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Shooting the Actor
A companion volume to Being an Actor, Callow's classic text about the experience of acting in the theatre, Shooting the Actor reveals the truth about film acting. The book describes his film work, from Amadeus to Four Weddings and a Funeral, from Ace When Nature Calls to Shakespeare in Love. Its centrepiece is a hilarious and sometimes agonising account of the making of Manifesto, shot in the former Yugoslavia. When Callow first met the film's director Duan Makavejev to discuss the movie, they both got on famously. Months later the two were barely speaking. Insightful and always entertaining, Shooting the Actor reveals more than any formal guide could about the process of film-making and the highly complex nature of being both actor and director.
368 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2022
SHOOTING THE ACTOR is the best book I've read about the process of acting for film, how it differs from acting for the stage, and the various approaches of film directors. Along the way, it explores the needs of performers in a film production ... needs that vary from performer to performer, from different cultural backgrounds and training, from experience, and from the sense of "community" established on the set. As I have found in previous works, Simon Callow is an immensely engaging writer.
The book has been expanded from its original release. Initially, it consisted of the writer's diary of his experience of working on the film that would eventually be released as "Manifesto." It began with a sense of anticipatory excitement as early meetings with Director / Screenwriter Dusan Makavejev promised a rewarding creative collaboration. By the conclusion of filming, Callow and Makavejev were doing their best to avoid one another.
The tale isn't one-sided. Callow (and the book's publisher) invited Makavejev to offer comments whenever he desired, and they are sprinkled throughout the book. Sometimes, they are contradictory. Often, there is a sense of surprise (and frequently regret). What grows is an awareness after the fact of what might have been done differently. I found it fascinating to read.
In the expansion, Callow surrounded the diary with "tales from the set" of other films that he made ... three before "Manifesto" and quite a few afterward. Experiences ranged from the sublime to huge disappointments. It was amusing to read a section in which Callow describes directing a film production and unknowingly creating a similar environment to the one he so detested when working with Makavejev!
The book finishes with a description of the "steps" involved during a typical shooting. This isn't a factual recounting, but filled with anecdotes.
Although I've been a major film fanatic for many years, I learned a great deal from SHOOTING THE ACTOR. A key point was an obvious one, but also one that I hadn't considered to its full extent. Ultimately, the process of creating a "performance" falls mainly in the purview of the director and the editor. Their choices determine exactly what the audience will experience. A mediocre performance can be tightened into something wonderful ... and a wonderful performance can disappear without a trace. (It was most enlightening to read about what happened on the film, "Jefferson In Paris.") Essentially, a performer can be contributing nothing more than "moments" from which the director and editor will craft the final product. In a way, it can be less of a performance and more of "suggestions to be considered."
I strongly recommend SHOOTING THE ACTOR to anyone who is interested in learning more about the filmmaking process, especially as a performer, director, screenwriter or editor. It is very readable, entertaining, and memorable.
The book has been expanded from its original release. Initially, it consisted of the writer's diary of his experience of working on the film that would eventually be released as "Manifesto." It began with a sense of anticipatory excitement as early meetings with Director / Screenwriter Dusan Makavejev promised a rewarding creative collaboration. By the conclusion of filming, Callow and Makavejev were doing their best to avoid one another.
The tale isn't one-sided. Callow (and the book's publisher) invited Makavejev to offer comments whenever he desired, and they are sprinkled throughout the book. Sometimes, they are contradictory. Often, there is a sense of surprise (and frequently regret). What grows is an awareness after the fact of what might have been done differently. I found it fascinating to read.
In the expansion, Callow surrounded the diary with "tales from the set" of other films that he made ... three before "Manifesto" and quite a few afterward. Experiences ranged from the sublime to huge disappointments. It was amusing to read a section in which Callow describes directing a film production and unknowingly creating a similar environment to the one he so detested when working with Makavejev!
The book finishes with a description of the "steps" involved during a typical shooting. This isn't a factual recounting, but filled with anecdotes.
Although I've been a major film fanatic for many years, I learned a great deal from SHOOTING THE ACTOR. A key point was an obvious one, but also one that I hadn't considered to its full extent. Ultimately, the process of creating a "performance" falls mainly in the purview of the director and the editor. Their choices determine exactly what the audience will experience. A mediocre performance can be tightened into something wonderful ... and a wonderful performance can disappear without a trace. (It was most enlightening to read about what happened on the film, "Jefferson In Paris.") Essentially, a performer can be contributing nothing more than "moments" from which the director and editor will craft the final product. In a way, it can be less of a performance and more of "suggestions to be considered."
I strongly recommend SHOOTING THE ACTOR to anyone who is interested in learning more about the filmmaking process, especially as a performer, director, screenwriter or editor. It is very readable, entertaining, and memorable.
October 25, 2018
Candid memoir of an unhappy time in Simon Callow's life drawn from an audio diary made on a film set - with occasional interjections from director Dusan Makavejev, the target of much of his unhappiness. Uncomfortable reading, made me think less of Simon Callow (who at least felt, when later adding the afterword, that he expressed himself more strongly than he should have done). I found it too uncomfortably confrontational to enjoy reading it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews