a

coat. I could go outside in this. And

what really is the difference between

that

one

and this one? Try this one on.

Shoot. There we go.

Um,

thought the interesting thing about this

is it looks so boring. It's got much

duller color, but look what you can do.

It slips off the shoulder.

You know, it doesn't want to stay on. It

wants to fall off. So, it's a completely

different vibe. You know, it kind of

looks kind of I guess you can do this.

And actually, if you do do this, you

know, it's this is quite nice. but it

kind of has that slippy offy thing which

I kind of like and um depending on the

character the scene

those are things I would think about.

Um,

you know, there is actually quite a big

difference between these two, you know,

ordinary, funky, long cardigans.

And look at the difference, speaking of

cardigans, between those cardigans and

this little cardigan.

World of difference. I mean, a world of

difference. Neat little precise little

clean thing. Speaking of clean, when you

get a piece of costume and the the

wonderful costume people have cleaned it

for you and they've ironed it and all

the rest of it and I get it and I often

go like this with it

and I scrunch it up because, you know,

that immediately looks more real to me.

It doesn't look like it's just been

ironed or just come from the laundry.

you know, our clothes mostly just come

out of the washing machine, so they

don't have these nice lines down here.

And um so make sure your costume looks

real, looks lived in. Um

I talked about color and it's often

great to have beautiful color and red is

always a beautiful color. Red is always

some kind of signifier dramatically of,

you know, the leading lady's often in

red. I don't know if you've noticed. Red

is so cool. I mean, look, what a This is

a great piece because it's got um it's

reflective. Cameramen, I think, am I

right? Cameramen would like this because

it's got a bit of life to it. But the

only thing I don't like about this is

the collar doesn't move. It's it's sewn

down. I wouldn't like that. I'd want my

collar to be up or down. I want to be

able to use my collar. So, I might say,

"I love the color, but I don't like the

collar." So, can we change it? But, and

then I might not like the buttons. I

think it's a great color, but let's

change the buttons. Anyway, these are

all little costumey things, and I just

wanted to talk talk you through the

kinds of thoughts I have when I'm doing

costume.

You know the kinds of ideas that go

through my

Now, speaking of color and stuff around

your face, you know, this is gorgeous.

The color is beautiful. It's alive. It's

got a liveless, but it's not

overpowering. It's always lovely to have

something you can play with in closeup

that uh, you know, sets your just, you

know, gives you a beautiful frame here.

if if if you feel that's uh appropriate.

It's also great incidentally to have

something that you can if you want to

you can kind of play with, you know, if

you feel that that's something, you

know, that you you're going to need in

the scene, think about that. Think about

the uh maybe a scarf or, you know, some

or maybe a necklace, something to play

with. Um,

another

element that you can add for character

and of course purses for a woman or man.

You know, what does this tell about the

character? It's old, it's heavy, it's

ugly, it's old, uh, you know, period.

So, um, if it's modern, it's someone who

hasn't bothered to buy a new one for a

long time. someone who's very serious,

who doesn't really care what what

something looks like. That's one thing.

And here we have a whole other story

going on. You know, your purse is quite

important because very often you're

opening it and getting stuff out. You

have to check that the it's easy to open

and close if that's going to be a part

of your action. So, you're not fiddle

assing around and everybody's waiting

for you to open open your purse in the

shot. So, um, I'm terribly particular

about the purse that I carry because I

think women's purses are very much a

reflection of who they are. You know,

some are flashy, some are very sober,

some are just not absolutely non kind of

non-existent. Like this is someone who

just doesn't care what they look like.

This is a a lady who's quite bourgeoa,

quite uh you know, elegant obviously and

just uh you know, it's colorcoordinated.

There's a little tiny thing here that's

useful. Oh, look, it's got a little

thing on it. Oh, that's cool. I didn't

see that. That would be good, too. But

anyway, you know, very very very

different. Likewise, my god, glasses.

How much I mean, think of the the

queen's glasses.

Um, it's always a good thing if it's

appropriate to wear a pair of glasses.

You got, you know what? What a world of

difference between those. Sorry, I'll

put them on again. Those

and these. Very earnest, very

sweet, very whatever it is,

owlike. And then these are always a

winner. You normally get a nomination if

you wear glasses like these.

because they instantly give you like

total charact especially if you're

playing a Russian. A Russian with a bad

wig and these glasses nomination.

I have to try it next time. Uh watches.

You're never going to get a nomination

for the watch you wear, but it tells the

story that you want to tell. And maybe

only you will know that. But what a

world of difference between this little

watch, this very work a day watch.

Uh obviously this watch tells a very

specific story about a character. Um if

the watch is going to play, there's

going to be, you know, there's going to

be a close-up of it, then the watch

becomes unbelievably important.

Otherwise, normally it only has an

importance for you. So when you're in

the totality of your costume, everything

including the watch is right just for

you to stay in character as much as

anything. Um,

jewelry for women

can't be too distracting. I would reject

this unless I was doing an evening scene

or something. That's far too

distracting.

Um, in fact, there's nothing here. I

would you want something that's there

that's kind of present but is not too

distracting

unless you want it to be dist you want

it to make a statement you know you want

it to bl say something

um but jewelry is is terribly terribly

important the lack of it less is more in

general with jewelry but sometimes it's

great to make a a real statement with

jewelry when I was doing Elizabeth the

first I had all this jewelry all laid

out on a table in my trailer and um she

she just wore everything all at once. It

was fabulous. Okay, I'll wear those and

then I'll wear those and then I'll have

those in my hair and then I'll have more

of those and then I'll wear those three

brooches and I was like loaded with

jewelry. It was so fun. It's great. I

talked earlier about shoes

and obviously you know between these

shoes and these shoes there is a world

of difference and about 150 years. Um,

but I think more than that is to think

about

the world that these shoes live in in

terms of freedom of movement, of women,

of running, of uh, trousers, of shorts,

of just the whole world, the whole

culture, the society that these shoes

live in. And then the culture that these

shoes live in, the world that they live

in, where women are when they wore these

shoes, these tight little pointy little

precise little shoes. These shoes speak

to me of people who have servants.

You know, they're so precise. They're

like the other little boots. They're

probably from the same era. Um, but just

think more of the physicality of the

shoes as as what they represent in terms

of of the culture, the society that your

the character who wears this these shoes

live in. You know, allow all of that,

just the fact of wearing these shoes,

allow all of that to kind of inform your

performance.

Um, hats great. Cinematographers would

hate this hat. They'd go, "Does she have

to wear that hat?" I would have put it

on, go, "Oh, I love this hat." They'd

go, "No, you can't wear that because of

the shadows it makes." So, be aware of

that. But hats are cool. I like hats.

Um, now these I really wanted to show

you these because you know you think I I

want a pair of wear a pair of boots in

as this character and here's okay here's

a great pair of boots and I would say no

those boots will not do yes they're the

right size they're the right shape

they're the right color look at them

they're brand new they've never been

worn I want my shoes to look like

they've had character and age in them I

often when I'm playing a role I'll go

into um secondhand stores and I'll buy

my costume,

bits of my costume from a secondhand

store because they've got life in it.

They've been washed a few hundred times.

You know, the boots have been worn.

They've worn at the heel and that's such

a different thing. I mean, look at these

boots. Obviously, they're different

style, but I'm not talking about the

style and the lovely stars and

everything. I'm talking about the

amazing wear in them. you know, they're

all they're all falling apart because

they're so loved by the person who wears

them. You know, the heel is going. But

these are real boots. These boots have

character. Uh th those are great great

boots. So, you can see they're worn.

They're all falling apart. They've been

worn so often they they are falling

apart. They're all worn down at the

heel. These are real boots. These these

boots have a character, have a life,

have a history, you know, and and and

unless there's a whole thing about the

fact you're wearing new boots, that's a

different thing. But mostly, we have a

pair of boots that we love and we wear

them to death. Like these are being

worn. I love these boots because of

their character.

Now this is a place that I know really

well and many actors especially actors

obviously who work in theater. This is

our world.

This is our our womb. This is our home.

This is our place of tears and of

glasses of wine and of terror and of

prayers. Oh, please God, don't let me

forget my lines. Please God, don't let

me forget my lines. Please God, let act

three go well. Um, so this is a very,

very familiar, comfortable place for

actors. And if it's not in the theater,

there's an equivalent in film, which is

your dressing room, your trailer, your

dressing room, your double banger,

whatever it is. It's it's your place

where you prepare in the way that you

want to. Nobody can tell you what to do

in this space. Um, and a and it's your

it's your private preparation. It's it's

your personal

connection with your work. And you know,

here are the many tools of the trade.

One of which obviously is makeup and

makeup is,

you know, it's important. Obviously

makeup for stage and makeup for film are

two very different things. Um it was

very interesting when I did the queen.

Um I use very little makeup. I I noticed

when I was watching looking at her face

to see the difference between her face

and my face. There were two elements I

noticed. One was her her upper lip was

thinner than mine and she wore her

lipstick in a different way to the way I

wear mine and her eyebrows were this

wonderful sort of beautiful big thick

bushy eyebrows. Eyebrows are so

important um in makeup, especially on

film, because you you don't have a lot

to um to define your character. And

obviously, hair and makeup are

incredibly extremely defining elements.

And within makeup, I think the eyebrows

are by far the most important element,

funnily enough. Um they are your

instrument of expression. Um, I mean,

for example, when I did Ha Hopper, her

eyebrows, we we spent hours the makeup,

I mean, literally, I think it took took

about half an hour to put my eyebrows

on, and they were just two thin little

lines, but the placing of them had to be

absolutely precise because in with Heda

Hopper, her eyebrows kind of went up

like this. So, she always had this sort

of this sort of awful sort of horrible

expression on her face, a sort of

slightly sort of quizzical

critical

rather nasty expression I thought and it

all came from these weird eyebrows. So

the placing of the eyebrows were very

very important with the queen again the

eyebrows incredibly important and then

the mouth and that was all a thinner

mouth thicker eyebrows and then it was

all to do with the way I held my head

which was back in and back and my face

and your face then just settles into an

expression. So there was no re really no

need for a huge makeup job and and the

less makeup you can get away with the

better because

in film because you know the makeup is a

a barrier between your performance and

the audience because really what the

audience to see is the expression on

your face. They don't want to see your

makeup. One of my mantra actually is

many a great role has been destroyed by

lip pencil because so often you see

people oh I'm just an ordinary girl you

know I'm just a casual girl and I don't

wear makeup but I have the most

perfectly applied lip pencil and um and

that's uh you know that's annoying.

There was a a shot in um in The Tempest.

Uh I was in the middle of Shakespearean

speech and it was very difficult and the

wind was blowing and Julie suddenly

said, "Cut, Julie Tammore, the

director." "Cut, cut,

Helen, you're wearing makeup." And I

was, she was right. You know, I sort of

snuck a bit of makeup on my face. She

said, "It's terrible. Take it off." You

know, but it was I don't know. It was

too late or something and there wasn't

time. And then I when I saw the film I

thought god she was absolutely right. I

look like I'm wearing makeup. Who that

you know prosper living on an island in

the middle of the nowhere would never

have makeup on. So I was mortified by

that and she was totally right. There

are certain moments when you must wear

no makeup. However,

no makeup is one thing and what can

happen if you wear no makeup is your

voice your face just kind of disappears.

So there you're in, if you have a

brilliant makeup artist, they can make

you up in the most lightest, delicate of

ways. So there is definition in your

face, in your eyes, your eyebrows, your

mouth. Um, but you absolutely don't look

like you're wearing makeup, but you

know, uh, there are great great artists

in the world of of makeup.

Um,

another incredibly important element

obviously in in the whole building of

the character through through the look

of it is um is hair and I love wearing

wigs because you know otherwise you

spend hours in makeup in the morning and

I don't like spend hours in makeup and

you have to have your hair all curled

and then it has to be brushed out and it

has to be styled. So, I much prefer to

have my hair just all shoved up in a

under a wig cap or something and then

put a wig on that is already styled.

It's, you know, better than my own hair.

Um, none of these wigs really are really

um film wigs because the thing that a

good film wig has to have

is a really good lace. And nowadays

there are wonderful laces for wigs um

that are made that are called uh are

specially made for digital film um and

they're very very fine and absolutely

you cannot see them. But then you have

to have a a wig uh a makeup artist a

hair artist who is really really good at

putting on a wig and that is a whole art

form of its own a whole craft of its

own. So, if you are wearing wigs, just

make sure that the makeup person you're

working with, if you have the power to

do this, make make sure your makeup

person really knows how to apply a wig.

It's very, very important. Um, it was

very interesting actually wearing this

wig, which you probably have just seen

me in in the costume and I can explain

is those wigs uh 18th century wigs were

worn almost like a hat. They weren't

pretending that this was their real

hair. They were wigs. They were

obviously wigs which they sort of

plonked on just for just for the look

and the and the extraordinary sort of

fantasy of them. And um I always thought

that was very very cool. I like the way

black girls wear wigs in the same way.

you know, they use a wig, they play

around with wigs, they use them as an an

extra accessory in their whole arsenal

of sort of uh of things to ch to do with

your appearance. Um,

you know, it's incredible the way a wig

can just instantly change you. And and

as I say, I I've used a lot of wigs in

my life and you know, they're just

wonderful for really forming a

character. I mean, in Ein Rand, I had

this terrible, you know, ugly wig

sideways. And likewise, instantly in

Gossford Park, I felt as ugly as sin

wearing those wigs, but but they were

right. They were right for the

character. And sometimes again, you

know, you have to give up um vanity for

the sake of what is right for the

character. I'm now going to put these

two funny wigs on. They just pull like

pull on things, you know. But look how

beautiful that is. It's kind of pretty

beautiful Asian hair, but it's not. It's

probably fake hair. But I'm just going

to throw this thing on and see what it

does to me. I don't know yet.

Cool. I look like um Uma Thurman, don't

I?

Lovely. We all want to be Uma Thurman in

pulp fiction, don't we? But you know,

cool. And look how I love the way it

moves. Good. So, um you know that that's

pretty cool. And then we have this which

is a very different thing. This is more

like actually this is very similar to

the look of um

the look of um uh Alma Alma Hitchcock.

This was the color I wore for Alma and

and a similar style, you know,

but you can, you know, so

so change the

the dynamic of a character, you know,

the huge difference between this kind of

look and that kind of look. I've done

nothing with my makeup whatsoever. It's

all, you know, all the transformation is

the hair. And then and then you'll take

it obviously many steps further with the

makeup. Um incidentally eye color too. I

mean eye color is an interesting thing

to play with. And in in both in

Elizabeth the first and in Rand I wore

very dark lenses because they both had

those sort of black beady black current

kind of eyes

and that is really powerful. I I think

that's a a huge um that can change

doesn't so much change your expression

but it uh uh yes it doesn't change your

look but it changes your expression or

it changes the way the audience are

receiving your expressions. There's a

there's a um there's a penetration in

with with dark lenses. So, a couple of

times I've worn dark lenses only when

it's correct historically for the

character.

Obviously there's a huge difference

between makeup for the stage and make up

for film. And um in film subtlety is

all. I mean it's wonderful in film if

you want to make a sudden statement like

you know

pink cheeks.

You look I look like a drunk. Um oh

sorry I shouldn't have done that mcking

around. Um, but anyway, you know, if you

want to make a a big bold statement, it

it's great. You can in film. And as I

said, with headers, eyebrows, a little

gash of red lips, and you know, you've

got a whole character in the face. Um,

on stage, you'll you have to make a a

often make a bigger statement than that.

Um

uh but you know I I'll tell you the

other thing that's so important

both on stage and especially in film

obviously is the lighting cuz you can

have the most brilliantly wonderful you

know hair and makeup and all the rest of

it and if the lighting is not there to

help you um you know you're screwed. So

um lighting in film in particular is

really is all important. It's not

something you can control as an actor.

That is out of your control unless

you're Marlene and Detectric in which

you say where's my key light? You know

um but you know those days are passed.

It's difficult to tell nowadays when the

light is bad because of digital film and

with digital film it can you can film in

such low light. I'm amazed nowadays

often when I work on film that there

seems to be absolutely no light and I

say can you see what we're doing and

they say yes yes we can see um and

that's because of digital film so you

know things have really changed in that

direction which is very helpful

incidentally you can shoot for longer um

but um

uh you yes you certainly know if you've

got a horrible straight down over the

headlight you know you're going to look

terrible. Maybe it's right that you look

terrible. Maybe it's right for the

character, for the scene, for

everything. And and that's great when

the lighting is absolutely in

synchronicity with the story and the

story you're trying to tell. But if it's

not, if it's just ugly, uh, you know,

that's a problem. But it's very rarely

like that because cinematographers are

cinematographers understand light above

all, you know. I mean, there are little

nice little tricks that that

cinematographers can do to help you out,

like a little tiny inky above the above

the lens just to pick up a light in your

eyes or um you know, sometimes a nice

little light box all the way around the

camera makes you look very pretty. Um

there are various tricks of the trade um

that sometimes you're lucky enough to to

to have. But um but again, you know,

lighting, makeup, all has to service the

story because you're telling a story.

And I always say, does it tell the

story? Does the wig tell the story? Is

this the story I want to tell at that

point in time? Um is this red lipstick?

Is it telling the correct story? So,

it's a Ultimately everything we do um is

is contributing to telling the story.

You know sometimes you have to make this

decision that you are not going to wear

makeup and you're not going to look very

pretty because that is the role. It's a

terrible thing. You know, nowadays a lot

of actresses I've noticed have uh fake

eyelashes attached, you know,

permanently attached extensions. So,

they all have these fabulous eyelashes.

I mean, they're gorgeous, but they can't

take them off. And for some roles,

they're completely wrong. You know, you

have these absurd great long eyelashes,

you know, on a nurse in the First World

War or something on on on the front

line, and it just looks ridiculous.

So um

you know uh just be conscious of of

doing things to yourself that is going

to really limit you when it comes to to

playing certain characters. Um it's much

better to have a a a an empty space and

add things to it than to arrive with all

of these bits and pieces and then and

now the makeup artist whoever has to

work work around them. Um but

you know there are there are ways of of

making you um as I said earlier to wear

no makeup. Your my face anyway cuz I'm

bl I'm blonde. I'm fair. My face just

disappears. There's no there's nothing

there to hold on to. So I need

definition. I need definition in my

eyebrows very lightly in my eyes

slightly in my mouth. So actually I was

wearing makeup in Prime Suspect and I

was wearing makeup in Gossford Park, but

makeup applied with such a light hand

and so judiciously that you don't see

it. You must never never see it. That's

the thing.

Sometimes if you've been in the same

makeup, which you often have since it's

say it's 4:00 in the afternoon and

you're now you're doing a close-up,

you've been in that makeup since 6:00 in

the morning and you know both you and

your makeup are tired, you know. So, um,

it's if you have the time and and this

is where it's really good to have a good

relationship with the first AD and the

second AD to know what the timing of the

day is going to be and if you have time

to do something like this um say do I

have an hour there and they'd say yes.

Then you can go into the makeup trailer

and say take it all off and let's put a

whole new makeup on. But, you know,

that's where you have to be sensible.

Make a relationship as I say with the

first AD, the second AD. Have a real

understanding of the timing of the day.

What you don't want to do is suddenly

disappear,

be have no makeup on when suddenly

you're going to be called onto the set

to shoot a scene. But, you know, makeup

does get tired and you get tired. And

I've I've often found myself shooting a

closeup at the end of the day. It used

to be in the olden days, women's

close-ups could only happen between

certain hours in the day when they're

woken up enough but not yet tired. Sort

of somewhere between 11 and 3:00 in the

afternoon or something. But, you know,

those days are long gone. There there

are two valuable things in a closeup.

One is powder and the other is sweat.

It's always quite nice for certain

scenes to have a nice little sweat going

on, you know. Um, and then in other

scenes it's really not a good idea to be

at all shiny.

If you're a young actor on the set and

you feel you're being pushed into

something that you're really

uncomfortable with in terms of the way

you look, either by the makeup person or

the hair person or the costume person or

the director or all of them together.

Um, that's really tough because

uh I think I think the only advice I can

give you in that situation is suck it

up, get on with it, and then get through

it. Um, I've seen actresses uh uh

reduced to tears in in the makeup

trailer because they feel that their wig

or their hair, the way their hair has

been dressed really doesn't suit them.

We all get slightly obsessed with with

um with certain looks. What I do is like

I did with the writers on Prime Suspect.

I give the makeup artist absolute

freedom to do whatever they want with my

face because I always think what they

have to offer might be more interesting

than my old habits. And you can get

stuck in old habits about the way you

look. Um, and you see women, don't you,

on the street, you know, they're still

wearing their hair the same way they

wore it when they were 25, only now

they're like 65 and and it's really not

a good look. So, we all as women, we can

all get and men too, incidentally, you

know, get stuck with their hair in

certain way or certain kind of beard

and they get stuck in that look and and

they think they don't have that, you

know, they're all at sea and they don't

know who they are. And as an actor um

you know again your your face your look

has got to be the empty space upon which

you put elements and um you know to get

hooked on your your hair always has to

be a certain way. It always has to be

you know have product in it or as a guy

you always have to have a shadow of a

beard or um uh you know whatever it is

people get stuck with. Um really I I

advise you not to get stuck. Allow the

makeup artist, the hair artist to come

with their own ideas. Look at what

they're presenting and then maybe you

can have your own ideas and add to it or

take away from it. But you know, listen

to them and be open to having a

different look that you're just not

familiar with.

you know, the whole process of learning

lines and how well you know them and and

if you don't really know them that well,

you know, it's a very

uh what's the word? It's it's it's a bit

of a soup really. Um

because I absolutely understand the

theory because you haven't I haven't

learned my lines talking to you. I

didn't sit down and learn this stuff off

by heart. If I did, I would be I

wouldn't be nearly as good at saying it

as I am because I'd be trying to

remember

what

comes next. You know, it would be

awkward maybe. Um or I'd be delivering

it in a weird way.

Um and I certainly wouldn't say um

but so but you then you have to learn

it, don't you? You have to learn it. Uh

the great thing is if you've learned it

so well, so immaculately perfectly well

that you don't even have to think about

it, that's ideal. And I have to say when

I did um

uh um The Tempest, I had to do that. And

I've never done that before. I had to

sit down for I sat down for about two

months before I started shooting. And I

learned that script from beginning to

end. And I learned it incredibly well

because with Shakespeare, you've got to

be ahead of yourself. You can't be

behind yourself. And I'm sure you guys

know what I mean by ahead of yourself as

opposed to behind yourself, which is as

you're saying a line, you're already

thinking, you're aware of what the next

line is and the next line after that.

So, it's a sort of, you know, this, you

know, as it's passing you by, you're

always ahead of yourself. If you're just

behind yourself, what's the next line?

What's the next line? What's the next

line? You know, you can't play with

Shakespeare. You can't play because it's

got to move.

um modern stuff you can because you're

allowed to pause and think and you know

you look like you're thinking about your

dead mother. You're actually thinking

what do I say next? But um you know you

can do that more in modern stuff

in procedural drama. Obviously uh you

know it's not emotional stuff. It's not

uh you know it's not uh or is or is it

poetic. It's as they say procedural.

You're just literally having to remember

and repeat um facts. The only way to do

that is to know the facts. Know them. So

someone question you where was she on

July the 4th? You know at 3:00 in the

afternoon, you say she was walking down

that road. she was crossing that road

that the camera saw her or just to know

what the facts are and actually knowing

the facts is is not that difficult if

you see what I mean and then if you got

that in your mind then then it's much

easier to to you know uh go forward with

these long procedural sorts of things.

Um, but that stuff is difficult because

it's and and an awful lot I have to say

an awful lot of of American television

is a little bit like that. It's it's uh

it's

um it's how can I put it? It's repeating

facts rather than scenes that play out

that have subtext or or emotional

context.

I think if you're asked to do anything

that you've never experienced like I

don't know giving birth for example

um I've never given birth but I had to

do a scene uh where I was giving birth

at one point. Well you know it's very

simple is what you do normally is you

just research it. You look at you know

you read material if there is anything

people talking about what the experience

is. um uh watch film um if you can bear

to um sometimes I mean don't get me

wrong I'm not saying giving birth is a

dark experience but sometimes you have

to go into quite dark places as an actor

for example when I did uh woman in gold

I felt it was very important to remind

myself in the deepest way possible of

the

of the horror of the Holocaust. So to

prepare for that role, I watched a lot

of film of the liberation of the uh

concentration camps. I read material

about concentration camps. I wanted to

really deeply embed in myself

that sense of terror, of anger,

of horror

that the survivors of that monstrous

time on this planet had to carry with

them.

I've never experienced that. I I mean I

am a child of the second in sec of the

postcond world war period but I'd never

experienced that. It wasn't a part of my

I'm not Jewish. I don't have that in my

personal family. So it was really

important for that to for me to embed

that in me. So every word that I spoke

in the film of the woman in gold had

that knowledge

behind it. Every single word. it was

here in the forefront of my mind.

So, um

if you're being asked to do something

that is really outside of your

experience,

um you have to find a way obviously a

way into it and and reading reading

anyway is a huge part of what we do. Um

uh research and reading. Um, and then

you know if for example it's it's giving

birth, you've never done it before, but

you read a um you know a description of

a woman who's talking about it and you

know she says you know the great thing

about it was that I could for the first

time I could swear at my husband and I'd

never had the courage to do that before.

whatever it is, you know, you you might

find a little nugget of truth in a in a

realistic in a real description of the

experience and and then you can say, I

thought I might, you know, swear in this

or I thought I might. So, um, you know,

you use you use whatever you've

discovered and you can find great little

nuggets um in in in real um uh

descriptions of what you're having to

do.

Amongst

uh many of the tools that we have uh in

in our arsenal as actors, um obviously

is the voice, but also the accent. Um,

the accent obviously defines sometimes

your economic status, your class,

um, and and

you know, which country you come from.

And, and I've, um, I've had to use an

accent often in in movies. I've done

German, I've done kind of Israeli, I've

done Russian, I've done French, I've

done Manchester, which is Northern

Irish, I've done South Carolina, I've

done General American,

um, and I can't remember what else,

probably a couple of others as well.

But, um, now there are people who are

wonderful at accents.

They're often I think they're musicians.

And it's I think there's an interest

interesting correlation between music

and accents. I'm not musical and I'm not

really very good at accents. I have to

work. And here is where you just have to

do the work. Basically, you um I like to

have a person who has that accent,

whatever accent it is, do my lines for

me. Not an actor. Very important.

Cuz you don't want to hear your lines

being acted.

They're your lines. You're the person

who's going to act them.

But just to hear the accent in those

words, in those lines is very valuable.

So, I'll find someone from wherever it

is that I'm talking about um and I'll

have them do the accent. It's a funny

story here actually. It was um I did a

film with Peter Haims called 2010. I was

playing a Russian and um I'd done my

homework before I came to America to

shoot the film in England and I'd I'd

found a Russian natural Russian speaker

and I'd worked with them and I I had I

got it down pretty good. It was a pretty

good Russian accent.

And I get to America and I meet with

Peter before we shoot and he says,

"Okay, let me hear your accent." So, I

give him my Russian accent and he goes,

"I don't know. It just doesn't really

sound Russian to me. It hasn't got that

in it." I, you know, he says, "My

grandmother was Russian and I I I'm

familiar with the Russian accent. It

just doesn't sound quite right to me."

So, I went home and I thought,

I think it's really good. I think it's

really accurate.

What? What? Why is it not sounding right

to him? And then I suddenly thought,

he's American. He he hears the Russian

accent he's used to used to is an

American Russian accent. And the accent

I'd learned was a British Russian

accent. In other words, the accent of a

person who'd learned English in Britain

as opposed to the Russian accent of a

person who'd learned

English in America. So all I did, it was

very simple. I just put a little bit of

American into the accent. And the next

day I went and I did my American

Russian accent and Peter said, "That's

it. That sounds Russian." So, uh, that

was a little um a little accent lesson

for me. But anyway, it's it's it's an

it's an awkward piece of of costume that

you're wearing, the the accent and uh

the only way really to get through it. I

I would inv advise if you are having to

work in an accent is to stay in that

accent all day long. Um it really and

I'm not the sort of person I'm not a

method sort of actor. I don't I really

don't take my performance home with me

that I'm aware of. Um and I you know on

cut that's it. I I can come in and out.

I I don't want to stay in character as

such but accent it is a good idea to

stay in accent all day long and and and

that way it just becomes more and more a

natural part of the way that you speak

and it becomes then lighter and lighter

on you. um as a a as something you're

having to you know deal with it becomes

a a lighter burden.

So working with an accent, you know, you

have various tools at your disposal and

of course the most important tool is is

the potential of a dialect coach. If

you're working on the kind of production

that can afford a dialect coach, I would

absolutely recommend that you do that.

But you have to find the dialect coach

that works that you can work with

because it's a very it's a peculiarly

kind of intimate relationship. I find

uh uh you know some dialect coach some

it's it's a chemical thing. I think some

some dialect coaches you're a good fit

and other dialect coaches maybe not so

much. What is very important in your

relationship with the dialect coach is

that they don't um most dialect coaches

are very aware of this but they don't

try and give you any kind of line

readings which is kind of quite

difficult to do because sometimes an

accent almost is a line reading um you

know some accents go down other accents

go up as I said you know the Australian

accent tends to go up and then the

Yorkshire accent goes down so uh very

bad accent there. But anyway, um so you

know they are line readings in and of

themselves, but most dialect coaches

understand that they must not act. And

at some point both you and your dialect

coach have to let go of that and allow

the performance to happen because

sometimes

I my feeling is that a good performance

in a bad accent is better than a great

accent in a bad performance. And

sometimes the the paralyzing

um uh

element in an accent can just overwhelm

the performance.

Sometimes as as an actor you get stuck

on something. You get stuck on the

reading of a line. You know a very easy

way to unblock yourself and I do this

often is I just ask another actor to say

this line for me. Because we all say

there is a million ways of saying every

line and you will find that even within

yourself on one day you feel your voice

changes on a daily you know some days

your voice is somehow easy and free and

other days it seems constricted. Um uh

you know your voice is very I I found my

voice to be very influenced by my

psychological state certainly my

physical state. Um and likewise the way

you say a line is influenced by

everything around you and and everything

within you. But sometimes you do get you

just cannot stop yourself saying this

bloody line in this one way and it's in

really you're thinking there must be

something else in this. So a very simple

easy trick there I find is just to go to

another actor and say look would you say

this line for me and they because they

are there and not you they say it in a

different way and it just it just knocks

you off your you know off your tracks.

Uh which is what you need. You just need

to be knocked off your tracks.

You know, another very good trick. It's

not really a trick. I've never quite

quite carried it through, but I've

noticed that if you're pay if you're

playing someone drunk or someone mad or

someone, you know, well, mad,

it's incredibly liberating. You suddenly

can say anything and go anywhere. You

don't give a damn. You just do whatever

the [ __ ] you want to do. Oh, I'm not

supposed to swear. But anyway, you do

whatever you want to do. And you think,

why don't I play every role like this?

So, sometimes it's good just think, I'm

going to play this in my mind. I'm not

going to tell anyone, but secretly I'm

going to play as if I'm completely mad.

and um you know and that can knock you

off your tracks sometimes.

There is one thing that you must never

do. Promise me. Say to my say to me, I

promise you Helen, I will never do this.

Never act in front of a mirror because

you are doing the exact opposite of what

acting is about. Acting is all about of

course exterior elements come into it.

Your makeup, your costume, your your um

hair, the wig, those elements are all

are building blocks. But what's

happening, the actingness of what's

happening is happening within you. And

it doesn't matter what's happening on

your face. The audience will see what

they want to see. Your job is just to

allow your face

to express whatever your feeling is.

That's your That's your job.

Remember your lines, hit your mark, all

of that stuff. But the essence of your

job

is to allow, and this is what makes

actors different from other people.

People, most people can't do this. They

don't really want to actually, but they

can't. And if you are truly an actor,

you can. And it's a very specific a very

specific talent, ability. I don't know

what to call it, but it it it's quite

specific. So, um,

and it's nothing to do with looking in

the mirror and going, "Oh, that looks

good. That looks Oh, I look sort of

frowny there. That's good." Whatever it

is,

you know, you'll just you'll you'll lead

yourself into terrible fake acting.

being surprised uh in closeup or this

kind of shot over and over again.

Oh, cut action. Oh, cut action.

Oh, is

you start feeling like an absolute tit

actually. But um you know, there you go.

You just have to do your best. And

incidentally, if if you're finding

yourself running out of steam, I don't

think there's anything wrong with

getting the help of someone to scope,

you know, do something that that will

get a reaction from you. And

incidentally also sometimes when you're

off camera and you're realizing the act

like the actor has to act surprised at

your entrance, but he's off he's on

camera, you're off camera. It's great to

help the actor on camera out by doing

something that literally

surprises them and then you get a real

reaction on camera which you off camera

have made happen.

But that's an act of generosity that you

can give an another actor. Uh and I

think you should I think it's part of

your job really. Uh you know to do that

as much as you can.

I did a fight scene in the debt. We

called it the geriatric fight scene. But

it was a fight scene that we had to and

we worked with a stunt man to do this

scene. A wonderful stunt man. He did the

naked fight in um uh East was it Eastern

Promises the film with uh VGO Mortonson

in a wonderful wonderful fight sequence.

Naked fight sequence and fight sequences

which men in general have to do more

than women but women do occasionally.

Um and you work with a stunt person.

listen to the stump person. Just do what

they tell you to do because they know

what they're talking about. Well,

actually, I say that, but actually

sometimes stump people because they are

stump people,

you know, they know how to sell a punch,

you know, boom. Um, but they they're

from because they're not actors.

Sometimes they oversell it and you have

to pull it back. Pull the you know it's

not you know it's like do you know what

I mean? You a stunt person sometimes

oversells and it becomes a too

physicalized and you have to bring it

back to reality a little bit. But this

stunt guy was brilliant and he taught me

because so often you see in fight

sequences, you know, people get punched

and then they come back and they like

they're like perfectly normal and that

always annoys me when I see that. Um,

and he said, you know, this hurts. I

think it was a I can't remember. It was

a stab in the shoulder and he said,

everything in your body goes into

paralysis from the pain. And so often

you see people stabbed and stabbed and

they they go, "Oh, oh, I'm stabbed." But

they sort of carry on. He said

everything stopped. So I've really

played that just the your whole body has

gone into paralysis from the pain of

this thing in your shoulder. Um so I

think it's quite important to be as

realistic as you can.

I mean certain movies you don't there's

not the time or the inclination to be

realistic about this kind of stuff you

know in action type movies but um but if

there is the space to be realistic just

work with the stunt person find out what

it's like to have the pain of cancer or

the pain of uh you know of a shot in the

knee or whatever it is um and play it.

So let's talk about nudity which is very

much a part of what uh what actors are

and actors female and male nowadays are

asked to to um to partake in. Um I was

as well in my early days of of

performing very different. My first film

the f fil film with James Mason that I

mentioned earlier I had to basically do

what they call full frontal you know um

in those days nudity was this it was I

think I maybe I have the honor of being

the first full frontal so to speak in a

straight movie. I don't know. Um,

but just before I started in film was

the era of uh Vanessa Redgrave and and

Glenda Jackson doing Ken Russell movies

and Ken and I subsequently did one

myself and did a nude scene in it. And

his movies were famous for their

wildness, for their um uh what's the

word there? their, you know, uh,

craziness and their invention.

Uh, his early movies were quite

wonderful and and nudity was a part of

that. So, oh, shock horror in those

days. But, um, I was coming I was just

coming into the profession as they were

there. So, I had I was following on from

them. Um, I never forget there was a

great story about Glenda Jackson doing a

nude scene in I think um, Sons and

Lovers and uh, you know, pro set or gets

everyone gets very heated and um, she

walks on, she's got a robe on, you're

always in in your robe, you know, and

uh, she stands up in front of the whole

crew and she drops her robe and she

says, "Okay, everyone, this is what it

looks like from the front." And then she

turns around and says, "And this is what

it looked like from behind. So, let's go

to work." And I thought, I was very,

very inspired by that. I never quite had

the courage to do it myself, but I

thought that was great. That was, you

know, liberating for me.

You know, nowadays we're asked to do all

kinds of things, isn't it? I mean the

great thing about

the the liber liberation if you like of

the 20th century 21st century uh which

seems to be an ongoing process and quite

that where that will end I don't know I

mean I did a film um in the ' 70s called

Caligula which was famous at the time

for its sex scenes. Well, you know, oh

my god, shock, horror, disgusting,

appalling. You know, it could only be

shown in XX cinemas because it was

considered to be porn. Um,

a kind of a high flutin porn with John

Gilgood and Petro Tul and me and Malcolm

McDow in it. Very high flutin. Um

and now actually is on and as I said on

the at the time when I was being

interviewed by some stupid

um journalist you know oh you know what

are you going to this I said you know in

20 years time this will look like a

something like this will be on

television and I was absolutely right

cuz it was no more or less than anything

you see in Game of Thrones or on any

cable show nowadays. So anyway, the

sexuality and uh having sex and all of

that stuff is has may is maybe becoming

a part of our of our job. I think if you

don't want to do it, say so.

Either turn the job down or if you want

the job but you don't want to do that.

As I said before, you have to be honest

about that. And if they still want you,

great. But if they say in that case, I'm

sorry, we're moving on. Well, you know,

that's the choice you make. Um, but say

you've said yes and now you're in it.

Don't worry about it too much. The nice

thing about a sex scene is that the two

of you, you and your partner, whoever it

is you're doing it with, become a little

sort of you become like babes in the

wood or Adam and Eve, you know, you make

your own little world, which is very cut

off from the rest of the of the crew.

The crew are in there always really

sweet and really kind in those

circumstances and very understanding. It

is I don't know. It's it's like doing a

fight. It can be very cho choreographed

and it usually is because it's quite

technical the way you have to film it.

So it's very chore. How about if I put

my hand there and then you put your head

back there and then I'll put my leg up

here and so it becomes quite technical.

Uh which is is quite good as well. Or

you can have very improvisational

scenes, sex scenes, which are always

also kind of beautiful to see, but then

you're very much in a dance with your

partner. And um it's so not sexy. It's

so unsexy. It's so um it's about the

unsexiest thing you can do on a set is

have sex, funnily enough.

I love doing bed scenes. Oh, so great.

Get out of bed in the morning, go to

work, get straight back into bed again.

It's my favorite thing. Um,

uh, but falling asleep, you know, uh,

well, you know, a really good thing is

just to relax and literally fall asleep.

I've done that a few times on a set. Um,

waking up is another thing. It's some uh

you know that the the process of either

come coming quick out of sleep or

slowly waking up the slow

realization that the world around you is

where it is and oh oh I see I've woken

up um you know very different so again

uh

it's it's very dependent on the scene

uh on what's required for the scene. Um,

is an alarm clock? Are you so fast

asleep you don't even hear the alarm

clock, but eventually you do. Anyway, it

it it's a little acting thing that you

do. Yeah.

Some people are brilliant at being

drunk.

I think the whole trick of being drunk

is to really

try not to be drunk.

to be sober. I am not drunk, you know.

And I've seen certain actors can do this

absolutely brilliantly. And I suspect

that that is kind of kind of the trick.

But but with things like that, yes,

there you you need your little tools. So

you you know you look at film of drunk

people and you study the way they move

what their hands do you know they're

grasping something how they just miss or

uh you know look at drunk people and

there are many different kinds of drunk

people so decide which one you want to

be.

Uh well it depends how you die obviously

you know slow dying quick dying

um

uh

uh it it it just you know depends on the

circumstance. I mean um it's very hard

to let the life go out of your body if

you're not actually dead. Um it's it's

very difficult and some people are

brilliant at dying. Um, I've died on

stage. I don't if I've ever died on

film.

Oh, yes. Right. I did die in Elizabeth

one. Yes. Um, and actually I can't

remember which maybe is appropriate. Um,

but uh yes to to allow the life to to

leave you. I guess that's a kind of an

acting exercise in a way to be lifeless.

Um because mostly what we're trying to

do is pour life into ourselves as

actors. But to let that go, I guess, is

a very specific thing.

There is such a huge difference between

acting on stage and acting on film. And

yet, ironically,

it's actually the same process that you

go through. You're going through the

process of imaginatively putting

yourself into a situation that you are

manifestally not in.

On stage,

you know, you're playing um I don't

know, I played Federra, for example, on

stage. Uh a a Greek uh queen who is in

love with her stepson. And you're in

ancient Greece, but I'm not in ancient

Greece. I'm on the stage at the National

Theater and in front of me as an

audience. But we are all engaging in

this wonderful miraculous act of

imagination together that is going to

take us on this journey, the journey of

of telling a story that we all want to

go on. Likewise, when you're on a film

set, here you are, you know, I don't

know, Excalibur. I'm Morgana, the the,

you know, the the Enchantress.

Uh, but I'm not. I'm I've just struggled

into my costume and my makeup is is hot.

It's falling off me and and my hair is

uncomfortable and uh, you know, and

there's noise on the set and and many

many people, you're manifestally not

where you so anyway, what I'm saying is

the central essence of what you're doing

is the same.

you are engaging in an act of

imagination

profoundly in order to tell a story.

Having said that, there is a world of

difference between acting on stage and

acting uh on in front of a camera. The

wonderful advantage that you have on a

camera is you have the closeup and you

have you can tell you don't need a

three-page speech if you have a closeup.

You can do it all here if if you know if

if that if you're allowed or if if

that's required. What happens in film

and television is that you're edited.

Your performance is created for you by

the editor, by the director, by all the

other elements that come in in

post-prouction. On stage, you are

editing yourself. You are in control of

the editing. You can bring the attention

to yourself if you want to or you give

it to the other actor when when the

moment is right. Um, you can choose when

to be still. You can choose when to be

fast.

Um, you can choose when to do this

and not look at the camera at all or the

audience. The back is a very important

thing for actors I think. Um but um

so there is a there is an absolute world

of difference between the two techniques

and that both are highly technical and

you have to learn the technique for both

both formats

but as I say in in the absolute essence

of what you're doing which is going on

this imaginative story

u it's the same

This is a book called Interviews with

Francis Bacon. I can't find

I can't find the bit that I will tell

you about.

It's a wonderful

piece. He talks about he talks about the

necessity to learn technique and it is

something that I have I have come to

understand.

And he talks about it in terms of

painting. He says when you know all

5-year-old, sixy old kids are brilliant

painters. They're brilliant because

they're painting purely out of instinct

and they're not concerned with technique

at all. They just making marks.

Wonderful. Here's mommy. Here's daddy.

Son, tree.

And and they're all fantastic.

But if you're still painting like a

5-year-old when you're 15, you're

actually kind of mentally, you know,

disturbed.

So to carry on as a painter, you have

got to learn technique. You've got to

and then you go through this very

painful period that is probably about 10

years long. It's not a year or two. It's

a long time of learning technique. And

whether that's learning the technique of

film acting, learning how to look at a

piece of tape on the side of a camera

and completely believe that that's your

dying husband. Um, learning how to deal

with a mic above your head, people over

there having a little chitchat. Um,

whatever it is you're dealing with and

maintain your concentration. learning

how to hit marks, learning you about

lighting, learning about how to work in

a frame that's this big as opposed to a

frame that's this big as opposed to a

big wide. Learning all those things. Um

and and that takes time and and on the

stage it's learning how to it's mostly

vocal learning, learning um how much

energy you're going to need, learning

how you know how to

be realistic and yet theatrical because

they've got to be able to hear you at

the back of the theater. Um

so long painful journey of learning

technique and he talks about that in

this book and then he talks about the

moment where your technique is so deep

within you now you can start letting go

of it because it's second nature to you

actually funnily enough just going to

read a little bit out of this

And I simply didn't know in the end what

I was doing. And suddenly this thing

clicked and became exactly like this

image I was trying to record. But not

out of any conscious will nor was it

anything to do with in in illustrational

painting. What has never been analyzed

is why this particular way of painting

is more poignant than illustration. And

here we could be talking about acting

perfectly. that moment of inspired

reality as opposed to beautifully

performed reality.

I suppose

because it has a life completely of its

own. It lives on its own like the image

one's trying to trap. It lives on its

own and therefore transfers the essence

of the image more poignantly so that the

the artist may be able to open up or

rather should I say unlock the valves of

feeling and therefore return the

unlocker to life more violently. I mean,

what a perfect description of a

brilliant inspired take is that, you

know, when when, as they say,

inspiration strikes you and you're out

of control and yet you are totally in

control. Because if you've if you've got

technique,

then you can afford those out of control

moments because

you're in you're in focus because you're

on your mark, you know. Um or your ey

line is right. No lo good having your

brilliant inspired moment like this, you

know, or like that. Oh, I was so

brilliant, but you couldn't see me. So,

um that was uh I I just saw that little

bit today. But earlier on, so he's he's

talking about in terms of painting, he's

talking about the inspired accident

and how

you can't tell cuz there are bad

accidents and there are good accidents.

As in acting, there are kind of pretty

naff moments when you you do something

that's not planned, but actually it's

not very good either. And then other

moments when you do something that's not

planned, but it's fantastic.

But

he says the whole point of learning

technique is to be able to recognize

what is a good accident and what is a

bad accident. So I found that very very

relevant to me as a young actor try

especially when I was in the process of

trying to learn technique. Finally I

could sort of see a light at the end of

the tunnel. I could see a reason for

learning technique and the reason is

that eventually you will you will be

able to let it go but you can't let it

you can't let it go until you have it.

So you can't say oh as a sort of I don't

know 19 20 year old actor I'm going to

be an actor without technique I'm just

it's all just going to be improvised and

absolutely brilliant. Well, it won't be.

It'll just be a mess, actually, you

know, and Francis Bacon recognized that.

If you're a young actor and you get the

chance to do, I don't know, a long form

series or something somewhere where

you're going to be on the set every day

watching, working with different

directors, working with different

cinematographers,

um different camera people, different

dolly pushers, um just working on a film

set with all those incredibly

um expertise

um technicians that you are privileged

to work with

um that's very very valuable. I would

say grab that chance um if you want to

become a film actor um because the the p

the pure practice of doing that every

day will be invaluable for it. I've

noticed this when I work with actors um

who've had that experience and how

extraordinarily adro and free they are

therefore on a film set. Um

uh so so in my personal experience

working on the set of Prime Suspect, I

learned how to hit marks, how to

I learned if a siren's going off, it's

going to spoil the take and and you're

going to have to do that take again. Um,

I learned how to give off camerara lines

to actors in such a way that it it keeps

their energy going, that gives them

something. Um, I learned um, you know,

how when to shout, when not to shout,

and uh, I learned just I learned all

those technical requirements of of film.

And it's wonderful. I've had the great

privilege of working with two or three

actors who understand that uh technique

as it's second nature to them and um

that's always very inspiring when on top

of it being second nature to them they

are utterly free within it like

Alpuccino is. Um this is why we all love

we actors we love Alpuccino because

there is this

uh body this this this platform of

incredible

technical knowledge but on that platform

he dances like a free spirit. He just

never betraying the technique but

utterly free within it and that is I

think that is what we all aspire

when you're filming, you know, unlike in

the theater, obviously in the theater

you move linearly forward through the

play. Um, and your whole energy and your

and the the storytelling is is a part of

that process. in film, and it's often

been the case with me, you literally

shoot the last scene in the film first

thing or in the first week. You're

shooting the last scene and and that can

lead you up the garden path because

sometimes you make decisions that later

on you realize were were not not

absolutely right. Um, but there you go.

That that's what happens. Um,

here it's very important to um talk to

the continuity person and I I'm always I

always go what's just happened? What

happened before this? What's the next

scene? What's the next shot? And and

another very important thing to to begin

to grasp is how it's going to be edited.

So, not just what is the next scene

um after this, but maybe what is the

next shot after this, you know, is and

you can sort of tell this from the

script. You know, here you're in closeup

and the next scene maybe is a, you know,

takes place outside and you think, ah,

they're probably going to cut from my

closeup to a big wide of the landscape.

Um, I'm not saying you should be think

about that necessarily, but um,

sometimes it can um, modulate your

performance in the sense of you can

think, you know what, uh, it's a good

idea to be really fast here or no, this

is a moment I can take some time because

you can get a sense of the rhythm of the

cutting of how the the film rhythm

rhythmically is going to play out. So,

that's quite sophisticated, but um uh in

certain circumstances, it's not a bad

idea to kind of be aware of this. But

anyway, shooting out of sequence um

the continuity person is your friend.

I think it from my experience

uh you can plot out a certain amount but

actually it's uh and I guess if push

comes to shove it it's a valuable thing

to be able to fall back on if if you're

confused and you don't quite know where

the hell you are what you're supposed to

be doing. You suddenly remember, oh yes,

that's right. my dog died in the scene

before, so I'm going to be upset from

that and that's why I'm that's why I'm

shouting at my child. So to make that

connection is probably a good idea. And

my other feeling and and we're talking

about planning too much.

I always I try very hard on turnover

action. I want my line, my feeling, my

response maybe to what the line is not

to come this way at me, but to come this

way at me. So it kind of takes me by

surprise. It comes

bilaterally at me, not face on. That's

the only way I can describe it.

I want it to be almost random or to take

me by surprise. And again, I will come

back to Al Pacino, who I I've never

spoken to him about this, but I feel the

way watching I had the great privilege

of watching him work on a film my

husband directed called De Devil's

Advocate and just seeing the way he just

shakes it all up constantly. There is no

master plan. It's it's it's a question.

of course he knows who his character is

and and and he's and all of that is

solid and the the base is solid but upon

the base and I've said this before he's

dancing

and um

so anyway I I don't I don't like to plan

too much.

White Nights was the first time I'd had

to work standing opposite someone who's

a big star, you know, and I'm quite

intimidated by big stars. I'm not

intimidated, that's not the right word,

but I'm a little bit overwhelmed and

fanny about them. And if I'm going to

work with a big star, I get up in the

morning, I say, "Do not make a fool of

yourself. Don't talk too much.

Don't, you know, don't be sick of

fantic. Don't laugh at their jokes too

much. Um, you know, just be yourself,

Helen. Just be yourself. That's all you

have to do. And then I walk up and

there's Bruce Willis or there's, you

know, um, uh, um, a big star. I I just

fall apart. You know, Nick Cage.

Luckily, they've always been so kind to

me that it's made it easy for me. But,

uh, you know, I' I I I'm hopeless. Um

so and likewise working with Parishnikov

you know the extraordinary and um an

icon a legend at that time

he was all just at the height of his

powers. So, you know, an incredible

artist that I'm working opposite. Um,

and you know, to to look across the the

set and see there's

the goth standing there, you know, and

and that knocks you off your balance,

off your acting balance. So, you know,

get over that.

What I tell myself, and I'm telling you,

get over that. You know, you have as

much reason to be there as they do.

that's why you've been cast. Um, you

have as much um, uh, value at that

moment in time as they do. That's why

you're in the scene. So, just really get

over that. Be yourself and um, be proud.

Don't be arrogant. That's not good. Um

but you know be proud to be yourself and

give yourself your the full value the

same value that they have actually

because although they are great stars

they are also very often as insecure as

you are actually.

Don't tell anyone I told you so.

It's funny with film you can't really

rehearse film. You can recurse literally

where I think I'll sit in this scene or

you know I think I'll walk across there

or um you know you can reorganize the

text in rehearsals. I think we'll cut

that bit out. Why don't we why don't you

say that there? And a lot of that goes

on in rehearsal. But to actually

rehearse the emotional

moment of the scene, you always want to

save that. And often when I work with

inexperienced actors and um uh you know

if you're the star one of a better word

very of very often they do your closeup

first which is can be good can sometimes

not be good but um because they don't

want you to over have to overdo it and

and I work with a young actor and

they're next to the camera and they're

giving their all and I go up to them and

I say don't don't it's fine don't act

Wait, wait till the camera's on you.

Save it. You can just give me the lines.

I don't need any acting. That's fine.

Um, just save it for for your closeup,

your your turn. Um,

but anyway, so you can't, you know, you

can't rehearse that stuff. Um

incidentally the only other actor the

only actor who gives so much off camera

he gives more almost than he gives on

camera and it's a one I have to say it

is a wonderful thing is Alpuccino

because he loves acting so much he

cannot say the lines without acting it.

I'm not like that but but it's it's a

beautiful thing. This is a man who loves

actors. Loves acting. He finds it just

the one of the most important things in

the world to do and um be inspired by

him because I certainly am.

I was given a wonderful piece of film

acting advice which I will share with

you. It's the most valuable advice I

personally have ever had and it came

from a a an actor producer called Bob

Balaban.

I was doing a film with him here in

Hollywood and I uh it was the first film

I'd ever done in in America and it was

on one of those wonderful M Hollywood

stages, the big massive glorious

historic Hollywood stages. At the time

it was called MGM, but it's subsequently

it's become known as Sony. Magical place

for me, full of history.

Um anyway, I'm in this scene and I'm

playing a Russian uh

um captain of a spacecraft

and um I'm watching and there are

American actors around me. We're playing

this ensemble scene and I'm watching

them

in awe and wonder. I'd already done

Prime Suspect, so it wasn't like, you

know, I was chopped liver, so to speak,

but

how do they do that? They're so natural,

you know, how they just like speaking.

It's fantastic. I've always been a great

admire of American film. Ever since I

actors, American actors, ever since I

was in the theater in the early days and

the English actor actors tend to look

down their noses a little bit at

American act, film actors. It's not real

acting kind of attitude.

It so is real acting. Um, but anyway, I

was watching them just in awe at at

their ease and the natural way. They

just all spoke together. It sounded like

people just having a conversation.

So um I was express expressing this to

Bob Balaban and he said um this is what

I think when you're doing film. I think

it's like it's like

sending an arrow. And he said your

performance turnover action from that

moment

is you

sending an arrow. Now you're aiming at a

you know you're aiming at your target.

whatever your target is, it's like anger

or sadness or, you know, frustration or

confusion or whatever it is, whatever

you're playing.

So, you send your arrow off. He said,

once you've sent your arrow off, forget

about it. It's gone. There's nothing you

can do about it. Let it go. Let it land

where it will. You don't know whether

it'll be in the film or not. If it is in

the film, you don't know whether the

audience will get what you're trying to

communicate or not. Maybe you're trying

to convince them of of one thing and the

music comes in and and tells the

audience something completely different.

Basically, let it go. And that was the

most wonderful piece of advice. And I

really would advise you guys when you're

out there on the set working, you do

your thing. You do it as best as you

possibly can. You aim to the target you

want to aim it in, but let it go once

it's gone. The next arrow is another

time. But every time, just put it out

there and let it go. Don't angst about

it when you get home. I always used to

do that. I go home, oh god, I should

have done that line this way. Why didn't

I do it that way? And then I prep do the

lines again. Oh, that was brilliant. Why

didn't I do it like that? Um,

stop that. Just let it go. Tomorrow's

another day. That's gone. Move forward.

Um, so that was great advice from Bob

Balaban. Thank you, Bob.

Be patient with other people's process.

Every actor has a different process.

Some are very noisy on the set and very

funny and they have to make a lot of

noise and they have to uh you know

shout. Other actors have to be really

quiet and really silent in the corner

and why isn't he talking to me? You know

what what what did I did I do something

wrong? Everyone has a different rhythm.

Some actors need a lot of takes to get

to what they you know the essence of

what they are going to do. Others actors

do it in the first moment.

Some actors need really quiet

concentration before they work. I I

worked with an actor once who every time

before a take he would start telling a

story or start on a joke which he knew

he wasn't going to get to the end of

that joke on action. So literally on

turnover he'd start telling the story

and then action and then he'd drop the

joke or the and start acting and maybe

that was his way of it was very

distracting for me. It was really

annoying, but because I'm the other sort

of actor, I want to quietly concentrate.

Um, but it was his way of doing it. So,

you have to find, you have to learn to

work with other people.

I think what's very important also to

understand when you're in the the middle

of a performance, be it in a film or on

the on the stage, you know, you're on a

train that you can't get off. In the

theater, 7:30, curtain goes up, you've

got to do it

on a film, on television, turnover,

action, you've got to do it. And

sometimes there are elements that are

just pissing you off or that are making

it life difficult for you. It's

incredibly hot or it's cold or an actor

is annoying you or a you know there

something that is really making you feel

uncomfortable. My only advice there is

you use it. Just incorporate it into

your performance as we do in real life.

You know, if something is kind of

annoying us, oh, this chair is so

uncomfortable, you know, whatever it is,

just use it. Incorporate it into your

performance. I learned this very clearly

once a long time ago. I was doing a play

um in the theater and

uh the actor I was playing opposite

uh and I was supposed to in the play be

madly insanely in love with to the

extent that I would was going to give up

everything for him everything and

basically sacrifice in the end my life

for him I couldn't stand him he just

really really annoyed me and I found him

physically

unattractive,

repulsive actually.

And I just, you know, I couldn't not

express this. And we did a run through

quite late on when we'd rehearsed it and

we did this run through and a very very

astute actor came up to me at the end of

the run through. He was playing quite a

small role, but he was a darling and

I've I've always thanked thanked him for

this. Um, he came up to me. He said, "I

know what's going on. I understand. I I

I can see because I can see how you feel

about him. You're showing it in your

performance." He said, "Just use it.

Just everything that you find

unattractive about this man, turn it

into the most that's that's what you

love about him. You love that very thing

that you're feeling

resistant to.

Open yourself up to it and love that in

him. And it was the most brilliant note.

It was a brilliant note because from

that moment on I did exactly that. It

didn't stop my real feeling about him.

But in my performance I could just tw

turn it on its head. Turn the feeling on

its head. So

if you're finding something that is just

grinding on at you when you're preparing

a role, just find a way of incorporating

it, of using it. You could you play a

little psychological trick upon

yourself.

I find that um before a take I just have

to close my mind. I just have to

concentrate my mind down. Just bring it

all down.

remind myself very simply of the

character I am, where I am, maybe my

secret story I want to tell that I

talked about earlier.

And then I just let it happen. And then

sometimes it's great and sometimes it's

not so great. And then I then I say, "Do

you mind if I have another?" Um

the really annoying thing that's

happened to me often is when I say, "Do

you mind if I have another?" And they

say, "Oh, yes. All right. All right.

Yes. Yes. I think have we got time? Yes,

we got time. All right. Yes, she can

have another. And then I do it exactly

the same way. It's like, oh no. Oh god,

what do I do now? Um, that's really

embarrassing when that happens. And

that's happened many, many times. I

always thought with a queen before every

take, I would go like this. How How did

it go? I would go

because the queen seemed to me, the

queen Elizabeth Windsor

seemed to me like a submarine. She was

like a submarine

w moving through the waters but with

this periscope

looking looking all around. that inside

this submarine her were all these

feelings, these emotions, this history,

everything, everything that she was as a

human being, but that was underwater.

And the thing that was out was just the

these eyes looking like above the

surface at everything that was going on.

So I would always go like this to go

back and in and then out through the

eyes.

A film set is a very distracting place.

A theater is a very distracting place

actually. You know, you got the wings,

you got what's going on in the wings

while you're working on stage, and you

can see it out of the corner of your

eye. You know, there's an awareness of

the of the flies. There's the audience,

there's the guy asleep in the front row

that you have to flick to wake him up.

That's what I did once. I flicked him

with my shaw. Um

um anyway, you know, there are many

distractions and our job as actors is to

concentrate now and I I've witnessed

this and I've experienced it a little

bit myself right now as I'm talking to

you. I can see out of the corner of my

eye little group of people just over

there watching the monitor.

I can see them out of the corner of my

eye. Some actors would say, "Please, you

guys move out the way. I I can't

concentrate with you there." Um, in

general, I I don't do that because

because you

because it's all a bit fake, isn't it? I

mean the camera's there and the light is

there and the microphone's there and

it's a wall. So my job I I see as an

actor is to overcome those elements and

to

enter into my world

emotionally and psychologically and cut

all that out.

Um

uh or use it, play with it, be aware of

it and and and make it a part of your

performance. Um but a a film set is is

an enormously distracting place and and

if you are having to play something very

intense

with great great deal of concentration

maybe great emotional um output

I you just have to

uh

some actors compartmentalize and they

can go okay done that I'll just hold

that there for now. Now I can go and

talk and chat and you know have tea and

make a joke and but it's here all the

time. I've worked with a an actress

Naomi Harris. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable that she could do this.

Incredible. I've never seen it anything

like it before in Collateral Beauty. She

had this scene to play where she's just

lost her child and I'm playing the scene

with her. So, I watched this go on and

she had to be it was a very complicated

setup, difficult um camera setup and she

had to play this scene where she's

devastated at having lost her child. She

had to do it 20 at least 20 times. So,

and I was watching her just with awe.

She was unbelievable because

it was turnover action. Oh, so and she'd

give it everything cut. Sorry, Naomi.

We're going to have to do it again.

Okay. She's a British girl, of course.

Um, and she'd in between she'd be having

a cigarette, chatting. Okay. Ready,

Nomi? Yeah, I'm ready. Sit down. Bang.

She's right in it. And she did this like

20 or 30 times. And every time she was

unbelievable.

This is extraordinary. This is

extraordinary acting.

My real inspiration in acting, I've

always said this, are babies and dogs.

Speaking of dogs,

because dogs and babies when they're on

the screen, I mean, don't you find they

are mesmerizing? You can't take your

eyes off them. The greatest actor in the

world could be on the screen with them

giving an unbelievable performance, but

really you're mesmerized by the dog or

the baby because there is a presence to

them. There is a absolute

this is me and that's all I am and I'm

just here I am and it's you know you

can't take your eyes off it. So um I'm

always reaching for that dog like baby

like state. I never reach it because in

the end I'm not a dog or a baby and I

have a story to tell and I have to tell

that story um you know with interest

with excitement with drama with emotion.

Um, but I would love to be able to do

all of that and be a dog and a ba or a

baby.

I don't look at my performances. I I

don't study them. I don't I don't go to

the monitor. I don't watch what I've

done. I can't handle that. Some people

can. I can't. Don't feel like you have

to do that or don't feel like you don't

have to do it. It's really your choice

and I believe it's your choice. It's not

the director's choice. It's your choice.

It's your work. And I think you should

be if you want to watch it, do a lot of

actors don't. And I'm one of those

actors. I mean, if if the scene is a big

wide and it's there's some physical

thing that you're missing, then I'm

happy to watch the monitor and say, "Oh,

I see. Yeah, I got banana around that."

And or whatever. you know what banana

ising walking in a curve. Um

uh

you know to to to sort out a phys

physical something physical within the

shot um it's very useful to look at the

monitor but anything to do with acting I

can't look at the monitor. I think

that's going back to my letting the

arrow fly and letting go of it. If you

go and look at it on the monitor you're

not letting go of it. You're kind of

obsessing over it. and I don't want to

do that. Um, so I don't study my work. I

maybe I I'll pick up on it, you know, at

at 2:00 in the morning, like 3 years

later when it's on television, and I

suddenly sort of see I'll I'll watch a

scene that I've done and go, "Oh, God,

that was terrible, Helen." Or, "Oh, not

bad." But um

uh

you can't I don't think you can learn by

watching yourself because you learn the

wrong things. You learn, oh, I shouldn't

do that with my eyes or oh, you know, I

shouldn't I shouldn't put my chin down

like that. I've got a double chin or um

oh, my nose looks weird like that. I

mean, I hate

what you have to do

when you're acting is you have got to

let go of vanity. Doesn't mean you can't

be conscious of what you look like. And

constructing a character through hair

and makeup is very important.

And if you feel profoundly uncomfortable

in what you're wearing or how your hair

is, you got to go and fight the hair

people or the costume people about that

because you must not feel paralyzingly

uncomfortable. Those those are your

tools to work and and you must have

whatever tools allow you to work in the

best way that you possibly can. So, you

know, if you do feel uncomfortable,

fight about it, but not for the wrong

reasons, not for reasons of vanity,

always always to do with the role,

always to do with the character. Um,

I've never understood that good side,

bad side thing. How can that How can you

act if you've only got one side of your

face to act with? That's ridiculous, you

know? And anyway,

you know, who looks better on what? It's

your face. it maybe it's a little bit

different on this side but you know

that's ridiculous.

So I mean I don't think that exists

anymore but I've always found that

absolutely absurd.

Um but anyway so I think it's really

important

uh young or old whatever age you are is

to let go of a certain kind of vanity.

It's hard to do and and I think that's

the trouble with watching yourself is

you you don't watch your performance

really in that objective way. You know,

you're watching other stuff and it then

then you're going to fall into overly

technical things. I've I've worked with

actors who are unbelievably brilliant

film technical actors. They know their

camera angles.

They know exactly if the camera is like

this and if it's at this angle. They

know exactly what to do with their head,

how to turn it, how to look, how to look

around, where to ey line. They

incredible, incredible, but they're not

acting.

They're performing brilliantly for the

camera and it can work

and they make may get to be very famous

for doing that.

But they're not actually acting. And

when it's very interesting then when

something is required of them to act

imaginatively go into a world and lose

themselves in that but maintain the

technical

awareness.

They can't do that. It's impossible.

So um

you can be both kinds of actors. And I'm

not being judgmental here at all. My my

great my one great rule is that there

are no rules. There are no rules.

Anything is possible.

Anything is possible actually. And you

know as as you get older and you have

more and more experience, you you just

learn that lesson more and more and

more. So I I have no rules about

anything. Um it's just the kind of actor

that I am.

That's why I'm saying I don't want to

watch myself. I don't want to

deconstruct it in that way at all. It's

the inner journey that I'm interested

by. And the inner journey only happens

when I'm doing it. Once I'm doneing,

once I've done it, it's over. It's

finished. It's out of my hands.

When the t TV series Prime Suspect came

along for me, um

it was it was groundbreaking in many

ways. Although in reality in the real

world that particular ground of of women

trying to break glass ceilings in their

various professions had

it was at least at least let's say 10 15

years out of date in a interesting way

that was why the series gained such

attention because I think women of all

uh professions heaved a sigh of relief

because Finally, their struggle was

there on the screen.

Come in.

Hello, Jane.

This may not be the right time, sir, but

under the circumstances, I'm not quite

sure when would be the right time.

I'm offering to take over the murder

investigation.

I don't have to tell you that I am

qualified to handle this investigation

and that I have been waiting for

well I don't have to tell you how long

18 months and in that time I've had to

handle more paperwork than I did at

Reading for my whole 5 years dealing

with sex cases.

I know DCI Sheffield was at a crucial

stage of the investigation. I have to

see his wife this afternoon.

Don't expect me to make any decisions

now.

This is not the right time.

Well, when is the right time? Look, I am

the only officer of my rank who's

continually overstepped, sidestepped,

whatever. Just give me the chance to

prove that I can.

You don't have to prove yourself to me.

In this particular scene, I have to play

the, you know, the the the righteous

politeness. And because you're in the

system, you have to be obedient to the

system. You can't make waves, but you

want to, you know, make your case at the

same time. So, it was a sort of double-

layered thing that was happening in the

scene. And this, of course, is where the

close-up is a wonderful thing, you know,

because you can play the subtleties of

of um thought and of of

intention, what emotion, whatever it is,

in a closeup. And in in that and in in

that particular scene, I seem to

remember a lot of it is in a a wide

twoot.

And then suddenly as she's realizing

that she's failing in her attempt to

take over this this this case and she's

having to deal with her anger, her

disappointment, her resentment,

and her and her thought of how am I

going to get over this? I'm going to get

over this in some way.

Well, that's not enough, Michael.

I'm getting sick to death of this

so-called Metropolitan Police Survey

being thrown at me. So, all right.

Apparently, 90% of the time, the general

public would prefer a male officer. But

until one of us gets a chance to prove

that that survey is a biased, outdated

load of close friendship,

a man who I respected highly, died right

there. And now, inspector, is not the

time to thrust your women's rights down

my throat.

I'll get back to you.

And there there the close-up is

fantastic because without any words, you

can you can express all of those things.

You have to think them, but you can

express them.

When I was doing uh Prime Suspect, a

wonderful actor was playing a a very

strong role and he was fantastic in in

the role. Tom Bell, he's sadly died, but

um he was a very well-known actor in in

in Britain at the time. And I go on the

set to play the f my first scene with

him. And I have my line, whatever my

line is. And and he he says

I go, "Has he has he top stop speaking?

Is it time for me to speak?" And uh and

I say my next line. Then Tom goes

and I can't hear him at all. And cut.

And the sound person says, "Tom,

darling, sweetheart, um can you just,

you know, lift it up a bit? just be a

little louder because it's very

difficult to hear what you're saying.

And Tom goes, "Okay, yeah, yeah." And

they say, "Okay, action." I say my line,

Tom goes, "He

goes even quieter." Of course, the

direct result of that is when you see it

on the screen, you can absolutely hear

what Tom is saying quite clearly. But

I'm kind of talking like this because

I'm I'm talking at a normal level, but

Tom is talking so quietly. the sound guy

had to kind of, you know, bump up the

sound. So anyway, it's um that was a

lesson to me because I didn't know about

that kind of stuff. Not that Tom Tom I'm

not saying Tom was doing it deliberately

against me, not at all. But that was

just the way he did it, you know. And I

didn't realize at that point really how

very quietly you can speak on screen

because the microphone will actually

pick it up.

You know, some film making is very

challenging. You might have a very long

take where uh you have a lot of lines

and maybe a lot of movement and a lot of

a lot of marks to hit. Um if it's

particularly difficult stuff to learn,

which it often is, it's procedural.

I mean, I just have my lines written all

luckily what you if you're working in a

police station, there's lots of paper at

work everywhere. So I would uh as the

scene was being set up and I began to

understand where the camera was, I would

judiciously in different places write

down you know little pieces of dialogue

that I thought maybe I was a little bit

dodgy on you know um so you know there

are many many tricks of the trade. I

mean I I would I be friendly with your

cameramen because you need them. Um,

uh, I would put my lines up sort of just

down there.

Prime Suspect One, uh, was directed by a

a wonderful director called Chris Manol,

who with his cinematographer

created a very specific look for the

piece. Um and and that was very much

part of why why the piece was successful

was this extraordinary um at the time

very challenging but very interesting

way of shooting. He was working with a

very long lens in a very low light. Now

any cinematographers here understand

that means you have a very very shallow

field of focus. So you can literally if

I did this literally that

uh on set I'd be out of focus in some in

some setups and he would have a moving

camera this very slow as this camera

over here is moving very very slowly

picking me up um but on a very long lens

with a very slowm moving camera within

very low light with me moving. So it I

had to hit marks so accurately hit marks

literally on one and lean on one foot

and not sway backwards or forwards or in

any way whatsoever but maintain

naturalism and um the performance and

the emotion and and all of that. So um

there again is a a very clear example of

the the two-track brain you have to

have. I mean, I had never shot

uh uh anything with those sorts of

intense technical requirements, but of

course, the result was a wonderful

visual because it was very grainy. It

was very it you always felt like you

were um you know um sneaking a look at

someone. you always felt the the camera

was viristic was was sneaking up on you

and it gave it very very atmospheric

feeling. So, it was worth it. And that's

the other thing to remember is when

you're working with directors who who

have these kinds of or cinematographers,

usually it's the director and

cinematographer working together on the

look and they are they are they have

created a very specific kind of way of

shooting. Work with that. Don't resist

it. Don't go, "Oh, I can't do this."

Yeah. Work with it. You always can do

it. Um, don't resist it. Learn. Use it

as a learning experience. Go look down

the I'm forever

begging the cameraman, can I just have a

look down the lens? Can I just see? I

mean, now you can go and look at the um

the monitor, but to me, the monitor

doesn't tell the story. It's only really

by looking down the lens, you can really

see what the story is, if you like,

visually. And so I'm I'm I very often

ask if I can look down the lens just to

have a sense of of what the

cinematographer is creating.

I think if you're lucky enough to to

find yourself in a position and maybe

you know you guys will be out there

creating your own product if you like

and and I do advise as many of you who

have the inspiration to do that do so

because when you're not working uh and

you're not practicing and it it's very

debilitating

difficult uh um make your own product if

you can you know find friends to work

with. Make one's a producer, one's a

director, and you know, and a couple of

you are the actors and and just make

your own thing, whether anyone sees it

or not. But what you will have at the

end of that is a little piece of work

that you can then show to a casting

director. You know, you can do it

nowadays with iPhones. You're you're

you're in a much more advantageous

position than I ever was in in in that

respect. Um I don't know. you know,

there have been whole movies made with

very good movies made with iPhones. So,

you you're now in a position where you

can actually create your own product.

Um, and in doing so, um, you will be

your own producer as I found myself in a

sense on prime on prime suspect and

there for me the most important thing we

had a great casting director so that was

taken care of. The most the most

important thing for me was the two

things actually the writer

and the cinematographer. I knew that we

would get good directors. So, and we did

we had wonderful directors who again

went on to become movie directors, but

um the the writer was the very important

element and I never wanted prime suspect

to become kind of a cookie cutter

version of what went before. I wanted

each one to be its own thing. And in

order to to achieve that, I said to each

of the writers, make this your own. You

can take this character anywhere you

like. This I want this to be your your

piece of work. Don't forget all the ones

that went before. Just they don't exist

anymore. This is yours. You take this,

you tell the story you want to tell. And

for me that was very important. It gave

the writers liberty to invent to to make

it personal to them. Um, so that was my

decision as as a as a as as a producer.

I I did a a piece uh for television.

Elizabeth the first. Well, she was

actually very emotional. She wasn't all

cool and calm and controlled. She was

highly emotional, highly extreme. Um,

but you know, if you're doing that kind

of stuff, it it really helps to,

as I say, think fast.

I'm out of control, but I've got to pull

it back. But sometimes you can't think

that fast. And if you can't, as I said,

don't think. Just don't think. Just go

there without thinking. And then you can

and then you'll find your feet into what

you're doing.

There is a scene where I'm encouraging

the troops um uh to go into battle

against the the Spanish Armada. You'll

see I I seem to remember I start off on

on a platform making the speech to the

people, but I remember

talking to the director and and saying,

"I think this should be much more

intimate. I think she should be down

there amongst them. you know, she's

really really appealing to them as a

woman, obviously as a leader, but more

as a a a British and English at that

time, English person, and basically

saying, "We're all in this together, and

if you die, I'm going to die with you."

So, I thought it was very important that

she be right there in amongst with them,

not a sort of remote figure, you know,

making a beautiful speech from a

distance. My loving people,

my loving people.

And that's where,

you know, staging is very important and

and and you must feel free to speak up.

If you feel a piece of staging is wrong

for your your character, your role in in

that moment of the drama, you must have

the courage to speak up. Um, a complaint

I always have very often about

directors,

especially on television, it happens a

lot, is that they decide to do a walk

and talk in a scene. You know, people

are walking along while they're playing

the scene. And so often it's so wrong

for what these two people are saying to

each other. I think they would never

ever say those words to each other on

the move. Directors and cinematographers

obviously often like that because it

gives movement or they they know they

need to get from this point to that

point and how the hell are we going to

do it? Oh, I know. Let's do a walk and

talk. But um really be aware of that.

And I've I've personally very often said

to directors, I'm sorry, I cannot play

this scene on the move. I can I can move

up to this point in the scene. that th

those words that intention I would have

to stop look at the other person in the

eye and play the scene eye to eye. In

this scene obviously um I I I felt very

strongly that it would be good to move

it, you know, it was not a moment to

stand still. It it was a m a moment to

move amongst the guys and and um and

hopefully it it worked. um you know

there there's I think the moment of

grabbing the earth I and I remember

thinking because we were we had to shoot

that that film very fast. We didn't have

time for for many takes and we didn't

have time for much rehearsal or anything

you know you were you were like moving

like an express train. So finding myself

down there obviously then I could reach

down and and grab the earth. I think

that was a mo a moment I sort of

improvised on the spot. I suddenly

thought, there it is. There's the earth.

I'm talking about it. I can I can bend

down and grab it.

I am come among you as you see at this

time, not for my sport or recreation,

but resolved in the midst and the heat

of the battle to live or die among you

all.

to lay down for my God, for my kingdom,

and for my people my honor and my blood.

Even

Even in the dust.

It's a very very famous moment in

British history.

um and a very famous speech. It it is

the the literally the words that

Elizabeth the first um used. It's the

most magnificent speech about um encou

about about loyalty about nationhood

about about going into battle. Um and uh

and because it was a famous speech

obviously it's quite intimidating to say

think um how are we going to do this? So

the first thing um obviously is to have

the vocal ability to be able to speak

loud enough and be be um be truthful in

the sense of the pitch that you would

have had to have used for that number of

people. U so that again goes back to the

whole concept and understanding of voice

and the importance of voice. Um but then

within that to be able to have a modern

invention or a modern um uh a modern

approach to the language which I I tried

very hard in that speech to enliven it

with with um just with character with

personality. I thought you know there

are many different ways of playing that

very speech as there are in any speeches

can be done multiple multiple different

ways. I felt it was very important to

communicate uh you know it's not der

it's not um oh my god we all might die

kind of thing it's let's go for it and

if we die we die for our country and you

know it's um it's not joyful but I I I

felt that Elizabeth first at that moment

in time has got to in infuse her people

with with courage and with loyalty and

and and it's not a moment to be kind of

during and heavy and and so I guess that

was my my artistic choice definitely

at the end of the speech I she becomes

emotional and as far as I remember I

think that was something that I felt

coming up in me. I feel I felt it a

little bit just now. I felt it a little

bit watching it again. But um I think

that was something that happened at the

moment. And very often you find

something that's happening and it's

weird, you know, as you guys know, you

can have your brain is operating on two

completely different tracks at the same

time. And here is your pure and clean

and and natural emotional track. And and

whatever

you're you're allowing to happen on that

track is happening. And on this track is

thinking, "Oh, that's good. I think I'll

use that. Oh, wait a minute. I've got a

my backster camera. I've got to turn

around to show it to the camera." And

and you see I I kind of turn around to

show. So it doesn't delegitimize it as

an emotional truth. But at the same

time, you do have these two tracks going

simultaneously. And I guess that's that

there in that moment is the learning of

technique in understanding that I'm in a

I'm probably in a midshot, but the

camera's behind me. I think the shot

that they will use at this point, if

you've got two cameras working, is that

shot. So, I'd better show what I'm

feeling to that camera. Doesn't stop you

feeling it. Doesn't mean you're not

feeling it. You are. But you have the

expertise to understand. You better get

it on camera.

The extras were all Lithuanian. They

didn't understand English and they'd

never heard of Elizabeth the First. You

know, it's not part of their history.

Why should they know? So, they were very

l lackluster and very uninterested in in

this in this speech. and they they

didn't really know about, you know, they

they didn't feel it in their hearts. You

could tell they weren't, yeah, you know,

they they weren't really impassioned.

Um, so, but the Lithuanians are great

basketball players. They love

basketball. And at that time, there was

a big basketball match coming on up

between Lithuania and I can't remember

some other country. Um, and the whole

country was a buzz with this coming

basketball game. So, I went with the

translator. I went to the um to the um

extras and I said, "Look, I know you

don't know who Elizabeth the First is,

but just imagine you're at the

Lithuanian basketball game and your team

are about to win. You know, there's a

really important point. They're about to

get that point and you while just cheer

your team as if you know you're cheering

them on to win." and it completely

transformed their um you know their

their uh their contribution to the

scene.

There was another scene in Elizabeth the

first that was a technical challenge.

Um, and this was a very long a long one

of those long long developing shots

where basically a whole emo a long long

emotional scene is played out where she

thinks her lover is well she her she's

told that her lover has left is leaving

and she just completely loses it

completely emotionally loses it.

um and then goes through the whole

process of then understanding that um

that he's already gone, having an

emotional breakdown, and then having to

pull it all together and then realizing

she's done it all in public. And that's

very dangerous to reveal that kind of

emotional as a as a as a as a monarch.

Adam, it's too late. The Earl of Essex

has already left. He rode for Falmouth

overnight. He's on his way to Lisbon.

On his way.

Did you say

his way?

Madam, had we known, we would

would have would have. I can't what you

would have done. You traitorous dog. You

I'll send you all to the gallows. You

let him get away.

Where is some condition of princesses

laid bare for all the world to see?

One word of this and you die.

So you know a lot of complicated things

to express and the director brilliantly

I think actually decided to do this in

one take but this is very challenging

for an actor because because it's very

technical you know doing something in

one take means the camera is basically

going in front of you. You must maintain

a certain distance. So you and the

cameraman are working like a a pard

together. Um and and this is where you

must have a good relationship with all

cameramen always. It's very important

relationship. Um so you know you have to

be technically aware of of the distance

so you're not out of focus. Um also the

positioning also the speed and then and

then with all within all of those very

specific technical requirements

basically be out of control. So you're

but you're in you're in total control in

one way and completely out of control in

another way. Another example

incidentally of the train traveling on

the two you know on on this two track

thing on on this track you're

technically aware of exactly what's

happening when you're in darkness when

you're in shade when you've you know

when you're going too fast too slow

whatever it is. And on this track is

your absolute emotional life is being

played out in the in the deepest and

most total sort of way. Um and you know

th those sort of takes absolutely are a

challenge but um also of course they're

the most wonderful moments in our craft

when when really the you know the

technical and the artistry the desire

for artistry come together and something

very beautiful can be made.

I think in in in takes like that you

know the timing of the take the timing

of the of the turns of the emotion are

in your hands as an actor you know

there's not cut you know there's no the

edit is not going to create your

performance for you. You have to create

it yourself and you have to have a sense

of timing and a sense of timing is of

great importance in the world of drama

in general both from a director's point

of view from an actor's point of view uh

uh from an editor's point of view but

timing is everything to understand when

you can take a pause to understand when

you must go fast to understand when

you've got a switch like in the speed of

lightning from one emotion to another.

Um we talked about this a little earlier

but um timing is is of paramount

importance and when the timing timing is

in your hands as an actor in these kinds

of long takes you can't afford to be

self-indulgent.

You you this of all times is when you

really have to um

uh

listen to obviously listen to your

emotion but allow your emotion to play

in in real time not in sort of fake

acting time for want of a better word.

So it's it's not self-indulgent. It's

and and at moments like that you must

never in a sense be looking at yourself.

You must not be watching yourself. You

must drop that um that consciousness of

yourself completely

um and and simply pay play through the

moment, the intention, the emotional

journey in as in as real a time as you

possibly can. And then it won't be dull

and boring.

Prime Minister.

Good morning, Majesty. Sorry to disturb,

but I was just wondering whether you'd

seen any of today's papers.

We've managed to look at one or two.

Yes.

In which case, mine. There was a scene

in the queen uh where she's getting a

call from the prime minister asking her

to come down to London to uh to be with

the people and to cry with them and to

be a part of this extraordinary

sort of to my personal mind mass

hysteria that was sort of building to

to the royal family to the queen who'd

been through the second world war. She'd

been through major

trauma,

you know, uh, and and the way Britain

got through the Second World War was

through res to their mind through

restraint, through self-discipline,

through um, you know, gung-honess,

whatever, you know, a stiff upper lip

and all the rest of it.

So, this was suddenly an alien world for

the queen. Anyway, there's this phone

conversation where this is proposed by

Tony Blair, the the great politician who

understood what was needed. Um, but it's

foreign language to the queen.

Response might be necessary.

No,

I believe a few overeager editors are

doing their best to sell newspapers and

it would be a mistake to dance to their

tune.

Under normal circumstances, I would

agree.

But

well, my advisers

have been taking the temperature among

people on the streets

and well, the information I'm getting is

that the mood

is quite delicate.

I always felt to find the sort of slight

slight lightly comedic side of it was

valuable. So her cleaning her in in in

the process of the conversation I have

her cleaning her glasses with her

sweater, you know, not with a hanky

specially set aside, but like we all do,

you know, cleaning it with her sweater,

you know, and and looking through the

glasses as this conversation's going on.

So little little things like that,

anything like that that you can add to

to the scene, to the situation. This is

where props are absolutely invaluable.

At the same time in that scene,

there's a cutaway to the her lang in her

tension and her the un inner tension

that's going on. Uh you see her laying

these pens down in a very neat precise

precisely se uh spaced row. So to me

that was that could indicate without me

having to indicate it but it could

indicate an inner sort of real fierce

tension.

So what would you suggest prime

minister? Some kind of a statement?

No ma'am.

I believe the moment for statements has

passed.

I would suggest flying the flag at half

mast above Buckingham Palace.

As I said, the very valuable things

about research is you you can suddenly

find really unexpected little things and

in the um but the very meaningful I

think so in the uh in my research for

Elizabeth Windsor, I read this book

about her. It's called The Little

Princesses and it's a book about by the

nanny um about them as young young girls

and she tells this story of the queen

getting up as a young girl getting up as

Princess Elizabeth getting up in the

middle of the night. She's angsting

every night before she goes to bed. She

has a a series of little toy horses, of

course, and she lines them up so their

hooves are ex in an exact row before she

goes to bed. And they have to be exactly

right. And Crawy, the nanny, talks about

Princess Elizabeth getting up,

worried, suddenly worried that one of

the little horses things are slightly

out of line. Um, and that that said to

me, this is someone possibly with a an

obsession with neatness, with

organization.

So, I brought that in in a very small

way while she's on the phone. I wanted

and I asked the director to do a cutaway

of her lining her pens up in a very

precise neat nice exactly spaced kind of

row which physical things like that when

you are playing a role it's you know

sometimes a little tiny physical thing

like that can do so much more than a

long speech that's why I always say cut

it's all right cutting lines sometimes

you have to replace it with something

else. And if if you find in your work

you don't need that, but you do need

that, but it's not in the script, fight

for that. Fight for it. Ask for it.

Fight for it. Explain why you want it.

Do it in the right way. Don't demand at

the last minute, but you know, try try

and make that happen.

I've always been a proponent of the of

the uh the fact that it's very often

it's great not to have lines. Um and and

obviously not having lines forces you

into um well working with your face,

with your emotion, with the

just with your inner feelings. Um there

was a scene for example um in the queen

uh where which is absolutely which is

was a great advantage very ba based on

absolute truth. This really happened.

You know there's a lot of antagonism

towards the royal family at that point.

They don't know if they're going to be

go out there and have you know rotten

fruit thrown at them. It's the first

time in their lives they have ever

confronted a hostile nation. and they've

only ever seen sick fancy and groveling,

you know, before then. So, they go out

and it it was an act of courage. They

had no idea what they were going to face

when they went out there. And I tried to

express the fear of that in in the

beginning of the shot. There's a there's

a sense of fear.

There was film of of the of this moment.

So I had the great advantage of being

able to watch the film, the exact

movement of the queen, the way the pace

at which she was walking and how she was

holding her hands and all of those um uh

literal things. Um

but I

you know so you have to there's a sense

of fear there's a sense of distaste

because this whole thing of flowers and

weeping and all the rest of it was a bit

dis a bit sort of not very British you

know so there's a slight sense of

distaste this is not how we do it here

so you've got the fear you've got the

distaste

um

you've got the horror

of the whole situation, the sadness, the

pain of it. Um, at the same time, you

must maintain that sense of dignity and

royalty.

Hello. You like me to place those for

you?

No.

These are for you.

For me?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

You'll see in the scene a little girl

offers her a bunch of flowers and says

they're for you. And many people who

were there at the time said the queen

almost broke down at that moment. And I

had a feeling it was a turning point for

her. You know, you have to find a way of

expressing all of those things. And the

only way to do that is through thought.

Is to is to shut yourself shut your mind

down.

Bring yourself into that world and think

your way through it as you're as you're

doing it. And and that requires a

particular kind of concentration, a

particular thought process.

Um that is basically is the and therein

resides the absolute kernel the center

of what acting is and it's to do with

your imaginative journey

into yourself with control with

technique with all the rest of it. But

basically, you have got to be able to be

the kind of person who can imaginatively

put yourself absolutely into a position

and think those things through, but feel

them through. So, it's not like, oh, now

I've got to think that, now I've got to

think that, now I'm thinking that. Those

things have got to wash through you like

a like a wave on a shore, like a a

ripple on a on a pond. They've got to,

you know, just wash through you. And

you've got to allow yourself to be

an open receptor for that and allow your

face to express that without pulling

faces, but allow that to be shown on

your face. It happens through through

your eyes. It happens through your

little twitches on your face, your

eyebrows, whatever it is. You know, I

don't know how it happens. I have no

idea. I'm kind of not in control of it.

I mean,

uh, you know, the the eyes on screen are

obviously an incredibly important thing

and and a look, you know, to camera

can be very strong. Um, maybe that

wasn't very strong. I don't know. But,

you know, a look can be very strong um

in the right place. Of course, you don't

ever look straight at the camera. you

look to one side, but to allow your eyes

to be seen. And and the great the great

movie stars that I've watched absolutely

understand how to how to use their eyes

and and the power of a look. But a look

just for the for its own sake doesn't do

anything. There has to be thought behind

the look. There has to be emotion behind

the look. There has to be something

going on inside of your head behind the

look. Otherwise, it just becomes a a

silly

affectation.

Okay, picture's up. Camera A set.

Camera B set.

Okay, lock it up, guys. Last looks if

you need it. This is for picture.

Looking at my mark. Have to stand on my

mark.

Yep. Now, this is what happens just

before you do a take. You're in your

world. You're in your character. You're

in your environment. Wherever that is.

It might be ancient Rome. You know, it

could be anywhere. But at this point,

you have to cut all this stuff out of

your world. You have to maintain your

concentration,

refind your character, refind your

environment,

and now maybe you're ready to work.

Mark.

And now we're ready to go.

Action.

And when the director calls action, you

don't have to say action straight away.

You don't have to start acting straight

away. you just if if you need a little

more time just to pull yourself down

from all this amazing distraction you've

had to deal with um just in in preparing

to come up before you come on the set

and then coming on the set you know a

set is an incredibly distracting

environment and it's all about

maintaining concentration I'd like just

for one second to show you the world

that I'm living in that's a part this

little world is nice but look at this

other world that I'm living in.

So, you see, here's the camera crew that

I'm looking at. There's my director who

always insists on wearing a bright red

hat so that, you know, he really stands

out, which is like very annoying. Um,

here's a beautiful sound operator, I

bet. I mean, look what she's doing. It's

extraordinary. So, I'm That's what I'm

looking at. That's what's in my ey line.

Just outside of my ey line is a whole

other world. I have to just concentrate.

All of my thought, my mind, my

imagination has to go into very often a

little um square, a little mark on the

camera. So, this is what I'm acting to.

This is the my ey line. This is where I

have to pour all my emotion or my

thought or my feeling into this red this

little square by the side of the camera.

The actor who's maybe giving me the off-

camerara lines will be standing around

about here where at the moment my

director is standing. But I don't look

at him. I look at the little red dot. I

just hear the lines coming from off

camera.

I want to step back a bit now and talk

about what happens when you first walk

onto the set. It's a new set. Maybe

you're bit, you're playing a, you know,

medium-sized role, a small role, a

larger role, whatever it is. You walk

onto this set full of strangers. Now,

maybe you've been on sets before, so you

have an understanding of you certainly

by now probably know who the AD is

because the AD has come to get you out

of the makeup or out of your trailer. He

said, "They're ready for you on set."

Now, I have a little trick I'm going to

share with you. On my first day of

shoot, I always go to the set early. I

make sure that I'm ready in hair and

makeup earlier than they need me. Not an

hour earlier, but you know, 10, 15

minutes earlier. And I walk onto the set

before they're ready. And the the AD is

always saying, the second AD is who's

the person who comes to collect you out

of your trailer is always saying, "No,

no, they're not ready yet. They're not

ready yet." I say, "I don't mind. That's

fine. I'm just going to go down and see

what's going on." And it's a very good

way to let the set know. Let the first

AD do know, the second AD know that you

are going to be on top of this.

The other thing I always say when I

first arrive on the set is I talk to the

first AD and the second AD and I say

always come and knock on my door. Tell

me if the set is ready. if I'm not ready

for whatever reason, I've got a big

makeup change or, you know, there

something's gone wrong with my costume

or I need to be miked up. Um, another

thing being miked up. But anyway, uh,

you know, um, or all all those elements.

I can say to the second AD, I'm really

sorry. I will be ready in about 10

minutes. I will be with you in 10

minutes, but I want to know when the set

is ready. I don't want you to hovering

outside. Oh, she's not quite ready yet,

sir. Sir, she's not quite ready. We

don't quite know why. You know, as long

as I know the set is ready, I will have

already found out because I listen to

what the cameraman and the director have

been talking about. So, I know what the

next shot is. I know the size of the

camera I of the lens. I know if it's a

two shot. I know if it's a close-up. I

know if it's a wide. I know if it's two

cameras, what the lenses are. So I know

what the issues are for my hair and

makeup and costume. So if for example,

you know, it's a big wide and the light

is going but my wig isn't stuck down, I

will say to the makeup person, don't

stick the wig down. It doesn't matter.

It's a big wide. The light is going.

Let's get out there and shoot it. So

this is where I I feel it's very

important to be constantly aware of the

um of the technical

uh requirements of any any particular

shot. Uh and and lurk, you know, I I'm

always lurking behind the camera. Not I

don't intrude, but I'm kind of lurking

listening listening to what they're

saying, listening to the second first ad

saying, "Well, we're losing the light

of, you know, we've only got half an

hour to shoot this." So, I think, "Oh my

god, they've only got half an hour to

shoot and it's my big scene, so I better

get myself prepared for this." Um, it's

I have to say, you know, for me that's

what makes the the fun of the whole

thing, you know, but if as I said

earlier, if if you're walking on the set

for the first time, nobody knows you,

maybe you're not playing a very big

part, just hang around on the set, get

to know people, introduce yourself, and

start learning because we are all, as I

said, apprentice apprentices. This is an

apprentichip business.

And the other thing distraction

is that it's not just these four, five

people around the camera. Um, but you're

looking here and just beyond this

square. You can see all kinds. You can

see the lights, you can feel the mic,

the sense of the mic. You see babies.

That's why I love babies. You know, the

babies are always like

staring at the mic and dogs as well.

That's why such good actors, you know,

they're just in the moment in the moment

looking at the mic. Um uh but anyway,

you know that it's all all potentially

extremely distracting and um I'm sure

some of you have seen the films of

actors blow losing it because someone

was just walking across in their ey line

when they're in the middle of something.

And sometimes people really don't

understand the depth of concentration

that that an actor has to have at

particular moments of not just

remembering the lines but the the

continuity of the steps where you're

standing, the movement, the and and the

emotion of the scene. So a great deal of

concentration is needed at certain

moments. And um a and you just have to

find a way of just closing all that

down. Um

and it it's to do it's to do with

imagination really. I keep coming back

to this word imagination.

But you know you have to be so deep in

your imagination into your into your

story into the necessity to tell your

story that none of that really matters.

You know there are bit there's basically

a closeup

3/4

two shot and then the wide or there's

traveling shots. I mean many different

shots but that's sort of sort of the

canvas within which you're working as an

actor. And for each size of shot there

are slightly different

um not requirements but you know

obviously if the shots here then what my

hands are doing down here read you know

if I'm doing something nervous or

that will read

it here it doesn't matter what I'm doing

down here this is not going to read you

know it's not going to tell any kind of

story and likewise a full shot what your

feet are doing can tell the story um in

a big wide the way you walk, the way you

your whole body that your whole body

language can tell the story. Um it's

it's it's funny, you know, people often

say to me, "What's it like to work with

John Mulovich or you know, it must be

amazing to work with Alan Rickman?" Um

and I always say I yes, it would have

been great to work with John Malovich.

The only time you actually work with

another actor in film is in a twoot

where the two of you are in the scene.

What both of you have to say matters.

It's not so much in a wide or wide is

about the location, about the

environment. It's not about the

performance, about the psychology. A

twoot is and that's where you get to

actually

um react to and and work with an actor.

Otherwise, you know, I'm I'm basically

in a closeup where where you really in a

sense should be working with the actor,

looking him or her in the eyes, really

re reacting to each other. You're not.

you're working to a little pink cross on

the side of the lens as close to the

lens as possible because that gives you

a really direct eyline as opposed to if

I'm talking here to this person here or

my eyelines over there. You see what a

huge difference it is if I'm talking

very earnestly over here or if I'm

talking very earnestly there. You know,

there's a big difference between those

two ey lines. Um but very often I'm on

this ey line. It's an intimate moment

where I'm talking to my partner about

the death of our child or something and

I'm talking to this pink cross and the

actor that I'm working with is feeding

me the lines. So, I have to I hear those

lines. I can't look at him in the face.

Um, but I have to obviously I hear those

lines, but it's it's an incredibly

unnatural, you know, relationship. So,

you're not actually working with the

person. The way you maybe are working

with the person is when you've prepped

the scene in the um in the in the

trailer or in the dressing room. The two

of you maybe have read the scene

together. Um those are the moments you

work together to produce what you feel

the scene is. Otherwise, you know what

guys, you're working with the camera.

And that's why I think to

feel the people around the camera being

kind of a part of your world, a part of

your energy, a part of your support

team. I I think that's um I I personally

I think that's very important.

Very often a a film crew is extremely

respectful, but sometimes they're moving

around and it's in your ey line. And if

that happens, don't feel um intimidated

um you know on on the cut on the next

take. Just go to the first ad and say,

"Oh, it's getting a bit busy. Can you

just quieten everyone down a bit because

I need a little more concentration?" And

I think you're I think that's you're

allowed to do that. So Danny uh is is uh

is on the dolly and he's the person who

pushes the camera backwards and

forwards. And again, a very important

relationship that you can have with the

dolly grip because sometimes you're

moving and the camera's moving and he is

the one who's having to pull the camera

at exactly the same rate as you're

moving. So be conscious of what he's

having to do and say, "Am I going too

fast? Am I going too slow?" You know, is

it okay for you? Um, you know, these are

all decisions that get made in a

combination between the the dolly

operator, the the director and the

cinematographer. But, um, you know, be

conscious and make a relationship with

that guy because you are working

directly with that guy. And here's Key

who is our camera operator. And again,

he's the one actually who really sees

your performance. Very often uh the

director wants to be the operator

because he or she wants to look down the

lens and and be really engaged with the

performance. That person is the closest

person to your performance. Um I never

go to look at v video village. I never

go to look at my performance afterwards

because I don't think it is a true

really reflection that little screen.

This is the guy key who who is really

watching the performance and if I hear

um uh the camera operator say well that

was pretty good I feel very happy with

what I've done or if you feel that he

hasn't got it you know be very sensitive

to u the guy operating the camera it's a

collaboration between us all of course

the beautiful moment is between you and

that little spot on next to the lens.

That's the that's the center of the

whole thing. But it's the work of all of

us that's making that work.

The other really important team on the

on the set is sound. And here we have a

vet holding this incredibly long, very,

very heavy and difficult thing. She's in

a difficult physical position. Um, but

you know, often sound is is blown

because there was a truck going by or

there was an airplane flying over or the

camera was creaking or a light is making

a noise and you have just done the most

brilliant performance of your life and

it's blown because of a sound issue. Um,

that's always a very delicate moment. I

if there's a sound issue, even if I

think I'll never be that good again,

I'll always ask say yes, I will do

another take for sound because um in my

experience of watching movies and and

you you know you guys have done this sat

in the in the cinema, watched a movie

and if the sound is thin, if it's not

rich, if it's not full, if it's not

deep, um the whole movie suffers.

Doesn't matter how beautiful and in

focus and fantastic performances going

on on the screen. If the sound doesn't

is thin and and not you know not not to

either you can't really hear it or you

know sometimes sound is not good. It it

absolutely destroys the whole scene

obviously on on the set for your

continuity. Um, the script supervisor is

a very important person. But in terms of

your literal continuity here, was my

shirt like this or was it like that or

was my, you know, was my hair like this

or was it like that? And when did I

scratch the side of my face? Was it on

that line or that line? That those sort

of specific continuities is um uh is

important. Annoying but important. But

much more than that, where the script

super supervisor is a huge help is to

remind you of the I hate the word arc,

but yes, the story of your story. You

know, what happened three scenes before,

what's going to happen in two scenes,

what happened lit what the shot before

this shot is that? And then we're

shooting into this. So, you're aware of

the rhythm of that or how sweaty you

should be or

you know, have just been running or, you

know, all of those things. Um,

they are an invaluable tool for you.

If I'm working with a young actor who I

feel is inexperienced,

um, gosh, I don't know. All I can do is

be as as collaborative and as collegate

as possible. And also I I feel we're all

in the same boat. And it doesn't matter

if you've done a you know 500 movies or

it's your first movie. The reality is

turnover action. Your mug is on the

screen and that's all there that's at

that moment that is king if if you like.

Um, and we're all ultimately in the same

uh boat, as I say, of of of um of

needing to find concentration, of

needing to find a performance. Um, so

the best I can do personally for a for a

young actor is just to give them respect

and um and

and and try to make sure that they feel

that they are in an equal position to me

because actually guys you are. I know

you don't feel it and you feel oh

there's the big star or there's the star

and how you know and I'm I've just got

these three lines but you know what when

those three lines are when the camera's

on you and you've got those three lines

you are the one you are the one who

counts. So just give that moment your

all really.

The other thing about film acting is is

that accidents are sometimes great and

and that's what I learned from uh you

know from my book um interviews with

Francis Bacon and he talks about the

good accident. Don't be afraid of things

going wrong, you know, or or or um you

know, unexpected. The unexpected in in a

funny ways is what you're is is what

you're searching for because you want

your performance to be unexpected to

you. It it it needs to have that

presence and that reality and the

immediacy of the unexpected. So once

something really unexpected happens,

just go with it. Don't go, "Oh, cut, you

know, I'm sorry. I can't work with this

dog." You know, go, "No, got a camera.

I'm going down to the dog. Follow me,

please." Or whatever you do. Just But

use it until until the director calls

cut.

you know, like um like we were talking

before working with costume designers

um and the incredible importance of

really sometimes very small details to

tell the story of your character that um

that maybe the costume designer hasn't

thought of. Um you know that

relationship with with your costume

designer is incredibly important in

building your character. But likewise

the work with the set decorator can be

very very important. Um because the

environment, if your character has an

environment, their apartment, their

flat, I don't know, um you know, if it's

their personal environment, that

environment obvious obviously is going

to tell the story of the character um as

much as the costume is. But sometimes

there are elements of your character

that the the set decorator has or the

production designer with the set

decorator hasn't quite grasped and why

should they? they're not living in your

character the way you are. So, you know,

it it um your

personal contribution to the set. Again,

don't be destructive. Don't come in and

say, "This is completely wrong. I'm

going to, you know, um but you know, you

I think you're entitled to make

suggestions. Um

just say, you know, I would love I don't

know. I see I mean looking for example

in this set that I'm I'm looking in

beautiful nice pieces of furniture a

little bit modern and that but you know

as I say mid-century so an older person

could have had this furniture from when

they were young now it's become an

antique this actually happened in my

life my furniture is suddenly antiques

like very upsetting but anyway this

could be seen if you are hip a hip young

person in this environment it becomes

hip. If you're an older person, it

becomes kind of antique and period. It's

it's what they had from when they were

first married. So, I'm imagining maybe

that in this set lives an older woman.

She lives on her own. You know, I'm

thinking, okay, if she lives on her own,

this would be the place that she mostly

sits, wouldn't it? So, I'm going to

[ __ ] this little area up and I'm going

to ask like um and props are very very

kindly. This is great. That looks like

someone that she is something that she

or her mother might have made. This is

great. Again, it's got that sort of

older feeling. So, I'm going to start

just making this set just look more like

somewhere that someone sits.

Maybe in the scene, for example, maybe

this is a prop you're going to use in

the scene. And this is if that's the

case, it becomes really important that

that prop tells the right story.

So I'm looking at this maybe in the

scene it says the character has a cup of

coffee and this is what the props people

have brought. They brought this

beautiful elegant

correct period but elegant sort of um

thing and uh for her to have a coffee

and you and you think no someone living

on their own unless they're a certain

kind of person you know my character

would never do this so I'm I'm going to

change this out please decorator do you

mind if I change this for maybe I don't

know

a cracked old cup That's what she has

her coffee in in this cracked old cup.

So, what else can I I want this room to

look untidy. I want it to look like, you

know, like it's completely lived in.

Maybe I'll put you know what a paper is

always useful. Only makes your paper

kind of look looks maybe red, you know,

sitting there somewhere.

Um uh and this area much too clean. So,

I wonder if she's the kind of person, Do

you think she's the kind of person who

has fake flowers or real flowers? That's

a thought, isn't it? Um, I think maybe

she's pretty cool. And they've got some

nice real flowers here.

So, maybe she's likes real flowers, but

this is a little too elegant.

This is kind of good. This is again this

tells a better story for me because that

is it's a fake arrangement and it looks

kind it looks like it could be dusty. I

might even say would you mind making

those a bit dusty? So these are little

details that I don't think the audience

will ever actually notice. But somehow

then when you walk into the environment

feels like you it feels like yours. It

feels like your characters. So I'm I'm

just going to put these in over here.

Um, this is just all too tidy. I'm just

going to make that a little messier. I

don't know what have I got here. I've

got rope, but I don't think she's a

murderer. So, I'm not going to put that

in. I don't know why rope somehow tells

murder. Speaks of murder in some weird

way. Maybe it's that Hitchcock movie.

Wasn't it called Rope?

Anyway, books. Not no too too tidy. Too

tidy. Maybe I'll put that off center a

little bit. There we go. Maybe I think a

lot more books section. And maybe shall

we say that she's a bit of an

intellectual

in her

what happens. Sorry. Sorry. Props. Um

anyway, maybe she's a little bit of an

intellectual was. So maybe a chess set

would be cool, you know. And where would

the chess set be? Was she playing with

it or is something Is it something she

doesn't play with anymore? So, it's down

there and it's missing a couple of its

little guys have fallen over. That's

good actually. Maybe a little bit good.

There we go.

Uh oh, this is great.

Thank you, Props. Look what Props have

supplied. Knitting. Perfect. Now, we

kind of have an idea

of who she is. And the other thing is if

if you're putting in props that are

important for your character,

be aware of the shots that are going to

be, you know, the the kinds of shots

that are going to be made so the thing

gets in shot because otherwise it's a

bit of a waste of time, but kind of, you

know, have have the thing in shot so

it's telling another story. So here we

setting up a situation. She knits. She

reads the paper. She tucks herself in

because she gets a little bit cold at

night. Maybe a couple more cushions

actually. Maybe. But I like these sort

of older looking ones. Don't really

match,

you know.

No, that's too posh. See, that one I I

would find too posh.

So, um maybe another one of these.

I don't know. It's all beginning to bit

look a bit too grand for me. So, no, I'm

not going to put those in actually. Um,

boxes. Oh, you know what? I'm thinking

maybe

maybe like she drinks. Does she drink?

If she does drink, she's a bit of an

alky on the quiet, you know. Obviously,

maybe beer. I mean, a beer would be a

funny thing, wouldn't it? To sort of

slip in somewhere here. I'm not quite

sure where that could go, but anyway,

you can see the kind of thing I'm doing.

I'm just basically trying to funk it up

as much as possible. And this is where

set uh decorators are absolutely

brilliant. And and if you say to your

set decorator, this is good.

Some old coat just hanging around maybe

here. Um if you say to your set

decorator, look, I it's a great set.

It's just far too tidy. Please just make

it more untidy. Make it messier.

Maybe things on the floor.

Maybe more books or something on the

floor. I don't know what. Something. Uh,

cigarettes. That's good. If you want to

have a sense person smokes, again, put

it somewhere. I, you know, if I put this

down here, I'm sure the camera can't see

it. So, if I want it to look a little

bit messy, I'd put it there. Put these

there. I'm building up a little nest for

myself here. So, you know, I can really

imagine. And even if you never see that

your character do this, you know, you I

can see her tucked in here, can't you?

Like, oh, I'm tucked in. I got my [ __ ]

Sorry, my sigies. I got my coffee.

I've got my newspaper

that I don't actually read. I kind of,

you know, here's my character. I've got

her. She's right here. Lovely. So,

that's just a like a tiny indication of

of personalizing the space for your

character. Now, of course,

this very same set, the same same walls,

the same furniture and everything

can tell a completely different story.

if you're telling if you're I if it's

your space and um if it's a completely

different character.

So, here I'm walking onto a set

um and my character is actually this

actually happened to me when I was doing

Prime Suspect, um a TV show about the

police woman and she was obsessed with

work. That's all she thought about was

work. She didn't care about home

decoration or comfort. She was hardly

ever at home. And I remember walking on

the set for the first time and it was it

was a nice set. It was clean. It was

appropriate for the character, but what

was missing was the characterization of

the situation, which I thought, you know

what, this woman would not have had

time. Yes, she's been in in this

apartment for 2 months, but she still

hasn't got round to putting a picture up

on the wall. So, I would say and and I'm

going to say right now to the um to our

set decorators to help me out with this.

I want to make this look like it's

someone who's living here, but they

haven't unpacked properly. So, how do we

tell that story? And the first thing we

is we do we take everything out not the

furniture but you know all the accutra

the books can go the boxes can go this

can go the pictures can go uh that lamp

can go and um and we'll see where we go

from there. Um and then we'll start

putting other elements in that uh that

tell the story that I want I want my

character's story to be told. I mean the

other thing is if if you're doing your

own production and it's so brilliant

that nowadays you can do your own

production with your iPhones with

whatever and I so advise you if you are

an actor you you know you haven't got a

gig you're struggling as we honestly we

all do at one point or another um so

you've decided to make your own movie

and you're making it in your own

apartment or your mom's apartment or

wherever um

think of these elements ments. How do I

change this environment to tell the

story I want? So, I love this. This is

lovely. This is like like this is like

the empty stage. So, okay guys, what I

want is um boxes. Boxes that look like,

you know, they're half unpacked, not

quite. And again, think about where you

place these things. You want them to be

in shot but not too obvious, you know?

So maybe I'd put one over in the corner

there, you know, maybe a pile of them in

the corner like she's and it's it's

great. They've got bits of paper in

maybe, you know, something. Maybe the

books have come out of the boxes and

they're on the floor. If that's okay,

I'm going to do that. Excuse me, just

one second.

Maybe I can use my famous rope.

So let's do the the book. the, you know,

the books are here, the ropes there.

That was, that was in the packing. Um,

oh, I think, you know, this is someone

who's got no food in the in the free in

the fridge. So, I think a pizza box

would be brilliant in this environment.

Um, so do we have a a pizza box would be

great. And also, oh, here we go. Thank

you. That's great. Oh, you got it. Look

at that. as a now I would say and here

very kindly the um set decor I asked for

an empty pizza box but you know what

this is too big that would not be a

oneperson pizza box would it and to me

these little details as I said earlier

on are um

are insignificant the audience maybe are

never going to notice it but you as a

character will know it and when you walk

on 90% of what you're doing is is live

is you are living in your imagination.

To fully realize your character, you

have to be fully within the imagination

of the character and the real elements

around you all feed into that

imaginative journey you're making. So, I

would walk on stage say, well, either

she's really fat, she eats a lot of

pizza, which is legitimate, um or this

would be much too big. No one in their

right mind would order pizza this big.

But never mind. Let's let's pretend she

eats a lot of pizza. This is cool. You

know, something like that. That could be

maybe on the floor open

like it was, you know, it was from last

night. And then this is from tonight and

she's that's something she's working on

tonight. And then I think maybe like a

beer. You know, the one thing she does

have is a beer

and an opener cuz you need a an opener

with a beer.

That's a story, isn't it? Let me have a

look at I'm going to have to step back

and have a look at it. Just a sec.

Yeah, that's cool. I mean, that tells

another story, doesn't it? Although

actually

what I might do is because of this

environment, I might actually make this

over here.

There's something sort of more sad about

it over there, not even using the table

that you're supposed to be using. You

know,

maybe I don't know, maybe it's better

the other way around. But anyway, that's

another alternative that, you know, the

comfy area is ignored. She never settles

down. and she just sits on the sofa,

grabs something to eat, and is out the

door.

So, um,

you know, that's, as I say, um,

use your imagination,

use the tools at at at your disposal,

but use them with imagination.

Think of the scene, think of the um what

literally physically what you're going

to have to do in the scene. therefore

where your props be should be

and much more important what kind of

props they are. So um you know we dealt

with that a little bit in costume which

was uh which is equally important. The

choice of the watch, the choice of the

glasses, you know where the jewelry

goes. Um all of these elements build up

and as I say the audience don't

necessarily notice it as we don't none

of us notice the elements in our in our

beings that that tell the story of our

of our characters. We don't really

notice it until we really study and

start deconstructing.

And that incidentally, this is this is

nothing to do with sex, is why you

should always watch people out there on

the street. My mantra as an actor is

that real life is always more

interesting than anything we can make

up. So take from real life, you know, as

a little psychological exercise, you

know, uh if you're stuck in a traffic

jam or if if you're on the bus or on the

subway,

just pick one person out

surreptitiously. Don't stare, but and

look at every detail of what they're

wearing. everything from from the, you

know, how clean their fingernails are

to, you know, when they last had their

hair cut or what belt they're wearing

or, you know, how old their jeans are or

every little detail and and just start

constructing in your mind who that

character is. And it's amazing how, you

know, how in depth you can get. Of

course, you walk past that person on the

subway and it's just another person on

the subway. And in the same way, in a

way that's how your character will be on

the on the in the film or on on the

television or or in the production.

There are details within that that that

are unnoticeable, but they all it's

incrementally all builds up to a certain

So, I've talked about um props being

such an important marker of your

character. It's as as much of a marker

of your character as your costume is or

your your hair or your makeup. All of

those elements come to build the

understanding of this character. Now

you've chosen your props. You know, I

think for this scene I want a nice

little posh um teacup.

Um now get to know your props. Now

practice with them. go on the set when

uh you know when the when the camera is

being set up, when the lights being set

up, find yourself a quiet little corner

and just keep practicing with your props

over and over and over and over and over

again until it becomes second nature.

Never go on set and find your prop, you

know, your you have to take the top off,

you have to put it back and you go, "Oh

my god, look, this is wrong." You know,

learn that the lid goes in this way.

learn uh you know, learn what the pour

is like if you're pouring something out.

And incidentally,

this is an important thing about props.

Just be conscious of the noise of props

sound. Aren't you pleased that I'm

saying this? Really? Um because if you

put your cup down in the middle of your

your speaking, especially in the middle

of someone else speaking, you know,

there's this awful noise off camera

maybe. Not so bad if it's on camera, but

even on camera, it can be a pain. So,

just be aware, especially with cups and

sauces. They're incredibly noisy things.

Um so, be aware of the sound of your

props. But above all, learn your props.

Practice with them. especially if you

have to, I don't know, serve food or

have some complicated prop thing. Um,

really, really practice because it will

trip you up otherwise. And especially if

you're doing television, you know,

television moves like this in the speed

of light. No one's got the time to wait

for you to learn how the clasp on your

purse works. You know, they don't have

the time. So, get your purse. You've got

to open it. Open it. Close it. do it

over and over again. Learn if it's

awkward, if it's terrible. Also, if you

have have props very, as you often do,

inside something, make sure they're

always in the same place. I know where

my glasses are. I've got to get them

out. I will put them where I want them

to be, which in the thing now. I can get

them out. I know exactly where they are,

you know. So,

that's important. Also, this Oh, this is

this is bad.

lighters. As night follows day, a

lighter will not work on the first go.

I have a very good props person on this

film. She's made sure that my lighter

does work on the first go, but so often

it doesn't or if it's worked a million

times, it suddenly doesn't work. So, you

know, get to know your cigarettes. Also,

if you're if it's cigarettes,

you know, investigate all the different

ways that you can smoke. You know, this

this tells one story. You know, I love

cigarettes. They're such great props. No

wonder they were so popular for so long.

The best prop in the world,

you know, that there was a famous film

director,

David Lean, English film director, who

always used to smoke his cigarette like

this and an incredible affectation, you

know. So, that's kind of that would be a

pretty cool little character thing to

do, especially if you've got a small

role. You know, it's cool to do little

things like that.

Um, but anyway, find ways of of making

your prop your own. You belong, it

belongs with you. You are familiar with

it. It wasn't just handed to you this

morning by wardrobe, you know. It's it's

something that lives in your character's

life with you. Um, if you don't smoke,

you have to smoke on on screen. Um, I I

I played a role in a Prime Suspect of a

of a woman who was a chain smoker but

was desperately trying to give it up.

So, um, it was very important that I

communicate to the smokers out there

that I I was a smoker even though I

don't smoke at all. So, I just made sure

in every almost every scene a cigarette

was either in my hand or it was in, you

know, in the teacup. There was a there

was a lit cigarette around 90% of the

time. And then I chose one moment in the

film in the story to really inhale,

which is painful to do if you don't

smoke. But I knew really to sell it. I

had to do this once to the smokers out

there watching. So, I chose this one

moment when I'm not going to do it now

because it's too horrible to do, but um

where you just

suck it down, you know, the full whammy.

Um and and you know what, it was

interesting because um so many people

thought I was a smoker from that and I

absolutely am not, but they saw me just

just inhale just the once one scene in a

dramatic moment when I knew it would be

in the film. I did it to tell the story.

It's all about telling the story.

That's how non-smokers smoke

sometimes. And you know, you see

Humphrey Bogot do this. Go watch

Humphrey Bogot. You'll find something

to kind of play with. I remember I was

doing a scene a long time ago in a film

called Some of the Son, was it? No. No.

uh Cal a film about the troubles in

Northern Ireland and I was pretty

inexperienced at the time and um I

wasn't really very good in this scene. I

didn't I was sort of awkward and I

didn't know what to do. The director

very cleverly I was a scene in a farmard

um stably thing and there was a piece of

rope there. It was actually hanging like

this. He said, "Why don't you just play

with that robe while you say while you

talk?" And it was immediately sort of

liberated me. It uh it it told its own

story. It it wasn't a personal prop like

a like a purse or a cigarette or or a

cup, but it it was a random thing, but

in the in the playing with it, it I

don't know. It distracts. Not distracts,

that's not the right word. diverts. It

diverts and which is you often see in

real life. Real life never comes at you

straight on like a like an express train

very you know life comes at you from all

angles and and that's what I was

speaking about earlier on about your

it's great when your line your

performance comes obliquely at you. In

other words, it it takes you by

surprise. You didn't expect to be saying

those words and suddenly pop here they

are coming out of your mouth as these

words right now coming out of my mouth

mouth. But sometimes just you know just

having something to play with just can

divert in a right way. So it just takes

you out of the obvious the

straightforward the obvious. So quite

nice to have something to play with. But

also incidentally,

don't do it just to distract and just to

be annoying. And don't do it when

someone else is speaking. That is really

annoying. I've experienced that

especially on stage quite a few times

and that's enraging.

Continuity is a whole other thing. You

know, continuity is a is a is a tough

one to address. And um if you're making

your own movie, you'll probably really

come to understand continuity because

you'll be editing it and you'll realize,

oh god, you know, she's got a handbag on

the wrong shoulder. Why did I do that?

That whole scene is destroyed because

her handbag is on the wrong shoulder.

Doesn't cut with the with the reverse

shot, you know. So, um give do

yourselves a favor. Honestly, continuity

is a pain in the butt.

It is. And we all hate continuity

because it interferes with your mind

process. It interferes with the natural

flow of the emotional scene, whatever it

is. But if you do a great take

and if through your your own fault, your

continuity is wrong, you know, you're

holding something in your closeup that

you weren't holding in the wide or in

the twoot, they can't use that closeup.

Doesn't matter how brilliant you were in

it, they can't use it. So I always think

of continuity, it's a pain, but in a way

I'm protecting my own performance by

trying to make sure as much as I can

that the continuity is right, you know,

and and continuity is right down to this

lock of hair, you know, sometimes. Um,

you know, some people's mantra is

basically continuity sucks. You know,

forget about it. let's just shoot, be

free. And you know, that's a lovely

attitude to have. But um and it depends

on the style of the film making, the

style of the filmmaker that you're

working with. If it's yourself making

the film, you have to decide what kind

of a movie you want to make. But um

continuity is very very important and

props in a sense are a part of that.

Learning how to use props.

You have to be very careful when you're

dealing with writers or I don't say

dealing with but in your relationship

with the writer because a writer has his

or her ego and this is their work and

they it might have been a painful

process. to get this script on the page

or this scene on the page and they might

have put an awful lot of effort into it.

So, um you know, you you you must be

very careful with with your relationship

to that. Sometimes

they haven't quite got it right or

sometimes they've got it completely

wrong. But nonetheless, you know what,

you agreed to do the role, so it's your

job to kind of make sense of it. Um,

some writers uh want to work with you as

an actor and others don't. And and

really you you know you have to judge

that and you have to judge whether it's

appropriate or not to approach the

writer and say if the writer is on set.

It's always great if the writer is on

set incidentally. And if the writer is

on set, go and make a relationship. Say

hi. Say how much you love their work.

That's always a good thing to do. Um,

and and make a relationship with them.

So then you can approach them and say,

um, you know, I I'm having a slight

problem with this line in this scene,

and I'm not quite sure why it's there.

Could you maybe help me a little bit

with that? So make a relationship with

the writer if if if that's feasible, if

that's possible.

Um or I would say always treat the

writer with respect because um they

write they're on their own mostly when

they work. They're isolated

and and they don't know you know whether

this thing is going to fly or not. So um

I I would say treat a writer with with

respect but

but not so much that you can't

contribute because in the end what we do

on the screen is an absolute

collaboration.

The first moment of the inception of

this baby that we we're all putting out

into the world take take its little

toddling steps out of the world. The

moment of conception is the writer with

his empty page. Then comes the director.

Then comes the cinematographer, the

production designer, the actors,

uh you know and all of you have each

time the editor, the music and all of

these elements, all of them in every

moment this little this work of art

shifts and changes and gets added to and

and morphs into something and you're all

contributing to that, every one of you.

So um be conscious of that uh that you

are a part of a very complicated hole.

Sometimes uh writers because they have

so much to deal with they they haven't

quite grasp they've got the scene right

but they've got actually got it in the

wrong order. And you as an actor because

you your job as an actor is to make the

mental connections between this word and

that word, this speech and that speech,

this relationship and that relationship

and and we have to we have to

subconsciously not subconscious

consciously

um make those psychological connections.

Great writing. It's very interesting to

me that good writing is really easy to

learn. Bad writing is really difficult

to learn because in good writing those

subconscious those psychological

connections are correct and in the right

place.

And with bad writing, no attention has

been paid to the subconscious, to the

psychological connections between, as I

say, this word and that word, this

speech and that, this sentence and that

sentence and this speech and that

speech.

So um Bernard Shaw for example is you

have these enormously long p speeches

that are so easy to learn because he

totally understood the psychological

connection

as you work through a speech.

Bad writing is so difficult to learn

because there is no connection. Why do I

say that after that? It just doesn't

make sense. But sometimes even in in a

well-ritten scene, you will find that

the uh the the words are all right, but

they're just in the wrong order. And

usually if you're working with a good

actor, the two of you can work that out.

And and and

incidentally, work with your other

actors. Take the time to knock on their

door in the trailer. Do you mind if we

just read through this scene? And

instantly if you're a a supporting actor

or you know really down on the on the uh

call sheet and the other actor is up on

the call sheet still don't be afraid of

doing that and any actor worth his or

her salt will say yes of course let's

read through it.

I mean early on in my career in my film

career I was uh I was asked to be in a

film called The Long Good Friday and

this was a case where the script was a

was a piece of literature. It was a

wonderfully written script by a

playwright called Barry O'keefe and it

was a page turner. It had some the it no

scene was too long. It was uh funny but

it was serious. It was very dramatic. It

was a wonderful wonderful script.

um one of the maybe the five top scripts

that have ever landed in my lab. The

only trouble was the female character

suck. The female character was

one-dimensional,

was cursory, was there just to be a kind

of a plot device, uh was just there to

be a kind of a female, you know, and it

annoyed the hell out of me. But I wanted

desperately to be in the movie because

the rest of it was so great.

Uh so I said yes, I would be in the

movie. But I had I asked for big

meetings with the producer and the

director and the writer before a month

before we shot to say I really want to

do this but honestly this charact this

female character is really

nothing. There's nothing there and you

know it's uninteresting. Why not make

her into an interesting character? So I

came up with all sorts of ideas which

there I had studied the script to see

where I could in insert this character,

change the story so she became more

embedded in the story. Um,

so I gave them all these thoughts and

these ideas and notes and stuff and I

went away on holiday and I came back the

day before we started shooting and the

script landed in my here's the shooting

script and this does happen a lot

incidentally guys. Um, the shooting

script can be a very different thing to

the script you agreed to when you took

the job. um the shooting script, nothing

had been changed. Nothing. And I was

kind of devastated because now I was

locked into playing this role that I

really

I guess offended me for one of a better

word, offended me for its for its um

thinness.

So I started

went back to my notes about what I felt

should happen and just on a daily basis

I would rewrite the scenes I was in. I

would go to the go to the director the

night before. I was working on the scene

that we're going to shoot tomorrow and I

thought maybe you know I could say this

and then maybe that and this this that

and the other. So um I you know and

obviously the poor director I had utter

sympathy with him because he was on a

very tight schedule and he did not want

to hear this stuff. Um you know it just

made his life more complicated and now I

live with a director I really understand

his problems. Um but I was really really

felt very strongly that this was going

to add to the movie. This was not

detracting from the movie and it wasn't

trying to make myself a bigger

character. I was happy to lose scenes,

lose lines. Um, but the scenes that were

in and the lines that were in, I wanted

to have meaning and character and

complexity.

So on a daily basis um I just took my

courage into my hands and I and I sort

of fought through on a daily basis to

try and

bring this character more into the movie

and actually I succeeded. I only

succeeded because I was supported in

this by um Bob Hoskins who is my co-star

and many co-stars

would not want this because they don't

want anyone else's role to be as good as

they theirs is, you know, and they and

you do get a little bit of that often.

Um but um but Bob was incredibly

generous and he understood I think that

this was only going to make the film

better. And when you're making these

kinds of efforts and they're difficult

because you know you're making you can

maybe be making yourself unpopular and

you have to learn how to do it in the

correct way incidentally and the best

and the correct way is to first meet

with the writer and talk through these

things with the writer. Meet with the

producer, talk through them with the

producer. Um not to make a big deal out

of it. happen the night before almost

but um communicate with them so it goes

through which I subsequently learned

instantly I hadn't learned this on long

good Friday it must go through the

correct channels and then it comes back

to you and what happens is the first ad

will come back to you the next day and

say oh there's been a rewrite on that

scene you would say oh really yes here

are the new lines oh you know because

they've gone they've been printed and

you go oh yes there they are there my

lines that I wrote last night they but

they've now gone through the correct

channel. Um,

anyway, I was a squeaky wheel on the

good long Good Friday and I never regret

that because it did make it into a

better movie and I know I've read um

stories about Betty Davis um who did

exactly the same thing and and in her

memoirs she she she recognizes the fact

that she was probably extremely annoying

to the directors and the producers but

she says, "I made my movies better. And

I bet she did. I bet she did.

On the long Good Friday, I did a couple

of things. My my biggest intention was

to bring her into the story, make her a

player, if you like, in the story

because so often women's characters,

especially in that era, but even to this

day, are they're watching the the story

from the sideline, are craziely popping

in to take their clothes off or kiss

someone or wave them goodbye, but mostly

they're watching from the sidelines. And

um

I first of all I

the character originally was a sort of

an East End girl. She was his his

girlfriend from way back when. Um and I

thought no, why not make her a posh

girl? Much more interesting. A posh girl

who's gone onto the, you know, a walk on

the wild side with this relationship

with this gangster. Um but she actually

comes from quite a not not a posh not an

upper class situation but a sort of what

in England we we would call middle class

upper middle class you know nice maybe

she had a pony when she was young that

sort of person but she wasn't an aristo

that sort of upper middle class world

nuvo ree probably um

and smart and ambitious

and

and he recognizes in her and this is why

they're together. If you like this is

the backstory is recognized this smart

ambitious

girl woman who knows how to lay a table

who knows how to pour a cocktail who

understands the finer things of life and

he's understood that she is a a very

valuable um instrument uh very valuable

not instrument that's not the right word

very valuable partner for him to achieve

what he wants in life. Um, and then once

I'd kind of, if you like, created that

backstory, then that gives that

character the ability to go in and one

of the scenes that I think I I don't

think maybe I did write it. I can't

remember. At least I very much suggested

that it should be written and co-wrote

it. um which was the scene between uh

Victoria is the name of the character

and and the visiting um American

um gangster who she has to impress and

has to bring on board with the whole

thing. Um so there you see her in

action, you see her an intrinsic part of

what this group are doing together.

Before in the original script, she was

literally a girlfriend just watching

from the sidelines.

I've worked with many great directors,

my husband being one of them, Taylor

Hackford. Um but I also and I also had

the um the wonderful advantage of

working with one of the great American

iconic um urs of American film Robert

Alman and that was a very educative and

extraordinary experience unlike any

other film most films are basically the

same you know even when it's Peter

Greenway and people say what was it like

to work with Peter Greenway well

actually it was exactly like working

with almost every other director

The subject matter was completely

different, but the way of working was

the same. You know, master shot,

twoshot, no overs, you know, cut away

and we're done and dusted. Ra Bob um

worked in a very different way. First of

all, everyone is miked.

So the sound and he felt this very

strongly that the sound story of the

film was as important as the visual

story. And this is what gives his film

such incredible sort of depth. You're

looking at one thing, but you're hearing

something over here that's maybe

offscreen or it's or it's or it's

blurring in the background. You're

hearing it. You're picking picking it

up. You get this sense of layers. Um,

and the way he shot uh was he would have

one or maybe sometimes two cameras on a

dolly going this way and then another

camera on a dolly going this way. both

constantly moving a bit like we're

shooting this now. We have a camera

moving over here and we have this the

static camera here. But um and then

everyone is miked. So everything you say

is on the sound uh is recorded and can

be used. Um, so that was very curious

and interesting and and kind of

wonderful and it was kind of liberating

because it meant if you did happen to

think of something brilliant to say. It

was very scripted and actually very um

choreographed. It wasn't all improvised.

Not far from it. But if you did happen

to improvise a line quietly to yourself

off ca, you know, off camera, it would

be picked up and it could or could not

be used. Um, so he already had that

freedom of approach. Um,

funny story, I was uh I had I had very I

didn't have a lot of lines in in Gosford

Park. Very few lines. Um, but couple of

nice little scenes. Um,

but one of the scenes was the the the

day that all the family arrive in the in

the big house and the housekeeper I'm

playing the housekeeper is in charge of

uh of everything, you know. So, she's

walking up and down. You put that there,

you go, you take that to that room, you

know, be careful of those. Where does

the dog go? And, you know, so I had a

lot of lines and um, oh, I've got a

scene with a lot of lines. And so, I

learned my lines and then, oh, it's next

week. Oh, I'm doing my big scene next

week, all my lines and then and oh,

tomorrow I do my big scene tomorrow with

all my lines and um and I turn up on the

set and and I've got all my lines ready

and I'm going to be strutting up and

down, you know, being the center of

attention and I'm going to love it. And

um Robert says, "How how so how should

we shoot the scene? What should we do?"

H what should do we do? Oh, I know. He

says, "Have we got the dog?" They say,

"Yes, we've got the dog." Good. Let's

have the dog running through everyone's

feet and let's follow the dog. So, my

whole big scene was just on this dog

running through the feet of everyone

with every all the bags and everything

being unpacked and the dog running

through and my voice off camera just

shouting like sort of background noise.

Um, and that was a lesson and that

should be a lesson for you. you know

what's on what whether you have a lot of

lines on the page is not necessarily

um going to have an effect in the in the

overall picture of the film. Um but

another two things that was an

indication of of of Bob's freedom of

approach. He shot all the upstairs stuff

first and then and then all the

downstairs stuff and I was downstairs.

So I was second in the second lot of

shooting. But in between the first and

second lot of shooting, he wanted to to

do a um photo shoot with the whole cast

upstairs and downstairs. So I came in

for that photo shoot. Een Atkins and

we're all in our costumes now. And now

it's lunch and we're going to do the

photo shoot shoot in the afternoon and

I'm having lunch with maybe with Eene or

maybe with Bob, I can't remember. But he

looks at Eileen and he looks at me and

then he says, "Oh, I think I'm going to

make you two sisters." This wasn't in

the script. He decides there and then he

said, "Is that all right with you?" And

we went, "Well, yeah, I guess." You

know, so brilliantly something that

wasn't in the script, he sent he set

this conflict up that was in the script,

but now it's between two sisters, which

gives it a much more, you know,

interesting flavor. That was totally

Bob's idea.

So that's another indication of his

freedom. There's a scene between Kelly

McDonald and I. Kelly McDonald is

playing one of the young servants

downstairs and she's uh an important

role in the film. And there's a scene

between Kelly and I. I'm playing the

housekeeper.

And um

it's a nice long scene. It's a two page

page scene, you know, lots of words

uh for her and for me. And Kelly and I

sort of look at look at the scene the

day before we shoot because there isn't

time to look at it with Bob. So, we look

at it together to try and sort out what

we think it's all about and we read

through it and we say to each other,

"What do you think this is about?" "I

don't know. Do you know what it's

about?" "No, I don't. I mean, I don't

see why it's in the movie, quite

honestly." So now the next day we go to

shoot the scene. It's on the on the, you

know, call sheet

and the set's there and everything and

we walk on set, Kelly and I, to do this

and Bob says, "So what do you think this

scene's about?" And we go, "Well,

we don't know, you know." And then I

have the timmerity to say, "I I don't

think that this scene adds anything to

my character that I can see or Kell's.

It certainly doesn't advance the plot.

It's not essential for the plot on any

level.

I don't think we need it in the movie.

And he said, "I think you're right.

Let's cut it. Moving on. Let's do the

next scene." Everyone went, "What?

Cutting it?" Yeah. He didn't call the

producer, you know. He said, "Let's cut

it. It was gone." And Kelly and I were

not unhappy about that because we both,

neither of us felt the scene really did

anything.

So that happened. But

all along I'd felt, especially now Eene

is my sister, I'd always felt there was

a scene missing at the end of the film

for um

for the housekeeping, for my character

and for the story.

um which was

the the the leaving of the son.

Anyway, you'll have to see the film to

know what it's about. I'm not going to

tell you the story, but anyway, there

was a scene at the end that I felt was

missing. And it was a a very emotional,

strong scene. And I went again, I had

the tearity to go to Bob and say, I I

think we're missing something at the

end. I really do. And I would love if

it's at all possible to shoot a scene.

Now, I knew he was the kind of director

who could let go of a scene very quickly

and easily. I thought maybe he was the

kind of director who could also put in a

scene quickly and easily. And I said, I

feel we're missing the scene and I would

love to, you know, maybe write it and

see show you what I'm talking about. You

can take it away and rewrite it, but you

know, just he said, "Yes, why don't you

and Eileen go away and write it?" So Een

and I went and sat in our dressing rooms

and sort of improvised and wrote it

between the two of us, presented it to

him and he said, "Yes, I think you're

right. We're going to shoot it." And we

shot it. And um

and it was it was an it was a very

important scene for the resolution of

the film.

People

say, "What are your what's your what's

in a few words are your advice for young

actors?" And I always say, "Be on time.

Don't be an asshole."

And that's it. That's really end of

story. But anyway, don't be a time

waster. But if you're not a time waster

and uh you know you're there and

prepared and all the rest of the things

you have to be, then film sets pretty

kind to you because you've earned it and

you can say, "Look,

let me just try one more time or six

more times or whatever." But always be

polite. Try to always be on time. Um,

and and be as gracious as you can, but

but be very careful. Be self-protective

as well because sometimes what the film

or the movie want for the film or the

movie is not actually what is right for

you.

I didn't go to drama school. I have

never been to a drama class,

but I have worked professionally as an

actress. And it's those, you know,

sometimes complicated and sometimes very

simple ideas and understandings that

I've picked up that I'm I've tried to

communicate with you. I hope you've had

as good a time with me as I've had with

you. This is the first time in my life I

have ever actually talked about my

career and my work in this way and it's

been quite a journey for me. Thank you

so much for coming on the journey with

me. It's been an an education for me as

well as for you. So, thank you.

It's very interesting that some actors,

no matter really where their background

is, what what they come out of, are

natural

Shakespearean actors. And and I would

quote here I would quote Marlon Brando

in in in particular in one speech in

particular friends Romans and

countrymen. Lend me your ears. I come to

bury Caesar not to praise him. Um the

evil that men do live after them. The

good is often interret interred buried

with their bones. Um

he does that speech with absolute

pure Shakespearean. if you like

Shakespearean actors expertise.

He knows how to breathe. He knows how to

carry on. And in incidentally speaking

of voice, his voice is strong enough and

powerful enough that you can believe

that he's talking to 200 people.

Um but at the same time he he imbuss it

with his own natural sense of naturalism

of of drama. Um, and I I think it's a

it's a beautiful beautifully executed

Shakespearean speech done by an actor

not famous for Shakespearean actor and

acting and actually much better than

most of the other British very good at

Shakespeare acting kind of actors in

that film. Um, I I was I was blown away

by it when I saw it many many years ago.

Um, of course, since then, you know,

there

and if you want to watch great

Shakespearean actors, you know, Olivier

always

um Olivier was famous in his day for

naturalizing Shakespeare and it wasn't

sort of acceptable when he first came to

do Shakespeare because Shakespeare was a

very declamatory thing at that point and

all of the work really for the in the

20th and 21st century has in finding a

way to be truthful to the poetry of

Shakespeare, utterly truthful to that.

Um, but

naturalize it.

one day and I can't actually quite

remember when it was I saw Anammani work

and

she be she became at that point and

still is my my great inspiration for

film acting

also she was a theater actress which I

thought was great I loved the fact that

she was a theater actress as well um but

on film there's something so alive about

her. So

it's it's it's the perfect combination

of heightened but natural

which is what really in a sense the

greatest acting is why again back to

Alpuchccino

Mullen Brando the the ones we love the

ones we really admire it's heightened

often they become you know they fall

because they go out on a limb they

they're brave they they they have the

courage to put themselves out there into

into the world of poetry, into the world

of of um

heightened work, but at the same time

with with a with with naturalism and and

it's a very heady mix. And for me,

that's what Anna Manani has. Um there's

a scene in um there's an incredible

scene in Mama Roma which is a film by

Paselina. One of her early I think one

of her early films. It's amazing scene

where it's long one of those famous talk

about Scorsesei. It's one of I think

it's like a I don't three or four minute

long shot where she's just walking

towards the camera and the camera's

tracking behind her. I don't know how

they did it, you know, whether it was on

a he was following someone on a bike or

something. It's very steady. didn't

didn't have steady cam in those days.

So, uh she's just walking and talking

and different characters come in and

talk to her. She relates with them and

they peel away and then someone else

comes in. It's just a an amazing example

of protracted concentration.

And the greatest tool we have as actors

is concentration. the ability to close

things down and concentrate. Absolutely

concentrate like a laser beam. Um

amazing example of protracted

concentration but with incredible

li liveless. It's so alive and and

that's that's where she she completely

inspires me um is is in her liveless on

the screen. She's not pretty. She's not

ugly,

but there's something very, as they say,

sexy about her, but not in a in the sort

of obvious way, in a very unobvious way.

It was very interesting, I thought, when

she worked with Mullen Brando in um

Orvious Descending. It wasn't called

Orpheus Descending. It was called The

Fugitive Kind. It was from the play

Orpheus Descending by Tennessee

Williams.

And apparently it was a marriage made in

hell, the two of them. She just didn't

get Marlon Brando and he just didn't get

her apparently. This is what I read. Um,

but to me in that movie and there's

Brando, the sort of king of naturalism,

but he looks affected in the movie. It's

not real at all. Anna Manani is the one

who seems real to me. I'd love to know

your opinion. You should have a looked

at it sometime. And another scene I

think you should watch is um there's a

wonderful scene in a film called

Bellissima which is a film by Viscanti

famous Italian director again uh think

shot postwar uh in Italy black and white

um it's a great film you should watch

the whole film it's a wonderful film

about actually about our job about

acting so it's worth watching on that

level but there's a great scene in it uh

where Manani

um is in trouble with her husband. They

have a massive row and and all the

neighbors come in and she kicks up this

enormous fuss about the fact that he's

been beating her and she's being very

Italian and and shouting and oh he's

beating me and oh it's terrible and you

see how I'm treated and then the husband

storms out and on a sixpence she turns

and goes I did it you know it worked and

you understand that it was a ridiculous

performance you know and She she changes

so quick. And that's another is a great

acting lesson. I've talked about

Shakespeare and the need to think. But

what I didn't mention was the fact you

must think fast.

You can't think slow. Of course, you can

take a pause. Sometimes you have to

take a pause.

You have to or you can or you should or

you can try. You can play around with

it. Pauses are great. But

what can be electrifying

is when people, as I say, turn on a

sixpence. It's a phrase which I think

refers to taxes in London. It could turn

around really fast. um

change from one emotion to another very

fast without either think very fast or

if you can't think fast enough don't

think just do it without thinking

uh it doesn't apply to everything but

certainly in moments in Shakespeare

um when you're having to move from one

complex thought to another complex

thought

you have to think normally you have to

think fast.

Um and and you just have to trick

yourself if you like into into thinking

fast whatever it is. But uh when people

think fast, when they can flash from one

one thought, one emotion bang into

another, it's it's it's electrifying. It

it works. All I can say is it works. But

um and and you see Manani do that in in

that scene. You see her turn on a

sixpence.

If you're a young actor and you've done

very little work maybe and really your

exposure to our profession is through

watching people, I would absolutely

encourage that as much as possible to

watch to learn. And as I say, watch

critically. You're allowed to criticize.

Say, "Well, I wouldn't do it like that."

Um because it's all a part of the

thought process and and uh

just learning what works, what doesn't

work in in your mind. Um

and I think

to a certain extent

I mean what happens is things become

culturally acceptable as as time rolls

on different ways of acting become

culturally acceptable. Different styles,

different energies

um become fashionable and then they pass

on. Um

so um and and you

you will have your moment you know uh

your time will be in the time that it is

and it will have its fashions and its

acceptable wonderful ways of acting and

and other ways that are maybe not so

interesting for the public at that time.

Um, and so you will inevitably

be drawn towards the kind of acting that

is acceptable

when you're act, you know, in your era.

And and there's nothing wrong with that.

You, you know, you will find yourself in

the zeitgeist and that's where you

belong. It's that's not to do with

copying people. It's just to do with

being influenced by by the way things

are changing and moving and developing.

And you should be a part of that. that

that is absolutely you know you are a

part of a particular wave and and you

should be on that wave and and you're in

the right place.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Um

I'm not I'm talking just about

um moving the whole development of

acting forward. To my mind,

people now are so much better actors

than they used to be when I was young.

when I was younger, let's say, but when

I was young, um, I look at acting on

screen now and I think because there is

so much work, it might not seem that way

if you're an unemployed actor, but but

in terms of the work that we we we are

exposed to now on television and cable

and and movies and, you know, and

podcasts and uh there's a huge amount of

material out there and I think I think

actors are fantastic. Fantastic. Now,

and I think it's to do and we're going

back now. I'm going right back to the

beginning of the day when I walked on

and I said, "How how difficult is this

just to walk naturally and normally as

yourself?" But actually, I think as

people are more and more exposed to um

iPhones and they film themselves all the

time and people are far more comfortable

in front of cameras now than they were,

you know, 30 or 40 years ago.

um it was a more paralyzing thing for

them. Um

so I think a natural that's where acting

has developed. You know that it's it's

different now. The the whole idea of of

improvisation of of uh of naturalism is

is really embedded now it seems to me.

Um

and and you know you as an a as an an as

a young actor are very very very much a

part of that and it's not

and I will learn from you.

I will learn from you. Whenever I work

with young actors I watch them like a

hawk because I want to learn from them.

I want to learn the way acting is moving

and developing. It it it is a developing

art. It's not fixed.

So, um I feel I I learn much more from

watching young young actors

than anyone actually.