As I was saying just last week, it’s time now to explore the balance of emotions that encompass acting (because I want to explore them, in case you wondered). So, as the great Mahatma Gandhi once said (and I really don’t know if he said it in real life, ’cause I only know first hand that the Oscar-winning Ben Kingsley said it as Gandhi in the 1982 iconic film of the same name), “I know a way out of hell” – which brings us to Number 6 on the list of The Thespian Ten Commandments:
VI. KEEP QUITE AND SPEAK AT ALL OF THE RIGHT MOMENTS AND/OR SPEAK ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO:
You wanna know some of the best acting I’ve ever seen Tom Cruise perform? It was in his 1999 film Magnolia, when he played probably one of the silliest characters I’ve ever seen ANYONE play on screen – or off: the misogynistic self-help guru Frank Mackey. Through the middle of the film, a journalist arrives to interview Frank who thinks, as usual, that he has the situation under control. But he does not. The reporter is manipulating him, like Frank has done with others his entire life. He’s been loud, obnoxious and over-bearing which, as with any bully, has of course hidden his insecurities. But now, in this scene with the reporter, he’s grown quite quiet. That’s right. Quite quiet. So much so, that the journalist wonders why. “I am silently judging you,” replies Frank, who realizes that he’s been duped – and is trying to regain control of the interchange – which he ultimately does. But this time, through silence and by NOT losing his head. Here, Tom as Frank gives the line delivery of his life. He’s not jumping around the screen spewing vulgarities in his underwear and looking absolutely ridiculous (as he does throughout the rest of the movie). Nope. He’s just sitting there, saying nothing – and taking full command of the scene in the process. The point is, in acting, it’s not always so much what you DO say, but what you DON’T say. Sometimes, it’s all about the power of silence in between the spoken word, the proper pause, and what you can do with a silent stare – as opposed to an open mouth. That being said, sometimes we have to let the OTHER actor do the talking (scripted or improv’d), and be the strong silent type. read article
by Ken Levine
