CHAPTER 12

Rehearsals

The old adage that time is money takes on mammoth proportions in filmmaking. The time and money constraints present at every level make a rehearsal period for the cast of a film prior to production rare. There just isn’t the time allotted to working with the actors in the way that it is done in the theater. Unless the script is of a classical nature, as in the filming of a Shakespearean play or some comparable text, little or no rehearsals take place.

Another reason, and perhaps the major one, is that the medium doesn’t lend itself to rehearsal before all of the technical machinery is in place and the whole cast and crew are on the set. Then a rehearsal for the camera, the sound, and the lights, as well as for the actors, can feasibly take place. There is an element of immediacy when the camera rolls, when all of the creative juices come together at once. The actors are an integral part, around whom much of the activity circles, but they are only one part in many that have come together to make the film happen. It’s only when everyone is there, standing together on the set, that the true film rehearsal takes place. This can be very unsettling to the inexperienced film actor who is accustomed to some kind of rehearsal process. The actor has to know how to work his instrument, his machinery, the same way the camera operator knows how to focus and work the camera, the same way each crew member knows her job. It is a world of technical proficiency and machinery. The fact that the actor’s instrument is human only affords a slight amount of preferential treatment for failure, but not much.

There are forms of rehearsals that do take place, and I will try to cover them in this chapter. Of course, each director has her own style of dealing with the problem of preparing the actors for their performances, but I will try to examine the most common experiences of the film actor. I will also give you some advice on what you can do on your own to fill the gaps when little or no rehearsal takes place.

THE READING

The most common way of rehearsing the actors is the reading. This is becoming more and more popular among directors as a means of communicating interpretations of the script and the individual characters to the actors. Directors develop their own style of conducting readings to get the most out of them. Some prefer a very relaxed setting, like an apartment or home, very often their own, where each scene is hashed out and talked about; perhaps the actors will improvise a little to further the discovery of the characters. Others go for a more formal setting of a rehearsal studio or office, where the screenplay is simply read and generally discussed for content.

Although there are many variations on the reading theme, most are conducted from a seated position, with no props or blocking. The concentration is on the text, the interpretation of the actors’ approach to the text, and the relationships between the characters. Everything else will be taken care of when the actual day of shooting is at hand. Let’s take a look at some possible reading scenarios and what you can do to get the most out of them.

Informal Roundtable Reading

I call this a roundtable because of its egalitarian feel. The whole idea is to meet one another in an atmosphere devoid of pressure. If you have been cast in a role and are asked to come to an informal reading of the script, you are very lucky. This means you will have an opportunity to meet your director and fellow cast members in a relaxed setting. Some directors invite various crew members to readings as well, especially the director of photography, costume designer, and assistant directors. If the director is not the author, the writer might be present to fix anything that needs fixing in the script.

There will be the usual introductions, probably some refreshments; always bring your own water in case none is provided. The director or someone else in charge will make a brief statement, and then you will open your script and the reading will start. The period of time before the reading begins is not the time to bring up a lot of questions for the director. It is a time of concentrated listening and observing. Unless you have a question of pronunciation, a truly technical confusion about the text, or a very brief and simple interpretation question, it’s best to remain silent—just observe and listen. Many of your questions will be answered in the course of the reading itself.

The informal reading is a perfect opportunity to start to build the relationships that your character will have in the movie. Watch the other actors and see how you fit into this world. Form opinions and make decisions. Allow yourself to be affected by the performance of any partners that you have. Whatever preparations you have made for the reading, grant the other characters permission to influence your moment-to-moment reality within your scenes. Give yourself over to the text. Don’t be timid; if you have an idea, now is the time to try it out to its fullest extent. Always have a pencil with you at a reading to make quick notes in your script as you go along.

A few general rules of any reading:

• Allow the words to do the work for you.

• Don’t illustrate, with any sort of actions, what is being read in the descriptive copy of the script.

• The only thing you have to do is read your lines and be emotionally present within the context of your scenes.

• You never act out anything that is being described about your character’s behavior that is nonverbal or is being observed by other characters. Just sit still.

• Only come to life as your character when you have text or are part of a scene.

• However, if you do have a role with a lot of nonverbal activity, you might want to ask the director what to do when that copy is being read. She may want you to indicate something of the action.

When the reading is over, the general discussion usually begins. It is here that the questions can be asked about interpretation. If the director is beaming and looks at you and says, “That’s great, you were wonderful, thank you so much, I have nothing to say,” she probably means it, and whatever you did is in accord with the director’s vision. What this actually means is you should keep working in the same direction to further develop the character. It does not mean that you stop working and assume there’s nothing more to do until you’re called to the set.

When the director does give you a note, then you are expected to fix it on your own by the time you get to the set. If you don’t know how to do it, then you will have to hire a coach who specializes in film, one who will know how to help you find the technical solution to your problem. There will be no time to fix it once shooting starts.

Never take a note or direction from another actor or, for that matter, from anyone other than the director. By the same token, never give another actor a note or direction—always stay within the circle of your own instinct under the guidance of the director. I would be very wary of any actor who starts suggesting line changes or interpretation tips for your character, regardless of who he is. Actors should only take care of their own parts.

The informal reading is also a perfect opportunity to become aware of any text difficulties that need to be addressed. Whatever pitfalls there may be for you, they will have to be corrected before your shooting begins. Some films offer a dialogue coach to help cast members with accents or special concerns of the text. This only happens on the bigger-budget films and is, of course, wonderful for the actor.

When the reading is over, you should set aside some time to write in your journal and make further notes in your script. Do this fairly soon after the reading—your ideas should be fresh in your mind.

Going Through the Script Scene by Scene

In a very good scenario, the director may want to separately work on scenes that demand more attention. Often these scenes are of a complex emotional nature or have unique timing, and the director would like to put the actors through their paces as one might in a theatrical situation. This is wonderful when it happens; all the acting problems can be ironed out in advance. Improvisational techniques may come into play here, depending on the training of the director and how much she knows about actors. Improvisation can highlight aspects of the character that will have to be acutely demonstrated later, on the set, in a much more economic fashion. It can also free up the inner life of the characters by widening the range of possibilities that might have been hidden before. More in-depth discussions may take place at these smaller meetings, and many questions you might have had can be talked about and answered.

During such a rehearsal, you may be able to employ the Inner Monologue to express what you would like to communicate with the text but are unable to convey. You can only use this technique sparingly and then revert immediately back to the text to try and put into the text what you have just said in your own words. It is a way of uncovering a moment when there is no time to discuss or hash it out. The impulse comes through your own words and then goes right into the line that you are supposed to say. Sometimes talking too much about these moments can dissipate the momentum of the impulse. It’s best to stay within the concentration of the scene, while you allow a glimmer of your inner intent to shine into the text, through your own words.

Al Pacino made a film called Looking for Richard that illustrates this technique of wondering and exploring the questions you have about a character in a reading rehearsal. The movie, which is about Al’s quest to understand how to present the Shakespearean play Richard III to an American audience, as well as his own grappling with playing the lead part himself, has wonderful scenes of his and his colleagues’ approach to discovering a role. Many of the scenes that we see being rehearsed and discussed are then shown in their filmed performance. It took Al a year or so to make this film, which he did in bits and pieces, with different casts, in between his major motion picture roles. Looking for Richard shows a rare luxury of time that the vast majority of films in preproduction cannot afford. It also shows the power of the actors’ inquisitive natures and their search to discover the inner lives of their characters while trying to decipher a text. I would highly recommend watching it.

Unfortunately, smaller scene rehearsals may not occur until the movie is already in its shooting phase, because of the demanding time constraints placed on a director in preproduction. They might occur a few days or even the night before you are scheduled to shoot the scene—they are dropped in as time allows, while the crew is setting up another shot or the weather has forced the cancellation of an exterior shoot. If this is the case, the rehearsal will be very economical. It will be a situation where, basically, the director tells you what she wants, and you have an opportunity to sit with your scene partners (as I’ve mentioned before, it could be the first time you’ve actually met them). You go back to the rules of the informal reading—you mostly listen and observe—absorbing as much vital information as is possible that will be useful for playing the character. Always follow the lead of the director’s style of distributing information and decipher how best to use it for your own means.

In the case of a film like Apocalypse Now—where the script is being worked on as you are making the movie and the lines of the relationship between the actors, the characters they are playing, the director, and the script become blurred in a net of discovery, both personal and professional—there are no rules. The rules are made up as you go along. The documentary by Eleanor Coppola about the making of Apocalypse Now, which she called Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, is an extreme example of what can happen when a director decides to go down this particular creative path. Francis Ford Coppola had already made The Godfather and The Godfather II, as well as many other films, before he started work on Apocalypse Now. He had also won several Academy Awards and written many screenplays for hire. Even with this breadth of experience, the problems he encountered during the making of this film are of legendary proportions.

The documentary shows the entire process he undertook and its effect on the actors, the screenplay, his family, and himself. From an acting point of view, it is very intriguing to watch how the actors fit into this process and what a large role they played in the development of the final film. To work with a director so uniquely committed to his vision that he will take everyone involved down such a creatively invigorating path, and who has such respect for the art of acting, can be every actor’s dream. If the director lacks the experience and wisdom to pull off such an undertaking, it can be an actor’s nightmare. It takes the willingness to experience a little of both dream and nightmare to survive being part of such enterprise, regardless of its outcome.

The Staged Screenplay Reading

The staged screenplay reading is a strange animal within the film world. It is becoming increasingly popular as an entertainment form of its own and is actually closer kin to a public performance of a radio play than to the viewing of a film. You hear the film, see the actors who are speaking the parts, but really, it is the audience’s imagination that brings the film to life; they see the pictures in their minds. This is why it is more like a radio play than a film. The reason I include it under the chapter for rehearsals is that it might be the only rehearsal you get before you start shooting, when you will have camera rehearsals on the set.

The actors sit across the stage in a line. Each wears a head microphone, and a narrator at one end reads all of the slug lines and copy descriptions. There is usually no movement of the actors and no props. It is through the descriptive copy and the voices of the characters that the story is conveyed. Theater actors and voice-over artists are often employed to do the staged reading, because the voice is so important to getting the story across.

These readings only have one read-through rehearsal, usually done on the same day as the actual performance. Normally, you have gotten your script a week in advance, and, though you are not expected to memorize anything, you are expected to act as you read. At the rehearsal, you should pace yourself, for you’ll have to perform it again at the public reading. I know that in the theater, actors do matinee and evening performances, but that is a different process altogether. In the theater, the play has been rehearsed; therefore you know what you have to do and you have learned through rehearsals how to gauge your performance. In the case of the staged reading rehearsal, you can, at first, only learn what will be expected of you by putting your main energy into listening and observing where the difficulties will lie for the actual performance. Then you quickly make the necessary decisions and choices in the comparatively short break between the rehearsal and the performance. Once you’re on stage, you simply go with what you’ve got and leave any worrying about how to fix it if it’s wrong, out of your sphere of concentration for the moment.

The director will seat each cast member in the right position for his character. Usually, you will stay in the same chair throughout the reading. There might be times when your scene partner or partners will be down at the other end of the seating line, and although you can glance at them or address them, you’ll have to primarily keep your face and body open to the audience. The trouble always is gauging just the right amount of energy to convey your emotions from a seated position while facing out front, rather than facing your scene partner.

The actors don’t move, because it takes away from the imaginary world the audience members are creating in their minds. It disturbs their concentration. If there is a great deal of movement, the audience will expect more than can be delivered from actors sitting and holding their scripts. It’s much better to keep things fairly still and allow the magic of the script to work through the images of the words. Besides, if you’re wired to a head mike, every change in seating would require you to take off your mike, move to another seat, and put on a new mike. This would definitely break up the flow of the screenplay. Screenplay readings are miked, not only because it adds to the illusion of watching a film by electronically amplifying the voice, but also because they often take place in spaces like movie theaters or small auditoriums that are acoustically unfit for theatrical voice projection.

Regardless of your distance from your partner, you must place your concentration on the moment-to-moment reality of the scene. Since it is miked, you can use your voice appropriately for the scene’s requirements. The descriptive copy might state that the two of you have just woken up from a passionate night and your scene is a sweet repartee of two people discovering each other. Even though you are sitting at one end and your partner at the other, you’ll have to convey the intimacy of two lovers in bed. This is good practice for the close-up shot, where you will have to act, without seeing your partner, to the camera. On the other hand, if you are supposed to be in a barroom brawl, you will not be able to physically demonstrate through actions. You’ll have to convey the majority of the reality through your voice, with only minimal movement. The narrator will be describing the physical action by reading the descriptive copy. An animated, engaged, and well-paced narrator is an essential component to a staged reading’s success.

I’ve heard that, in Shakespeare’s day, people would say, “I’m going to hear a play,” rather than, “I’m going to see a play.” Thus the emphasis was on the words and what they might evoke. This is also true of the staged reading, though it has another aspect in common with Shakespeare’s time—the custom of doubling. A straight line across a small stage can only hold about fifteen chairs, and even that’s quite crowded. Some scripts have many characters with just a few lines, like the roles of Policeman #1 and #2, Waitress, or Lady with a Dog, etc. They can’t have twenty different actors playing each role at the reading, as they will have in the finished film, so actors double, triple, quadruple, etc., roles. Every character in a screenplay reading needs a voice and someone has to be assigned that role. Sometimes that’s all you’ll do in a reading, read all the little parts appropriate to your gender. I think I once played about fifteen one- or two-liner roles in a staged reading about a detective gone bad in New York City. I made up a different character for each of the roles. I had an absolute blast doing every accent and voice type I could think of. I was very lucky that the setting was New York City, though, because everybody in the world lives and works in New York City. If you find yourself in a reading with a ton of little characters to play, enjoy yourself, and give each character their moment in the sun.

The staged reading is also used as a marketing tool to generate funds and attention for a project that is trying to lure investors and producers. Very often stars or their representatives will attend a reading to see if they are interested in the material. It is a very economical approach to generating interest in a film looking to be made. What this means to actors is that being in a reading does not necessarily secure you a role in the film. You might play a lead in the reading and be asked down the road to play a much smaller role in the film, if you are involved in it at all. Don’t be hurt or feel there’s something wrong with your acting; accept that these things happen in the business all the time and take the job. The road to getting a film made is a very rocky one, and there are many factors, mostly financial, that figure into the casting of lead characters. However, readings are always another form of auditioning. Just as they are a way of generating interest in a film, they can also generate interest in an actor.

I think the screenplay reading is becoming so popular because it constricts the actor the same way that a close-up does. In a reading, there’s just enough distance between the actor and the audience to allow each audience member to enhance the performance with her own imagination. It brings the audience into the process. They are engaged—they become director, set designer, and director of photography as they create the film in their minds—and they feel that their input is needed to complete the creation of the film. Indeed, they are needed at this moment. As the actor, you have a chance to feel out the character as it will feel when you stand alone before the void of the camera lens. In this strange way, the staged reading is like a public rehearsal; it is a way of testing your public privacy when you are engaged within the concentration of your character’s world.

A relaxed, breathing, open actor sitting there before an audience is a very compelling thing. Still but present, the actor leads the audience into his character with the ambience of his voice and the subtlety of his movement. It is a very seductive relationship. As with any seduction, if you overdo it, you will cross over the boundaries and lose your allure.

The minimalist approach is best as far as preparation goes for a staged reading. Here are a few pointers:

• Know the story and understand the screenplay as best as you can.

• Break down each of your scenes carefully and know exactly where the climaxes are.

• Think of your character as a piece of music. Vary the voice quality; don’t play just one note.

• Highlight all of your text!

• Do voice warm-ups before the rehearsal and the performance. There usually isn’t an intermission, so it might be two or more hours straight on stage.

• Get a good night’s sleep the day before.

• Keep all sensory elements to a minimum, unless you are very proficient at them. You can’t get distracted or involved with your own thing; you’ve got to stay with the pack.

• Let the words come out of the impulse, and stay in the moment with your partner.

• Choose a few simple traits that are within the character and accentuate them. Don’t try and create the entire movie. It’s impossible from a chair, with a script in your hand, while you’re wearing a head mike.

• Work fully within the limitations.

• Stay in the moment and go with the flow.

• Have a very good time.

SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT THROUGH REHEARSAL AND IMPROVISATION

Some projects have a long gestation period, either through the creative methods of the director/writer or because of necessity; it just takes a long time to work out what the script is really about. Actors may be called in to help with the development of a screenplay. Both films I mentioned before, Looking for Richard and Hearts of Darkness, present good examples of how actors and directors work together to complete the script development process. If you have never worked on a film script in this way, I would jump at any opportunity that might come your way, even if you never get to be in the finished film. Of course you’d have to like and respect the people you’re working with. Many student directors or groups of friends will get together to try and collaboratively work on a script. If you become involved with such a process, the sensory work of the earlier chapters can be of a real value.

The director/writer supplies an intellectual format or concept that may or may not have yet taken the form of a script. The actors take the concept on a journey through their imaginary reality as the concept inspires them. Their imaginary reality elucidates different factors of the creative concept through action and behavior. This bounces back to the writer/director, who formalizes it and throws it back into the acting pit by either structuring it into a script or making the concept more complex. The video camera is often brought into these rehearsals to record and experiment with the visual style. This process can go back and forth over a long period of time. Because you work together so intensely, very enduring relationships, both professional and private, can come from sharing this process. It can be a wonderfully rewarding experience that should be enjoyed solely for its own sake.

It takes a very special creative personality to formulate all of the process work into a script that can be the blueprint for a viable movie. Many films that look as though they have been improvised have come into being through this process; at some point, the director/writer pulls it all together into a cohesive whole. What you are seeing on the screen, which appears so spontaneous, is actually the result of years of planning and work.

However, many groups that embark upon exploratory projects find that there is no end to the exploration—it just goes on and on—and they fall in love with the process, and the film never gets finished. In spite of this being the case, I would still strongly suggest becoming involved in such a project at least once, if the opportunity arises and you can afford the time (one is rarely paid for such labors of love). It is invaluable as a learning tool, and it gives you an opportunity to see inside the creative structure of the director/writer/actor relationship and how it works within the film medium. The knowledge you can gain from this experience will be extremely useful for the rest of your film career.

THINGS TO DO ON YOUR OWN

If you can’t rehearse with the director or other cast members, you can still improvise on your own. Without the overseeing eye of the director, though, the work can only be considered improvisational, because whatever you do might be changed once the filming starts.

Most actors do not exist in a vacuum; they are part of a community of other actors. The first thing you need is a trusted a friend or colleague who knows your work and will be willing to assist you. The person must agree to be there for you, that is, to help you prepare. You can’t allow yourself to be directed in this process; you just need an assistant to play the other parts and bounce around your preparations, so you can find things on your own.

Here are a few approaches and tips to rehearsing on your own:

• Single out one or two things per rehearsal that you would like to work on. No more than two! To start with, you might chose exploring the nature of the relationship between you and a scene partner.

• Pose questions that you will try to answer through your improvisational work with your partner. Always go into an improvisation with a question that will set up a parameter within which to explore.

To improvise without parameters can be a waste of time. As in the sense memory work, it is best to wonder about the possibilities by giving your imagination free rein within a set of boundaries. You set up the boundaries by asking a specific question, rather than trying to prove a preconceived idea by forcing it on the improvisation. The right question will lead you to a usable answer or to the formulation of a better question. You only work on one or two elements at a time, so that you can explore them fully without overtaxing the acting instrument. You keep what you feel has worked from one improvisation, choose something else to work on, and layer it into the next improvisation.

• Read the scene together, inserting the Inner Monologue when you don’t understand something, either of your own text or of your partner’s. Your partner should do this also.

• Use the Inner Monologue when you can’t express with the text what you are actually feeling. Never bottle up your emotions or try to funnel them into a narrow, constricted idea of the character in a session with a friend. Listen to your impulses and express them.

Part of the reason that you bother to rehearse on your own is to give yourself more freedom than you will have in the professional situation. It gives you a chance to warm up to the character and work out the bugs. If you sanction a more permissive range of expression now, you will be able to uncover the problems with your preparation before you get to the set. Once uncovered, a problem can usually be solved.

• Try to find a situation that you are familiar with that is like the one in the screenplay and discuss it with your partner.

• Use this situation along with the one or two things you have isolated to explore the scene.

• Take your time. Don’t worry about pacing and the rhythm of the scene.

If you have been developing the character, you might want to try some of your ideas out with your friend’s help. See if you can create any of the sense memories you have chosen while looking into another pair of human eyes. You may find that your preparation will have to be adjusted when it encounters the opposition of another living being. It’s one thing to be brilliant alone in your bedroom, quite another to hold your own against the forces of a scene partner. You want to check for tension here. Make sure that your preparation is not so strong that the emotion chokes you or so timid that it dissipates when you start putting some of the demands of the scene on it. You also want to make sure that you can remain flexible enough to respond to the other actor.

• Improvise the scenes that do not take place in the script but are part of the character’s known history. This can either be events that take place before the character’s life as it appears in the script or events that we know have occurred but are not shown in the movie.

This can be very valuable work to create a believable character. It also clarifies relationships that you have in the movie by making a history. When you do this type of improvisation, keep it simple and always have a good time; have fun.

The trick is to find out what you can use practically and eliminate that which bogs the character down in any form of self-indulgence or takes you away from the action of the scene. In order to do this, you need to isolate the elements and work on them separately before you can layer the part into a cohesive whole.

Don’t allow your partner to direct you or give you advice on how to play the part. Remember that the only opinion that really counts is that of your director, and you will have to wait to receive that one. The work you do on your own can strengthen your confidence and give you a battalion of ideas that you can pull from as needed on the set. It makes you feel less vulnerable and more prepared to perform once the camera starts rolling.

I love the art of the screenplay and how this wonderfully compact, precise written form opens the door to creative choices through its clear-cut, crisp format. I have tried, in these last chapters, to help the actor to get the most out of the script before the shooting starts and to help him to use his technique to create the character from the information in the script.

In the next segment of the book, I’ll talk about the shooting of the movie, the roles that important crew members play for the actor, and how the actor works in the whirlwind that is a movie set.