Film Courage: What's the secret to being an actor's director?
Writer/Director/Co-Founder of Scene Study LA Tom O'Brien: Hmm…that's like the biggest
compliment I could ever get. I love when people say that the secret is I think kind
of everything we've been talking about it's creating a space where actors feel comfortable
and safe to play and do their work and find new moments and try different things and realizing
that like everything is about as a director you're creating the atmosphere on the set so it's
creating an atmosphere that feels creative where people feel like they can try things yeah that's
what I would say is the key to being an actress director what if it's an outdoor scene yeah and
you have permits and everything you're allowed to be there but you just know what are those
you just know you're working against elements yeah and how much Freedom are you giving
someone in those moments yeah I mean what you're trying to do ideally is to keep all the stress
sort of away from the actors so you have people whispering in your ear like yeah we have 20
minutes to get this scene done and we have six more setups and but you don't want the actors
to know that so it's like you're constantly trying to Shield them from all the stress
of a movie set so that they can feel creative and like they can have the time to try things
so it's almost like you're a parent and yes there is a Santa Claus Virginia yeah
you don't want you don't want them to know the you're shielding them giving them a safe
bubble I mean sometimes yeah I mean sometimes it's also good to say like look we have about
four takes of this so just to let you know because otherwise they might be
in rehearsal mode for the first two takes so I think it's just again finding that balance between
letting them know what's going on but not letting them feel like the stress of the movie Set because
sets are stressful you say you trust your actors yeah what if there's one you don't totally trust
how do you build it yeah I mean again it's all casting it's like but I'm trying to think of an
example I really have been lucky with the actors that I've gotten to work with but but there are
certain things that you realize about actors that because I like to do a lot of improvisation
and I remember on my second feature Gabby Hoffmann who's a wonderful actress came in for like a week
or I forget maybe a few days even and we had been improvising a lot and and I told her like
oh yeah just improvise and she's like what I and she didn't she was resistant to that and didn't
want to do that so I think there's there's times when certain actors especially if they haven't
been with the production the whole time they come in and they have a different way of working and I
think you have to be open and sensitive to that and find a way to incorporate everyone in and
make them feel like they're part of the company but at the same time get what you need from from
each actor yeah can trust be turned on or does it really take time to manifest or sometimes it's
just not it's like chemistry it's either there or it's not yeah I think it has to be built I think
it has to develop and like hopefully through the casting process and the rehearsal process
that you're building that trust the whole time and then by the time you're shooting you have a trust
with the act because if there's no trust between the actor and the director like you're in trouble
you're not gonna because they're just gonna be resistant and pushing back and
that's not a creative atmosphere and you're not going to get a good movie
even if a scene calls for tension well that's different that's different and that's than you
then you're playing a certain scene and there's tension in this scene but that's different from
not trusting your director yeah how do you help an actor that does not like to watch themselves
don't let them see the monitor I mean there are certain actors who fight to see it
but yeah those actors that don't want to watch themselves they don't have to they don't have
to see the dailies they don't have to you just kind of work with them almost like you're doing
theater and you work with them on the character and on their what they're what they're playing in
the scene but yeah they don't have to look at the monitor shouldn't an actor want to see themselves
eventually to give themselves feedback yeah I mean I think in this day and age now especially
with young actors with all the self tapes that they have to do and I mean I find it very helpful
I think what you have to do is you almost have to like disconnect from oh I hate the way my face
looks in that and just look at it constructively and make it about the work I remember when I acted
in Fairhaven my first feature film and we were editing I had to like just start to call myself
by the character name and just disconnect from it so I wasn't like getting too self-conscious
and just be like well what's the beat of the scene need to be and so yes I think it
is very helpful to be able to watch yourself but I think you can't make an actor do that
but hopefully they can disconnect enough and see themselves constructively and and learn from it
that's interesting so you're almost like it's almost like it's not Tom that was someone else
right there well I had to learn that too I kind of because that was my first time in an editing
room and I just had to because for the first few days I was just I couldn't even look at myself
so yeah I just had to eventually just be like well I have to edit this movie so I
have to get this done so you just kind of Disconnect and make it about that's
that's a character in the movie and I'm gonna make this the best I can
how do you help two actors work together who don't have chemistry with one another oh God
I would I mean I would never cast to people that didn't have chemistry that would be terrible but
but yeah in class situations just by being open to the other person and working with them and not
doing it some prepared way that you did in your bathroom mirror like work with the other actor
because I think chemistry is just being open to the to the other person and taking what
they're giving you and that might be nothing and then there's got to be a response to that
um so yeah that's difficult though for sure
why because maybe there is a tension that's yeah not said and then you pull both actors
aside separately have the other one going back and then you say Tom what's what's going on here like
how come you're in the scene with this person it's how do you really I mean are you do ever
ask someone like how do you see this person or how do you feel about them and maybe then they
can develop more for that character yeah I mean I haven't had that situation I think that's tough
I try to let them have their own Dynamic and not get too manipulative and too involved and there's
I watched the Criterion commentary and they they needed like a baby to cry on the cue and they like
pinched the baby it's like it's like you hear those like horrible stories about manipulative
directors so I try not to do that stuff but yeah I think letting actors find it and giving little
a little assist where you can and but not being too micromanaging and controlling.