After viewing the actor Hal Holbrrok playing Mark Twain (in “MARK TWAIN TONIGHT”) I was struck by how Holbrook literally became another person-and one from the 19th century at that! So my question to all of you professional actorsis: do you really feel that you become another person when you play a role? Or take the famous “GODFATHER:” movies…a lot of the actors playing in the films really adopted a lot of mannerism s that were felt to be “mafia”-like.
Now, I don’t think that Abe Vigoda or Al Pacino is going toreply to this…but, is it really p[ossible to transform yourself into a completely diffferent person (while acting)?
Years back, I read a science fiction story about an actor who actually turned himself into the person he was playing…and couln’t recover his own (real) personality!
I don’t think I have, but I think that given the right role I could, and I have certainly worked with actors who have done so. So I say yes.
Some people question whether true immersion would be a positive thing; yet for others it is the logical ultimate goal.
I’ve had brief experiences in my brief experience as an actor in which I’ve felt like another person- it’s wrong to say it that way because the feeling I’m trying to describe is not one of “otherness”, at least not while it’s going on. While it’s happening it feels perfectly natural, and you don’t realize until reviewing it in hindsight that you got lost.
I think this can happen more readily in things like improvisation, because you’re not anchored to the preexisting structure of the script and you can really explore. To me the script is the ultimate anchor to reality- if I get lost, I’m fucking with everyone on stage with me.
I don’t believe that I could extend total immersion over, say, an entire play. I also am of the opinion that it wouldn’t help me much if I could achieve it.