It calmed me down to see that most of the time no-one gets the scene on the first take.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was a little nervous coming in mostly because my first scene was with Martin Sheen, who I'm a huge fan of.
Because I actually find the next take after they've controlled it a little bit and repressed the laughter is actually a really interesting take, because that's still going on underneath the surface. That struggle to maintain composure becomes part of the joy of the scene.
One day, we were doing a serious scene and fast talking like we do and we could not stop laughing and the director had to stop the production. We had to go to our trailer and calm down and do it all again.
First scenes are super-important to me. I'll spend months and months pacing and climbing the walls trying to come up with the first scene. I drive for hours on the freeway.
For me, it was more a dramatic shift to go from the stage to the screen.
Being in front of the camera was like coming home. The first time I saw myself on the big screen, it was in a trailer for 'The New Guy', and I just started screaming.
I always get nervous before a scene.
After doing the first couple scenes and I got used to being in front of a few people it got easier and easier. In Chasing Amy, I wasn't nervous at all. And in Dogma, the same.
In rare instances you have to give up what you thought was a great scene.
The producers who wanted me to do it liked me and trusted me, and more than one scene was only one take, because I'd plan ahead what I thought would be appropriate for that scene-so one take was enough.