Is there some special method to remembering an entire play or movie without having to refer to your lines? I can barely remember one paragraph of lines to the tee, let alone hundreds of pages of lines. Thanks!
In: 70
Plays and movies are entirely different animals.
Actors in plays rehearse over and over and over before the opening performance, and they learn their lines, stage position, posture, etc through repetition. Stage productions typically aren’t a one time thing, and if it’s a successful show, it could have hundreds of showings which only further reinforces everything for the actors.
ETA: Most rehearsals and readings typically focus on one scene at a time. They don’t rehearse the play from start to finish right off the bat. Instead, they’ll work on the first scene dozens of times. Then the next scene. And so on and so on. Once each scene is perfected, then they will rehearse in larger portions until finally having full rehearsals from start to finish.
Movies and television shows are filmed in bits and pieces, with multiple takes on each scene. So the actors really only need to learn a few lines at a time. A 30 – 60 second scene might be shot 5 or 6 times over the course of several hours. That very well could be the only work the actor(s) in that scene have to do for the entire day, so they only need to worry about the couple of lines they have to deliver. There’s no need for then to actually memorize every line they deliver. Actors in movies and TV are also often given some latitude to improv and go “off script.” Stage actors don’t have that same luxury during their performances.
ETA: Movies and TV are also rarely (if ever) filmed in the exact order that you see in the finished product. Take Forrest Gump, for example. We occasionally see him waiting at the bus stop throughout the movie, telling his story to others. All of those scenes were likely filmed at the same time (or at least over the course of a few consecutive days). Maybe they were filmed at the very start of production, or maybe they were done on the last few days, or somewhere in the middle. But they were definitely all shot at the same time. So Hanks just needed to learn the lines for those scenes as they were filming them. And if he couldn’t remember a line, he could literally just yell “LINE!” and someone off camera would say it for him.
Latest Answers