1. The 15-Second Principle

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Two days later, at 10 in the morning, I found myself entering the lobby of the legendary Drake Hotel. The
elevator operator took me up to the 10th floor and pointed out the room to me. When Mr. Coburn opened
the door, he was wearing a beautiful bathrobe. He looked well rested and relaxed. I was intrigued by his
calm and mellow demeanor. After giving me a warm hello, he walked to the phone, dialed some digits, and
said, "This is Mr. Coburn. We're ready." Ready for what? I thought. A few minutes later, breakfast for two
was wheeled into his room. Now this isn't your ordinary flute lesson, I thought. As we were eating our
melons, I noticed his script for the miniseries sitting on a table. It was at least 3 inches thick and looked
more like the Manhattan phone directory.
God, that's a lot of lines to memorize, I thought. How does he have time to take a flute lesson? How come
he's so relaxed? The way he's behaving, you'd swear he had just finished the movie. Isn't he supposed to
be anxious and uptight right now?
After a leisurely breakfast, we proceeded to have an hour-and-a-half lesson. The session went so well that
he asked whether I could return two days later.
Upon my return to his room, the same scenario occurred. I appeared at 10:00, and a few minutes later
breakfast was wheeled in. The script looked as thick as ever, and James was just as relaxed. This time,
however, I was comfortable enough to ask him some questions about his calm state. I wanted to know how
he could be so at ease with so much riding on his performance. Also, I wanted to know why he took time
for flute lessons when he could have been working on his part. His answers really turned my head around.
What I learned was that James Coburn approaches the entire craft of acting as a process. His goal is to
have an enlivening and enriching experience throughout the entire performing schedule. What he
discovered after years of trial and error was that if he enjoys the rehearsal process more, his performance
is usually better. His creativity and spontaneity get stifled whenever he attempts to close himself off from
the outside world. His challenge is always to design a nurturing and enjoyable day for himself rather than a
tense and serious one. When he is successful, unexpected insights and experiences occur that ultimately
help his performance.