Conservatory Committee Report

"These are some opinions on actor training:
 
“Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It’s not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.”
— Philip Seymour Hoffman
 
“More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic."
— Uta Hagen
 
“I've been training as an actor for six years … I absolutely trained.”
— LL Cool J
 
“You know, back in acting school they always teach you, ‘Make bold choices and look for activities that are interesting.’”
— Mickey Rourke
 
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's truly happening — if anything, if nothing. A close-up demands absolute truth. It’s a severe and awesome truth.”
— Elia Kazan
 
"And the following is an anecdote on just how much training is used on set today:

"A few years ago, I got a call from an actor who used to train with me. She was calling from the set of Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull. She was shooting the climactic scene in the movie with Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett and several others. She was whispering into her cellphone, “Scott, I have to know something! I’m watching Cate Blanchett prepare to shoot this scene and … well … I mean, is she doing an acting exercise? She’s smelling and I think licking the crystal skull! Why?”

"I explained that she was doing a method acting object exercise. But the real point is that she was using her training on the set of a major motion picture and that, even though it’s a comic-strip type of movie, she was giving it her all. And it shows! Watch the scene where she sees the crystal skull and gives up her life to try and reach it. Look at the desire in her eyes. Nothing fake or comic-strip about it. She’s trained (in both method and Meisner) for years, as have Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and pretty much every other great actor.

"There must be a reason. Train now so you can work tomorrow."

This item was originally featured in the August 2015 local newsletter.