ON ACTING: A Repeat on Reactions

In everyday life, the exact moment a feeling occurs is not a static, predictable thing; ad good actors must respond accordingly.

German linguistic and cultural patience aside (Germans must stand and wait until the last word of a sentence to hear the verb; when I read German, that often meant I had to wait until the end of the sentence to understand the full textual meaning), next time you have a conversation with someone, be aware at what point what they are saying has emotional meaning to you; that is, when the sentence/dialogue becomes logically/emotionally impacting on you. You will find these moments very greatly from sentence to sentence. (Sometimes, in fact, you may even find your inner reaction occurs even before they begin speaking: ‘we know what they are going to say from the look on their face'; and that's when our emotional reaction to them begins).

As in everyday life, the good actor responds according to the pattern of everyday life; which means they must be truly looking, listening, touching, smelling and tasting during a scene in order to be honestly and spontaneously feeling.