Film Courage: What's your advice to actors on finding their character?
Michael Laskin, Actor, Acting Coach, Author: Finding their character within a certain
script or within who they present as the full person of who they are?
Film Courage: The latter.
Michael: The latter, okay.
My advice on that is to be open to it. to really the cliché is you're enough you are enough
a cliché that's kind of true but it's only true if what you're presenting is examined and nuanced
and interesting don't there's there's there's kind of a show biz life there's a backstage
life and then there's life and my advice is get involved in life do something real and certain
people are just more inherently interesting than others this is human nature but to find that
person that is your the core person that you present that kind of populates everything
that just takes time and it takes patience and it takes kind of being honest with
yourself as to who who you are and what I what did I watch last night I watched
who was it I'm blanking on it now I've been watching The Morning Show which I think is so good
and oh is this actor I haven't seen him for a long time he's an older guy named
Paul Guilfoyle who's been in tons of stuff I haven't seen him in a long time and he's older
than me which means he's really old but he's like I went oh that's Paul Guilfoyle wow where has he
been but he just is there he's just he's he has not only found that thing he's he is that thing
and it's a little bit like the Jack Warden story that I told I think I don't know how you the
advice is just to be open to it and to be willing to be honest with yourself about who you are
because that's the whole ball game as far as who you are dominates what you can do in in the film
and television world so you really need to get acquainted with yourself you need to be you need
to like yourself when people say they don't get me well maybe they don't get you because you don't
get you once you start to get yourself people will start to get you is it's been my experience
but that takes a long time some people never get there and some people get there pretty quickly
what's your advice for finding a character within the script when you say finding it you mean owning
it owning kind of branding it bringing your own take to what the director sees well you're
in charge of some of that and there's some of that you're not in charge of all you can do is
as my former student said pretend that what's happening is happening to you personally all
you can do is make it personal the other stuff you're not in charge of there's all kinds of
forces at play that that kind of subvert that I think that it's knowing
it's kind of also knowing what your strike zone is everybody's got a strike zone like by that
not everybody has to have a huge range I think that is the that is the
the goal of the young actor I can play everything I can I can do all these parts I can play an old
man even though I'm not an old man I can play an Irishman but I'm not Irish they'll get an Irishman
okay they don't need you to get they'll get an Irishman so I think understanding who you are
and understanding where you fit and being okay with that because otherwise trying to please them
is a fool's Aaron there's no pleasing them whoever they are we always talk about them
they don't get it they don't get me well they don't get you because you're not present
and you're not bringing yourself to the work and it sounds complicated it's really simple
but until you make that turn until you make that pivot as an actor understanding not just
paying lip service to but understanding that you are enough if the you that is presented is fully
examined and interesting then it becomes easier but otherwise it's this trying to please them
that's what that's the the on on the tombstone of every failed actor I tried to please them
does that make sense it does do you think it happens more with younger people
yes and no it happens younger people some of them just are are moving on instincts
totally they don't even understand the subtlety of that question some of them so and so they're
blissfully ignorant and sometimes that's great because lightning strikes they go oh him and you
don't even know what you don't even know what you got but that I've seen that happen a lot but it
happens all the time because we want to please we want to be picked we want to get the gold star up
in the wall and be told we're good and we want to get that affirmation and if we didn't want
that we wouldn't be human but we don't always get that the failure rate if you can call it
that that's a harsh term is significant how many things do people audition for and when do they
actually book something and I see these things on we were talking about social media earlier booked
it at the beginning on Instagram and stuff booked it I wanna I wanna have one says didn't book it
still chill still happy didn't book it because that's the reality of it right that is the reality
of it booked it it's like this whole thing of just presenting this kind of phony confidence and
confidence is a hard one thing and everybody's happy when you books your wife or husband or
your partner everybody's happy when you get a job because sometimes it's a great job too but it's
that it's knowing who you are it's it all comes down to that it's just simple that way for me
how do what your character's flaw is great question I don't know that every character has
a flaw particularly in film and television when you're doing more functionary roles let's say
that's a really good question and I don't know if I have a good answer for it but I think there's
two things that I often tell people to think about that's one of them and the other one is does your
character have a secret like what are what are you not saying sometimes what you're not saying
is far more important than what you're saying what you choose not to say in a scene like I'm gonna
I'm not going to say that I'm going to say something different so you you you watch a
character shift Focus so that's what you choose not to say is very revealing what the flaw is
sometimes it's real self it's really evident in the script if you're playing a murderer
we know what the flaw is or we know about the the Baseline of the flaw is but for those more
Garden variety roles sometimes they don't have a flaw in my opinion
if we took that scene where I'm the HR manager or your Superior writer and maybe I don't want to let
that it's been in your computer so I hey I need to talk to you so then what what could something
that I how could I express it without actually saying that we've seen online gambling coming
from your computer if I am holding this secret what's a good line what's a good way to play it
good great question like almost like starting out I think not as a performance evaluation but
I just want to talk to you about what's going on are you happy things good good
take a look at this does this look familiar to you shoved thing it's mortified what is that
you're doing that here you're doing that at home both places do you need help
we have HR department we want to help you because otherwise we have to remediate this or
we're gonna have to let you go so I don't know if this is answering your question but it's kind
of understanding the way in the way in is look if she was a he or she was a horrible boss and
was very confrontational that's a different scene entirely if it's if the motivation of the boss is
I really like this person here she does a great job I want to try to remediate this but this is a
big problem that's a different scene entirely and it also comes down to what else do we know about
that character what else do we know about the boss what else do we know does he or she have their own
secret like I don't know if you watched Ted lasso I haven't watched it great show I hear good things
there was a it's about it's about a football team soccer team we call it soccer and they had a they
had a sports psychiatrist and part of the season this African not African-American African black
woman in England and she was just fantastic and really substantial and then we find out later on
she got a drinking problem that's very well hidden so does the act the actor does the actor have to
play that from the very beginning the actor has a secret the character has a secret the character
has a substance abuse problem but the character is also in a position of authority and reverence
she's a mental health professional she should be above reproach but she's not she's a human being
so depending of the vagaries and the subtlety of the script but some stuff is just cut and dry and
very flat that way B minus writing is what I call that right interesting so then I'm sort
of confronting you on your secret but I had let's say I have a shopping addiction yeah but I don't
want anyone to know that so I feel uneasy about confronting you exactly okay interesting yeah.