John W. Kennedy wrote:
> On Sep 17, 1:47 pm, Blair Leatherwood 
> wrote:
>> Joe Chicago wrote:
>>> I just listened to Jerry Doyle's 9/10 program, and he asserted --
>>> quite seriously -- that Michael O'hare was delusional during his time
>>> on Bab 5.  Claims that he would read the script cover to cover
>>> (instead of the usual actor's approach of paying attention only to his
>>> own lines), and then go to "the producers and the
writers" and say
>>> "I've got the script; all i need now is the code." 
Doyle: "Guy was
>>> completely nuts"  and that is why he did not work after the first
>>> season.
>>> has anybody heard anything like that?  It is notable that IMDB lists
>>> almost no work at all for O'Hare after Bab 5.
>> Interesting.  However, I do take exception to your statement that actors
>> only look at their own lines--bad actors may do that, but not anyone
>> with any respect for themselves, the profession, or the writers.
> 
> It depends on the working context. A leading actor on a one-hour
> weekly TV series may not have time to spend on other people's lines.
> And an older actor doing a major role in a play may have enough
> problems learning his own.

Agreed.  What I was responding to was the statement that the actors' 
*usual* approach was to look only at their own lines.  There are as many 
ways of preparation for a role as there are actors.  Pretty much every 
actor that I know is annoyed if they can't get their hands on the entire 
script (be it for a play or a movie) so that they can understand their 
function in the piece (admittedly, pizza delivery guy is probably pretty 
clear--unless he turns out to be the axe murderer).  There are certainly 
circumstances in which it's not possible to do the in-depth character 
analysis to the desired level--when you have time pressures, or the 
writer/director won't provide anything other than your own part (cf 
Woody Allen)--in those cases, you do have to trust that the person 
guiding you through the project knows what they're doing and can 
communicate additional information when necessary.

> You need to know your cues, of course, and should have at least a
> general notion of what the other actors are saying in scenes you're
> in, so you can cover for a cock-up. On the other hand, you may want to
> deliberately skip over things your character doesn't know.
> 
> 
I treat that as part of the character analysis.  When I'm familiar with 
the script, I can then determine what I do or do not need to know as the 
character--as the actor, however, I always want to know everything 
that's going on.

Blair
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