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Transitions: in the movies, not in eyeglasses
21 March 2010
Playing a role in a film can be quite demanding on the actor. This isn’t an earth-shaking statement but I am always impressed how it’s actually done. To shoot and re-shoot scene after scene, with different camera angles or lighting, and still maintain the exact look the director wants every time is difficult. Some actors accomplish this with apparent ease every time in every film.
We all have favorite actors and see every movie they’ve ever made almost obsessively. What I look for in character development and plot is how the individual actor, regardless of the role, actually makes the various transitions from the start of the film to the end. There are so many subtle shades of who he or she is when we first meet them to the extraordinary changes we see right before our eyes.
Watch George Clooney closely as he moves his character Ryan Bingham from scene to scene and even within scenes in the highly acclaimed “Up in the Air”. The cool unemotional corporate hatchet man changes into what some of us might label a human being, especially when he visits his family and realizes how distant he’s become – and what’s missing in his life. He perks up in the love scenes with Vera Farmiga, getting excited about corporate credit cards and million-mile air travel awards.
Sir Alec Guinness created numerous memorable roles in a long distinguished film career. Playing nine separate characters in “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is still impressive sixty years later. I can think of several outstanding parts he’s done but one of the most impressive was as Colonel Nicholson, the pompous obsessive British Army officer in David Lean’s “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Maintaining discipline among his battered troops in a Japanese P.O.W camp in Burma is his personal challenge. He is the epitome of the upper-class British officer who sees only what he wants to see, immersed in his own vision of traditions and fables of an England lost forever. Throughout most of the film Guinness drives the men to build the bridge not sabotage it. Morale will be the victor. Too late he realizes what he’s done, helping the enemy instead of his men. The commando team sent in to destroy the bridge (a real one by the way, not a model) encounters the incredible results of his blindness. As he dies Colonel Nicholson blows up the bridge. His character wears many faces behind which is a deeply troubled and confused man.
A personal favorites is “The Long Kiss Goodnight” an action thriller starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. Two unlikely characters will get involved with each other in a convoluted game of spies, private eyes, good guys and bad guys. Geena Davis is a housewife with brief visions of a past life complete with a name, Charlene Baltimore, and scary scenes far removed from her present life. Samuel L. Jackson portrays a small-time scamming private investigator who tries to find ways to make fast money. As the film progresses both actors are completely transformed several times. Mr. Jackson’s character discovers strengths and talents he never knew he had.
Ms. Davis’ ability to change from a troubled housewife to an accomplished spy/assassin is no less than phenomenal in my opinion. Not just the physical changes to hair, make-up and body. But the attitudes towards friend and foe alike go from mild-mannered to deadly. Eliminating anyone who threatens her daughter’s life is done with ruthless efficiency. The scene with her and Mr. Jackson in the Atlantic City hotel suite is just plain fun to watch. Disheveled to glamorous in a few minutes. Her past life takes over her new one smoothly, effortlessly. More impressive than Norman Bates’ mother, to name just one.
We also see an impressive transition in Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of Dr. Helen Hudson, a noted criminal psychologist who specializes in serial killers in “Copycat”, co-starring Holly Hunter. Dr Hudson helped put a noted killer in jail (well-played by Harry Connick, Jr.) and now, one year later, is being stalked by a copycat killer who imitates famous crimes. She’s become a virtual prisoner in her luxurious apartment and, more intently, in her mind. She cannot even step outside her front door without severe anxiety symptoms making her immobile.
Holly Hunter, a savvy San Francisco police inspector, enlists Helen’s (reluctant) advice and eventual active help in trying to stop the new killer. We watch Sigourney Weaver take the perilous journey of re-living everything that’s caused her mental imprisonment and slowly, painfully becomes physically and mentally active in the chase. In the end, Dr Hudson, like James Stewart conquering his “Vertigo”, triumphs over her fears and helps capture the copycat. One of the best movies of its kind.
Jon Schuller
Charlotte, NC
3/21/2010
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