Give him something to do while delivering lines (eat an apple or something)...if you give them something to focus on it can make the reading more natural.
Yo. I've just cast my latest short film, and all the actors are great except one...he's just not natural and looks and sounds like he's a drama student, "acting" rather than properly reacting.
Any tips on how to coax a good performance out of a bad actor?
Give him something to do while delivering lines (eat an apple or something)...if you give them something to focus on it can make the reading more natural.
What's the part? Any chance you could turn a weakness into a strentgh, for example Schwarzenagger in Terminator (you've porbably already thought of that)? Is it a very big part? CAn you write some extra scenes for your other actors, with a view to removing as much as possible of the scenes with the actor who you are having difficulty with? Can you recast the part (when you are getting people to work for free - which I'm assuming you are - making enmies really doesn't make your life any easier)?
You could also try let him improvise as hes playing himself. Might work - might not be good for your specific project though.
Some "actors" are lost causes. I casted a guy and he seemed great. Just not when he had to do what he was supposed to a) get nervous b) get shot. I managed to change his nervous reaction to one of disbeleif and arrogance (like "now put that gun down its ridiculous" rather than "please dont kill me").
However when it came to the conclsion of the scene where he actually gets shot he just could not do it. He was physicaly incapable of reacting as if getting shot. I was dumbfolded and tried everything. I mean everey boy with respect for himself has played cops and robbers or whatever and pretended to be shot. But when he did it he was like "ouch" "oh" "ei". He just could not react in a kind of violent burst. Just an "ouch" and a poor attempt at a suprised face - and his "ouch" was even ? a second after the gun went off. Meaning I could not show the gun going off and his reaction in the same shot. It was terrible.
I had the whole crew take a 30 minute break with coffe just to insta-teach him how to react. But nothing worked. I ended up focusing on the killer and then film him when he was laying there dead. This was quite a bitch since part of the pay off was actually seeing him get shot in the balls after an afair and seeing his reaction.
So - Not really helpful - but might help you so you dont kill yourself and never direct again. Stuff like this happens.
I should rephrase 'bad actor' to 'non-actor' I guess. The guy himself has a lot of character, and I think I might be able to force him into the required state of mind for each scene, and he's Nigerian, so maybe the accent could help to distract from any non-natural moments.
Thanks for the tip about having him do something while he acts. It seems like a big part of it is just getting him to relax on the day - would that be the main concern? I'm pretty much asking him to play himself.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say - it's an often quoted technique suggested in many 'directing actors' books.Originally posted by Generic Skinhead:
Give him something to do while delivering lines (eat an apple or something)...if you give them something to focus on it can make the reading more natural.
have you run rehearsals?
sounds like he needs to relax, such as by knowing the other actors, knowing his lines, knowing his blocking, knowing his actions etc.
Run through this a few times with him ,dont talk about anything technical, let him roll with it and have fun. Oh and give him something else to do like everyone says - smoke a cigarette, polish a pint glass, do up his shoes, whatever it might be.
It really sucks for dialogues, but what you could do is say his lines exactly as you want them (while shooting), so he only have to repeats you.
Same goes for faces, really. Don't know how moldable his face is, but just 'make adjustments' while shooting, until you've found the one you want and tell him to hold it.
Last thing is a bit difficult and more for better actors I guess, because it takes THEM more effort than you, but tell him (them) to think of a joke they just heard and keep it in their head, but by all means, don't laugh. This works for some actors, for others this has no effect at all.
Cheers for all the help guys. Yeah, we've started rehearsals now and he seems to have opened up a little after getting to know the other actors. I guess I could just tell the rest of that I'll be spending a little more time on him on the day than them because he needs more work...
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