DISCOVERING CHARACTER by Neil Schell     06-11-07 The most essential aspect of any great acting performance that I respect is the character that is portrayed. Some outstanding characters that come to mind are Daniel Day Lewis’s character Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting in ‘Gangs of New York’ or Gary Oldman’s character Stansfield in ‘The Professional’ or Meryl Streep’s character Sophie in ‘Sophie’s Choice.’ These actors are completely committed to their characters and you cannot catch them ‘acting.’ Another interesting quality of these actors is that they never play the same character twice. Each character is vastly different than the next from project to project. They truly discover a unique and interesting character with each role they play. These actors are definitely not of the John Wayne ham-actor style of acting – same character, different costume, different given set of circumstances. Discovering character is one of the most exciting and creative aspects of acting. Being bold enough to follow your impulses that lead to the truth of your character is a skill that cannot be overlooked. It must be developed with full veracity. That quality of being willing to make a fool of yourself despite what you may ‘think’ of the impulse. This ‘thinking’, of course, is coming from the intellect, that good ‘ole place that does not have the capacity to act at all, just judge. One great way to throw your intellect for a spin is to try doing the exact opposite of what you may be ‘thinking’ is right about your character. This tends to violate the intellect so much it just gives up and gets out of the way, thus releasing your creativity and leading you to discoveries you might not be ‘allowed’ to find out about otherwise. Try it sometime. Work a scene for a while until you get some idea of what the character is like. This is your intellect starting to make decisions. Once you get a feeling of what they are like, do the exact opposite and see what happens. You will feel a release of energy and creativity for the intellect has let go. You can almost hear it saying, “What?!! Are you crazy?!!” By going in that opposite direction you are intentionally assaulting the intellect, which then gives you full access to your creative mind and all it has to offer. Try it. Until the next newsletter… Neil PS Feel 'free' to write to me at  anytime. I will answer. PROFESSIONALS HAVE COACHES, AMATEURS DON'T