Film Courage: So I’m confused about this?
I just have to ask (and that is) one thing a director does not want in their movie is
acting?
Mark W. Travis: Yes.
I have said this and maybe it upsets some people.
Along with one of the most dangerous things on the set is an actor with a plan.
But I also say what we don’t want on our movie is acting.
But by acting…“acting!”
I mean pretending.
A manufactured performance.
Now it’s true, there are actors who have won Academy Awards for what I call acting
because it is all so well-crafted and presented and considered and worked out.
I think what we really want to see, what I want to see…I’m not going to be startled
by a brilliant “performance.”
I am going to be startled by an extraordinary human being who reveals themselves authentically
on screen.
When I see something that I wasn’t expecting, what I feel generally is coming genuinely
from that character that was not planned.
That was not considered.
That was not honed sharply.
It just came out.
That’s what I want.
That’s what I see in BLUE JASMINE or MANCHESTER BY THE SEA.
I see moments like that that I just find chilling.
That’s what I want.
Now I’ve seen a lot of performers that are very manufactured.
There are some films and some filmmakers where that kind of acting is what’s required.
You watch Wes Anderson’s work and stuff like that.
That’s what’s required.
That’s his style.
Nothing wrong with that, that’s the style of that work.
You could even go back to Kabuki Theatre, that’s a style.
What I am saying because what I want when I see a movie is that I want to feel that
I’m in the presence of these huge genuine human beings and experiencing them deeply
and profoundly and then it’s not pretense.
It’s not calculated, it’s genuine.
So, no acting, please…which means…you have to stop directing.
Directors have to stop directing so actors will stop acting.
Which means that’s why directors switch to interrogation and form a relationship with
the character.
Rather than the director telling the actor “Here’s what I want you to do.”
The director is stimulating the character to go in and find what they do.
Film Courage: Okay, so instead of Casey Affleck’s character in MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, if I’m
his director, saying “You know what, Casey?
I want you to look really depressed and I want you to be in this room with no furniture.”
Instead I’m going up to him and saying “You’re life is bad.
It’s fallen apart and you’re here alone in this dingy room?”
Mark W. Travis: Yes.
I’d be saying to his character (I’ve forgotten the character’s name) but saying to Casey
as his character “You’re alone in this dingy room….what the heck are you going
to do?
What are you going to do?
Do you realize that everybody in Manchester By The Sea hates you?
Do you realize that?
And you’re going to go back there?
What are you thinking?”
Now I am getting him into the chaos of the character.
Then I say “Okay, let’s do the scene.”
Now we are doing the scene now he’s totally in the chaos of the character and trying to
fight through that chaos while he’s trying to fight his way through a scene simultaneously.
Sort of like we all do in life every day.
We fight through our own chaos while we are trying to get through the daily chaos.
He’s not thinking about acting.
He’s thinking about survival.
Seriously, how do I get through this?
How do I get through this moment?
How do I quiet the voices in my head that came through the interrogation?
The voices are going mad in his head and he’s trying to quiet those down or sort through
those while he’s trying to deal with whoever, this lady who needs some plumbing done.
Or whatever it is, that’s what he’s dealing with.
He’s dealing with only what the character is dealing with.
Not with what Casey Affleck is dealing with.
Casey Affleck (in that moment) does not matter.
And quite honestly, I can tell you as a director, at that moment when I was directing him, I
don’t care what Casey Affleck is thinking.
I don’t care what he is thinking about the character.
I don’t want him thinking about the character.
I only care about the character.
I’m there to film the character, not to film an acting performance.
It’s a fine line but it’s a significant line.