A possibly simplistic statement of purpose and personality, but I want to get it out there, just so there is no doubt:
Last night I had acting class. More on that later.
We have a new student. He is from France. My training is the Stanislavsky system, Americanized into the famous "Method". Anyway, this new student, who hails from Paris, obviously comes from a very different theatrical tradition in Paris, with Comedie Francaise, etc. It does not interest him. He has been studying in Paris with an American, a member of the Actors Studio.
He loves American acting. He loves American actors.
Anyway:
I, obviously, have feelings about France, as a country.
I have very STRONG feelings about France, as a country.
My teacher was talking to the new student, trying to get a line on who he is, what his training was, what he was interested in.
New student said, in his French accent, "I want to work in America. The actors here are better. And ... I just like the lifestyle here better."
In a flash, my ideas of France separated itself from my ideas about the French.
Because he was speaking as an artist. What he needs and wants as an artist.
I would expect the same thing from artists everywhere - If I speak to actors in Mongolia, in Iran, in France, in Russia ... I am an artist before I am a nationality.
To me, art is the highest good. It is my highest truth.
The new student and I got to talking after class, and we walked across the rainy sidewalks, talking, getting to know each other.
He was lovely. Truly.
I asked him what his problems were with the "business" in Paris. (If you're an actor, you refer to theatre and film as "the business". There is no other business.) He described to me what it was like: basically any audition has to do with looks, not acting ability. He was shocked and taken aback by the fact that in auditions in America you are often asked to read from a script - and not just stand in front of the camera and give them your prettiest smile.
He feels he needs practice with "cold readings". (In case you don't know - that's when you walk into an audition, and they hand you "sides" - which basically means a "script" - but it's never the complete script - it's just the couple of pages they want you to read - and they give you 15 minutes to look over it, sometimes only 5 minutes ... and in that time, you have to make choices, HUGE choices, you have to make decisions about your character, you have to decide what you are going to do, how you are going to "make it real" - all based on no information.)
Anyway: as an American actress, I am completely comfortable with cold readings, because that's pretty much the standard practice.
But this French guy was horrified, terrified. He feels he needs more time to prepare, he is not comfortable with his command of the language (even though he obviously is very fluent). So he wants to practice this "cold reading thing" in class.
I love that: I love when actors are problem-solvers for themselves. You recognize your weaknesses, and then you set out to use your teachers or use your experiences in auditions to get over these weaknesses.
So I liked him immediately. I liked his attitude towards the work. He is obviously serious about his work.
He had a lot to say, as well, about what I did in class. More on that later.
We talked about Chazz Palminteri - and how he basically was not getting cast in the roles he thought he should be getting - and so he wrote a one-man show for himself, describing his childhood. Well, lo and behold, Robert DeNiro happened to go see the show, fell in love with it, and decided: "I've never directed before - but I would like to buy this script and direct it as my first film." Which, of course, is what he did, and it became "A Bronx Tale."
If Chazz Palminteri had not taken that risk - if Chazz P. had not decided: "Okay, I have to take my career into my OWN hands" - then who knows what would have happened to his career ...
We make our own luck.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are the perfect examples of that.
They were languishing about in small unimportant parts and decided: "All right. Let's write a VEHICLE for ourselves - a vehicle that completely plays to both of our strengths..."
Jesus. And they won an Oscar.
Anyway. This is where I am coming from now: I want to take my languishing career into my own hands and write my OWN STUFF.
French-student was so into it. "Do it! Do it! Then rent a space - and invite EVERYBODY. You can write, girl. You can write. Don't let anybody stop you. I wish I could fucking write like that. I look forward to seeing the show."
He was 5 steps ahead of me. It made me laugh.
We talked about the Stanislavsky system. We talked about short films we had done, and how we felt about our acting when we saw it up on screen. We talked about our interests as actors, what kinds of parts we were into. We talked about the Lee Strasberg Institute. We talked about wanting to immerse ourselves in our art - but then: ah, there is the problem of FUNDS. How to deal with that ...
Etc.
This is a long-ass way to get to a Mission Statement. But what the hell, my blog is called Redheaded RAMBLINGS.
Here we go
Art is the universal. The truth of art, and belonging to a community of artists, is the eternal thing for me. All else falls away as ballast.
I cherish, already, my conversation with French-man. In a matter of moments, we understood each other completely - through the context of our art. And our lives as artists.
When it gets right down to it, I don't care about anything else.
Art is the highest truth.
I will now steal, shamelessly, from Camille Paglia's great essay "No Law in the Arena". I agree wholeheartedly, and that was what I was present to last night - walking in the rain with a man from France - a country I am very angry with right now - but I didn't think about politics or nationality ONCE while we were talking - because who the fuck CARES??
Here's Paglia:
I look at history from the perspective of art, not morality. For me, civilization is art and art is the highest record of humanity.One day, when we represent ourselves to inhabitants of distant galaxies, it will be by our art that we will want to be known.
Amen.
Posted by sheila