Film Courage: When you're given a script do you read the entire
screenplay or only the parts that you're playing?
Michael Laskin, Actor, Acting Coach, Author: Interesting question. Depends on the time. If you
have a very rapid turnaround for the audition that you may not be able to read the whole screenplay.
There's a an old actor expression where they go (I won't say the swear word) “BS,
BS, BS my line. BS, BS, BS, my line.”
Film Courage: De Niro?
Michael: I don't know who said that but I like to read the script if I have time sometimes they
don't send you the script by the way sometimes the script's embargoed you don't have a chance
to read if it's a show that's on the air you can watch an episode or two and get a feel for it for
the world and the tone and the genre of the show but ideally if you could read the script yeah I
coached somebody yesterday who it's the most weird audition we she comes to me to help explain this
stuff and I said I'm lost with you and they didn't send her the script I said so we just have to do a
little educated guessing because I don't really know what this scene here means exactly in the
larger tapestry of the story so but yeah in an ideal world if you have the time and they give
you the script if it's a movie they usually give you the script if it's an episodic television show
you generally get just your sides your scenes and you get you have the opportunity to
watch an episode or two if you have time to do that that helps a lot that that definitely helps
a lot because then you kind of know what is what the world is that you're entering I did a thing
oh my this is such an embarrassing story but I'll tell it because I didn't I was a snob at one point
and I booked a guest star on Melrose Place the original Melrose Place. I'd never watched the
show. I shot the show I never watched my episode because I just it's I thought oh I'm above
Melrose Place, I'm not that you know stupid of me. Anyway, did you ever watch that show?
Film Courage: I was an extra on it.
Michael: Okay, so you remember the set with the pool and all that stuff so I show up the first day
of work second AD is taking me to wherever the dressing room or wardrobe areas and I see this
set and I go wow that's amazing what is this and she said to me this is not Melrose Place
aha I'm an idiot it was so embarrassing because I didn't know the show I booked it and I shot it
but that was a really stupid move on my part it was arrogant it was it was it was a bad it was a
bad moment but you have to understand you know so let's get back to your original question do
you read the script you have however whether it's the script or watching something online
now which when Melrose Place was on we didn't have that I don't think it was on but your job
is to figure out what world you're entering so if you can read the script fantastic if you don't get
it you've got to figure it out other ways and that's it comes down to that it comes down to
to the world that you're entering more and more now shows our a particular world Yellowstone is
a world it's an incredible world and all these shows and so you really do have to understand
what the transaction is what what your part in that transaction is but yeah if you can read
the script great but you know reading reading a full script for a movie that takes an hour
hour and a half sometimes you don't have that time you skim it or you get you know you'll get
when the audition comes in you'll get a storyline generally speaking you've got a storyline of what
this is about you'll get a character description sometimes they're useful sometimes they're not
because sometimes the person who writes them is is the third assistant who may or may not know
really in a granular way what they're what they're describing so and sometimes it's just educated
guessing and it's easier in a way than it used to be because you can look at things and say oh or
you can research that director or that writer you get an idea of of what it is you're entering into
did you go back and watch that episode of Melrose yeah it should be somewhere online I'm sure it is
I've never watched no you haven't okay no it's all right I'm I'm good okay I'm good I don't
need to see it okay I'm sure it's fine what is your process for breaking down a screenplay
well if I have the time I obviously will read the whole screenplay and I want to know
I want to know what the larger arc of the story is first of all I just want to know
what this is what is this story we're all telling breaking it down for an actor is very different
than breaking it down for like a director or a DP or somebody like that I think that
my process is pretty external in a way I will sort of I had a epiphany when I was in college because
they were teaching kind of method-based acting and I just didn't get it I went oh I don't get
this this doesn't work for me and I went into I was doing some play and I went into the costume
shop and I was looking for a jacket or a coat and I found this coat and I put it on I went
and I watched myself in the mirror went oh oh that's the guy so I found out that I work
externally and once the externals are in place I can fill it in emotionally but I need to know
kind of the north south east and west of the scene like okay there's the window there's the door
I I need to know physically and whether it's evident in the script or whether it's just
my imagination I kind of need to know that that's me that isn't necessarily the way to do it that's
the way I do it I think everybody has a different technique I think all roads lead to Rome you just
got to get to Rome and everybody's different and some people are very internal and very emotionally
I’ll fill that out later once I get the structure of it and that's kind of the similar way that I
worked when I worked in the theater in a way as well I gotta I have to find the structure of it
once I feel confident that once I know the words I have to know the words
can't be thinking about the words then I feel I can fill it in I can fill it in but you know a
lot of roles that one does aren't even emotionally that you know they're functionary you're a lawyer
and you're and you're doing a courtroom scene and there isn't a tremendous amount of emotional stuff
there it's all functionary stuff to drive the plot forward and you also have to understand that
like like a co-star role is generally that it's somebody who they interview for one scene who
tells you something about the murder suspect and then you never see them again right so
you have to understand the function of the role those smaller roles are frankly harder
because you have very few opportunities to really make
Impressions wrong word but to sort of establish who your character is and it's usually just you
know if it's it's all about casting if I'm well cast it makes perfect sense and it's
real easy for me to break it down and figure out where I have to be I did a movie in 2021
the audition was entirely improved they said these are the characters you're dealing with this is
your wife this is your nephew and it was a kind of a really good really good film it came came out
just great just won a big award up at Cinequest but there was very little on the page very little
on the page it was like it was like it's about a family it's about a death in the family it's about
problems relating to money and finances and all that stuff and there's it's a Jewish Family and
there's like aunts and uncles and they're like the Jewish Greek chorus so they're kind of everywhere
they're in every scene but there wasn't really a lot on the page so how do you break that down
you kind of don't break that down you're cast to be like oh he or she is the right person
for that oh you're playing my wife perfect that looks great if you know it makes sense chemistry
wise but I couldn't there's no way I could break that down because you know there were two or three
scenes but we were in many many more scenes than that and we add a dialogue that wasn't
there as well so that's a whole different thing the improv thing I'm not trained in improv but I
like doing it as an exercise it's fun and it's freeing and it was fun to do an audition that
way because I didn't have to memorize it but how could I break down that script I really couldn't
I just had to show up as that guy you know and TR and also trust that trust is the name of the
movie by the way and trust that what you have is right and what and what you'll and you will
you feed off of the other people in a bit in that case in particular because it really was this this
six-person ensemble of relatives who were in every scene and making everybody's life a little crazy
so the only danger with that is like uh padding it too much trying to make more of it than it is
you got to be careful about that we we had one actor who may name us who is problematic that
way but it's understanding the world it's understanding and how you break it down is
it's different for every project I guess is the way I would I would understand that if it's two
or three strong scenes where you have a definite thing to do your your prosecuting attorney you're
the social worker you're the doctor those are kind of functionary scenes that do carry an
emotional weight if it's a good script so I'm very word oriented that's the other thing I'm
extremely word oriented I believe in literally being forensic with the words like oh and I will
use this as a teaching technique what's the most important word in that sentence and why
and there's usually a reason and and it's like figuring out where where that where that lives
it's really important to be that that was something that was really imbued in me from
working in the theater for many many years is the text is everything and so and in the theater you
can't change a thing you cannot change a word so you have to work with what you have if the text
isn't great you find a way to make it great that's your job is to make it better than it is
that's the actor's job is to make bad writing be better than it appears to be sometimes I coached
an audition the other day and when we were done with this young woman did a great job
I said it's better than they deserve he did a great job because sometimes that's what it is
so if we were to take the line I need to talk to you Michael
and you did that very well oh thank you let's say I'm your boss yes and I've discovered that you're
playing online poker we've had the IT company this is a great scene and so it's a sensitive issue and
we don't want the other co-workers to know about it but we want to keep you because we like you but
we think maybe he has a gambling problem so I what what would be the forensics of that sentence it's
a very simple sentence of I need to talk to you if I'm playing that part either either yeah right so
right so it's what I call a change moment that's a change moment in a scene blah blah blah blah
blah oh by the way I need to talk to you okay okay can we have sure so it's it's identifying change
moments every time there's a change and there are even bad writing has changed moments in it
okay so like if you're watching television if you've got television on in the background and
it's some local news broadcast and some person had something horrible happen to one of their
children or you're hearing the the newscaster he's got the microphone and he's interviewing
somebody and there's been something terrible happened then all of a sudden it goes quiet
and you go and that person's crying let's say or whatever that silence this is the one thing
particularly theater actors have of almost have an issue with I can't generalize but we feel like
we have to get to the next thing we have to get to the next thing and I'll just say find a place
in there to just be quiet so that you let us in as soon as you're quiet and it has to be earned
has to be earned in the scene but if you like if you said to me what is the
line I we have to talk what is the line you just gave me I need to talk to you Michael
okay what is that about
do you want to come in my office yeah yeah I'll be right back so you fill it with pauses you fill it
with thinking I used to do an exercise called thinking on film where basically I would say
30 seconds I don't want you to say one word I want you to have an idea I want you to
have something that just happened to you it's either good or it's bad you got a phone call
that somebody just broke up with you whatever it is I don't need to know what it is you have
a narrative in your head you are allowed one physical gesture and no words for 30 seconds go
and it's fascinating because people go people know they may not know exactly what's happening
but they kind of know and I said don't overdo it don't pretend to be sad just it's just here
it's just in your face and in your eyes and in your thinking so I call it thinking on
film and you can think on film and that's the beauty you can once you get to that point as a
practitioner film and TV acting where you could just think something and it it's there
that's magic because we always we're very I I'm word oriented because that's how I was trained but
sometimes you have to leave that behind and just be moment oriented be quiet for a second and let
people in so when you said about these functional roles that you're not playing necessarily Pacino
in a courtroom scene you might just be a corporate attorney who's confirming dates
or something and it's not where you're going to be over the top stealing the show right
and so people think maybe that that's what their function is or well you have the row
has a function within the pardon me within the story and that's generally on a row like that
pardon me it's it's generally pretty clear what it is generally not a lot of subtext
unless there's something else going on but if it's just a functionary thing like legal stuff I've
done a lot of legal stuff and yes I'm not a lawyer but I play one on TV it's kind of easy because
it's procedural and the the magic of it is that you let your you just do it as you you just do it
so whatever your neutral is not neutral my neutral is not neutral no one's neutral is neutral you
come in with some core thing about who you are that kind of plays through everything so even if
you're doing a functionary role a role that's just talking about you know some legal thing
whatever whoever it is you are and again as I said before this gets more complex and
more interesting as you get older and you kind of are more at home with who you are
that just is there and so that's kind of what you were hired for in a way is to be as I said
earlier a dynamic truthful version of who you already are so the lines are just look the
that stuff it's like it's like a baked potato you can put anything on a baked potato you can
put salsa you can put cream cream cheese you can put sour cream you can put chives
but it's still a baked potato the baked potato needs flavor added to it that's kind of what we
bring in a functionary roll we add flavor to the baked potato I can't believe I just said that.