Darren Aronofsky is on another level. You get lost in a scene, and he'll come over and whisper something in your ear, and suddenly everything makes sense.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor.
There's a certain arrogance to an actor who will look at a script and feel like, because the words are simple, maybe they can paraphrase it and make it better.
There's something about Alan Arkin. Even when he's doing nothing, he makes me laugh. I've always had that reaction to him: he's got a weary world-view that makes him perfectly cast.
I also think the relationship I have with my audience is a lot more complex than what Hitchcock seemed to want his to be - although I think he had more going on under the surface as well.
When an actor asks you to read his script, your heart sinks. The number of scripts I've been given by actors that are so unbelievably terrible!
For me, my first hearing of the script matters. It has to excite me as an actor and as an audience.
Sometimes people just need to feel heard, and being an actor has taught me to really listen.
I think Aaron Sorkin is like Shakespeare. When you go through it, there is a rhythm and clues all over the place of how it should be played.
Guy Pearce is very precise and clear about understanding the rhythm and the music of a scene.
Any time a writer thinks he has all the answers to how someone should talk or react or end a scene, it's a spontaneity-killer.