Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

Acting
do extensive script analysis and character study. In the
cinema, actors’ performances are also part of a film’s
overall formal design. Audience impressions are shaped
by the dominant patterns and specific features of a film’s
sound, lighting, set, costume, makeup, color, photographic,
editing, framing, and performance design.
Competent directors develop a clear and imaginative
design that serves as the blueprint for selections made
by all members of the production. Skilled actors create
performances that contribute to the style embodied by a
film’s other cinematic elements by adjusting their voices,
gestures, postures, and actions to conform with the director’s
stylistic vision.
In studies that consider performances in light of a
film’s narrative, one challenge is to find ways to discuss
distinctions between characters and actors. Characters in
narrative films are defined by their given circumstances.
They have short- and long-range goals, tacit and explicit
desires, stated and unstated objectives. They take actions
to achieve those objectives. They change their actions
when they encounter obstacles to achieving their goals.
Like the characters one encounters in a novel, characters
in a film narrative exist within the world of the story. By
comparison, actors who portray filmic characters exist in
everyday life. Like all of us, actors are defined by their
circumstances; they have goals, take actions to achieve
those goals, and shift actions when they encounter
obstacles.
Sometimes, a nonprofessional is cast in a certain part
because there are correspondences between the individual’s
physical appearance and the director’s view of what a
particular type of character should look like. In the silent
era, Russian filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein (1898–
1948) relied on this casting approach, known as typage.
In the mid-twentieth century, Italian neorealist filmmakers
such as Vittorio de Sica (1902–1974) sometimes
cast a nonprofessional because his or her appearance,
carriage, and lived experienced so closely matched the
character’s. In most narrative films, however, there is
little connection between the fictional character and the
actor’s physical qualities.
The key difference between all characters and actors
is that audiences construct interpretations about characters’
fictional lives by observing actors’ performances.
Audiences make inferences about what fictional characters
want based on actions that actors perform; they make
inferences about characters’ temperaments and emotional
states by observing the quality of actors’ physical and
vocal expressions, which can be direct or flexible, sudden
or sustained, light or strong, bound or free. A character
might want to punch his boss, but we only know that
because we see the actor clench his fists. In an early scene
in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Easy Rawlins (Denzel
Washington) is laid off from his job. The changing
qualities of Washington’s gestures and expressions communicate
the various tactics Easy uses to keep his job. As
the scene nears its end, the way Washington grips the hat
in his hand shows that this is Easy’s last attempt to plead
for his job. When his pleading fails, Easy quickly realizes
he need not beg like a second-class citizen and
Washington conveys the depth and suddenness of
Easy’s resolve by stepping abruptly to stand opposite
the boss. Then, holding his body upright and using a
quiet, even tone as he carefully enunciates each word,
Washington explains that his name is Ezekiel Rawlins,
not ‘‘fella.’’
In studies that analyze performances in light of a
film’s narrative, another challenge is to find ways to
discuss relationships between character and performance
elements in cases when the actor is a media celebrity or a
star closely linked to a certain genre or type of character.
While viewers’ ideas about a character are shaped by the
details of a particular performance, in mainstream cinema
those ideas are also strongly influenced by an actor’s
public image. Sometimes, audience conceptions about an
actor are derived primarily from his or her appearance in
other films. Other times, those ideas depend more on
information about the actor that is circulated in the
popular press. For example, the public image of an actor
such as Jean-Claude Van Damme has been shaped by his
appearance in a series of action films, while viewers’ ideas
about an actress such as Jessica Simpson have a great deal
to do with the tabloid coverage of her personal life.
Interestingly, audiences’ views about actors lead
them to see performances by media celebrities and genre
stars as revealing the unique qualities of the actors rather
than the characters. In the silent era, film performances
by matinee idol Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926) were
prized by fans because they offered an opportunity to
commune with the star. With their views of the celebrity
or genre star defined well in advance, fans enjoy a particular
performance insofar as it reveals the personality that
the fans expected to encounter. Other observers take a
different tack. With their ideas about the celebrity or
genre star defined in advance, critics sometimes dismiss
performances by celebrities and genre stars as being
instances of personification, that is, cases when actors
are simply playing themselves. John Wayne’s (1907–
1979) performances in films produced over a fifty-year
period are often seen as instances of simple personification.
Widely held beliefs about other actors prompt audiences
to see their performances as revealing the unique
qualities of the characters rather than the actors. As with
celebrities and genre stars, audience perceptions about
‘‘serious’’ actors are shaped by information in the popular
press and by the actor’s appearance in a series of films.
14 SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM