ON ACTING: Acting and Skiing

Good acting is like good skiing; counter intuitive. The acting instructor tells you to lean forward when dealing with an adversary, to get in your opponent’s face. The good ski instructor tells you when losing balance to lean downhill. (“Lean downhill?” you exclaim! “That’s the way I’m falling!” “That’s how you get your balance,” he assures you.)

It took me years of studying both good ski instruction and good acting instruction to realize they both properly fly in the face of conventional logic.

Actors and skiers lean into danger, not away from it. That's where the excitement is.