>> On Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:27:07 -0400, Blair Leatherwood wrote
(in article ):
> Joe Chicago wrote:
>>> 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.
>>> 
>>> Humph.
>>> 
>>> Blair
>> 
>> I have heard both Doyle and Claudia Christian say they used that
>> technique. Christian says that's why it's silly to expect her to
>> repeat her "God sent me" soliloquy; after the shooting
she forgot it.
> 
> That's a somewhat different discussion.  I don't think it's at all 
> unreasonable to expect an actor to forget lines/scenes/etc after 
> production has wrapped; the chances of needing that information again 
> while in line at 7-11 is pretty low.  That really doesn't have much to 
> do with not reading the entire script. <<
Right.  It's not like people who, say, regularly do Gilbert & Sullivan and 
play the same role over and over.  Those people *do* tend to remember their 
lines over the years.  But someone not remembering a speech from a tv show 
they filmed ‹ which was over and done one time, and many years ago ‹ doesn't 
seem odd at all.
>>> Doyle does say if he's in the scene, he will study the other person's
>> lines, so if that person doesn't remember their lines he can say
>> things like "If you want me to, I will X, Y and Z," and the other
>> person doesn't have to tell him, saving time and money. 
> 
> Also a different discussion--of course you need to look at the other 
> person's lines in your scene; not the same thing as not reading the 
> entire script.  Besides, you need to know what your cue lines are. I 
> can't think of any actor who could do any work without knowing what's 
> going on in a scene they're in.
> 
> What you seemed to be referring to in your original post is an argument 
> that I've heard many times in many places--that actors are so 
> self-centered that they're only interested in what they're actually 
> involved in. <<
What's dumb about that is: if you don't know what else is going on in the 
scene, how do you know your cues??  How do you know how to react with 
whatever physical or facial business that you need to do if you don't know 
what the other actors are saying and doing?  Of course you need to know the 
other actors' lines.
>>> Technique-wise, the character is not supposed to be omniscient, so it
>> makes a certain sense that they don't read everybody else's lines.
> 
> The character may not be, but the actor is in this sense. <<
What you said.
Amy
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