this video is sponsored by skillshare
and also there are some spoilers for
breaking bad and succession and also the
original star wars hey guy welcome back
to my webkinz account as always this
video is entirely inspired by one curtis
connor tweet if you go on youtube and
search for best acting compilation what
you'll probably see is a lot of videos
with millions of views that look and
sound kind of like this
yes
while most of these scenes are
incredible i think it's kind of silly
that we tend to view yelling loudly or
crying on camera to be the epitome of a
performance maybe it's just that anger
and sadness are the two most relatable
human emotions or maybe it's cathartic
when you have some amount of pent-up
frustration to see an actor go
absolutely ape [ __ ] on a mirror but
there are so many other types of acting
that are just as important as the
climactic rage outbursts that tend to
fly under the radar one of the biggest
ones is just reacting what are you doing
while other people are talking are you
visibly affected by what they're saying
or are you just waiting for your turn to
talk again it doesn't matter that you
nailed all your lines if you just stand
there with a blank expression while
everyone else is giving there not only
are you gonna ruin whatever shot you
happen to be in but you just made it
that much harder for your scene partner
to focus on what they're saying subtle
reaction shots can be just as powerful
or devastating as the line that they're
reacting to that's what adds any meaning
to those words when you think about it
it doesn't really matter what someone
says in a scene if the person they're
saying it to doesn't give a [ __ ] the
gravity of words is the impact they have
not necessarily just the words
themselves if something is meant to be a
big reveal but the other person doesn't
seem at all shocked then kind of ruin
the surprise didn't it i think one
reason a show like succession is so
captivating to me is because of how
intuit every actor is no matter who's
talking in fact the show is purposely
shot in a way so the actors never know
for certain when they might be in frame
so they need to be constantly invested
some of the cameramen are given free
reign to move around the room and zoom
in on whoever they want this makes it so
even when only a couple people in a
scene are talking you still know how
everyone else feels because you can see
it on their face it's funny in a lot of
ways this is a show about words it's
about clever insults and very deliberate
dialogue some of the best lines i've
ever heard have come from the show you
can't make a tomlet without breaking
some greg's but in spite of that a lot
of the most compelling moments are
entirely non-verbal whether it's shiv
silently seething at the end of season
three logan giving the most subtle smirk
at the end of season two or the many
looks on kendall's face as he goes
through an absolute roller coaster of
gaining and losing power the extreme
highs and lows of his drug addiction all
while grappling with the guilt he feels
for doing something awful at the end of
season one and look this is all just my
opinion i'm not a trained actor by any
means the most acting i do is in the
little skits that i put in my videos but
for me it is always so much harder to do
a reaction shot than it is to give a
line because when i'm talking i'm
actively doing something i have words to
say i can focus on what i'm saying and
how to say them but if i have to just
like
give a surprised look or look like i'm
sad about something that's happening out
of frame it just doesn't come naturally
at all i have to do it a hundred times
before i can narrow it down to one not
terrible take so because of my own
shortcomings i'm often just as impressed
when people give a really good facial
expression in a scene as i am you know
when someone gives like a really cool
monologue going back to what i talked
about in the beginning rage is something
that can be even more interesting when
the actors trying to hold it back not
necessarily just explode on everyone
jack nicholson in the shining before he
goes sicko mode on his whole family
makes it very clear without even saying
a word that he is actively snapping this
face
is terrifying he doesn't have to say
anything here he doesn't have to be
charging you with an axe i am scared
looking at this and all he's doing is
making a face that's incredible
nonverbal acting goes hand in hand with
physical acting and for a really long
time i kind of rolled my eyes at the
idea of physical comedy because when i
thought about it i just thought about
lele ponds falling down and technically
yes that counts but there's so much more
to physicality the way your character
walks you know that's a choice whether
it's michael sarah embodying an entire
personality with this defeated slouch or
is kind of weird the boss from emily in
paris i know it's a terrible show but i
am fascinated by this actress's choice
to always walk around with like t-rex
arms and then it hit me powerful people
are always
pointing at stuff rachel i love your
haircut matthew
no smoking in here can't you read the
sign and so you know i guess it's more
convenient to keep your hands up here
always ready to point okay a better
example of physicality that i love
kieran culkin as roman roy there is a
scene where he
accidentally sends a dick pic to his
father
during a work meeting his acting in the
rest of this episode is so beautiful not
because of anything he says honestly i
don't remember a single word of dialogue
from this but i will always remember the
way he shrinks into his chair the way
his face contorts and his eyes well up
you can see him actively trying to
escape his body like maybe if he curls
up enough his body will fold into itself
and disappear but he can't he's stuck
and all of the smugness and arrogance
that has built up for him over the
course of the season is whisked away in
a matter of seconds depending on what
role you have physicality could also be
your ability to dance or do action
sequences obviously not the ones with
stunt doubles you know the ones where
they see your face so you got gotta do
it yourself not every actor is good at
everything and you can't just sub
someone in for one scene so it's no
small feat when someone is able to check
every box i think there's a lot of roles
you can look at through this lens and
maybe view differently like it's easy to
say that hayden christensen pooped the
bed in the star wars prequels because of
how robotically all of his lines were
delivered but in his defense i think a
lot of that had more to do with george
lucas's inability to write regular human
dialogue the dialogue was a little bit
difficult i remember there was one line
that i just begged him to take out of
the screenplay and he finally did my
line was
but we can't turn back fear is their
greatest defense i doubt if the actual
security there is any greater than it
was on aquilaire or slois and what there
is is most likely directed towards a
large-scale assault
and i thought who talks like this george
a lot of hayden's physical acting was
really good the choreographed fights
some of his facial expressions where you
could really see on his face the
internal conflict that he's dealing with
and you maybe even start to feel some
empathy the problem is you know then he
goes on the whole sand rant and he kind
of kills the vibe but did he write that
no george wrote that and george managed
to make natalie portman look like a bad
actress and she won an oscar like five
years after this movie so i don't think
that's on her suddenly i'm afraid a
similar character but on the opposite
end of the spectrum for me is toby
mcguire like probably a hundred million
other people i recently went back and
re-watched the sam raimi trilogy and i
had always thought toby was really good
in these movies but watching it now i
realized you know he's really good at
playing peter parker
he's not very good at playing spider-man
the dude pulls off the sad lonely nerd
character like nobody's business but
when he's not crying or actively
becoming a meme he kind of always talks
the same he always talks really quietly
for some reason look at little goblin
junior i'm gonna avenge uncle ben
and i'm gonna kill eric foreman not to
beat a dead horse because obviously a
ton of people have talked about why
spider-man 3 was a disappointment but in
order for a trilogy like this to work
there needs to be more growth exhibited
from the main character and i just don't
know if toby as an actor was capable of
doing that last star wars example i
promised but to me the gold standard of
this will always be mark hamill you ever
go back and watch the very first star
wars luke skywalker is a little [ __ ] in
this movie but i was going into toshi
station to pick up some power converters
and then a couple years later he's gone
through some
transformative experiences
and he's a total badass he's cool as
hell if he was the same stinky little
goofball the whole time it would have
ruined the series imagine if instead of
showing up to fight emperor palpatine
with a shiny new robot hand and a [ __ ]
ton of confidence he just like grew out
his hair a little bit and moped in the
corner i'll take down the empire when
you fix this damn door in short a lot of
actors are good at some things but very
few are versatile enough to be good at
everything and that brings me to brian
cranston brian cranston has played two
of my favorite characters in two of my
favorite shows won awards doing both and
they could not be more different having
watched malcolm in the middle like a
hundred times i always thought that i
wouldn't be able to take breaking bad
seriously because i would only be able
to see hal hal is a total pushover he's
scared of everything he gets really
fixated on random obsessions and in
spite of his good intentions he always
tends to make situations worse but more
than anything else he just loves his
family especially his wife and it's one
of the most wholesome and endearing
characters on tv lois that boy needs a
father figure and i really think it
should be me walter white
is
not brian's physical comedy is so good
in malcolm in the middle and he has some
signature mannerisms that every once in
a while would seep into walter but for
the most part these two characters are
so different that it doesn't even seem
like the same actor through an
unfortunate series of dominoes walter
transforms into essentially the main
villain of the show but it's such a slow
process that it doesn't feel unnatural
from the beginning you can see the seeds
planted you can see some of that anger
in his eyes and as his situation gets
worse and he does his best to survive it
in order to avoid the danger he has to
become the danger walter and the
audience to an extent can rationalize
just about every [ __ ] up thing he does
but there will come a point where you
suddenly realize
yeah i'm not rooting for this guy
anymore he's done way too much he's the
bojack horseman of drug dealers a happy
ending is possible but does this guy
even deserve it and that slow organic
shift is really impressive to watch not
just from the writers but from brian
cranston as well aside from all the
obvious big moments throughout the show
one of my favorite scenes early on was
between him and gretchen a character
played by jessica heck up until this
point she'd only been in two other
episodes she was barely established on
screen and all we really knew was this
vague history between her and walt which
makes it all that more impressive the
amount of tension they have in this
scene it's like we've been watching them
go at it for years but they've only been
on screen together for like 10 minutes
up until this point it's incredible i
feel so
sorry for you won't
[ __ ] you you ever watch a performance so
good that all you can do is laugh
because your body doesn't know how else
to express how that made you feel so you
just let out an involuntary chuckle this
show had so many moments of that for me
from brian cranston aaron paul bill
allen as scientists and it's all a good
example of how acting writing and
directing all go hand in hand there are
directors who have made great actors
look bad there's writing that's so
clever that just about anyone who
delivers the line is going to seem like
a genius and there's some actors who are
so good in a role that it forces the
show runner to reconsider their entire
plan jesse pingman was supposed to die
in season one but then vince gilligan
saw how well aaron and brian work
together and he was like you know what
actually
maybe not and it's a good thing they
didn't do that because by the end of the
show
are you really rooting for anyone
besides jesse all right so i guess the
last topic i want to touch on is this
ongoing debate about the validity of
method acting essentially method acting
is when someone stays in character all
the time because they think it'll make
them act better and i don't have too
much of a concrete feeling about this
either way i think generally speaking
whatever works works you know just do
the best job you can but you hear
stories about actors who are playing
villains so they just treat everyone
like [ __ ] all the time because that's
what my character would do and that's
where it's like okay maybe you're just
using this as an excuse to be a dad so i
always say about people who do method
acting you only ever see people doing
the method when they're playing an
[ __ ] maybe instead you could do what
everyone else does and just do your job
and then go home and be normal i think
what it comes down to for me is whether
or not the performance you're giving
warrants whatever nonsense you're
pulling on set like in my opinion jeremy
strong is giving the performance of a
lifetime as kendall roy but as an actor
he is very much an anomaly on that set
with the way he goes through his process
he's notoriously not very fun to be
around he takes everything way too
seriously and there are other incredible
actors on set who are able to access a
similar level of performance without
being a wet blanket but ultimately he
never seems to cross a line and if
that's what it takes for him to pull
this off then just let the results speak
for themselves but then you have other
examples of method acting like jared
leto as the joker doing insane things to
his co-workers because sorry jared's not
here right now this is how the joker
would act what did you send used condoms
to oh everybody yeah he sent used
condoms sticky playboy magazines i can't
even begin to tell you the weird things
i got i mean the joker is somebody
who doesn't really respect things like
personal space or boundaries so he's
going around actively being a nuisance
to everyone and to make it worse his
performance wasn't even that good i
don't know if this was worth being an
[ __ ] for four months dude one thing
you'll hear a lot about method actors is
the people they worked with on the movie
saying oh i never met that guy i only
met the character he was playing it's
like that's cool i guess i admire the
commitment but it's one of those things
that better work otherwise the ends do
not justify the means
[Music]
anyway as is the case in all of my
stream of consciousness video essays i
don't really know how to end this so
let's do a lightning round reservation
dogs one of my favorite new shows
they're such a talented cast but sarah
podemski is probably the highlight for
me as well as moz and mikko who are so
goddamn funny every time they're on
screen betsy brandt is marie holy [ __ ]
she nails this character the overly nosy
extended family member who has to know
everything and also can't keep a secret
the fact that most people have probably
met someone exactly like this is what
makes it so good but if i were to narrow
down my mount rushmore of acting to just
one person it wouldn't be brian cranston
or meryl streep or morgan freeman or
marlon brando or adam driver or the guy
who plays mayhem and the all-state
commercials it would be
him kevin
uh your dog just died
you want to talk about subtlety you want
to talk about some non-verbal acting
that man did not even have to say a word
he barely had to move his face muscles
and yet you could feel the sadness
through the screen i kind of feel like
my dog just died that's sad i'm crying
anyway i think he deserves it um i'm
gonna be giving him my streamy award
because i feel like he's not getting
enough appreciation for this and i'm
getting too much i've only posted one
video this year and it's about christmas
movies so i don't deserve this anyway
that's all i gotta say about that if you
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today's video bad news guy
then i got stuck in the dryer i'm sorry
i don't think i'm gonna be able to film
an outro this week i know for a lot of
you that's your favorite part of the
video you usually just skip to the end
to see my signature sign off but
given my current situation i just don't
think i'm gonna do that this week please
don't unsubscribe i'm trying my very
hardest to get out of here and continue
running the errands that i had to do
today anyway thanks again so much for
watching this video i'll see you next
time for a video where i learn how to
reverse juggle uh that's when i take a
bunch of things that i would juggle and
put them away