Excerpt from Making Movies
Sidney Lumet:
The most moving example of how much of themselves actors must pour into a character happened on Network. William Holden was a wonderful actor. He was also very experienced. He’d done 60 or 70 movies by the time we worked together, maybe more. I noticed that during the rehearsal of one particular scene with Faye Dunaway, he looked everywhere but directly into her eyes. He looked at her eyebrows, her hair, her lips, but not her eyes. I didn’t say anything. The scene was a confession by his character that he was hopelessly in love with her, that they came from very different worlds, that he was achingly vulnerable to her and therefore needed her help and support.
On the day of shooting we did a take. After the take, I said, “Let’s go again, and Bill, on this take, would you try something for me? Look into her eyes and never break away from them.” He did. Emotion came pouring out of him. It’s one of his best scenes in the movie. Whatever he’d been avoiding could no longer be denied. The rehearsal period had helped me recognize this emotional reticence in him.
Of course, I never asked him what he had been avoiding. The actor has a right to his privacy; I never violate his private sources knowingly.
Re;
Sheila:
Thank You fot posting the Lumet story concerning Bill Holden.Bill was a shy actor-Billy Wilder stated that Gary Cooper and Bill were the two shyest actors he directed.With the help of understanding, supportive directors like Wilder and Lumet,emotion came pouring out of Bill.I think Bill at age 58 was feeling his own mortality and this scene was very difficult because it came very close to home for him.Acting I think was a catharsis for Bill.With the help of an understanding , supportive director,Bill was able to convey emotions which he was unable to express in real life.
Lorraine