In the theater, you go from point A to point Z, building your performance as the evening progresses. You have to relinquish that control on a film.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
With film, so much is in the director's hands. Once something is cut together - unless you're in the editing room - you don't really remember what the alternatives are. The exercise in theater is night after night, you are doing the same play, but you have another opportunity to explore.
With theater, depending on the audience, the show is different every night and really requires your constant concentration. With film, it's more possible to focus for shorter, more intense bits of time.
With theater, you have to really be able to listen and to respond to other people on stage. You're all constantly on your toes. And then with film and television, you can get a second take and things like that.
Theater has given me a different perspective on the way I approach films.
When you conduct opera, you control the stage. But with a film, the film controls you.
You act in a movie, and at the end of the day, the director and editor decide what your performance is.
If you're a movie actor, you're on your own - you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.
Well, all I can say is thank goodness I had 15 years of theater before ever I did film roles. You build technique that you can rely on.
You can manipulate the viewer in film. With theater, what you see is what you get.
Film is mostly a visual medium, and so the director has much more control in terms of painting pictures and painting a performance. For theater, the director does everything he can and then says, 'Out you go,' and the actors are in charge of that stage every night.