Acting Levels
Before filming began, Levi always thought it would be a good idea to use Charlize Theron to play the role of Christa-Maria Sieland. Although Theron has not acted in any movies, she is slightly inferior in acting skills. However, she has a very pretty face, and in a movie, that can make a big difference.
Although many actresses have said that the status of women in the film industry is now getting better and better, people have to admit that among the actresses, who can really be strong enough to compare with men and even step into the 20 million club? Still, basically nobody. In movies, women are mostly used as vases and damsels. There are very few works that can regard women as protagonists. Therefore, in many cases, women's appearance is indeed more important than acting skills.
For example, in this movie, Theron's stage performance in the initial scene and the scene of entertaining guests at the party do not require much acting skills. With her looks and figure, she can do well.
However, later on, after her boyfriend finds out about her affair with the minister, she has a scene where she breaks out. In this scene, she tried many times, but it was still unsuccessful.
"Do I not need him? Do I really not need him? Can I get rid of all this help? Can you?"
Theron was performing a rehearsal in front of Levi. Her head was slightly tilted to one side, her eyes were looking straight ahead, her hands were clasped in front of her body, tangled together, and her voice was a little fluttering, revealing a kind of powerless despair.
In Theron's opinion, such a performance has been very successful.
However, just as she was halfway through the rehearsal, Levi called to stop.
Sure enough, she was called to stop again... Theron herself seemed to be ready. As soon as Levi called to stop, she immediately took off the thick coat she was wearing and threw it aside, then walked directly to Levi's side, stared at Levi with her head up, and wanted to hear what new things he had an evaluation of.
"You still can't act." Levi shook his head, still not satisfied with Theron's performance, "You did what I told you last time out of focus, but you didn't show enough grief and despair. Think again how to express it."
"I have tried many times, and now I always feel that I am the most difficult one to act in this play." Theron complained a little - looking at the two actors who worked with her, neither of them had any difficulties, and their performances didn't have such ups and downs and dramatic emotional changes.
"I told you that if you look at this movie from a female perspective, the two men achieve understanding and mutual assistance by sacrificing the woman. She takes drugs in the movie and has the behavior of betraying her boyfriend. She has a fragile and helpless image. Dreyman is a protester, Wiesler is a rebel, and Sieland is a victim..." Levi explained the
characters of the movie to Theron again, which is no longer the first time he talked about this, and Theron didn't interrupt him. In her heart, she also knew the significance of her role, but what she wanted more was comfort rather than accusation.
This film is not easy to film - she put on a coat to film in the summer, so hard, can't she get a word of comfort from the director?
"But, this is not my character." After Levi finished speaking, Theron was also a little distressed, and she pouted slightly and spoke again, "I have never been a person who compromises easily. I can't grasp such a character."
"I don't care what kind of person you are. What I need now is what kind of person you act." Levi replied immediately, "Kevin didn't live a life of spying on others, Hugh has never been a writer, but they performed well."
This sentence made Theron slightly annoyed. She always thought that Levi understood her quite well, and she also always believed that Levi understood her character, but he actually said to herself that he didn't care about her character at all.
However, Theron has never been a crying little girl. When she heard Levi's words, she raised her neck high instead, "You always say that my acting skills are not good. What's wrong with my acting skills? You tell me where my acting is not good."
Theron still has some confidence in his performance. She has also listened to Levi's guidance these days, and she feels that she is still good.
"It's a pity that you are not a director. You think your acting skills are very good, but only in your understanding. However, not everyone is performing the same scene in the same way. It is also the same as being discovered by your boyfriend after cheating. After being accused by her boyfriend, the scene of helplessness and despair, the stupid and dumb thoughts of just saying there is no hope, and shaking her head, showing enough fear, must have a different effect. And if you can have a look while your body convulses, blue veins exposed, muscles bouncing, that is another level. And if you can burst out of emotion in an instant, without any editing, directly from calm to tears, eyes are red and full of remorse - that is another level ."
In response to Theron's rhetorical question, Levi immediately began to explain. He wanted Theron to act well so he didn't dislike explaining in detail over and over again.
For a movie, acting skills are never something that can be ignored. No matter how well the film is shot, expressing everything the director wants to perform without enough acting support is impossible. Similarly, when people judge whether a person is a good actor or not, they don't look at whether she is beautiful or not or whether she is temperamental enough. It is what actors need to be able to express the mood of the characters in the play through their actions, demeanor, and tone of voice.
What Levi told Theron was the skill of how to act. Of course, it is generally difficult for a woman to be hoarse or expose veins or move muscles around when she is performing. And the explosive tears are not easy to control. The current Charlize Theron, at most, has reached the second level and can show her fear more vividly. What Levi needs is extremely tense body twitching and natural tears, which she can't do now.
"I've tried my best to convince myself that I feel sad and guilty, but you still say that I can't act." Theron was still a little hard to accept.
"Acting is a process of showing your emotions and actions to the audience. It is not just that you feel a certain emotion yourself. You have also taken acting classes, and you know that there are a lot of times when people's look doesn't match the mood. You don't put on your face, and that's what you have to do."
"This is the place where your acting skills need to explode the most in the whole play. You were able to adapt earlier because your acting skills don't need to explode a lot, but this is the most important place." The scenes in this part are tangled together with different moods and different levels of superficial and deep psychological expression - all these aspects need to be expressed with acting skills. These things are not easy, at least for the current Theron, it is definitely not easy.
"You need to show a deeper expression. It's sad if you don't have tears. Your expression doesn't look like guilt; it's completely like a bitch determined to live strong..."
"Hey! Don't speak so viciously !" Theron interrupted Levi.
"I just hope you can perform better. You can think about it again if you still haven't figured it out. You have to think about this part."
"But we haven't done anything today." Theron was obviously in a hurry, but Levi shrugged and didn't say much to her, "Practice again and again, anyway, I have plenty of time. I believe you can play well."
Sitting there, Theron had a frosty face. She always thought that Levi was an excellent directorâat least, he was willing to use herself. She originally had great joy in her heart at being appreciated by the director. But what Levi has done now caused this feeling of constantly being lost. She used to like to follow Levi's orders very much, but now, she is a little bit helpless.
He said she could act well, but can she really perform better? Why does it seem that now, she has encountered a bottleneck and can no longer improve her acting skills?
He has very high requirements for this drama, but why is she the unlucky one? Theron was really dissatisfied with Levi's attitude. A person who thought he was her confidant would treat her so harshly. It would be too much, even if he wanted to be responsible for the movie.
He shouldn't treat her like this, criticizing and blaming her again and again; her good impression of him has been ruined.
"Things are not going well?"
Billy was waiting not far away, and when he saw Levi leave, he came to her rescue. After the last interview, Billy immediately approached her and apologized to her. Although Theron was a little skeptical that he deliberately harmed her, she was eager to sign a contract with Enigma Company and needed help. In addition, she passed the interview. Billy also showed extreme humility, and her heart softened for a moment, so she didn't terminate the contract with him. And now, Billy is also very concerned about her and often comes to watch her perform live. He knows that Theron's performance is not going well, and he has always been very positive.
"If you really can't stand this director anymore, then I'll go talk to him." After hearing what Theron said, Billy said, "Maybe, I can ask him to make some changes."
*****
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