288 CHAPTER 7ACTING
the elements that’s often left out when people talk
theoretically about the movies. They forget it’s the
human material we go to see.”^1 The power of some
actors—Angelina Jolie or George Clooney, for
example—to draw an audience is frequently more
important to a movie’s financial success than
any other factor. For this reason, some observers
regard screen actors as mere commodities, cogs in
a machine of promotion and hype designed only to
generate revenue. Although even the most accom-
plished screen actors can be used as fodder for pro-
motional campaigns, such a view overlooks the
many complex and important ways that skillful act-
ing can influence the narrative, style, and meanings
of a film. Writer-director-producer-actor Orson
Welles, who questioned nearly every other aspect
of filmmaking dogma, firmly believed in the impor-
tance of acting: “I don’t understand how movies
exist independently of the actor—I truly don’t.”^2
Despite its central importance, acting is also
the aspect of filmmaking over which directors
have the least precise control. Directors may
describe literally what they want from their princi-
pal collaborators—for example, screenwriters or
costume designers—but they can only suggest to
actors what they want. That becomes quite differ-
ent when directors-screenwriters such as Joel and
Ethan Coen write parts specifically for the actors
whom they hope to cast. This has led to memorable
performances—for example, by Frances McDor-
mand in Fargo(1996), Javier Bardem in No Country
for Old Men(2007), and John Malkovich in Burn
after Reading(2008)—in which the director, screen-
writer, and actor enjoy an unusually close collabora-
tion. However, screen actors, or at least experienced
screen actors, know that the essential relationship is
between them and the camera—not between them
and the director or even the audience. Actors inter-
pret the director’s guidance in the area between
them and the lens—an intimate and narrowly
defined space that necessarily concentrates much of
the actors’ energy on their faces. Through composi-
tion, close-ups, camera angles and movements, andWhat Is Acting?
When Richard M. Nixon was president of the
United States, the public generally regarded him as
a cold, calculating politician. So when Anthony
Hopkins played him in Oliver Stone’s Nixon(1995),
many were astonished at the depth of humanity
they saw on-screen. Hopkins persuaded audiences
that Nixon had unexpected dimensions, turning
him into a far more sympathetic character. Stone
achieved a similar result with Josh Brolin’s por-
trayal of President George W. Bush in W(2008).
Screen acting of this kind is an art, one in which
an actor uses imagination, intelligence, psychology,
memory, vocal technique, facial expressions, body
language, and an overall knowledge of the filmmak-
ing process to realize, under the director’s guid-
ance, the character created by the screenwriter.
The performance and effect of that art can seem
mysterious and magical when we’re enjoying a
movie, and acting turns out to be even more com-
plex than we might at first assume.
Our initial interest in a movie is almost always
sparked by the actors featured in it. As the critic
Pauline Kael said, “I think so much of what we
respond to in fictional movies is acting. That’s one of
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be
able to
✔Explain how the coming of sound into the
movie industry affected acting.
✔Describe how movie acting today differs
from that of the classical studio era.
✔Explain why the relationship between the
actor and the camera is so important.
✔Describe the criteria used to cast actors.
✔Explain the differences between naturalis-
tic and nonnaturalistic movie acting.
✔Define improvisational acting.
✔Explain the potential effects on acting of
framing, composition, lighting, shot types,
and shot lengths.(^1) Leonard Quart, “I Still Love Going to Movies: An Interview
with Pauline Kael,” Cineaste25, no. 2 (2000): 10.
(^2) Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, This Is Orson Welles, ed.
Jonathan Rosenbaum (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 262.