I don't know when it was... sometime in the 60s maybe... but the way actors performed on camera sure changed at some point. I'm watching Exodus right now, which I think came out in 1960. And all the actors in it are acting like... they're acting. Like a stage production. They're in the roles, but they're not "of" in the roles, if you know what I mean. They're aware they're performing a role, and it shows. Campy.
Now here comes Paul Newman. Right off the bat you can tell he's of the modern age of actors. He flows into the room, talks like he's talking to you or me or his buddies or his agent. He's who he is in the role, not Paul Newman delivering a script. This isn't to say some of his lines aren't a little stilted, but hey, guy's gotta work with what he's got. Everyone around him is like some version of Jon Lovitz's Master Thespian character... they're... ACTING!!! Paul Newman's acting.
Well, watch the flick, you'll see what I mean. :)
P.S.... who's the woman in this movie? She looks like that chick in Pulp Fiction with "all the shit in her face" (according to Vincent Vega, John Travolta's character). No way she could be, of course. A relation?
1 comment:
Before method acting, most actors were into "Drama". A form of acting that came out of stage acting and where the importance was focused on delivery and stage presence, not realism.
Then came the New York Actor's Studio and the now well know Method Acting where the performer strives to erase his own personality and "become" the character. This gives a much more realistic performance at the detriment of glamour...
Hence the change in movie styles in the early 60's
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