Sanford Meisner - Theater's Best Kept Secret (Part 2 of 7)

[AfricanNaziJew]

Everytime he speaks, it sounds like he's farting every 2 seconds

[lolagraceful]

doesn't matter because then all that is occuring is that the person you are talking to is annoying you and you react however. You still have an objective if that makes sense. I only know because I've had that problem.

[trueblue4321]

I agree with the metaphor comment. I think also it would be better to have said something like mad3moyer is indicating that the actor is developing his whole life (if he or she is lucky enough to be working all the time by the way). But perhaps Meisner was sending another message of sorts, "this is work you have to be dedicated to and not to take it lightly." Obviously I don't know this. There is also an ideal he may have had in mind thinking of acting those "great acting roles "Lear-Hamlet"

[pdelaprimm]

 @6.45 -- still smoking sticks, man!

[dAtxMiiXdxChiCk]

MAN, I wish there were subtitles.

[Jerrod001H]

Devotion that he was talking about..

The Shen Yun, or Devin Performing arts is richly lived from the Bigining tile the End.. It has so much refinement & so much culture & the thoughs who put on the show are commited to it year round

It is comming for the 3 year here in colorado.. I studied Meisner's a little with Chrise Thatcher in Colorado who retired from Hollywood.. & it is purer then Meisner which is very engaged.. & butifule based on the Acters Heart's which may very.

[sitsutam]

I studied to at the esper studio in NY, it was 2 of the hardest years of my life. I grew as a person, which also included becoming a better actor. I am a member of the living theater now. It's about truth in your craft, and your life for that matter.

[tgball77]

You guys are just kind of over thinking his 20 years to be good comment. He always states no one has ever completely mastered their craft, you can always become better and should try to everyday. I'm pretty sure it's a metaphor for never be satisified.

[marxmith]

I thought I'd take a 12 week Meisner course for fun this summer; To see if I had acting potential. I quit after 6 weeks. I was far too challenging for me and I couldn't imagine becoming good unless I had committed myself to a full college program. I was a good learning experience as an artist. But I don't see acting in my future.

[aprtri]

i think that it is true it takes 20yrs to become an actor. note he said to become an actor not to act. there is a subtle difference anyone can act but not everyone is an actor.

[greenrate]

Meisner talks about personal "values" and "standards"?

How about the value of self-discipline?

This guy had a throat operation . . . and still smoked cigarettes?

Sheeesh . . .

[pelegirl5284]

Umm...he lost his Larynx in a car accident...not by smoking. He had been hit by a car.

[icepr99]

pelegirl5284 -

In the book 'Sanford Meisner on Acting' it says he lost his larynx to throat cancer.... The car running into him had nothing to do with his larynx, only his limp. Read the book.

[legatofancier]

@pelegirl5284 - No, Sandy was a chain smoker most of his life. His throat cancer was definitely caused by cigarette smoking. I went as far as to tell him that he ought to give up smoking. He took it well, but somehow I knew he wouldn't do it.

[moiphx2]

Erm...the link for this says it's for a James Gandolfini interview. How come youtube is going so messed up?

[souldude81]

If one thinks it takes 20 years to become an actor than it will take 20 years. I surmise it takes that long to master the Meisner technique but not acting. No, we are born actors. If a train actor watches for a moment, two untrained people interact with one another. He/she will see how easily they arrive at a place of emotion...

[mad3moyer]

The reason it takes years and years is because while you may know your craft, you are always working to make it better, or at least you should be. Just like a piano player, painter, or any other artist who has learned a technique, that does not stop them from continuing to learn from others as well as themselves. To master something means you have no more to learn, and if you think you have mastered acting in a shorter period of time, you are only fooling yourself.

[souldude81]

Well it is a fairly subjective argument to pin point how long it takes for some one to "master" acting. I think it is always an on going process tell you die. It may take 20 years to reach a certain level but why not 30 or 40 or 5? The point is, people have the emotional faculties to behave in almost any fashion. What is required is the right kind of leverage to bring out those behaviours in context with story. I have scene children out act adults. It is very subjective.

[mad3moyer]

Aan artist you are always striving to improve, and i completely agree it's a never ending process. Sandy's point was that it takes a very long time to reach the highest level that you personally are able to reach. That is simply not done in 5 years. You may reach a high level in 5 years, and be better than the person next to you who has worked on it for 30 years. But if you can acheive that mark in 5 years, that means the level you yourself can eventually reach is much higher than that.

[souldude81]

I am a fan of Sandy. I was at first sceptical with some of his techniques but he has won me over. I suppose the only problem I still have with him is how he quantifies the time it takes to achieve a certain level of acting. I say we are born actors, but we must learn to be consistant with our emotions. The older we get, in theory the better control we should have over our emotions. If that is what Sandy meant then I agree with him.

[JustinJCarter1]

@mad3moyer I think they stated rather clearly that it's because the first 20 years you have to be focused on playing the music, and you can't just play it.

[mad3moyer]

@JustinJCarter1

You need to elaborate a little more, and parallel your music reference to acting technique before I can comment on it.

[slowpoke96Z28]

thats like saying someone is a born wood worker. anybody can take two pieces of wood, a hammer and a nail and put them together, but "master" wood working, like acting, is a lifelong pursuit. i will give you so much that everyone the mental capability to act, but thats as far as i can go. i think thats why they say people "practice" a craft like acting, music, carpentry, etc, instead of saying people "do" a craft.

[souldude81]

I don't think you can assign a bench mark and apply it to the entire population. It might take some people 20 years to learn the craft. Others it may take 2 years to achieve the same level of talent. It is subjective. I would NEVER say to an actor it's going to take you 20 years to learn how to act because it would instill the notion that everything they do is wrong. Can a 40 year old play a 20 year old better than a 20 year old? Quite frankly I see no evidence in it.

[souldude81]

Perhaps what Miesner really meant is that it takes 20 years for you to feel comfortable with yourself infront of the camera. That I will accept. Yet IMO I don't care how much you struggle to get to a place of emotion as long as you get what I am looking for. Methodology is irrelevant with respect to the result.

[slowpoke96Z28]

there is more to that 20 y/o character than his age. you got tempermant, beliefs, life experiences, political views, etc. a 20 y/o playing a 20 y/o isn't acting, thats a 20 y/o being a 20 y/o. now a 40 y/o playing a 20y/o IS acting, or even better, a 20 y/o playing a 40 y/o. like i said, there is more to carpentry than putting wood together with a nail or screw, and there is more to acting than getting the "age" right.

[souldude81]

Again I will asert that your point is irrelevent, because at the end of the day, great actors arrive to a place of emotion. How they get there is their method. If there is such a thing as a 20 year old actor playing a 40 year old, that just shows that Meisner was wrong. Mickey Rourke didn't need twenty years to be great. Ryan Gosling didn't need 20 years, and James Dean didn't need 20 years to be great. Artistic expression is subjective and talent is relative to the individual.

[souldude81]

Meisner was suggesting that it might take 20 years for most people to be good without thinking about it. Merryl Streep after 40 years in the industry still has to think about before she can get to that place. I am sorry Meisner was a good acting teacher but he wasn't right about everything.

[BLUERAY1]

@souldude81 I agree totally with you. There is a lot to say about talent and real commitment to excel and one could be a very solid actor in under 5 yrs. 20 yrs is a crazy ass number to throw out. Brando kicked ass as Stanley in streetcar with under 5 yrs of acting experience and when he did Waterfront he still only had way under 10 yrs acting.

[GeoLoVeTRuTH]

This man is responsible for my Oscar.

[chngdwrld]

...therob is right.

[hobbessally]

actors unable to live their own life. Unable to follow their own imagination. A cult. Someone tells you there's a way to break something down to an A + B equation and people flock. He was just a man and not a very interesting one at that. A god some people on this video. GOD? Wake up! And we wonder why we are as evolved as we are and the theater is dead and gone. And Mamet? What a contradiction. The bar has been so low for so long people are starving.Ripe for a new creative leader.rip wacko

[therobgrubershow]

you are a hack of a human being that doesn't really know enough about the subject! there was no cult. this was a simple technique designed to strengthen one's ability to listen which you apparently aren't able to do, and imagination which you must also be lacking. the waking up is for you.

[DannieLu1975]

He was a genius and I owe my acting, directing and teaching success to him and his work.

[michaelrobert1974]

Thank you for posting the lesson.

[johnshipe]

I'm not an actor. A singer/guitar player. The best investment I ever made for my music career was Meisner based workshops.