Film Courage: Is it a director's job to make an actor feel safe?
John Gray, Writer, Director, Producer: Yes, probably the most important job of anything a
director does because the actor is to some extent putting themselves in your hands because you're
the judge, you're watching what you're doing and you have to be careful not to let them look bad
so you want them to not feel because the problem is that if an actor develops a distrust for the
director and they feel like they're going to direct themselves it's problematic because now
the feeling is that maybe I don't want to take a chance, I don't want to do this, I don't want to
be too big here because I can't trust this person to tell me if I'm being too big and so now you get
a guarded performance that's not real not true so you want to try and in some ways with actors
you're just meeting you can only do it by virtue of working together and trying like proving it
but you you do want to make them feel like look I will not let you look bad and you're safe and
I want you to try give me everything just don't be afraid and and together we'll find the right
tone and the right way to do it so it's about building trust it's the most important thing
what do you think they're afraid of looking bad at it they're overacting I think overacting or
underacting or just because you're always as a direct director I think you always have to
remember that it's the actor's ass that's out there that that actors on that screen they're
being judged people in the audience not saying gee that director I don't know I think you gave
him a bad bad piece of advice that they'll just look at the actor and they're responding the
actor is making me feel I believe him or her or I don't so that's a heavy responsibility
for an actor to carry it's scary frightening us I think they're so brave so they're going to go
out there in this tightrope and they got to be sure that you're going to be able to tell them
when they're they're stepping a little bit too fur to follow to the left and they're going to fall
because I think I can't imagine a more bitter experience for an actor than to watch themselves
on screen and think oh my god look how big I was there and the director didn't catch it I'm now I
look like an idiot you can't always know if you're an actor if it's too big or too small or so I miss
that opportunity so it's a it's a big possibility for a director it's a scary responsibility but one
reason I love working with actors I've worked with before it's great people have relationship
with and we trust each other we know each other we have that shorthand it's a really nice feeling
I think a lot of newer actors are afraid to look too big I like how you said that go big like
and don't don't let them take this scene away from you I thought that was brilliant yeah I mean I
do think you always have to be careful just about because the camera is the camera sees things more
clearly than the naked eye and close up and you remember we were we were discussing a car mold and
earlier today actually what a wonderful guy was a great actor kind of under even though he's Oscar
winner but his underrated actor and I did a movie with him and it was a feature film and it was shot
on film and so I'm doing his close-up and I'm watching and I I just wasn't sure he was getting
there I I was nervous and I was only like 26 or whatever at the time and so I I didn't quite have
the courage to say to Carl mold and Oscar winner Ilya Kazan working actor hey Carla could you be a
little so I just kind of let it go I thought okay if if this doesn't work in the dailies I'm gonna
try to find a way to reshoot this tomorrow and I'll I'll just have to approach it with him but
when I saw the dailies it was a whole different performance what was happening in his eyes and
a little thing in his mouth and he had a Mastery of of his his instrument and it was invisible on
the street to the naked eye of me standing there three feet behind the camera but on the screen
I saw and I was so glad I didn't say Carl could you make that a little I would have given myself
away novice which of course no one respected otherwise anyway but it was a great lesson that
that film actors especially experienced great film actors know exactly how to modulate their
their performance depending on where the camera is and sometimes you can see it with a naked eye
sometimes you can't what do you think about actors giving you a different performance each take
it's a healthy thing I think it's as long as you've gotten the performance that you need that
it gets Troublesome if if you you still haven't gotten what you really felt to see needs and now
we're trying something different but I think in the right circumstances it's great to have it in
The Cutting Room and sometimes they'll cover something like wow and oftentimes with actors
I'll I'll just sort of if I feel like they they have this this gift once we get a take I like and
I'm printing it and I'm ready to move on sometimes I'll just say let's just try one more and go nuts
let's see what happens and most actors love that some don't but most do and and you get
something that could be just amazing or not but it's worth going for and you have the safety of
knowing you have what you what you need there's a moment where it gets abusive in that the actor
never wants to move on I haven't really had an experience I've seen other directors have it
and it's a little bit of a nightmare where you say Okay 55 takes and I don't want to direct this in
The Cutting Room I'm directing it here so anyway so that's sort of the danger I guess but I love
when an actor has a different way of doing things and wants to try something different than feels
free enough to do that I think it's great and should be encouraged what if a director can tell
that something is untruthful or not working with an actor in a scene how do you approach the actor
it's a tricky and difficult thing I find anyway but I think the most important thing to keep in
mind is to speak first of all privately and quietly with the accurate that's I've visited
people on sets and I see these directors over them in video Village at the Monitor and no you're not
funny enough you gotta It's gotta be funny make them laugh and the actors oh my God I just think
that's horrible yeah so I tend to after every take even if I don't have a note I will go to
the actor and just hey doing good this is great I just want to talk about something softly because
if you give an actor an adjustment publicly now everyone's watching and they know now they're
being judged do they get this note do they nail it it's still not right it's a little bit so I just
try to work very privately with the actor and just give them just a gentle thing and I never
you're giving them as I said I've got a line reading I just try to get them to ask themselves
questions about what's what will you what are you feeling here and if I if I feel something's
wrong it's not working I'll just I'll just say to them so what are you feeling in this in this scene
and they'll tell me and sometimes that's like ah of course so that's not at all what we're
really doing here and I'll say to them well try this what if you're feeling this this this this
and usually they'll go with that if and there's always a moment where they nope nope nope I don't
want to do that then now you're in the bad actor director your nightmare which is very hard for the
director to win on this year but I find that most of my relations with actors has mostly been really
healthy and positive and respectful and I sort of get the courage it takes to do what they do
and I do feel because as a writer sometimes you get locked into a certain Cadence you hear about
the line the way the line has to be spoken and and the actor doesn't see it that way and
they're not saying it that way and if it's really egregious I might say to him some things that were
her something specific as I'd love to hear that just with the emphasis on that word instead of
this word and see how that and I get a good result sometimes sometimes I don't and what I've learned
is that you just have to let it go at a certain point if the actor is just not doing it either
they're trying hard to do it if they don't hear it the way you hear it it's going to be false if they
force themselves to do it so many times I just have to walk away thinking I'm not going to force
them and the reality is you're the only one in the world who knows that there was a different meaning
about that line or different emphasis on that line so it's always going to bother me when I hear it
but no one else is ever going to notice it or feel it and so you have to kind of let go and and not
not make everything so precious because an actor if you cast the right actor you want them to bring
to the table their interpretation their quirks their ideas and it's going to sometimes bump
up against yours and unless it's something that's really story altering I almost always go in favor
of what the actor wants to do unless it's just it's crazy but I trust their instincts and they
know it works for them and so I'm usually happy to do it and then by the same token if an actor ever
asks for another take yeah absolutely and that can get abusive too it could be a point where they
don't want to move on they're just going to let me try one more time but I I think you're crazy
even though you might have to take it you think is fantastic that's a great take I'm ready to move on
you want to move on you have to move on but the actor says can I just try one more you got it you
got to do it because it might be something incredible even if it isn't the actor knows
that they're heard and that they got their shot and that you're not going to just cut them off.