Well I’ll give you an example. I worked on a movie called Awakenings with Robert De Niro and
Robin Williams. And it was fantastic to watch Robert in the auditioning process because he read
with a lot of other actors. And the way he grew from the first audition to the last one that we did
together, because you know because he played somebody who shook quite a bit. And watching
him do that, watching him create a character in the audition, because he’s many weeks. We read
with a lot of different actors. I thought that was fascinating. And I could see him writing down on
his script little things that he thought about. And his script was filled with like little notes. And I
think that’s a big part of it that you put yourself inside that person and create a character. And
maybe sometimes you can’t even come out of it.
Another instance was I was working with Al Pacino, and he was directing, and I brought in this
actor from Chicago to play a bartender. And Al said would you mind reading with me? And he
said, no, not at all. I’d love to. And I saw Al take his hat and turn it in such a way, and his
posture changed. And it was almost as if Al Pacino had walked out of the room and this
character was sitting in the room. I had never seen anything quite like that. But he understood
that character so much that I would imagine he would be doing that almost daily in different
ways when he would think about something or how the character would sit or what he would be
thinking. It was just a remarkable physical thing. It was truly amazing. But he did.
He twisted his hat. His shoulders went down. His body language was different. And he became
the character, and Al Pacino literally walked out of the room. So I think there is a way to get
inside a character that I think is, it’s unbelievable to me. I mean when a curtain goes up on stage
and you’re transported into a whole other world, and these incredible human beings are playing
these characters, I just don’t know how they do it. You know I just don’t know how they do it. I
think it’s remarkable. But I’m talking about people who are really committed and great.