Film Courage: Hard choices make an easy life?
Bernard Hiller, Acting Coach, Actor, Author: Right.
Film Courage: How is this?
Bernard: I learned that from one of my teachers and it really makes sense is that if you make
hard choices in life which is leaving a bad relationship, moving, telling someone what
you really want, hard choices you'll end up with an easier life. If you make easy choices,
you have a hard life and that's true if you just go along with things that you don't really want to
do. If you have a job that you hate, if you don't stand up for what you want (sort of easy choices)
you kind of have a hard of life. I totally believe that we need to make hard choices and sometimes
saying things to a partner or leaving a bad relationship or leaving a job that's
killing your soul, if you do some of that, you'll have a better life.
Film Courage: Can you give us some examples of how you made one or two
hard choices and how it turned out beneficially?
Bernard: Let's see hard choices, well I was very successful in New York and working all the time
and I was teaching there too and then we said you know what let's go to LA I really wanted to go to
LA I wanted to make movies I had done a film with Barry Levinson and that was a hard choice because
we had to get up and move and when I came to LA the first couple of years I had no work I
had no anything but that hard Choice got me the greatest life I could imagine I mean I've had
such a wonderful time here in other words I was willing to take risks that were difficult because
everybody says where are you going I mean I was working in New York I was doing this I was doing
that so we make we make hard choices in life and it could be also personal choices where
you go like no this relationship isn't exactly what I'm looking for so you move on but there's
always hard choices to be made if you make hard choices you usually end up in a much better place
I mean heart choices is what Steve Jobs did they turned him down they said computers don't
it's not gonna you know nobody wants to make your computers so he made his own computers you don't
think that was a hard choice he had to put his own money into it in the garage hard choices is
as we say it takes pressure to make a diamond and you have to enjoy that kind of pressure
to become great at anything you have to enjoy the pressure
once he was successful he was then ousted from his own company yeah as well so he has many different
parts absolutely yeah yeah absolutely what I mean what I like to focus on is I like to focus on
success has Clues and what I'd like to focus on is helping people from artists to Ordinary
People how to have a more successful life because I think there's no question that the world wants
you to be like everyone else I think that it's all about you know blending in and being average
I don't think the world is not striving for your individuality I think the only city I know is that
we like individuals is Los Angeles if you're like different and you have different ideas LA likes
that LA is also a town where we don't sit around and complain we don't say oh you don't then I'm
you know you don't sit around waiting for them to hire you for a movie We're big on creating your
own opportunities and that's something that I'm very a very big you know believer in and
teach people help them design something because we don't see sort of sit around it's for people that
want more in their life and they would like to achieve more and they just that's something they
desire and that's what I I always desired I like having more and going more and meeting more people
and making a bigger difference I always enjoyed doing that after you left New York and came to
LA when did you sort of say you know what this was worth it that you know I realized this was
a hard choice but it actually paid off was there an aha moment you got a job booked up I think I
think it was like two years later two years I got a job on a TV show I got a job to coach somebody
finally that I really liked you know because I started coming to LA was starting fresh brand
new no one had ever didn't know who I was you know never never department and I thought Let's
Take On The Challenge you know some people the more you risk the more you can succeed if you
don't take any risks nothing happens and I think that taking risks as part of this part of life
and I think that the more risk you have the more enjoyable life you will have
was there a moment in your career or two where you were close to giving up
close to giving up no I never I never was I mean I thought gee because in the beginning it's so hard
but no I I decided I was going to be an actor no matter what I was not going to give up no matter
I had that kind of personality where I was like no even when nothing was going on I was like I
was going to stay and I was going to be become a great actor I don't know how long it was going to
take me but I was going to do that and I feel like I've sort of achieved that now in the last couple
years really it took a long time but yeah I was never no I never I never thought of ever giving up
what are your thoughts on playing it safe and what is playing it safe
what does that look like well there are if you're speaking about acting
let's let's say this there are actors and they're artists actors play the part exactly how people
expect you to play it artists are people who don't play that role in any way you think they
would have played it and they play differently and they become iconic and people really enjoy
it if there's any what part of a movie do you enjoy give me something I just saw Empire of
light and the entire movie had me from the opening Beautiful film it was about loneliness the cinema
and and believing that you were okay even if the world told you that you're not right but
with any other role that you can think of a movie that you liked any kind of a part that movie that
an actor that you're liked in a movie oh well I love Kate Blanchett I loved her in Blue Jasmine
especially so that's it and so there you have that you have there's so many roles usually it
usually any kind of role that you love is because they played it in such a unique and different way
that it stood out to you it's sort of like a pizza most time you get pizza pizza and then you go like
oh my God this is different and the artist that I work with are interested in making choices that
are different and unusual if you start from like a Silence of the Lambs that's an example
Anthony Hopkins how would most people play that I mean he's supposed to be a guy that eats people
he's in he's in a jail and some people would have played it like wild and you know like like
a gorilla or something like I don't know but he played a very casual very elegant with music Opera
he was very contained and certainly that's what people like people like to be thrown where they
can't really anticipate the kind of character that you're playing who do you like aside from
Anthony Hopkins well I like so many I mean I start with Marlon Brando everything starts with
Mile and Brando I like Mom Brando I like a lot of different actors for different roles of course
you know Meryl Streep you can't you know can't go wrong there she's so amazing there are people who
are gifted who take acting to the next level and that's what I like to think about is that I'd like
to train my actors to become actors of the future because the audience wants more all the time the
audience doesn't want the same acting if you look at the movies from the 40s they don't want that
acting anymore and things change 50s and 60s and now it's even more than you have then you have of
course Dustin Hoffman some of his performances but they're you know there are different actors I like
for different roles Anthony Sydney portier I like him too but what I like is just something that I'm
impressed with their artistry but everybody can like you know that's a personal choice
how does someone know if they're not taking enough risks in their life well if you're not
achieving your goals you're not taking enough risks I mean risks have to be taken and basically
you can play it safe and but the people that win are the ones who take risks watch watch football
watch any sport people are taking more risks when they go like listen and if you feel like
you're not achieving enough you're you need to take more risks but it's also important that you
have a mentor because sometimes people are just doing all kinds of things that are not producing
the results they want that's really the thing it's about results and I would say that having a mentor
or coach or someone who's achieved what you're looking for is super important if you want to
have success in some sort of Industry get someone who's the number one person in that industry you
know they they know how to achieve it because most people just don't and so you need help I would
say that all successful people I know in every field always ask for help average people don't
but successful people always ask for help which is I'm sure what you do when your car is broken
you get you know you're not fixing it yourself or if you don't feel good I'm gonna go to a doctor
we always ask for help but successful people that I know some big stars are always asking for help.