Acting Up

Steve's post about emotional context got me thinking about something I've noticed a lot of ...

Performance.

More specifically, bad performance.

When you cast your film, please take the time to cast good actors.

Screw that - take the time to cast GREAT actors.

Pretty please? Your audience will thank you for it.

You've spent all this time creating the character, thinking up the backstory, writing the snappy dialogue ... all of this is meaningless unless you have someone who can *sell it*.

Performance is everything. It's why this is a star-driven business: because these are the folks who take the time to FEEL all of these emotions that we put on the page. To paraphrase Quentin: "If you're not a great actor, you're a bad actor and bad acting is bullshit in this business."

As audience members, we're acutely aware of when someone is giving a non-genuine performance; we're human, so we know when someone is not behaving genuinely. And it doesn't matter how much production value you put into your film - if an actor is giving a bad performance, *that's* what will attract the most attention.

Acting is the natural recreation of human behavior. It's listening. It's reacting. It's behaving. It's FEELING in front of a camera (or onstage, or what-have-you). In short, it's NOT ACTING.

We want our audience to feel the emotions of the genre - we want them to laugh, to cry, to be scared, to be on the edge of their seats. If the actors aren't feeling it, neither will the audience. How can we become involved in the story if we're preoccupied with a crummy performance?

So please take the time to make sure your movie is cast well. Audition and re-audition and re-re-audition if necessary. Shyamalan spent FOREVER agonizing over Cole in Sixth Sense - he said he thought he wrote a part that COULDN'T be played by a child actor. And then Hayley Joel walked in and blew everyone away. On the extras for the special edition Superman DVD, watch and see all of the actors who AREN'T Superman ... and then watch Christopher Reeve.

If you're shooting a five minute short or a full-length feature, make sure every part is filled with someone who will add life to your movie, not take away from it.

Pretty please? Your audience will thank you for it.

Danny