I try not to get them to think about whether they like their characters, or if they’re good. I try to get them to think about how would they advocate for their position. I don’t find it hard for characters. I think if you start to look at something from someone else’s perspective, it starts to make sense. But you have to allow yourself to do that. And I think that that’s why some people are actors and some people aren’t. I think the people that are good at it are the people who allow themselves to create empathy for people who they might in life judge very harshly. I think people in life do it too, but some people have a harder time letting go of their judgment. That doesn’t make them a worse or better person. But as an actor, you definitely have to, as you’re playing that part, not worry about how you think about that character, that person. In life, a lot of people might be able to do that intellectually, understand ‘Well I can see why that person would do that,’ but still think ‘Yeah, but fuck them.’ Do you know what I mean? Actors have to go, ‘I don’t just have to understand how to think like this person, I actually have to personalize it,’ and make it their own somehow, and advocate for the character. And that’s a step that isn’t very comfortable all the time, and isn’t very easy all the time. But that’s that art form, and that’s what they do.
8:35 pm, by ahouseoflies
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