After figuring out the incomprehensible questions that had been entangled in her heart, Theron's expression immediately relaxed a lot.
Human psychology is very strange: for Theron, who has worked hard in Hollywood for two years but is hardly appreciated by anyone, whether Levi is appreciated or not is of vital significance to her. Levi was the first director who was willing to take her as a leading role and the first director who believed that she could succeed. In Theron's view, how he evaluates herself can even be said to be the most significant turning point in her career, and her uneasiness and anxiety come from this.
And after figuring out that she still has a lot of weight in Levi's eyes, Theron's original resentment toward Levi has disappeared. She even felt a little bit proud: at least, what Levi paid attention to was not her beauty but her acting skills. In Theron's life, there has never been a shortage of people calling her a beauty. She doesn't pay much attention to her acting skills, but what can she be more proud of, for an actor, than being recognized by the director for her acting skills?
Therefore, her expression became much softer when she thought about this clearly.
"It can be seen that you are a fan of Adjani. If I need to act, should I learn from Adjani? She is the best French actress?"
Theron asked her own question. The biggest problem she encountered during this time was that she couldn't act well. Although she already knew that Levi valued herself very much, she still couldn't solve the problem of how to perform well. Therefore, she also wanted to ask Levi to see how she should act.
Sitting opposite her, Levi also noticed that there seemed to be some subtle changes in Theron's emotions, as if the gap between her and himself was less. He was also a little happy in his heart: Recently, he had very little communication with Theron, so Theron was always in a bad mood during the filming of the previous few days. Although Levi has always wanted to have a good chat with her, he has a lot of things of his own. Although the investment in this film was not big, it was the first time that Enigma Company invested in filming. Levi didn't have too many people he could trust. He had to do many things himself, which also made him neglect the communication with the actors. And now, seeing the distance between Theron and himself lessen, he felt that it was a great thing.
Now that Theron has opened up her heart, he should strike while the iron is hot. She wants to know how she should act, so he just needs to explain it to her.
"Yes, I admit this, she is a good actress, and beauty and acting skills coexist. I am indeed her fan. But to say the best, among the French actresses, Isabelle Huppert is the best acting school, her acting roles are really ever-changing, which makes people admire her. Sometimes I even think that even Meryl Streep is still a little worse than Huppert. She takes on too many roles, is often out of character, and can't get into the play."
Levi continued to talk about his opinion. This time, when he spoke again, Theron just sat aside and looked at him with a smile, listening to his words quietly. He talked a lot, and even she didn't express any objection to Levi's praise of Adjani's beauty, and she didn't speak until he finished speaking.
"Then what do you mean, should I learn from Huppert or Meryl?"
"Don't learn from them; you won't learn. To put it simply, your level is too low. If you try to learn from them directly, you won't learn anything." Levi shook his head.
Whether Meryl or Huppert, they are all top-notch actors. Although Levi is slightly dissatisfied with Meryl Streep's acting attitude that she has too many roles and cannot fully enter the part, it has to be admitted that even if Meryl doesn't enter the role, she can still act in the movie very well just by virtue of her already peaked performance of external skills. Theron is different from them. She doesn't have much acting experience, and her performance skills are much worse than those characters. If she wants to imitate blindly, like cats and tigers, she is making things difficult for herself.
"Now you are more concerned about how to express your inner feelings. As a young actor, if your acting skills are not good enough, you must think more about changing your expressiveness through the investment of inner emotions. As for imitation, you know Catherine Deneuve, right?" Levi thought for a while. Since he has been talking about European actors all the time, then this time also, it is better to use European actors as an example, "That is the direction of your efforts. You are a model. Since your face is stiff, find a way to let your eyes learn to speak. Catherine Deneuve is also a famous ice beauty, but her eyes are very flexible, which makes up for her lack of acting skills. What you have to learn now is to make your eyes more flexible."
Everyone's debut experience basically determines a person's development path. The super flexible face, like Jim Carrey, is unique to comedians. Few people can speak with facial expressions and movements, and ordinary actors can't learn it even if they want to. Actors who are born in dramas will naturally be superior to others in their grasp of lines. This is what their acting experience has given them, not due to talent but the result of experience. Model-turned-actors like Charlize Theron are the most despised—the modeling career has given them good curves, and it is easy to become a vase, but the model life also makes their facial expressions and body movements all too rigid, and it is extremely difficult to show good acting skills.
Since people come from different backgrounds and experiences, they have to use different methods when acting. As Levi said, Sophie Marceau and Adjani have been called "elf and fairy temperament" since their debut, and they have to rely on explosive power to supplement their lack of acting skills. An actor like Theron has to rely on the softness revealed in her eyes, and subtle expressions are used to supplement her acting skills.
Actors' acting skills need to be based on their own circumstances. An actor's performance will be much easier as long as they think about this.
"My expression won't change?" After listening to Levi's words, Theron first noticed the problem in his words, and Levi's evaluation was the first thing she noticed.
"What do you think? You are too reserved, and you can't let go when you are acting. Even when you are performing with tears streaming down your face, your face is still tense. I really don't understand, and you haven't had plastic surgery; why is your face so stiff that you can't move like you have had plastic surgery? The modeling life has really affected you so much, to the point that your face has turned into a plaster cast?"
"Hey!" Theron said, a little annoyed, and she interrupted Levi, "Now is not the time for shooting, don't be so mean."
Levi nodded obediently and stopped talking. Theron also frowned, "Why can't I act well?"
"I told you, it's still a matter of your lack of experience. Although Deneuve is an ice beauty, at least she is hot inside, and through the camera, you can capture the enthusiasm in her eyes. But you? No, your heart is also cold, and you don't want to show your thoughts through your eyes because it will damage your temperament. This is not a fashion show; you can't treat my camera as a group of audiences and put on airs in front of me. You are not being good to yourself. Movies are different from shows, and you have to understand this concept. You have to ignore the audience on shows, but in scripts, you have to blend in."
The biggest difference between movies and shows is here: In movies, all the actors' performances are for the betterment of the movie. Sometimes, the actors need to let their skin relax, their muscles twitch and even show their ugliest side. If an actor still thinks about how to make himself look beautiful when he is crying, cursing, and getting angry, this actor will not be able to make a good movie.
"Integrate into the script? Is this the method you recommend to me?"
"I just recommend you to do this in this play. You still have to practice acting skills in the future. Acting skills are hardware, and psychological feelings are software. If the hardware is bad, no matter how good the software is, it's useless; it's just a stopgap measure now—Hasn't your agent given you any advice on these things?"
"I'm preparing to change my agent." Theron also somewhat understood what a good agent should do—Billy seemed to be thinking of herself, but his methods couldn't make her succeed at all. From knowing him to the present, the suggestions he gave to herself are basically not very successful suggestions, and such a manager can no longer be used.
Levi didn't know much about her decision, nor did he know who Theron's agent was, and he couldn't afford to worry about an agent losing his job, "Since your agent is not good, then I will teach you first. Okay. Remember, in the performance of the movie, you can try to bring some of your own emotions and feelings directly into the movie to show the emotions needed in the movie. All I need you to show is your sadness and despair instead of having the thoughts of the characters in the movie."
"But it is difficult to express pain. I have never been in pain and despair."
"Never? You grew up in a single-parent family. When your father left, What mood were you in?"
This time, Levi's words made Theron's face change drastically.
"How did you know about my family?" Theron clearly remembered that she never mentioned about her family, and she never wanted people to know about these things, "How did you know about my parents?"
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri, Abdishakur Hasan, Adam LV, Danny York, haze2343, and Scott DePaepe.
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.