Listening to an interview with Nicole Kidman on the radio the other day, Nicole mentioned that she doesn't watch her own movies and even tries to avoid watching them.
I've heard this from so many actors when interviewed. They don't like to watch themselves in their own movies. I presume it may be because they look at their performance in a self critical manner that may negatively affect their future performances.
There are two points I'd like to make about this.
Firstly, on some level, isn't not watching your own movies an insult to the director, editor, special effects crew, musicians, musical director and everyone else who came to work on the movie after the actors have finished shooting?
Many of these people have probably seen the actors performance over and over again, to the point where it becomes slightly monotonous, as they fine tune the work they're doing to the footage shot. Yet the actor isn't actually interested in seeing how everyones hard work came together - not even once through?
Nicole said she'd watched both movies she'd made with Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge! and Austalia) because it was Baz (who is a friend I guess) but she's worked with equally good if not better directors. Yet in the interview she admitted to only ever watching the films she's made with Baz all the way through?
The average movie is anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours. Would it really kill any actor to watch their film once just to see how everyone elses work enhanced their performance?
Okay, so enough of the rant. My second point is, imagine if other professionals subscribed to the idea of not viewing their final work due to negative self criticism.
Imagine a pastry chef doing all the preparation on their fabulously tasting pies but not wanting to see the final product come out of the oven or even taste them.
"No, I try to avoid looking at my pies once they're cooked."
"Why's that?"
"Well I just know I'm going to look at them and think how I could've made them better, you know, I just see all the flaws."
Or what about your plumber, coming in to fix a leaky tap...
"There you go all fixed."
"How do you know, you haven't tried it?"
"Well, okay I'm pretty sure it's fixed but if I turn the tap on I'm just going to think of how I could've fixed it better."
"Why didn't you just fix it better the first time?"
"Ummm... because that was the best I could do at the time but if I look at it again... well you know... hind sight..."
It's all a bit silly really.
What I don't understand is that an actress of Nicole Kidman's stature can pick and choose the films she works on. Presumably she chooses films because she likes the script and thinks her part is a good role to play. One assumes she doesn't expect the director to make her look bad or that the film will be an embarrassment to her name. Yet she still isn't interested in the finished product?
How then can anyone believe her, whenever she is promoting one of her own films, that the film is good? She doesn't know. She hasn't seen it.
It's like a pastry chef selling pies that he hasn't tasted. They're probably good but there's no point in asking the chef.
I've heard this from so many actors when interviewed. They don't like to watch themselves in their own movies. I presume it may be because they look at their performance in a self critical manner that may negatively affect their future performances.There are two points I'd like to make about this.
Firstly, on some level, isn't not watching your own movies an insult to the director, editor, special effects crew, musicians, musical director and everyone else who came to work on the movie after the actors have finished shooting?
Many of these people have probably seen the actors performance over and over again, to the point where it becomes slightly monotonous, as they fine tune the work they're doing to the footage shot. Yet the actor isn't actually interested in seeing how everyones hard work came together - not even once through?
Nicole said she'd watched both movies she'd made with Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge! and Austalia) because it was Baz (who is a friend I guess) but she's worked with equally good if not better directors. Yet in the interview she admitted to only ever watching the films she's made with Baz all the way through?
The average movie is anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours. Would it really kill any actor to watch their film once just to see how everyone elses work enhanced their performance?
Okay, so enough of the rant. My second point is, imagine if other professionals subscribed to the idea of not viewing their final work due to negative self criticism.
Imagine a pastry chef doing all the preparation on their fabulously tasting pies but not wanting to see the final product come out of the oven or even taste them.
"No, I try to avoid looking at my pies once they're cooked."
"Why's that?"
"Well I just know I'm going to look at them and think how I could've made them better, you know, I just see all the flaws."
Or what about your plumber, coming in to fix a leaky tap...
"There you go all fixed."
"How do you know, you haven't tried it?"
"Well, okay I'm pretty sure it's fixed but if I turn the tap on I'm just going to think of how I could've fixed it better."
"Why didn't you just fix it better the first time?"
"Ummm... because that was the best I could do at the time but if I look at it again... well you know... hind sight..."
It's all a bit silly really.
What I don't understand is that an actress of Nicole Kidman's stature can pick and choose the films she works on. Presumably she chooses films because she likes the script and thinks her part is a good role to play. One assumes she doesn't expect the director to make her look bad or that the film will be an embarrassment to her name. Yet she still isn't interested in the finished product?
How then can anyone believe her, whenever she is promoting one of her own films, that the film is good? She doesn't know. She hasn't seen it.
It's like a pastry chef selling pies that he hasn't tasted. They're probably good but there's no point in asking the chef.
I've heard that their scenes are shot out of sync sometimes. I think they have to be on occasions because of such things as, weather, times, make-up length, or costume contiuation etc to save time having to have lengthy make-up procedures, such as in 'The Elephant Man' for instance, though, he'd need it for every scene, so not a good example.
ReplyDeleteI'd want to see each scene to see if I'd done it properly, and I'd certainly want to see the finished product!
I think they are all lying! when they say they don't watch themselves---I bet they do it when no one is looking. Why they would say such a thing is beyond me, and must mean they never paid an honest compliment to anyone who they worked alongside to make one of their films. Another great view of the dumb stuff that falls out of people's mouths.
ReplyDeleteI would've thought they'd at least watch it back for the purpose of being self critical. See how they can improve their performance for future productions, self development etc. You know like any normal professional would.
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