Film Courage: You talk about being a teacher and we are in Sherman Oaks at the young actor
space. a beautiful studio here. I've seen a lot of actors in the hallway I know
you've crossed paths with I'm sure so many young actors they're new to LA. So
in your first class with those actors what are some of the things that you're
going over with them? Is it about craft or is it just about balance? Choice Skinner, Actor, Director, Instructor: It's really
never about the craft because sometimes I get actors that studied in college and
they come to me with a degree and I'm like okay well I have to watch them you
know I always say the the they always ask me do you have an audit and that's
why I have a working audit I want to see you on stage I want to throw you to the
wolves I want you to have that focus and that discipline that's necessary to see
if you can fit in what I got going on the craft listen we are all good liars
everybody is and that to me is the ultimate form of acting acting is lying
and I've said it before no one likes that term because no one wants to be
coined a liar but that's what acting is and you're taking a scene that was
written by somebody that made it up it doesn't exist okay now in a galaxy long
long far far away it doesn't exist okay but you're taking the elements of that
script and you're saying okay we're gonna make this real life now we're
gonna make this the truth and the actors have to read those lines and they have
to believe in what they're saying and they have to get a response and they got
to get us to relate it's all a lie it's not real
none of it is real yeah they created a robotic r2d2 and c3po that people dress
up like Princess Leia stuff but that wasn't real it came from George Lucas's
mind it's not real and so if I focused with an actor on technique or or or
craft they're never going to get to the essence of what acting is which is
knowing self getting to know self getting to be okay with self getting to
be okay with exposing self revealing the layers peeling the onion layers away
getting to understand how it takes a person to be to be able to
cry or laugh or be sexual or or to be uncomfortable in a comfortable
environment or comfortable in an uncomfortable environment that has
nothing to do with crap that has everything to do itself the duration of
doing the work yes that makes anybody comfortable can anybody act I mean
there's a debate on that I believe that the best actors are the most brave I
believe that those who study to understand human behavior are the most
brave so for me right off the bat when I get to see someone on stage I got a feel
of who they are and I know where to help them or to not even help them sometimes
I say this class is not right for you because it's not about the money it's
about bringing powerful a list actors to the front I always say why a list actors
because working actors don't always work alias actors work when they want to work
julie rob has had kids took time off came back do anything she wants it's a
big difference to me so it's never about the craft it's always to me about people
getting to know who they are and then once you get to know who you are the
next level is disciplining yourself to where you're amazing on set and
everybody likes you and everybody loves you because it's all love we're all
getting to do something we love why would you want to be difficult why would
you want to bring in you know all your videos or your your little eccentric
behavior nobody wants that we want to make great films one of work and so my
work process or my approach with actors is getting them to know that they are
brilliant and that they're great and I always say my term is greatness
recognizes greatness I am great because you agree so if you're great I'm great I
love that and I just thought of something in the moment and that is you
talk about knowing oneself have you seen people that aren't classically trained
or have very little formal education come in and just know themselves and
then also the opposite absolutely I have several actors like that right now in my
class one in particular Sheen's of just the Phenom and so my thing is like
sometimes when actors come I figure out okay what do they need do they need more
internal work do they need more external work you know because everyone works
differently some people work from the inside out and some from the outside in
so sometimes it's just the thing of the material because they're brave they just
don't have any focus so they don't have any discipline and so you give them the
material and that material will help to mold them and to shape them and to put
them in the direction that they're in then you have on the other end the actor
who comes in who is just a difficult actor and maybe they studied and they
they went to a prestigious school and they don't understand why their career
is not taking off and so then it's like okay well listen they always tell me
they said well I need you if you can challenge me you can challenge me beat
me up if I have no enjoyment in doing that you know for me I have a no
pressure policy because how else are you gonna be ready to work on a feature film
and you have it's a 92 page feature film and you have 90 pages of dialogue if
you're getting your head about having to be able to do all of that there's a
pressure that comes with it that's where most people start to veer off into drugs
and alcohol or become belligerent angry and because the pressure for me it's the
thing to of understanding that the work is not about pressure the work is love
and so guiding them into that scenario sometimes it's tough because they've
already had this type of background where they've been structured you know
they've been taught diligently like it's learning your lines you know there is a
difference between film acting and stage acting and television actor there's the
differences but they're all acting and so not one is better than the other
they're all important in my opinion but sometimes you get someone who will say
you know I'm a great actor because I'm a theatre actor I'm a great actor because
I took TV it's like no you're an actor you know you must respect all of the
mediums the same so I get a bit of both but I tend to like those
who are empaths because empath actor are easier to mold
because they're already in touch with their emotions you just got to get past
what stops them from being open and being raw but once you're able to mold
them Marlon Brando you know Meryl Streep Denzel Washington the impasse they feel
everything you blow on them they feel it it's the best actor to me not taking
anything from the discipline actor they're just a little more heady and it
takes takes a little bit more work to get them away from that I got actors in
my class like that too and you know it's like okay how long is it gonna take
before you let go you know stop thinking because they think you know I always say
we talk about the roller coaster ride acting it's like a roller coaster ride
right you have you have the roller coaster rides all the rides that and uh
you know the different amusement parks where you may have some like the
Superman right we're just drops but you line up you're going 100 miles an hour
you just drop you can't control yourself right and then you have some that twist
and turn and go and that's the real process of acting we don't want to know
what's gonna happen we just want to be surprised
it's got to be random but at the same time you got to be able to relate so the
the heady actor is like okay I want you to relate I'm going to do these things
to make you relate he imagined Valentine's Day you plan out everything
you're gonna do with the other person no you know it's like you want to surprise
people you want to say hey look at this look at that look at this you do your
best to figure out what they like but at the same time it's got to be spontaneous
hmm how can you spot that impact you know they say we all have intuition but
some have higher levels maybe Raman empath okay so but I I I always say that
we all block who we really are there are three sides to we are who we think we
are who others think we are who we really are
those three masks that we wear the empath depending on what their
background is some people you know have been through a lot of things in life and
they encase themselves for me and acting once
a person gets on stage they can't hide I've yet to find one person that could
hide from that moment because something happens in an uncomfortable environment
if you can make someone comfortable in an uncomfortable environment they tend
to show who they are they tend to be more who they are and those signs appear
and you see them they're much more prevalent and they're easier to spot and
so for impacts usually it's a thing of feeling they are the feel from the
outside in or the inside out something emotional you will strike them and we
have an exercise where when I get all the actors on stage and I make them
close their eyes and I say ok and I want them to see things and I say see this or
see that see this the empath will always fall apart they I haven't had it happen
where one wasn't in that space they always fall apart even if they're
holding on and they're trying not to cry or they're trying not to feel something
they always fall apart every time
you