Actors Know

A while back I shot a feature film where the main baddie in it was a very known commercial actor now. Back then, he didn't do all that much. A bunch of television, but recognizable.

I recall going to the premiere of the movie, and well...people had a good time watching it. Sort of. It looked amateurish, but I'd run out of energy to fix what I thought was wrong visually about it. The director moved on with his life. Though, I discovered later on, he should have fought harder. The business side is ugly and almost don't want to come to terms with it.

What struck me was that the actor didn't say much to anyone and left early. Like pretty much when the lights came up. As did one of the side actresses. They just left. I didn't flag them down to schmooze and he didn't stick around to get other opinions. I scratched my head, unsure what that meant, since people seemed to respond to the movie.

Well, he knew it was a piece of shit. He didn't want to have to swallow that much pride and attempt to put his best face forward. I don't give actors that much credit, as I should, but I think actors do know what is bad and good. Some move on quickly to the next thing, because they have no real time to gauge, but I believe they do understand how it can derail. And I would hope they understand where that comes from.

The producer/director/writer role is SO different when money is on the line. Most actors DO put their best forward, because if money is involved, the logic is...the person knows what they're doing. But there is a lot of waste in movies at any level. I would hate for an actor to see something they were in and just realized that lottery ticket was a dud.

It's also hard to pretend everything is okay. After the fiasco of "The Last Action Hero" where Arnold Schwarzenegger hustled that movie like it was a newborn child...it's near impossible to shake off the stink of failure (it's a decent movie). It does take someone with that ego to overcome it. But you can also see the gradual downfall of Arnold's career AFTER that movie that has everyone scared.

None of this is fucking easy, people. When others' believe this to be fun, it's disheartening, because of the constant pressure one puts on themselves not to disappoint. We don't make movies in a vacuum. I know most actors don't want to give you the reality of their feeling towards your project, because...well, they're in it...but more importantly, NO ONE knows how the public will eventually find it.