Oh ya.. i cut my hair and i bought some gadgets for my MIDO. a mouse, a headset and an ethernet cable. heheh...What do Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank all have in common?
They all won Academy Awards under the direction of Clint Eastwood. So how does he do it? How does Clint Eastwood manage to get great performances from all his actors? It helps that Eastwood himself is an actor and, as such, understands the acting process.
But more importantly, Eastwood knows that the key to directing actors to great performances is creating a set environment where the actor feels safe. An actor is more likely to be uninhibited and take risks when they are relaxed and feel safe. Clint Eastwood uses a variety of techniques to create and maintain a safe environment in which his actors can work. The Moose will go through several of these techniques.
When directing actors, the most important thing that you can do as a director is to trust your actors. Don’t be a dictatorial puppet master. Allow them to have input into their performances and come up with ideas of their own. This will allow them the freedom to try something different and bold instead of playing it safe.
Clint Eastwood often casts his actors off of tape. He watches actors performances in other movies and television shows to get a feeling of what they can do. Then when the actors arrive on set, he allows them to show him what they want to do in a scene. Eastwood may give them an adjustment, but, for the most part, he trusts his actors. He knows what they are capable of from their past performances and thus trusts his actors to do their preparation and homework.
The reason why this works for Eastwood is that he has a reputation for doing very few takes. The actors know that Eastwood will only shoot two or three takes the majority of the time and often prints and uses the first take in his movies. If you make a mistake, it will probably end up in the movie. In the hands of a lesser director, shooting in this manner will likely end up in disaster like an Ed Wood movie, but it works for Clint Eastwood because of the trust that he gives his actors. The actors know that Clint trusts them as well as how he shoots and as a result, they show up on set knowing their material and ready to go from the onset
Another technique that Clint Eastwood uses to create a comfortable set is his refusal to use the standard “Action!” and “Cut!” cues. Instead, Eastwood just rolls the cameras and lets the actors start the scene whenever they’re ready. Then he will just signal for the camera to cut. Or, if he is in a talking sort of mood, he sometimes will say “that’s enough of that shit” or something like that.
The reason Eastwood eschews from the traditional “Action!” and “Cut!” cues is that those commands, usually shouted out so that everyone on the set can hear, can be disruptive to an actor’s concentration. They create an atmosphere that is a little more formal and a little less natural. If an actor is in his pre-scene, an “Action!” can be intrusive and take them out of the moment. Likewise, someone yelling “Cut!” can be a little jarring to an actor focused in the moment and make it harder for them to slip back into the scene for another take.
So how does the set know when the cameras are rolling then? This leads to another technique that Clint Eastwood uses to create a comfortable and safe environment for his actors. On a typical set, only certain key people will have radios and earpieces. On an Eastwood set, almost everyone has an earpiece. This allows Eastwood and his crew to communicate with each other in a quiet manner that is not disruptive to the actors.
In addition, this technique helps elicit better reactions and performances from a crowd scene or a scene with extras because the extras and supporting players never know when the cameras are rolling. They are forced to stay quiet and in their characters because they do not want to be yelled at for ruining a take. This is an excellent production technique and can be used at all levels of filmmaking.
