# Most Difficult 'Mundane Task' For Actors To Get Right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796 "2009-06-24T02:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/1 "2009-06-24T02:41:57Z")
I say it’s pretending to wake up. I’ve rarely seen anyone onscreen convincingly get that somehow _non sequitur_-ish ‘Huh? What?’ aspect of being roused from a deep slumber. You can sort of tell that they’ve been conscious all along, if you know what I mean. They also seem to think that it always takes longer to wake up than it really does, particularly in emergency situations. Most people I know can usually snap to in about a second, if they really have to; actors always seem have to be poked and prodded a couple of times. Give it a try, though. Pretend to wake up. It’s actually more difficult than you might think! ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/2 "2009-06-24T02:47:33Z")
Play dead? I imagine it is really hard to stop breathing and suppress eyelid twitches, particularly if your “corpse” is being moved or prodded and poked at by the CSI team or whatever. And almost impossible to get the right degree of floppiness of limbs, slack-mouthed gape, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/3 "2009-06-24T03:35:51Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Play dead? > > I imagine it is really hard to stop breathing and suppress eyelid twitches, particularly if your “corpse” is being moved or prodded and poked at by the CSI team or whatever. And almost impossible to get the right degree of floppiness of limbs, slack-mouthed gape, etc. Real dead people look waxy. They should nix the actors and make wax replicas. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/4 "2009-06-24T03:44:10Z")
Eating without having any actual food in their mouths. It’s pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/5 "2009-06-24T03:53:40Z")
Drunkeness seems to be difficult for a lot of actors to pull off effectively. I think it has to do with the slurring,or lack thereof. Glazed eyes are also a bit hard to fake, I would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Notassmartasithought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c0e974/32.png) [@Notassmartasithought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notassmartasithought)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/6 "2009-06-24T03:58:55Z")
> [@Tixenfleaz](#): > > Drunkeness seems to be difficult for a lot of actors to pull off effectively. I think it has to do with the slurring,or lack thereof. Glazed eyes are also a bit hard to fake, I would imagine. I’ve got no cite, because I read it 30 years ago, or more, but a collection of actors said drunk was the hardest. Sorry, wish I had a cite. No internet, and I can’t remember specifically the source, and I’ve always been a consumer of more media than necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/7 "2009-06-24T04:02:19Z")
Holding a gun. It’s immediately obvious if the actor/actress has never held a gun before the Armourer put one in their hands and the director yelled “ACTION!”; they tend to hold it awkwardly and uncomfortably, I’ve noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/8 "2009-06-24T04:02:22Z")
Drinking coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/9 "2009-06-24T04:57:25Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Holding a gun. It’s immediately obvious if the actor/actress has never held a gun before the Armourer put one in their hands and the director yelled “ACTION!”; they tend to hold it awkwardly and uncomfortably, I’ve noticed. Or, as Mel Gibson noticeably did in _Lethal Weapon_, blink and flinch every time he pulled the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/10 "2009-06-24T05:16:22Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Drinking coffee. This is the first thing I thought of. Their cups are obviously empty. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/11 "2009-06-24T05:16:39Z")
> [@Tixenfleaz](#): > > Drunkeness seems to be difficult for a lot of actors to pull off effectively. I think it has to do with the slurring,or lack thereof. Glazed eyes are also a bit hard to fake, I would imagine. I heard somewhere that the mistake many actors make is _trying_ to act drunk, whereas an actual drunk person _tries_ to act sober. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/12 "2009-06-24T09:38:36Z")
Sneezing. Hearing a fake “ah-CHOO!” totally takes me out of the scene. Hiccupping is another. (One of my few talents is being able to sneeze realistically on demand.) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/13 "2009-06-24T10:03:07Z")
Talking on the telephone. Relatively few actors can pretend to do this convincingly, and it’s most noticeable on television. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/14 "2009-06-24T10:07:13Z")
Acting high from smoking weed. No, that’s not how adults act when stoned. That’s how teenagers act when they are smoking it. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/15 "2009-06-24T10:20:32Z")
Any kind of intoxication, really. They almost always overplay it. A rare scene that does it pretty well is Vince and Mia’s date in _Pulp Fiction_. Vince is on heroin, and Travolta plays him as low-key and kinda distracted, not as a whacked out of his mind goofball (and he sobers up noticeably as the night goes on). Likewise, Mia is doing coke all night, but she’s just chatty and enthusiastic, not maniacal. You can also usually tell which actors don’t smoke; they pay too much attention to the cigarette and it looks unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/16 "2009-06-24T12:39:36Z")
> [@Tixenfleaz](#): > > Drunkeness seems to be difficult for a lot of actors to pull off effectively. I think it has to do with the slurring,or lack thereof. Glazed eyes are also a bit hard to fake, I would imagine. True, unless you happen to be the very wonderful and very funny [Foster Brooks.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGUuVQ_7ZY) Another mundane task that never looks right is driving, in any scene involving back projection or equivalent. It seems that with all the advances in movie-making, there’s still no way to get it to look even half-way convincing. Maybe there’s no need. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/17 "2009-06-24T12:45:04Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Acting high from smoking weed. I was going to say smoking in general. It’s obvious (to me) when someone breathes in, and then exhales, a _lung_-full of smoke, it’s equally obvious when someone just takes a _mouth_-full and puffs it back out. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/18 "2009-06-24T12:46:55Z")
I think that generally acting surprised when you in fact exactly know what’s coming is hard to do, and separates the genuine actors from the day time soap ‘stars’. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/19 "2009-06-24T12:53:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I heard somewhere that the mistake many actors make is _trying_ to act drunk, whereas an actual drunk person _tries_ to act sober. That was Red Skelton’s contention when he created his famous “Guzzler’s Gin” bit. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796/20 "2009-06-24T13:28:07Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Or, as Mel Gibson noticeably did in _Lethal Weapon_, blink and flinch every time he pulled the trigger. I blinked and flinched every time I fired a gun. They do that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-mundane-task-for-actors-to-get-right/500796.md?page=2)