Phantom Thread

Method in the madness...

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Yves: Daniel Day-Lewis certainly knew the art of tailoring.

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Leonardo: Yes, oh yes. Not just in the appraising eyes, the pins in the mouth, hands fluttering at the fabric. What a performance.

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32 and a half.
You can drop your arm now.

Yves: He studied a couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. He inhabited a role, he lived it. I heard he read a hundred books about Lincoln. That he caught pneumonia wearing an unlined coat for the Gangs of New York.

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Leonardo: Sounds a commitment.

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Yves: It’s a sacrifice, being a method actor. Giving your mind and body over to becoming another person. It’s a promise to be as persuasive as you can.

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Voice-over

Ordinary acting is akin to slipping on a costume, imitating a voice and copying gestures. When the act is finished you return to your usual self. Stanislavski’s method acting is studying a person, their past, their thoughts, their experiences, obsessively all day, every day. Then you channel elements of yourself and your emotions to carry off a performance that convinces. You become that person in body and mind.

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There is another distinction. Shakespearean acting vs. method acting. The classical Shakespearean approach is for an actor to rehearse rigorously and deliver the lines accurately and with subtlety. The words play a primary role in the actions and emotions. By contrast, in method acting the emphasis is on the experiences and emotions within the actor who may then ad lib more than a classical actor.

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TED speaks out

Inspired by Chris Anderson’s TED Guide…

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Monica: I highly recommend it.

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Joseph: But it’s an academic conference. A TED talk is short. It seeks to persuade. An academic presentation deals with theory and data, it cites other studies, goes into pros and cons.

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Monica: Chris says it’s a challenge to reduce complex ideas to something everyone will understand.

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Joseph: Admittedly, that’s a skill many academics could practice.

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Voice-over

Chris Anderson's Ted Talks is a great reminder of public speaking tips. Plot the throughline, use metaphor, tell stories. Link sections with connectors and design powerful slides. Rewrite, rethink, rehearse. In the performance, connect with the audience, be yourself, start and finish strong.

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Proustian questions and Venetian masks (1)

Party game…

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Antonio: I think we should do a Proust questionnaire.

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Cecilia: What, on everyone? Too time consuming.

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Antonio: How about one question for each person at random? And we video their responses. Like they do in Inside Actors' Studio.

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Cecilia: Some of the guests are publicity-shy.

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You must not know who I am...

Antonio: OK. So they wear Venetian, you know...

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Cecilia: Blinds?

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Antonio: Venetian masks. I have a collection.

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Voice-over

Proust questions, a selection:

The principal aspect of my personality.

The quality that I desire in a man.

The quality that I desire in a woman.

What I appreciate most about my friends.

My favorite pastime.

My dream of happiness.

What would be my greatest misfortune?

What I should like to be.

The country where I should like to live.

The flower that I like.

My favorite bird.

My favorite prose authors.

My heroes in fiction.

My favorite heroines in fiction.

My favorite composers.

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Turkish film: Taksim Hold'em

What movie did you see?

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The set

Louis: Taksim Hold’em. Four guys play poker while police and demonstrators fight on the streets outside. The dense, symbolic, clever dialog is a debate between the four friends as they argue whether to get involved or not. Books on the shelves behind reflect their characters and beliefs. A goldfish bowl is symbolic of the enclosed world they swim in.

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Auguste: Was there any ad-libbing?

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Louis: Apparently not. Its origin had been a group friends being close to a demonstration but who elected to play football instead. That premise became a script passed back and forth and was rewritten many times. It was a tight script to work from.

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The crew at TIFF

Auguste: Did you ask a question in the Q&A?

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Louis: I wanted to ask if it was conceived of as a stage play and if being shot almost entirely in one room had reduced logistical complexities and production costs. I put my hand up six times but the chair didn’t send the microphone my way.

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Voice-over

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Afterwards the producer came up to Louis and asked what his question was. He answered that although it was written as a film script, it might become a theater drama. And that taking place in one room had certainly lowered production complexities and costs. THAT was a producer with good PR skills!

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Leveraging in an interview

Beginning an imaginary interview with a real interviewer…
wh5: You are a very successful interviewer of a surprising number of top-flight film actors and actresses in your career and you've won prizes for your program, Inside Actors’ Studio. When did you start this program?

JL: In 1994.

wh5: And you have interviewed 200 of them. That’s about ten each year.

JL: Yes, about once a month on average.

wh5: You are 85 years old. Where do you get your energy to perform?

JL: I’m very low key. I know how to pause. I know how to listen. I ask short questions. And I leverage. Most of my questions require long answers from the guest. They do the work.

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Voice-over

So far, 200 of the world’s best-known actors, actresses and directors have been interviewed on Inside Actors’ Studio. James Lipton begins by noting achievements to establish ethos and relax the guest. Then he jumps out of the bushes with a surprise question – surprise is the drama. His guests are people who like to talk. That’s their job. And surprise sets them off.

Following James Lipton’s strategy, imagine you are interviewing a movie star.

(1) How would praise them? Establish the public image.

(2) How would you surprise them? Ask a private question. What do you think their reply would be?

(3) And finally, what Proustian question would you most like to ask the guest?

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