Excerpted from Film Acting - The Techniques and History of Acting for the Camera by Mary O'Brien (1983).
O: What is an actor,
psychologically?
S: A figure in someone else's dream. The "someone else" could be the writer,
the director or the audience.
O: Does the actor have a
vocation to act? Have you experienced the feeling of being called to act?
S: Yes. I have never wanted to do anything else.
O: Vocation or not, what is
the origin, or the deep motivation to which you attribute your choice of acting
as a career?
S: Imagination - originally inspired by reading, developed by growing up in
Oxford.
O: Among the systems and
theories of acting as an art, are there any, you practice? Why?
S: The Alexander Technique - as a means of preparation. (More on the
Alexander Technique below.)
O: Do you see any differences
between the function and technique of the actor in film, and the actor in the
other forms of drama?
S: The basis of any technique must be "Truth."
O: What is the relationship
between the actor and the film director?
S: All directors are different, therefore the relationships are always
different.
O: If you were a film
director, what would be your essential technique in directing an actor?
S: Create trust.
O: What is the position of
the actor in the working hierarchy of the film industry?
S: The actor is a pawn in the game. Movies are business. Nothing will ever
change this - not in the U.S. or U.K., anyway.
O: What influence does film
criticism have on your acting? Do you change your style according to the
judgments of the critics?
S: Film criticism has very little influence on my acting. It is always too
late to change anything.
O: Which of your film
characterizations offered the most challenge?
S: Miss Brodie.
O: What is the most important
advice you'd give a beginning film actor or actress?
S: Make sure the cameraman is on your side. In the beginning it's how you
look that ocunts. Later, the talent and skill will take care of the career.