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Peter Brusikiewicz Blog May 22nd
What is acting? Acting is simplicity. It is when the actor is being truthful in the moment, under imaginary circumstances that s/he takes on as if they are real. Then yet, why is it such a difficult task to achieve? Why is it that when the camera begins to roll or when we are up on stage, we are ready to act? Apparently, when Marlon Brando played in the Godfather, he would be talking to the crew members in between takes, and then, when the Director would yell action, he would do a seamless transition into the role of the character. As if he was just being himself, just like when he talked with the crew. Robert Duvall said, that all you had to do when playing with Brando was listen to him. It was that easy. Yet, the simplicity of acting is what makes it so difficult to achieve. I have much more respect for working actors now, than I did four months ago. And I do not mean the Hollywood stars and starlets. I mean the actors which give it there all to this craft. These people are gladiators. It takes so much discipline, focus, and concentration to become a good actor. You have to take care of yourself and be in shape. You have to keep your mind open and constantly educate yourself. You have to continuously search through the depths of life, as in all forms of art. As someone once told me, Artists have a close relationship to God. They know how to find the light in everything. From pain, suffering, and sorrow, they can make light, and even entertain. Even where I am living right now, it is not the greatest neighbourhood, however, more and more urban hipsters and artists are moving in, to see what they can do to clean this place up and shed some light. They run festivals to clean up, go tree planting, open up organic delis and cafes, etc. Once they do this, the property will go up in value, and these artists will not be able to afford the rent anymore, in the area that they helped clean up. They will move on to other more affordable regions that need some cleaning, as the more affluent folks move into this area. This has already happened in some parts of New York. It happened with Greenwich Village, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg, to name a few. There are times where I look around and ask myself the question “what the hell am I doing here?” I never imagined that life would have taken me to where I am right now. Life is quite the mystery. But some inner urge had to drag me all the way down to New York from my comfort zone in Toronto. There had to be some calling for all of this. I never asked to take the artistic route. At the age of seventeen, I never thought to be pursuing acting in New York. I thought I would be pursuing my secretary to go and fax me some financial documents, wearing my blue tie, and button up shirt. But, I guess I had some urge inside of me that led me in this direction. I have this feeling in my gut. I My meisner teacher sparked up a good conversation the other day in class. This conversation was about the ongoing debate of: Imagination or Emotional Recall when acting? Which one is better when doing emotionally preparation for your role? Method Acting relies entirely on emotional recall. The process of going back into your own past experiences and finding the feel that you had when you were going through these experiences. You get in touch with these experiences through your senses. Meaning, what you smelled; what you saw; what you heard; what you tasted; what you touched; etc, during the time. This technique, however, has been proven to be an unhealthy way to get into the emotional state of your character. Who wants to remember of your dog dieing when you were seven, or the girl that broke your heart? And, not to mention, you perform your piece and then you go for a drink with your cast, only to be bummed out by the memories that you have brought back to life. Through this process, people know how to open up the doors to these emotions, but not all of them know how to shut the door once the performance is finished. I heard that Robert Deniro had a tough time getting out of character after finishing the shooting of Raging Bull. A lot of actors developed some intense psychological problems through this. Why not let the imagination do all of the work? The imagination is a much more powerful tool as I have been hearing. For one, your imagination will never block you. There are no limits to your imagination as there may be when doing emotional preparation through past event that occurred in your life. To give you an understanding of the power of your own imagination, think of sexual thoughts. You know, and we all know, how to arouse ourselves. We know what gets us off. So why can’t we find those imaginary thoughts that rather than sexually arousing us, they make us happy, sad, angry, tearful, etc. It takes work to develop the imagination. It takes work to become a good actor. It is a craft that can never be mastered, like yoga. Acting must be driven by ambition, determination, and passion.
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