So it’s the Oscars tonight!!!

Unfortunately, I have to wait until 11:00 pm or so to start watching them.  This means I have to stay away from the web or else I’ll have a headline screaming at me that so and so won this award or whatever.  Luckily, the Razzies have already been given out.  Did anyone see them?  I never actually know when they are given out, but I have to say a huge thanks to Chris Hardwick’s tweet about this gem of a clip.

I have always been a fan of hers.  She’s like my guilty pleasure.  My favorite movie? While You Were Sleeping.  Second fave? It’s a tie between The Proposal and Miss Congeniality. But what I love about her is that, in this clip, Sandra Bullock shows us she doesn’t take herself so seriously and isn’t afraid to laugh at herself.

Let me preface what I am about to say:  This is my personal belief.  Whether or not you agree with me is entirely okay.  What I do ask, is that if you do disagree, tell me why.

But back to the post!  I have worked with actors that are so full of The Serious that their character never seems to become fully believable.  And when it’s a comedy, it’s tragic.  Usually, I can spot them by the way they laugh.  If I never see the person do a let it go-full belly contracting laugh (this is usually the same person that thinks they are doing the “polite” laugh) when something insanely hilarious happens, you know that they are holding back because they take themselves seriously.   Now you may say, but what if that’s just the type of person they are.  I can, with 99% conviction, say that as a kid, everyone has had one of those laughs at least once.  As we grow up, society plays with the mind and makes you think that certain types of behaviors aren’t acceptable. Let me ask you, as a kid did you every really question what was acceptable?  I know I didn’t .  As long as it didn’t hurt anyone (there’s a huge difference between moral compass and insecurity), I was as free as a bird with my actions.  There are some people that are able to maintain that great big laugh, and it’s somewhere in that feeling of letting it all go that, I believe, an actor should go to bring their character to life.  For me, that’s the place of Make Believe.   By the time the actors are ready to perform the show, they have to be confident and believe that their technique and practice has helped them learn their lines, remember when and where to cross, plus grab any props they may need the way it’s supposed to and bring them to performance level.  But to be completely believable, and sweep the viewers away into the world of the play, they have to go to that Make Believe place and simply become.  Just like when you played outside as a kid.  They can’t be inhibited  by their conscious insecurities, like I had ranted about in a previous post or else the stage never hits the brilliance it can shine with, even if all the lights are turned on high.