What makes a great actor?
What makes someone the greatest?
There's a lot of BS on this topic, isn't there?
Well not here.
Let's see if we can define it for real.
It seems to involve how believable you are on screen, right?
The types and amount of emotion you can show.
The ability to look good, to mimic someone else, and probably to change your personality.
Seems like a good list, right?
And if someone can do these things, we'll say they're good at it.
If they can do SOME of 'em, like look good, then they'll be good enough to use even if
they're only okay at the others, okay, if they have none of the others.
BUT, even with these measures, it's hard to tell who the BEST actor ever actually is.
People can get confused about which of the things is most important, and end up trying
to win the Oscar for "Most Acting."
And while we can agree that SOME people can't do ANY of it.
"You ain't that charmin' bitch!"
...there are plenty of actors who can do almost ALL of it.
And, with all those boxes ticked, at least for me, it becomes impossible to tell why
ONE actor might be considered better.
And I'm talking of course, about Marlon Brando.
"He was THE actor."
"Who do you think you are?
A couple of Queens or somethin'?"
"He was a force and a King."
"You get up you big tub of guts."
"He's quite simply the best actor in cinema."
He had the looks.
He had the charisma.
And the emotional range, as much as anyone.
But it's way beyond that.
Why is he considered the greatest actor of all-time?
Let's see if we can find an actual, useful answer.
Okay, beyond the normal stuff, the first place to look is what I call the alpha emotions.
The external sources of feeling that mix with our reactions to movies.
And Brando has these in SPADES.
For one, he's credited with popularizing Method Acting.
This makes him someone who influenced other people.
Which makes the people who know it feel extra admiration when they see him.
"Matthew Broderick was scared to death to work with Brando because Brando tilted the
axis of American filmmaking."
On top of that, Brando played games with the media.
"Were you happy with the way the Godfather came out??"
"I'd rather not talk about movies.
I don't think they're...ah."
This mysteriousness, drew people into caring about him, in the same way they would a mystery
in a movie.
"We couldn't survive a second if we weren't able to act.
Acting is a survival mechanism."
And added even more to his performances.
Now of course, that dickery was mostly a work.
But the effect it had was real.
As was, the reputation he had for being the very best.
"He's a genius, I think, at it."
Which makes people feel among other things, like they're cool for watching him.
Fitting in with the latest and best stuff.
BUT, that's not the whole of it.
That reputation for being the best, has to START SOMEWHERE.
And this is where we get into, what actually made him special as an actor.
Because he DID have charisma and emotional range...
"He was really capable of all human emotions."
But Method acting, when he started, was almost unheard of.
And it made him MORE believable than almost any other actor at that point.
And that difference STOOD OUT on screen.
"You must be Stanley.
I'm Blanche."
"Oh, you're Stella's sister.
Where's the little woman?"
BUT, other actors eventually became more believable too.
And STILL, Brando seems to stand alone.
"Who is the greatest actor you've ever seen?"
"Marlon Brando."
"Really?"
"Oh, no question."
BECAUSE, and this is a big one...acting is NOT just about being believable.
We've talked here about how there are actually MULTIPLE believable options in a scene.
And the key, once you CAN be believable, is WHICH option you choose.
And Brando understood this, in a way that so many other actors never have.
BECAUSE, the truth is...that showing feeling as an actor, is just a TOOL.
You show feeling, to CREATE feeling.
In the audience.
Most movie stars today, will get cast because their natural personality can CREATE a certain
feeling in audiences.
And they then ONLY have to focus on being believable.
So that's all they think they're doing.
But Brando STARTED out by focusing on making his choices in ways that would EFFECT the
audience the right way.
So he could play many different characters, and take people through lots of different
experiences.
And when he was older, he would talk about this more.
"Never let the audience know, how it's gonna come out.
Get them on YOUR time.
And when that time comes, and everything is right, you just let fly!"
And you can SEE the difference in his performances.
Here in Viva Zapata, rather than trying to be just a tough guy, you can SEE his concern,
"Give me your watch."
His frustration when talking.
"Give it to me!
Now take my rifle.
NOW you can have your watch back.
But without THIS, never!"
Now here in One-Eyed Jacks...
"I think it'd be a good idea if you'd hand over your gun."
You can see that he's drawing out the moment.
Using tension.
Thinking of how it plays to the audience.
And we know it's not that the director told him to do it.
Because in this movie, he WAS the director.
And he could even do it with single lines.
"Even though you've been raised as a human being you are not one of them."
Or moments.
"You're an errand boy.
Sent by grocery clerks.
To collect a bill."
And he recognized that it was all about what was happening on screen.
"You didn't talk acting stuff with him.
He'd come in and go 'hunh?'
and that meant where's the shot."
While other actors, hardworking actors, can end up doing months of research on things
that don't come across to the audience, so Brando was more efficient.
And he could show up late, not read the script, **** with the director, and still look great.
But, outside of him, which gives us the blunted feeling we often have when watching most actors.
We don't criticize them, because they're not phony, but we come up numb when watching them,
and we just go along with what others say is good.
Because we don't have the words for it, but the visceral feeling isn't there.
But in Marlon Brando's case, it was.
And he did it so accurately, on top of everything else working for him, that he made those who
watched him never forget him.
And consider him, the best actor of all-time.
Thanks.
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