Lecture 8: Acting
Robert DeNiro in Heat (1995)
Professor Aaron Baker
Previous Lecture
• A Brief History of
Sound
• The Three Components
of Film Sound
– Dialogue
– Sounds Effects
– Music
2
This Lecture
• Stage and Movie
Acting
• Robert De Niro as
Star Actor
• De Niro’s
Performance in
Raging Bull (1980)
3
Stage and Movie Acting
Laurence Olivier as Hamlet
Lecture 8: Part I
4
Stage Acting
• generally receives less recognition than
movie acting.
• emphasizes roles that aren’t confused
with the actor’s real life.
• often evaluated by one’s ability to
succeed in well-known roles (e.g.
Hamlet, Willy Lohman, Lady Macbeth)
5
Stage performance
• is done in one
space and
time, before a
live audience.
• It requires
sustained focus
for the 2-3
hours of a play.
6
Film Acting: One and Done
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•
•
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Successful film actors are usually well known,
compensated.
Such star film actors are often seen as having a
distinctive, appealing identity that they present
in all their roles.
Film roles are usually done just once. Movie
actors perform a part and go on to others.
There is no repertory of great roles in the
movies as in theater to evaluate acting.
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Movie actors
generally perform
for just a few
minutes at a time,
spread out over
the weeks or
months in which a
film is shot.
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Four Challenges for Movie
Actors:
•
•
•
•
Lack of Rehearsal
Out of Continuity Shooting
No Audience
Impact of Other Contributors, Film
Technology
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Lack of Rehearsal
• Schedules, Cost Prevent
Rehearsal
• Actors Do Own Preparation
• E.g. De Niro:
--Lived in Sicily for The
Godfather, Part II (1974)
-Drove cab 3 months for Taxi
Driver (1976)
-Did interviews with Vietnam
veterans for Jackknife (1989)
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Out of Continuity Shooting
• Also Cost Efficient
• All Shots in a Location At One Time
(Even If from Different Parts of Story)
• Master Shot of Whole Scene
• Coverage (Often without Other Actors)
• Actor Must Know Character So Well
Can Play Parts of Story Out of Order
and Without Other Characters/Audience
Present
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Film actors
• often have limited
control over their
performance.
• The director, editor,
producer may
decide how the
actor will appear.
Cinematographer Janusz
Kaminski, director Steven
Spielberg and actor Diego
Luna on the set of The Terminal
2004.
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Some actors
will therefore learn more about
other aspects of filmmaking to
“increase their control over the
construction of their performances”
(Lehman and Luhr, Thinking About
Movies p. 149).
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Marlene Dietrich
learned about
lighting and
cinematography
to have more
involvement in
how she was
shown.
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Brad Pitt
Jeff Kurland, the
costume designer
from Ocean’s
Eleven, has said
that Brad Pitt’s
was very involved
in developing the
costumes his
character, Rusty
Ryan, wore.
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Summary Film Acting vs. Stage
Acting
• Fame and Fortune
• Collaborative
Performances
• One and Done
• Less Recognition
• Live Performance =
Creative Responsibility
• Standard of Famous
Roles
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Early Movie Acting
• Used emotive,
conventional gestures
from theater.
• Stage actors need to
project to audience to
overcome distance.
• As closer framing
brought viewer nearer,
film actors became more
17restrained.
Lillian Gish in Birth of a Nation, 1915
Method Acting
• After WW II became
most influential
acting style in
movies.
• Based on
psychological
realism of Russian
theater director
Constantin
Stanislavski
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Stanislavski
Use Own Experience
• Method actors
connect feelings of
character to own
experiences to
create performance.
• Marlon Brando was
one of first film
actors to
demonstrate the
viability of Method
19.
style
Rod Steiger and Brando in On the Waterfront 1954
Emotional Reality in Story
• Method actors seek
“moments of truth.”
• Express that truth with
their voice, facial
expressions, body,
props
• Brando in On the
Waterfront wears Eva
Marie Saint’s glove to
show his character’s
vulnerability.
Technical Approach
• Good Actors Need Not Identify with
Character, Draw on Own Experiences
• Can Instead Imitate Behavior They
Have Seen
• The Actor Simply “Pretends” To Be The
Character.
Laurence Olivier, Technical
Actor
• Bragged that during
his “To Be Or Not To
Be” soliloquy from
Hamlet (1948), while
the audience was on
the edge of their
seats, he was thinking
about what wine he
was going to have for
dinner later that
evening.
Personification vs.
Impersonation
Barry King
• Personification offers the attractiveness
of the star. What s/he is as a person.
• Impersonation asks the performer to
create the character in the story.
• Impersonation for King defines good
acting.
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Robert DeNiro: Star Actor
Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, 1980
Lecture 8: Part II
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Recognition
Academy Awards:
1. Best Supporting Actor
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
2. Best Actor
Raging Bull (1980)
3. Nominated for
Taxi Driver (1976) Deer Hunter
(1978), Awakenings (1990),
Cape Fear (1991)
Critical Praise
“Robert De Niro is nearly incapable of a
thoughtless performance. . . . [He] has been
a prolific screen actor, appearing in an
astonishing variety of roles both starring and
supporting, and playing each with equal
aplomb [complete and confident composure
or self-assurance].”
--Robin Wood
http://www.filmreference.com/Actors-andActresses-Da-Ea/De-Niro-Robert.html
Angry, Violent Characters
• Taxi Driver (1975)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• The Untouchables
(1987)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• Analyze This (1999)
• Meet the Parents
(2000)
• A Shark Tale (2004)
“Choked Rage”
“[DeNiro’s] often
fearsome screen
presence . . . full of
choked rage”
--Fred Schruers in
Rolling Stone
The Untouchables (1987)
De Niro Exemplifies
Impersonation Not
Personification
-Creates the Character
-Trained in Method (Stella
Adler)
But Also Uses Technical Skills:
-Research
-Physical Transformation
-Improvisation
Robert DeNiro as Jake Lamotta in Raging Bull 1980 (Top),
and as Al Capone in The Untouchables 1989
Good Acting Requires
Creative Control
“Good acting is
based on . . .
authorship.”
--Barry King
Robert De Niro as Max Cady
in Cape Fear (1991)
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Parodies of Masculinity
• De Niro’s Extreme
Anger, Violence as
Critique of Tough,
Violent Masculinity
• Such Anti-Social
Behavior Conceals
Insecurity/Fears
About Other Desires
(Connection,
Expressiveness)
DeNiro in Frankenstein 1994, as Mafia Boss in Analyze
This 1999 and as cross dressing pirate in Stardust 2007
Revisionist Roles: Alternative
Masculinity
Average guy in
Falling in Love (1984)
Reborn missionary in The
Mission (1986)
Acting as Social Critique
• DeNiro’s Acting Skill
to Create
Characters
• Angry, Violent
Masculinity as
Social Pathology
• Also Alternatives to
Violent,
Individualized
Masculinity
Vigilante in Taxi Driver (1976), Loving
dad in A Bronx Tale (1993)
De Niro in Raging Bull
Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, 1980
Lecture 8: Part III
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De Niro’s Preparation
• Research – Time with
Vicki LaMotta
• Training
Jake LaMotta: De Niro as
good as ranked
middleweight
• Transformation: After fight
scenes shot, gained
60 lbs. to play older
LaMotta.
De Niro’s as a Contender
• DeNiro trained hard to
present credible performance
of professional prizefighting
skills
• DeNiro’s Hard Work,
Preparation to Act Analogous
to LaMotta’s Desire to Be
Champ
• Tool of a Method
Performance/Clip 1
Dysfunction
• LaMotta’s Jealousy
• His Violence
• De Niro Uses Failure of
Language and Excessive
Weight to Represent Jake’s
Frustration and Lost Control
• Clip #2
Weight as Trait of Dysfunction
• De Niro Influenced Other
Film Actors to Manipulate
Weight
• Physical Trait Creates
Realism, Represents
Character’s Flaw,
Dysfunction
Sugar Ray Robinson
• Fought LaMotta Six
Times
• Robinson Won Five
• In 1951 Robinson
128-1-2
• Welterweight and
Middleweight
Champ
Clip 3: Last Robinson Fight
• Dark, Expressionist
Setting
• Point of View shots
show us Jake’s
perspective
• Show What’s in Jake’s
Mind
• Masochism attempt to
assert control in defeat
Whiteness
• Richard Dyer: Identity Based
on Feelings of Unjustified
Racial Superiority
• LaMotta’s Obsession
w/Control Involves Sense of
Self as White.
• LaMotta sees Robinson as
dark monster representing his
loss of control, dominance
over others.
• Equates Blackness with loss
of control.
De Niro’s Acting as Social
Critique
• LaMotta’s Masculinity
Defined as Domination of
Others
• Destroys Him, Those
Around Him
• De Niro’s Performance in
Collaboration with
Director Martin Scorsese
(Cinematography, Miseen-Scene)
Summary
• Movie and Stage
Acting
• Robert De Niro as
Star Actor
• De Niro’s
Performance in
Raging Bull (1980)
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End of Lecture 8
Next Lecture: Stars/George Clooney
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