15. How To Be A Person: Trouble
Wednesday April 17th, 2024
This week on the Bold Acting Podcast I read my notes gleaned from Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. One of the things he talks about is why we get ourselves into trouble: because it’s easier than finishing what has to be done, Pressfield says. Everything from being late to blaring loud rap music, drug addiction, compulsive screwing up and jealousy is resistance (his word for the universal force that is at war with the creative spirit).
Obviously there is a lot wrong with the above statement. Addiction is an illness not a choice. And I would suggest listening to Hip Hop at whatever volume level is more a matter of musical taste than anti-creativity. He has a preponderance towards the angry old-manisms to be sure. Those aside the book for the most part acts as a tome of encouragement. A rarity these days when it comes to the Arts and artists.
But this trouble we get ourselves into is also living a life. To be jealous might not be the best way to spend all of your time but it also means you care about someone that someone else seems to care about too. One man’s screw-up could be another man’s risk taken. What seems bad at the time can end up being excellent. Like the dissolution of my marriage.
That is not how you work an elipses, Esquire. Shame on you.
The working artist harnesses the urge for trouble and puts it in their work, says Pressfield. Sure. Maybe. Not all the time. If you’re out there engaging with other humans there’s gonna be trouble. At least you better hope there is. Without it there is no grist. And then what will you feed your mill?
One of the best things you can do for your performance is to be an actor that gets themselves into trouble. We don’t want to watch polished as much as we want to watch actors deal successfully with a lot of problems. That’s why you see Brad Pitt eating all the time and Sam Rockwell dancing and check out Kyle Maclachlan talking on his CB radio while driving a car and reading his notebook as he enters Twin Peaks.
For your next audition see if you can’t load yourself up with props. Try eating convincingly on-camera. Give yourself a couple marks. Add an eye-line if you can. All this will give your performance a dynamism that others will not.
The responsible actor shows up early with their lines memorized and then they jump into the manure as quickly as possible and see if they can’t come up smelling of roses.
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