How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
This is something I think about occasionally, mostly when watching a film or TV show where an actor/actress cries for the scene they're in. How do they do it? I'm sure some actors are actually able to make themselves really, truly cry at the drop of a hat, while others just act like they're crying and never shed a single tear (which is something I know bugs the heck out of TEK). But let's face it, "real" crying is still acting, meaning there's got to be some universal thing that most, if not all, of them do to bring on the tears. I have my own theory, but I'd like to hear what others think.
And yes...I'm bored.
And yes...I'm bored.
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Sounds more like a Movie Talk thread.
From what I've heard from actors/actresses, each person needs to find a place that pushes their emotions externally. I would imagine most would use the death of a loved one to bring one to that point.
From what I've heard from actors/actresses, each person needs to find a place that pushes their emotions externally. I would imagine most would use the death of a loved one to bring one to that point.
#3
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Thread Starter
#7
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
When I was a theatre major in college (yeah, I know... waste of time) we were taught a process that they called Emotional Memory. It was a Stanislavski process from "The Actor Prepares"... a great book, btw. Basically, you just think of something terribly painful that happened to you, relive it as though it's happening that second, and it makes you cry. It's what a lot of method actors do. So if you see Christian Bale crying because the Joker killed his parents, he might really be thinking about his first goldfish that died when he was a kid and how sad it made him.
It doesn't have to just be tears either. You could be wanting to portray fear, so you recall a time when maybe you were in a car accident and thought you might die. Then you use those memories in the performance.
It works for lots of emotions.
It doesn't have to just be tears either. You could be wanting to portray fear, so you recall a time when maybe you were in a car accident and thought you might die. Then you use those memories in the performance.
It works for lots of emotions.
Last edited by Living Dead; 07-24-09 at 01:57 AM.
#8
DVD Talk God
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
I could do it. I'd think about Spock dying on the other side of the glass in STII. If that doesn't work, I'd imagine when Capt. Kirk finds out that the Klingon bastards killed his son. Either one would do it.
#9
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
The only movie I can think of that ever made me cry was "Eye of God." I'd think about that movie. I felt like someone had run me over with their car by the end of it.
Last edited by Living Dead; 07-24-09 at 02:02 AM.
#10
DVD Talk God
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Perhaps I did a poor job explaining. There were Klingons, who were bastards, and they killed James T. Kirk's son. My lower jaw in trembling as I type that.
#11
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Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
#12
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Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
They think about the outrageous 17 hour days they have to work for millions and millions of dollars, and those annoying peons who constantly want to talk to them at work.
Waterworks.
Waterworks.
#13
DVD Talk Legend
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
What you see when an actor cries is his face. What you don't see is his hands in his pockets and him pinching his balls.
#15
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Thread Starter
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Here's my theory:
Watch an actor or actress in a scene where they cry. In just about every instance I've seen, they never blink. See how long you can keep your eyes open without blinking before your eyes start watering up. I keep hearing all these ideas over the years about spraying things in their eyes or dredging up bad memories and such, and I think it's just avoiding blinking until they well up, and then they act the rest of it.
I first noticed this when I watched Tom Cruise in Cocktail a long time ago, in the scene where he read Doug's suicide note. The entire time he sat there with the camera on him, he never blinked a single time, and by the time he got through the note the tears were there. I started watching other actors in other things, and it's the same with every one of them: no blinking.
Watch an actor or actress in a scene where they cry. In just about every instance I've seen, they never blink. See how long you can keep your eyes open without blinking before your eyes start watering up. I keep hearing all these ideas over the years about spraying things in their eyes or dredging up bad memories and such, and I think it's just avoiding blinking until they well up, and then they act the rest of it.
I first noticed this when I watched Tom Cruise in Cocktail a long time ago, in the scene where he read Doug's suicide note. The entire time he sat there with the camera on him, he never blinked a single time, and by the time he got through the note the tears were there. I started watching other actors in other things, and it's the same with every one of them: no blinking.
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Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Here's my theory:
Watch an actor or actress in a scene where they cry. In just about every instance I've seen, they never blink. See how long you can keep your eyes open without blinking before your eyes start watering up. I keep hearing all these ideas over the years about spraying things in their eyes or dredging up bad memories and such, and I think it's just avoiding blinking until they well up, and then they act the rest of it.
I first noticed this when I watched Tom Cruise in Cocktail a long time ago, in the scene where he read Doug's suicide note. The entire time he sat there with the camera on him, he never blinked a single time, and by the time he got through the note the tears were there. I started watching other actors in other things, and it's the same with every one of them: no blinking.
Watch an actor or actress in a scene where they cry. In just about every instance I've seen, they never blink. See how long you can keep your eyes open without blinking before your eyes start watering up. I keep hearing all these ideas over the years about spraying things in their eyes or dredging up bad memories and such, and I think it's just avoiding blinking until they well up, and then they act the rest of it.
I first noticed this when I watched Tom Cruise in Cocktail a long time ago, in the scene where he read Doug's suicide note. The entire time he sat there with the camera on him, he never blinked a single time, and by the time he got through the note the tears were there. I started watching other actors in other things, and it's the same with every one of them: no blinking.
Walter Murch has a whole editing theory about "cutting on the blinks" that basicly boils down to the idea that the human mind (or at least the actor's mind) instinctively knows where there is a beat in a scene, and that beat normally triggers a blink. By cutting on those blinks a scene will usually find a very compelling rythem. He claims this is how he edited The Conversation, he just looked for Gene Hackman's blinks, and they were constantly at moments where the shot had played itself out and a new angle or cut-away was neccessary.
Last edited by Mabuse; 07-24-09 at 11:18 AM.
#20
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
I vaguely remember an interview, I think it was with Kurt Russell (but I might be wrong), where the actor said thathe had a hole in his pocket and when needed to cry, he'd pull out a pube.
#21
DVD Talk Hero
#22
DVD Talk Hero
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Some people can do it, some people can't. The really bad ones have to use glycerine tears, which are obviously fake because of how slowly they travel down the cheek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affective_memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affective_memory
#24
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Wes Craven told Drew Barrymore stories of animal torture and how animals are killed for food to make her cry for the crying scenes in Scream. Maybe actors do similar things like they thinking about really sad things or events in their lives. I can't remember which actress it was but I remember reading an article were an actress said that for crying scenes she thought about her deceased grandmother.
#25
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: How do you think actors make themselves cry on film?
Whenever I want to cry on cue I usually just think of my deceased father.
This acting stuff ain't so hard after all...
This acting stuff ain't so hard after all...