What all actors need to learn

There is a scene at the end of the recent Paul Ferris biopic The Wee Man, when John Hannah (an actor I love) is sitting on a plane to Tenerife and realises his hit men are sitting behind him.

In that moment, I can imagine what he’s thinking and I am revelling in his comeuppance.

And then he does 10 seconds of ‘acting’ to tell me what to think and I feel patronised and robbed.

In that 10 seconds Hannah indicates his thoughts and feelings to us. It is entirely unnecessary and yet I find wonderful actors doing it in every film, tv show and play. I don’t know if it’s the director or the actor but I know it kills the moment.

Hannah was attempting to convey the internal torment of the gangster who had finally met his fate, but if he had stared into the distance like someone considering their fate, I would have done the rest for him. Instead, the turbulence is indicated through a fake perturbation and we have that moment stolen from us.

Now I don’t blame John Hannah. I see this problem everywhere. And it’s something actors have to change, these moments are bullshit and we know it.

As Stanislavski said, in moments of great tragedy, we stare into the fireplace.

We need to stop trying to convey things audiences already get, stop patronising audiences with exposition through acting and get on with telling the story.

-COACH-