Film Courage: What's your advice to actors on finding their character?
Michael Laskin, Actor, Acting Coach, Author: Finding their character within a certain script
or within who they present as the full person of who they are?
Film Courage: The latter.
Michael: The latter, okay.
My advice on that is to be open to it.
to really the cliché is you're enough you are enough a cliché that's kind of true but
it's only true if what you're presenting is examined and nuanced and interesting don't
there's there's there's kind of a show biz life there's a backstage life and then there's
life and my advice is get involved in life do something real and certain people are just
more inherently interesting than others this is human nature but to find that person that
is your the core person that you present that kind of populates everything that just takes
time and it takes patience and it takes kind of being honest with yourself as to who who
you are and what I what did I watch last night I watched who was it I'm blanking on it now
I've been watching The Morning Show which I think is so good and oh is this actor I
haven't seen him for a long time he's an older guy named Paul Guilfoyle who's been in tons
of stuff I haven't seen him in a long time and he's older than me which means he's really
old but he's like I went oh that's Paul Guilfoyle wow where has he been but he just is there
he's just he's he has not only found that thing he's he is that thing and it's a little
bit like the Jack Warden story that I told I think I don't know how you the advice is
just to be open to it and to be willing to be honest with yourself about who you are
because that's the whole ball game as far as who you are dominates what you can do in
in the film and television world so you really need to get acquainted with yourself you need
to be you need to like yourself when people say they don't get me well maybe they don't
get you because you don't get you once you start to get yourself people will start to
get you is it's been my experience but that takes a long time some people never get there
and some people get there pretty quickly what's your advice for finding a character within
the script when you say finding it you mean owning it owning kind of branding it bringing
your own take to what the director sees well you're in charge of some of that and there's
some of that you're not in charge of all you can do is as my former student said pretend
that what's happening is happening to you personally all you can do is make it personal
the other stuff you're not in charge of there's all kinds of forces at play that that kind
of subvert that I think that it's knowing it's kind of also knowing what your strike
zone is everybody's got a strike zone like by that not everybody has to have a huge range
I think that is the that is the the goal of the young actor I can play everything I can
I can do all these parts I can play an old man even though I'm not an old man I can play
an Irishman but I'm not Irish they'll get an Irishman okay they don't need you to get
they'll get an Irishman so I think understanding who you are and understanding where you fit
and being okay with that because otherwise trying to please them is a fool's Aaron there's
no pleasing them whoever they are we always talk about them they don't get it they don't
get me well they don't get you because you're not present and you're not bringing yourself
to the work and it sounds complicated it's really simple but until you make that turn
until you make that pivot as an actor understanding not just paying lip service to but understanding
that you are enough if the you that is presented is fully examined and interesting then it
becomes easier but otherwise it's this trying to please them that's what that's the the
on on the tombstone of every failed actor I tried to please them does that make sense
it does do you think it happens more with younger people
yes and no it happens younger people some of them just are are moving on instincts totally
they don't even understand the subtlety of that question some of them so and so they're
blissfully ignorant and sometimes that's great because lightning strikes they go oh him and
you don't even know what you don't even know what you got but that I've seen that happen
a lot but it happens all the time because we want to please we want to be picked we
want to get the gold star up in the wall and be told we're good and we want to get that
affirmation and if we didn't want that we wouldn't be human but we don't always get
that the failure rate if you can call it that that's a harsh term is significant how many
things do people audition for and when do they actually book something and I see these
things on we were talking about social media earlier booked it at the beginning on Instagram
and stuff booked it I wanna I wanna have one says didn't book it still chill still happy
didn't book it because that's the reality of it right that is the reality of it booked
it it's like this whole thing of just presenting this kind of phony confidence and confidence
is a hard one thing and everybody's happy when you books your wife or husband or your
partner everybody's happy when you get a job because sometimes it's
a great job too but it's that it's knowing who you are it's it all comes down to that
it's just simple that way for me how do what your character's flaw is great question I
don't know that every character has a flaw particularly in film and television when you're
doing more functionary roles let's say that's a really good question and I don't know if
I have a good answer for it but I think there's two things that I often tell people to think
about that's one of them and the other one is does your character have a secret like
what are what are you not saying sometimes what you're not saying is far more important
than what you're saying what you choose not to say in a scene like I'm gonna I'm not going
to say that I'm going to say something different so you you you watch a character shift Focus
so that's what you choose not to say is very revealing what the flaw is sometimes it's
real self it's really evident in the script if you're playing a murderer we know what
the flaw is or we know about the the Baseline of the flaw is but for those more Garden variety
roles sometimes they don't have a flaw in my opinion if we took that scene where I'm
the HR manager or your Superior writer and maybe I don't want to let that it's been in
your computer so I hey I need to talk to you so then what what could something that I how
could I express it without actually saying that we've seen online gambling coming from
your computer if I am holding this secret what's a good line what's a good way to play
it
good great question like almost like starting out I think not as a performance evaluation
but I just want to talk to you about what's going on are you happy things good good take
a look at this does this look familiar to you shoved thing it's mortified what is that
you're doing that here you're doing that at home both places do you need help we have
HR department we want to help you because otherwise we have to remediate this or we're
gonna have to let you go so I don't know if this is answering your question but it's kind
of understanding the way in the way in is look if
she was a he or she was a horrible boss and was very confrontational that's a different
scene entirely if it's if the motivation of
the boss is I really like this person here she does a great job I want to try to remediate
this but this is a big problem that's a different scene entirely and it also comes down to what
else do we know about that character what else do we know about the boss what else do
we know does he or she have their own secret like I don't know if you watched Ted lasso
I haven't watched it great show I hear good things there was a it's about it's about a
football team soccer team we call it soccer and they had a they had a sports psychiatrist
and part of the season this African not African-American African black woman in England and she was
just fantastic and really substantial and then we find out later on she got a drinking
problem that's very well hidden so does the act the actor does the actor have to play
that from the very beginning the actor has a secret the character has a secret the character
has a substance abuse problem but the character is also in a position of authority and reverence
she's a mental health professional she should be above reproach but she's not she's a human
being so depending of the vagaries and the subtlety of
the script but some stuff is just cut and dry and very flat that way B minus writing
is what I call that right interesting so then I'm sort of confronting you on your secret
but I had let's say I have a shopping addiction yeah but I don't want anyone to know that
so I feel uneasy about confronting you exactly okay interesting yeah.