Actors

[Sandra Merkatz]

Michael Caine recently said in an interview something like this: "If the audience watch my movie and says ´Isn´t Michael Caine a wonderful actor?´, then I have done it all wrong. If the audience says ´I wonder what will happen next to XY, then I have done it right".

 

But I´m not sure if I can agree with that.

 

My "problem" is: whenever I watch a movie - no matter which one - I always see a couple of actors doing their job, and not the characters they portray.

 

I don´t think that the actors are to blame here, but I don´t think I am to blame either. When you watch a movie like "Raging Bull", do you really see the character Jake LaMotta? Or do you see Robert DeNiro doing a great job, do you see the character, or do you see DeNiro acting? Do you think "Wow, LaMotta is really fat", or do you think "Wow, great method acting by De Niro"?

[Max Field]

Depends on if you knew the actor prior to watching.

[Justin Hayward]

 

I don´t think that the actors are to blame here, but I don´t think I am to blame either. When you watch a movie like "Raging Bull", do you really see the character Jake LaMotta? Or do you see Robert DeNiro doing a great job, do you see the character, or do you see DeNiro acting? Do you think "Wow, LaMotta is really fat", or do you think "Wow, great method acting by De Niro"?

 

Sometimes it's one or the other or sometimes it's both. I think it comes down to how it makes you feel within the context of the story. I'm scared of DeNiro when he's telling his brother to hit him, then I notice he got fat for a role, then I'm horrified, but upset when the police tell him he was kissing a fourteen year old the night before and is under arrest, then I notice he's working really hard when he's punching the wall in the jail cell. If I'm crying for a character professing their love to a dying person, I'm not usually thinking about the craft, I'm just in the moment. I only wish more movies were strong enough to get the smallest feelings out of me.

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't care how far the real actor "disappears" as long as the performance engages me.

[Gregg MacPherson]

Sandra, you are part of a small subset within the audience. Film makers, industry techs, creatives, intellectuals, critics, theorists...a small subset. Isn't Michael Caine thinking of the bigger audience?...just guessing, I didn't see or read the interview to get the context....so I'm thinking there may be no contradiction...

 

Those who's mind may have some connection to how films are made...as above..may have the ability to experience both the parts and the whole. Seeing how it is made, but still being capable of direct emotional identification with the film. But perhaps not simultaneously. Though I am convinced some can, experience both those aspects simultaneously.