Better to be typecast than not cast

These are the Words of Wisdom for this week: Better to be typecast than not cast. Typecasting is the phenomenon by which an actor becomes so identified with a role that it's difficult to be cast in different parts afterwards or, in weaker form, where they get stuck with playing similar characters over and over again. It operates more strongly on the screen than on the stage and goes right back to silent film days. Bela Lugosi played Count Dracula, once, and to this day that is all he is known for. He was never able to escape from that type of part in his subsequent career. Almost all actors are frustrated to some degree by typecasting. If they have any ambition at all they want to test themselves with a variety of parts, but the opportunities to do so are rare. Occasionally actors get cast against type, for artistic effect, (or maybe because someone has made a mistake.) Any chance like that needs to be seized upon but, it has to be said, the result can be embarrassing failure. Most actors most of the time will play parts determined by their appearance, persona and style of performance. Some people play comedy better than others, some grow up with the physical equipment to be a convincing thug, others are breathtakingly beautiful. As you seem to be, so you will have to play. Accept the inevitable. You will, at least to some extent, be typecast. Better to be typecast than not cast.

Push yourself but don't punish yourself

As most of you will know, I'm never far from a sporting analogy and the Words of Wisdom this week are one of my sayings about running: Push yourself but don't punish yourself. This comes from the principles of athletics training. If you put your body under stress, by repeatedly asking it to run further or faster than it's comfortably capable of, then your body will gradually adapt to cope with that stress and your performance will improve. To make this work you have to push (stress) yourself but if you punish (overstress) yourself you will likely get injured or at least have an unpleasant enough experience to put you off the spert for good.

Athletics is a measurable, physically demanding activity, but the same principles apply to acting, whcih is an immeasurable art or craft. To get better at it you have to practice and train yourself continually and persistently; if you don't your skills will go backwards. You have to set yourself tasks you find difficult; that's the only way you can improve. But at the same time you mustn't be overly self critical. Encourage yourself and congratulate yourself when something goes well. Otherwise you're teaching yourself that your art is painful and difficult, which it shouldn't be.

Push yourself but don't punish yourself.

Recognise that there are two kinds of luck

Now for some Words of Wisdom. Recognise that there are two kinds of luck. The acting profession is one where the statistical odds are stacked against you. Therefore, when auditioning or reading for a part, you are always likely to be disappointed. Sometimes the reasons will be quite arbitrary - too tall, too short, wrong age, wrong accent, the other one has ridden horses more, worked with a big name director, was in the play we did last year. The point is that none of these reasons are the actor's fault. Maybe they saw six people who might have been possible for the part, but the director just had a gut feeling, so the other five have to be disappointed. You will probably never find out the reason why you didn't get the part but it's no use getting angry with yourself or anyone else. You just have to put it down to bad luck. The fates just didn't smile on you that day. Go on doing your best.

But there is also another kind of luck - good luck. This is when an opportunity falls into your lap and you get exactly what you've been working towards. The important thing is to recognise good luck when it arrives. Sometimes it wears a disguise or comes from an unexpected direction. Now that you have a lucky break for goodness sake don't mess things up. Don't turn up late. Don't be too desperate or too nonchalant. Don't fail to learn the lines. Check out the route to wherever you're going. Just be professional in every way, recognise you've had a stroke of good luck and capitalise on it. Recognise that there are two kinds of luck.

And that doesn't just apply to acting. It applies to everything.

Let the camera and the music do their work

Next time you’re watching a film, notice how many of the shots are reaction shots where all we see is a character’s face, showing very little overt emotion, and maybe we hear some music as well. What is required of an actor for a shot like this is to trust the direction, the camera, the editing and the music to do most of the work. The danger is to do more than is necessary and therefore to appear unnatural. Remember, less is more. Just produce the inner emotion but don’t over-express it: if it’s there the camera will find it. And trust the editing: in cinema context rules. For example: the character smiles, but is he looking at a beautiful girl or a plate loaded with pasta? The smile may be the same, but the first shows lust, the second gluttony.
All of this requires a lot of confidence, the confidence to do very little or nothing. All the movie greats have that confidence. So the Words of Wisdom are Let the camera and the music do their work.

Split the line

Sometimes you will find that a line in a script is difficult to say and doesn’t seem to work naturally. Often that’s because it contains two or more thoughts in one sentence and you need to Split the Line. For example: ‘She had a funny look on her face and then I noticed that she wasn’t wearing any shoes.’ The character delivering this line has two thoughts here, which in this case are the memory of two different images, of first the other person’s face and then their feet. When speaking the line visualise each image in turn. This will produce a slight break between the two parts of the sentence. It will come out as ‘She had a funny look on her face .. and then I noticed that she wasn’t wearing any shoes.’ You will have split the line, it will be easier to say and will communicate better to the audience. Recently I came across a line that contained no fewer than four thoughts. It was ‘I know, you told me last time but he explained everything and I really thought he’d changed.’ In this sentence the point of view keeps changing – note the personal pronouns: ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’ and ‘I’ showing the focus moving from person to person. So to deliver the line effectively you need to split it into four, like this: ‘I know .. you told me last time .. but he explained everything .. and I really thought he’d changed.’ Split a Line!

Self criticism is the engine of improvement

The Words of Wisdom this week are self criticism is the engine of improvement. To get better at your craft, indeed at anything, you need to work hard at every aspect of its performance. If you do so, by gradual increments you will improve. Great effort is required for small gains and if you are too easily satisfied with yourself you will not make it. No-one ever became a great artist without having a level of discontent with what they were. So you must examine yourself and use the results of this self criticism to drive yourself. Self criticism is the engine of improvement. But there is a rider to this. You do need to recognise when you’ve done something well, pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself. Even a donkey needs carrots as well as the stick. So, recognise when you’ve done well and say to yourself "Well done."

Be A Magpie

Let’s start with the Words of Wisdom: Be a Magpie. Those dapper little birds, supposed to bring good luck or bad, depending on their numbers, are reputed to make their nests by stealing any bright object that catches their eye from anywhere. Notoriously they are supposed to steal the tops from bottles of milk. Actors have to be a bit like that. They never know what the next part might be, so the more general knowledge they have about all walks of life, the better. Try and learn about psychology, history, politics, war, buildings, medicine, the law, the wealthy, people living on benefits, finance, manufacturing, education, clothes and fashion, sport, aviation, fishing, cars … I could go on, but you get the idea: let the whole world be your subject. You can learn a lot from reading and television, but also take any opportunity of mixing with people with a different background from your own: observe their behaviour, their speech, their body language, their unspoken assumptions. Watch people in the streets and on the underground and at the airport: how much can you guess about their lives? Be a Magpie.