Sir Ian on Sir Ian

[abillings]

One of the greatest actors of our time speaks about acting.Although this is Sir Ian on "Extras" (Ricky Gervais' raucous and scathing comedy), his ability to release is what is noteworthy here. In a 3 minute monologue, lampooning his own process as an artist, McKellen inadvertently gives is great insight into what it is he actually does. Watch as he

Comments

[mort_83]

I can't get enough of Sir Ian.

What do you mean by "his use of tesseract"? I only know of tesseract as a hybercube in geometry, and of course, from "A Wrinkle in Time".

Mort

[abillings]

A Wrinkle in Time. Yes. That's exactly it.

I use it as a diagram for actors to ahow you can go from one thing to the next without great preparation, or great stress. It just happens. Since time is theoretical at best, we usually believe that in order for the next Event to occur, we have to get ourselves ready for it. When most of the time, it happens whether we're ready or not. So...we just Go.

We know how to do that as children. Think of all the times we've been in Pretend Land and had a big gun fight. Then, out of the blue, Mom calls us for dinner. Off go the guns, and down comes the scene. We Tesserract into the newness of the next Event, without over-thinking.

We simply Go.

Does that help?

Re: Mort

[mort_83]

I get it! Your example is a great one. I can recall doing that sort of thing all the time as a kid. I think I may even do that now, as an adult.

When I was younger, in high school and college, I was heavily involved in theater. I totally get this. It's pretty much how I operated, even though I didn't have a name for it.