#my gf and i were discussing how different character roles would be swapped and i kinda figured ampharos/simipour would be interesting | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hardblazesong · 7 years

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On Acting Continued...

Going to start this post with a bit of mea culpa, so, hang in there for the actual points of the post. I am learning not to say, “I’m going to post today on this thing”. While it is always my intention to post the day I say this, other things get in the way or the writing muse decides she’s had enough and goes elsewhere for a bit. So, I am going back to “soonish”.

This topic has been discussed a lot, and the DMs have been many, and the Anons a few and I do want to try to rebuild the lengthy post I lost, so it will be a long ramble. I won’t be putting it under a cut, so apologies for that as well. STOP READING NOW IF YOU THINK BRANDO WAS A BETTER ACTOR THAN OLIVIER, you’ll save us both a bunch of agita.

Now the obligatory notices:

1) I do not know Sam Heughan personally, this is an opinion piece, not a biographical piece, know the difference. I am a fan, although I would not be considered in the hardiest of camps for this.

2)I have not spent my working life as an Actor. I have been paid to do it. I have been a performer since I was four years old, and am currently 53. I have studied, at the college level, the art of Acting and Directing, as it was my minor, off and on for many years. I have studied Actors all my life, see prior posts. I started as an English/Theater major, swapped to Education/Theater and then the last few years swapped to History/Political Science/Theater. I am still working on these degrees. I took my first college course at 20 and my last one at 51. I don’t plan on ever stopping.

3)I have done more directing and technical work than Acting, although as previously stated, I come from a multi-generational family of actors and performers. 90 percent of this work from my family has been on the stage in productions or performance pieces. The other 10 percent has involved film, radio productions and teaching.

4)I am not a Psychiatrist or Psychologist and don’t play one on TV. I have made a rather extensive study of this topic as well. For this piece, it is only necessary to know that I consider myself an Ambivert and a Pragmatic Jungian. I would IN NO WAY be considered a Behavioralist, and mostly consider Behavioralism the bane of modern society’s existence. Actions do speak louder than words though, so be aware for future reference, that when I speak of the dichotomy of Sam’s words to his actions, this is what I mean.

Definitions from Google, highlighted and truncated by me:

Ambivert: noun ~ a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features.

Acting: noun ~ the art or occupation of performing in plays, movies, or television productions

synonyms: dramatics, stagecraft, the performing arts

informal: treading the boards, “the theory and practice of acting”

adjective ~ temporarily doing the duties of another person

synonyms: temporary, interim, caretaker

I had originally put a long wiki paragraph on acting styles here, but here’s the link instead:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acting_techniques

The original post I commented on with highlighting and edits by the author:

smithsassenach Deactivated

Sam Heughan’s thoughts on acting and becoming your character:

“I don’t know if anyone knows if they’re ever any good… You just say the words and the words kind of affect you, the actor, if you’re open to it and I think I just really relished that role and threw myself into it and sort of realized that that’s what you need to do and I guess, that’s, yeah — that’s what I do now.”

“I think every job I do, I sort of look for the challenge in. I mean, that’s why we do this job. It’s not, you know, obviously not for the money or for the fame, it’s for, I guess finding out more about yourself. You find out what your limitations are and what you can get away with on stage, or not, as the case may be.” [X]

“I have no interest in the celebrity side or people knowing who I am, to be perfectly honest,” he says, seated in a darkened pub in a hotel here.

“I think it’s more about the characters you tell. And you can hide behind them.

… it feels very odd to have to be yourself.

I’d much rather be someone different and ‘Outlander’ is wonderful… But it happens with each character. You take on board their life to live like they do. I think that’s the joy of it, being other people.” [X]

Finally, some Anon Comments:

"All fans of SH need to read this and really think about what he says here. REALLY think about it. It’s very telling." Hi, would love to know your take on this. One thing about his words though - He said he was not into fame, but for the past year, he's been playing the HW fame game. Maybe he did change over time? If he really was what he said about himself, I'd assume that he would stay with the theater instead of trying so hard to get into HW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've reached the point where I really don't believe anything that Sam or Cait say in interviews. Not interested in fame? Please pull my other leg, it plays Jingle Bells! Odd choice then for Sam to have a supposed GF who seems primarily interested in fame and is not concerned that her behaviour is negatively impacting Sam's image with an intelligent audiences! And what about the pre-arranged pap walk with matching tshirts (a la Hiddleswift!)?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why did I think they were telling? Along with any other number of quotes and interviews with Sam the insecurity here is glaring, revealing and touching. Sam’s said a lot over the years about acting and his process, of more interest to me is when he talks about watching people. The BEST Actors are OBSERVERS first and foremost. I am not a fan of “Method” acting, in the main I believe in “Classical” and “Meisner” and somewhat in “Practical Aesthetics” color me “Adler” I guess.

Acting is an insecure business all the way around when you are getting started. Will they like my performance? Am I good enough? Am I serving the Author, the Production, the Cast, the Craft with all I can? What if they don’t? What if I’m not? What if I forget everything I was ever taught or my lines? What if I never get another job? The greatest actors feel these things at a core level, but they tend to grow out of the worst of it. There comes a point when they can master their own insecurities and know that their work has value. I don’t think he’s there yet.

Unfortunately, plaudits can have a negative effect as well. Egos can become omnipresent, uncontrollable, and layered on top of all that simmering insecurity. If you are surrounded by people who are telling you that you are the greatest thing since white bread, and have a massive fanbase saying very similar things, well, I feel for you. I really do. I sincerely hope you have people to keep you grounded, and that they aren’t just on speed dial. He’s 37, he’s been doing this a long time, and I think had very good training at the Conservatoire.

He’s not a child, and, thus far, he hasn’t gone off the rails in any truly damaging way. I do think he is a bit immature for his age and while he admits to being a “Yes Man” I don’t really think he is. I think, as an ambivert, not an introvert, he is conflicted in his own nature, and it takes time to come to grips with that. It also takes suffering through what life really hands you or you make occur. Has he gone HW? Partly, but you would too.

You really don’t get many chances in this lifetime to make your dreams come true. He’s living his. He’s balanced his work with his charity endeavors and while I think he has had some very bad advisors over the years, and needs to replace several of them, I don’t know that I think he is mature enough to see that. Intelligent enough yes, but I am talking emotional maturity here. That does appear to be lacking at times.

Acting is TEMPORARY. You don’t find yourself when you are pretending to be someone else. You may find things in common, you may use those things to build your character, but they are NOT you. You must learn to shed the characterization and be in your own skin daily. Who are YOU? When you aren’t pretending? When you aren’t hiding behind the façade? When you are in the public eye, how much do you reveal, and why?

It’s no easy road he’s traveling, and if you think it is, you don’t really understand what I am trying to say here. Actors are by no means the only people who fill their lives with extraneous crap to try to come to terms with the truth of themselves and life. They do live for the show though, the show is all, and it must go on. Fame and Fortune, while not the core needs, are most certainly present in their minds AT ALL TIMES, if only as a niggling little voice. Most actors aren’t going to say, “I want to be Famous”, but they do. Trust me, they do. Then the lucky few who do become known, well they have to deal with that.

Only time is going to tell how long he can sustain his career in film, but I think it’s safe to say, he will never totally abandon the boards. It’s in his blood now, almost as deep as that workout addiction. By the way, Olivier stressed the need for an Actor to be physically fit long before it came into fashion.

Enough, or I won’t have anything to say in the recaps I plan on doing when S3 has finished its’ first run. Feel free to keep commenting to me, asking and DMing about these topics.

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