I heard a discussion on a podcast a couple of weeks back about iconic movie roles that had been offered to other actors first. They discussed how a different actor could never have been as good as the one that was actually cast and is known for that character. They went so far as to say it would have ruined the movie. I am not so sure about that.
Of course, the things I direct are a much smaller scale, although I do think that some of the actors in Birmingham could rival some of the famous Hollywood crowd. I have asked people to do a part in a show after imagining them in the role for weeks, only to be turned down for scheduling issues, etc. I usually have backup actors in mind, although to be honest, I have actually asked a backup first out of fear of rejection. There are some people I think are too talented to want to work with me!!
A couple of times the number two choice has turned me down, which emboldened me to ask that unattainable first choice talent and they have said YES!
No matter who agrees or what order I ask people to join a cast, someone different is automatically going to make the play different than it would have been with anyone else. That means that my answer to the discussion I heard on the podcast is that someone different would have been different, not necessarily better or worse.
Creating art, which is what good theatre and movies should be, is a journey. And since each person is different, that journey will automatically be different.
I haven’t blogged much lately because I have been writing something a little longer. Between directing a show and real life, my writing time has been limited. Blogging one day usually means not working on my other project.
My longer project, which entails fictional characters and circumstances, has been very eye opening.
I know how the journey of a play tends to go. I know that if I plan the timetable for the trip, the actors will add the twists and turns along the way. A good actor, who cares about what they are doing, will figure out how the character is like them and different from them. They will bring parts of their personality to the role and the role will become a part of them. They will figure out how they relate to the other characters in the play, both on stage and off. Their process will take them to many places, some they will stay in and other places they will just pass through.
As a director I try to lean in to where the journey is taking each individual, discuss the process with the individual and with the group and mostly try to stay out of their way. Of course, there are times that I have to step in to make something look a certain way or if I see two actors going two different directions, I stop them before they have a collision.
Constantly asking questions and pointing out discoveries I am making along the way helps to move the characters to where I ultimately want to see them go. Sometimes we never get there. Sometimes we go far beyond. Sometimes we end up somewhere totally different. That is the fun of a theatrical journey, exploring and growing as we all go somewhere together.
I always feel sorry for the people who don’t really give their characters much more thought than where they need to stand and what they are supposed to say. It takes away the interesting and creative part of the process for those who don’t put their whole selves into it. They cheat themselves and they absolutely cheat their audience.
When I paint, it never turns out the way I think it will. It almost always takes on a life of its own and goes places I had not planned. I guess that is why the art classes where everyone paints the same thing never interested me. Every piece certainly ends up different because every person is different, but I am such a rule follower, I have always figured I would try to make mine identical to the one the teacher shows and that wouldn’t be very creative. Just copying someone else is not very fulfilling to me.
Writing fiction these last few months has really been eye opening. When I blog, I almost always have a topic in mind. Something has sparked a thought or opinion and I write from there. Sometimes I have written out notes or an outline that I work from later, other times I get riled up and just start to write. Usually, I have a point I want to make before I begin.
I have been known to wander off topic, making me rewrite more than usual (or trash the whole thing) and sometimes I have to change the title multiple times. For the most part though, I have my subject, I have the point I want to make, or opinion I want to express, and I write that.
In writing fiction, my characters have taken over the story. I don’t know if that is how real writers work or if I am writing anything worth reading, but when I sit to write a specific portion of the story, next thing I know the characters have done something unexpected. Or they have added to the story I thought we were telling. Sometimes a character I hadn’t even imagined yet enters into the scene and I have to figure out who they are, what their name is and what they want to say. Sometimes it is unnerving, but most of the time it is interesting.
My characters have made me laugh out loud sometimes and other times I have gotten tears in my eyes as I write the heartbreak they are feeling. Although most of it is rooted in my real life (they say to write what you know) these characters want more from me. They want more for themselves.
Just as good actors want to dig deeper, uncover more, my writing is asking for more each time I sit at my computer. Just as the paint brush often makes a mark that I had not intended but adds to the depth of the painting or the unexpected details an actor brings out sheds light on the whole scene, these characters want me to go on a longer journey than I had anticipated.
Being an artist means being willing to go on those journeys. It means following where your imagination takes you. It means being willing to feel the hurt deeply, the joy fully and the experience completely. It means taking a risk that sometimes gets pulled back by a director or ruins the painting or has to be deleted from the book. Often times it means changing your destination or taking a detour.
I can’t imagine a life without these journeys. I can’t imagine reading a book or play without seeing the story unfold in my mind, writing without characters taking me to new places, painting without hidden details appearing or directing or acting without risking everything to understand someone else.
So yes, podcast people, the movie would have been very different if actor A had said yes instead of actor B getting the job. Would it have been as good? We will never know. What I do know is that the journey would have been a different one, so the destination would have been different as well.
Each creative endeavor is a journey. If you don’t open yourself up to take the journey fully, you are missing out on one of the greatest blessings in life.
