The secret of comedy is doing it naturally under the most difficult circumstances. And film comedy is the most difficult of all. At least on stage you know right away if you’re getting laughs or not. But making a movie, you have no way of knowing. So you try to time the thing for space and length and can only hope when it plays in the movie theaters months later that you have timed the thing right. It’s difficult and it takes experience. I’ll always remember the great actor, A.E. Matthews, who said on his death bed, “Dying’s tough–but not as tough as comedy”.
Month: January 2017
Happy Birthday: Mark Rylance
Pretty much all children are helpful to act with; they lack any guile when they act. Ruby (Ruby Barnhill) was particularly helpful: very, very present. And you also hear the very useful basic instructions that Steven would never say to Tom Hanks or to me, but he says to her: “Now concentrate, take your time before we start, just get into character, feel and think what’s going on.” I’m doing that anyway, but it’s great to be reminded. Steven’s got such incredible performances out of children; understands them so well and loves them so deeply, loves their imagination and energy tirelessly. So I was really very happy to be quiet and watch that. And then our [Mark and Ruby] relationship really came together when we were on screen.
WILDsound Festival 