More to acting than saying lines
TORONTO — Making movies involves more than learning lines — actors are often called upon to pick up an instrument, swing a baseball bat or converse in exotic languages to impersonate cowboys, cops, musicians, athletes, super-heroes, or any number of screen-worthy characters, real or imagined.
We asked some well-known actors about the skills they have had to learn for films. Here’s what they had to say:
Ethan Hawke
Film: Born To Be Blue Skill acquired: Playing the trumpet to portray Chet Baker
“Will Smith can’t box like Muhammad Ali, but he can play the love of boxing. I can play the love of trumpet. And I can communicate the feeling,” said Hawke of his attempt to play the jazz legend in the Canadian movie.
But Hawke hasn’t really touched the trumpet since shooting wrapped in December 2014.
“It’s a fascinating thing about that. One minute you can be onstage in front of 1,500 people reciting all of Macbeth and, like, three weeks later you can’t remember a line. It’s so bizarre,” he said during interviews at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival.
“Right now, I’m doing this western about The Magnificent Seven and I play a horseback rider. I’ve gotten pretty good at horseback riding. But I may never ride a horse again. And I loved playing the trumpet. I got so into it. But in truth, I’m not very good at it.
“Or the point is, I’ve been playing the guitar for 20-something years and, as soon as the movie’s over, my love of music goes right back to the guitar. I’m just never going to catch up. I’ll never be with the trumpet where I am with the guitar.”
Ellen Page
Film: Into the Forest Skills acquired: Butchering, shooting a hunting rifle
To gear up for her survivalist film, which screened at the Toronto festival, Page spent two hours with a chef learning how to break down a pig for its meat. But when it came to filming, she had an adviser on set ready to jump in if needed. So is Page ready for the apocalypse?
“Honestly I would not last,” she said with a sigh.
Nevertheless, director Patricia Rozema said Page showed nothing but resolve on the day she took the beast apart on camera.
“She punctured an intestine and I think that got pretty foul so she was kind of gagging there. But she kept going,” Rozema said.
“The camera operators were dropping like flies — no one could take it — but she just soldiered on. There was no body doubles or anything, this was Ellen basically facing the reality of how you would survive.”
Rozema said you can often fudge a specific skill when shooting a film, but you can’t fake whether someone can act, which she calls “a magical skill.”
“You can have body doubles, you can shoot from behind, you can keep it in wide, depending on whatever skill you’re talking about. Yes, you can recreate that in some way.
“But for the closeup, [the acting is] important.”
George Clooney
Film: Gravity Skill acquired: Defying gravity
When asked at a Toronto festival press conference about the best skill he’s learned for a film, Clooney wisecracked that he got really good at weightlessness while filming the 2013 Oscar winner.
“Acting is really fun because you get to dip your toe into some world.
“A stunt driver will take you out and teach you how to slam the car into reverse and spin it around sideways, or you’ll learn how to do one thing. You sort of barely learn how to do it, just for the movie,” Clooney said.
“We get to live little bits and pieces of really interesting people’s lives and I think that’s really fun. I don’t think you end up holding those skills for very long. They come in and go out pretty quickly.”