Unique acting choices Part 2

Posted by Avner Engel in Acting Reference, Inspiration

In my previous post I started to discuss the subject of unique acting choices and specificity. It’s one of those things we need to train ourselves to see. In this post I am going to expand on the subject and share some examples I found inspiring. With that being said, the following only reflects my views and impressions of the subject matter, I haven’t read it anywhere it’s just the way I interpret things so please take it with a grain of salt if you are still reading.

“Rain Man“ (Dustin Hoffman):

“Walk”

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Dustin have developed a special walk for the character of Raymond who has autism. 

It’s interesting to see how his exploration of the character through the body language enhanced and enriched the essence of the performance and the choices he made through out the film. Small things like head adjustments, ticks, lack of blinks  fidgety fingers are good examples for things that really push specificity in the acting to a whole new level.
One of the things I found his walk reflects is his insecurity when he is pushed out of his comfort zone.

“My main man Vern”:

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In this scene we see Ray rocking backwards and forwards to comfort himself, and calm himself down, just like a parent would rock a crying baby backwards and forwards to calm him down.

• Self touching – the clinching of the fingers is selling the idea that he is uncomfortable, it’s the subtext to how he feels about Charlie going through his stuff.

• At some point Charlie is pulling a book out of the cupboard and Ray is getting very anxious. Pay attention to the rich variety of anxious accents and takes that Dustin is doing.

00:26  - the first time he turns around in disbelief saying “oh oh” this is shown through body language.

00:30- the second time he says “Vern, V-E-R-N” he looks down and signal in a verbal way that he is uncomfortable.

00:33- the third time he is going behind the door as if he is hoping that once he re-enters the room they won’t be there (brilliant subtext in my opinion)

00:36 - the fourth time he is rocking backwards and forwards, he is very fidgety and he does a big accent/ head shake when he says definitely not a weekend visit.
What I like so much about this scene is that the anxiety builds up slowly and we get to feel it through different acting choices.

“Bathroom Scene”:

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This scene is a great example of a gear change (a gear change is having a character change from one emotion to another). At the start of the scene Charlie and Ray are chatting about their childhood, and Charlie learns that Raymond is the ‘Rain Man’. They share a nice intimate moment that ends when they both sing the song, then Charlie turns on the tap in the bathroom that triggers a reaction from Ray. This is the part where we learn why Ray was sent away, because he nearly killed his baby brother when they were kids.
His reaction is particularly good because it’s in character, he is playing someone with autism and because he is freaking out, the reaction comes across as if he is losing control but at the same time he is trying to be protective of his brother. He doesn’t know what to do and ss a result he starts hitting himself in the head as if hurting himself would make things better and take the pain he feels away.
Then he says ‘hot water burn baby’ while rocking backwards and forwards (perhaps trying to comfort himself?) and feeling all flustered . This is the moment in the scene where Charlie learns the truth about Raymond’s departure to ‘Wallbrook’ when he was a kid.
Pay attention to the way Ray is trying to show his affection to Charlie around 02:30 minutes into the scene.This is another great example for staying in character, because it shows Ray’s lack of coordination and control over his body. Also, he doesn’t make eye contact through out the entire scene.

If you are still reading this, leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Until next time…thanks for reading along.