Comment on What are the best examples of a director going "all out" to get the best out of their actors?
andrew_s@piefed.social 2 months ago
There's some that have done extra to get the best out of young performers.
Examples would be: Room (2015) with the director making things into a game (like 'who can scream the loudest?'); and Close (2022) where the director worked with the kids for ages before even introducing a camera.
A counter-example would be Gran Torino (2008), where the young actors aren't particularly good ('cos Eastwood is more of a "you get two takes, and if you haven't got in 2, you haven't got it" kinda guy)
Learning that about Eastwood makes me think he wasted an opportunity. The “two takes” attitude is reasonable when working with experienced adults, but when you’re working with teenagers, you have to acknowledge that they’re still learning their craft.
Now I wonder if they would have given better performances if Eastwood had been more patient and flexible.
I think common sense and the law of averages says, “yes, he absolutely wasted talent and crushed at least someone’s dreams.”
At least, assuming he did it with any regularity.
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
In some of the blu ray extras, the director of Up talked about how he coached the kid that plays Russel to get certain emotions out of him.
I don’t think it is as intense as the OPs examples. But it was kind of cool to see the behind the scenes.