DON’T be afraid to say when a performance isn’t good.
The cast wants to hear from you. But find positive ways to phrase your comments. It’s a fine line to walk. You can tell an actor anything if you’ve gained their trust and they know you are supportive of them. Never insult them, or denigrate them in front of the crew or anywhere. You will lose them forever.
Oliver Stone: “Too many directors say, ‘That’s great, that’s great, that’s great’ to where it doesn’t mean anything. What does the actor believe? He doesn’t believe anything if the actor is always told, ‘You’re great.’ ‘It’s good, but…’ is a horrible way to start a conversation. I will go right to the point if I can. First of all, I look at the take and really think about it. I might wait three minutes or four minutes. So everybody’s shuffling around and the actor wants to hear what you thought. Then I go to them and I say, ‘You did this, and I think this is what you did and I think this is what you’re trying to do. However… this is what I think we should be doing. I’m not sure. I want you to tell me.’ And then we start a debate and that becomes a little bit of a debate. That’s fine, because I’m exploring it with him.”
Jeremy Kagan: “A well-known actor said to me, you’ve got to be able to tell me that I stink. Because if you don’t, I will stink. I need to be criticized, or I get lazy. This is an actor who knows himself and is saying, ‘Direct me this way.’ I often do say to certain actors when I’m meeting them; tell me what works with you. We haven’t worked together. Tell me what helps.”
Betty Thomas: “I worked with Kathy Bates once in Late Shift, and the first day of shooting I kept saying, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ Because how could it not be good with Kathy Bates? You know it’s good. It was good, but it wasn’t the character that she was supposed to be. Her character was based on a real person who was bombastic and rageful. And I never thought it would be so restrained and nice. I was trying to think. ‘Can I change everything? And I let it go for a whole day and that night I was destroyed at my weakness for not saying to Kathy, ‘This has to be different.’ So the next morning I just went right to her and I said, ‘Kathy,’ and she said, ‘It’s not working, is it. What should I do?’ I said, ‘You have to go for it. You have to go crazy. You have to let her hang out, or this will never, ever work.’ She said, ‘I knew that was true. I knew it. You’re totally right. Let’s go back. Let’s do it.’ And then she did the scene again and it was spectacular. Since then I’ve tried not to be so affected by great actors or big celebrities.”
DO phrase your comments to your actors positively.
“For God’s sake honey, you’re too slow, pick up your cues!” That’s negative in tone and a result-oriented direction. Try something like “What if you tried this next take as if you really have to go to the bathroom now?” or “Try it as though you’re about to miss your flight.” With a little practice it’s so easy to be positive most of the time.
DON’T do extra takes without giving the actors a good reason.
If all an actor hears is “Let’s do it again” they think they screwed up. It could have been a sound problem or a camera operator’s mistake. But the actor will always think it’s about them if you don’t tell them. If the camera misses a mark, then tell the actors they were okay but you had a technical problem. (Don’t bust the camera operator’s chops in front of everyone.)
Michael Caine told Craig Modderno in a Hollywood Life interview in 2005: “The thing I hate to hear from a director is ‘Let’s do it again.’ By take three I’m going downhill. I put all my energy into the early takes — otherwise my fellow actors and the crew get bored with me.”
Get it right the first time and get on with it was Sinatra’s motto. Clint Eastwood, who directs himself, is the same way. He’s been performing over forty years and knows what he is going to do. If you’re acting opposite him you better be good on take one, because he will often print it and move to the next shot. If Warren Beatty is the star you can do 50 takes before he’s happy. Not so with Clint.
Clint was making a film with a young director who always wanted to do lots and lots of takes. Clint tried to work with this for a week or so but he was so used to directing himself and moving very fast that he grew increasingly frustrated. Still he held his tongue in an effort to be respectful of his director. One day in a scene the number of takes had gotten up to 12 or 13. After take 13 the director called Cut. He called out, “Clint, that was perfect… this next time let’s do it more….” But he never got to finish the sentence. Clint was already heading to his trailer. The last words the director heard were, “Kid, perfect is as good as I get.”
Dennis Haysbert: “If that was perfect, why do you want one more? Let’s not just shoot the hell out of it. And drain everybody to death. I’ll give you another one, but, I mean, I’ve heard that perfect word. What does that leave for you to do? Now, better.”
