Flexibility

An actor needs to be flexible, of course an actor needs to be flexible. You're not really much good to a director if you're not. And you're not really much good as an actor if you're not flexible enough to listen and respond appropriately and honestly to your partner.

I believe that I am an incredibly flexible actor. I take pride in the fact that I am flexible. I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm not flexible in my last post. I think I just got thrown for a loop because I let myself get too attached to the ideas I had created for myself on how I imagined the scene should go.

I have been rolling it around in my head, and I think the choices I made originally will still work, they just speak about my character in a much different way than I had imagined they would, since the other actor's choices are so different from what I imagined. And that's okay.

Assuming my original choices are still what the director wants. If not, I can change my choices, no problem.

I can feel my Ego Monster resisting the last two paragraphs I just wrote, grumbling and grumpy. My Ego-Monster was very attached to the choices I made and the way they spoke about my character when the other actor was still only in my head.

But I am not giving the Ego Monster any power, I refuse. Let him grumble. I've found a way to make my choices work, even if it changes my internal character, and I will follow and fully commit to any direction given to me by the director.

Yes, as a creative personality, sometimes I get attached to my choices, the same way a writer gets attached to parts of his/her story, or a musician to the music he/she writes, or a painter, or any other creative endeavor. That's just a part of human nature. And sometimes the parts we love best need to be cut for the greater good of the whole we are trying to create. I've heard in regards to writing, the part of the story we love best is the part that always needs to be cut, because it's too self-serving, too self-indulgent. Maybe the same is true for actors.

I've just remembered something that Russell Crowe said on Inside The Actor's Studio. He said, "Never fall in love with your character. Because what happens when you fall in love with someone? You forgive them their faults. If you're in love with your character, you're missing an opportunity to discover and play their faults, and flawed characters are more interesting."

Yes, sometimes I have gotten too attached to ideas, choices, presenting a character in a specific way, sometimes I will get too attached, and I may be internally phased momentarily if asked to change those things I have unwittingly become attached to. That's human nature too. But I will do my best to adjust to necessary changes, in spite of internal grumblings and wrestling with the Ego Monster, because that is what a professional actor does.

And honestly, I do love trying out different things as an actor, playing with the script, playing with choices, making new discoveries. That's a big part of what acting is all about.

I think in this case, I was just taken by surprise by how attached I had gotten to my choices, my character, when the real actor stepped in and I saw how his personality and his choices changed what my choices said about my character.

So, now I have given my Ego-Monster a fair chance to share, and I am closing the issue. I'm a professional, I know how to make my choices work or change them if they need to be changed. I am extremely good at being flexible and directable. So that's that.