{"id":903,"date":"2020-01-24T01:45:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T08:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=903"},"modified":"2020-01-24T11:45:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T18:45:37","slug":"2020-directors-close-up-week-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2020\/2020-directors-close-up-week-two\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Directors Close Up * Week Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Acting\nallows a script to transform from words on a page into an emotional and\nthree-dimensional performance. So, Week Two of Film Independent\u2019s Director\u2019s\nClose Up delved into the relationship between actor and director by hearing\nfrom Marriage Story<\/em> director Noah Baumbach, actress Martha Kelly\n(Nancy Katz) and casting director Francine Maisler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nactors can bring characters to life, a screenplay must be written for them to\ninhabit. Noah, who also wrote the screenplay for Marriage Story<\/em>, spoke in detail about his unique writing process.\nUnlike most writers, Noah includes his actors and crew in the writing process\nallowing him to \u201chave a dialogue with them.\u201d This included interviewing every\nactor, so he can tailor the characters to their personalities. At the end of\nthe film, when Adam Driver (Charlie) plays the guitar, Noah explained that the\nmoment had been specifically written for Adam. Similarly, one of Laura Dern\u2019s\n(Nora Franshaw) monologues directly came from conversations between Noah and\nLaura. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noah\nfocuses on ensuring the script resembles reality as much as possible, so he\ntends to interview people who have experienced similar things to what the\ncharacters experienced. For Marriage Story,<\/em> he interviewed\nmany individuals who have had experience with both marriage and divorce to\nensure that the story maintains as much realism as possible. To add more\nrealism, Noah collected stories that he heard from friends and families and\nfound \u201cthe right place for it at the right time.\u201d In a scene from Marriage Story<\/em>, Charlie accidentally\ncuts himself. Noah states that the inspiration came from a real-life event that\nhappened to a friend of his. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthese strategies help ensure the film flows naturally, casting the right\nindividuals has a large influence on the quality of the film. Casting director\nFrancine Maisler spoke on their process, saying Noah treats \u201cevery part like\nit\u2019s the lead.” Noah takes time to find the right actor for each role and\nworks with them to ensure they understand the character. Noah and Francine will\nsometimes save the names of actors they meet so they can work with them on\nfuture projects, one example is Merrit Weaver (Cassie), whom they met years ago\nand decided she would be perfect in Marriage Story<\/em>. During the\naudition process, he wants the actors to not know the lines, to be slightly\nunrefined, or even \u201craw.\u201d This allows him to work with the actors to develop a\nstrong character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\ncasting and writing have been completed, he conducts rehearsals not to practice\nthe lines but the \u201cblocking and rhythm of the dialogue.\u201d This also helps the\nactors learn the character. An example is with Alan Alda\u2019s portrayal of Bert\nSpitz. Alda told Noah that he didn\u2019t understand the Bert\u2019s character until he\nsaw the set for Bert’s office. Onset, Noah avoids saying “action” to\npush the actors to perform the same way they would off-camera, which he\nbelieves allows a more natural performance. He would also does many takes or\nslightly adjusts the blocking of the actors or gives the actors little things\nto do during the scene to help naturalize the performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noah\nalso took inspiration from previous films. He watched \u201cscrew-ball comedies from\nthe 30s and 40s such as Persona <\/em>(1966) and Dr.\nStrangelove <\/em>(1964) to prepare for Marriage Story<\/em>. When\nworking with actors, he collaborates with them instead of ordering them. \u201cThey\ngive me ideas in their performance,\u201d he explains. Even with writing, Noah\nstates that when he begins writing any script, he feels that he\u2019s \u201cjust an\namateur all over again.\u201d Noah\u2019s process speaks for itself, with the film\nreceiving five nominations at the 92nd<\/sup> Academy Awards, including Best\nPicture and Best Screenplay, and being honored as one of the best films of the\nyear by the American Film Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marriage Story<\/em> is streaming on Netflix now. For more\ninformation on Film Independent, go to https:\/\/www.filmindependent.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nGerry O., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Age 17<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acting allows a script to transform from words on a page into an emotional and three-dimensional performance. So, Week Two of Film Independent\u2019s Director\u2019s Close Up delved into the relationship between actor and director by hearing from Marriage Story director Noah Baumbach, actress Martha Kelly (Nancy Katz) and casting director Francine Maisler.<\/p>\n

Before actors can bring characters to life, a screenplay must be written for them to inhabit. Noah, who also wrote the screenplay for Marriage Story, spoke in detail about his unique writing process. Unlike most writers, Noah includes his actors and crew in the writing process allowing him to \u201chave a dialogue with them.\u201d This included interviewing every actor, so he can tailor the characters to their personalities. At the end of the film, when Adam Driver (Charlie) plays the guitar, Noah explained that the moment had been specifically written for Adam. Similarly, one of Laura Dern\u2019s (Nora Franshaw) monologues directly came from conversations between Noah and Laura. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[185,179,182,186,187,184,10,177,80,180,178,175,181,176,143,174,183],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-critics-blog","tag-academy-award-nominee","tag-adam-driver","tag-alan-alda","tag-best-picture","tag-best-screenplay","tag-dr-strangelove","tag-film-independent","tag-francine-maisler","tag-gerry-orz","tag-laura-dern","tag-marriage-story","tag-martha-kelly","tag-merrit-weaver","tag-nancy-katz","tag-netflix","tag-noah-baumbach","tag-persona"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}