I've heard they didn't/don't memorize all of their lines. What are your thoughts?

I think it's pretty risky, but if you want to stay true to the screenplay writer/playwright's words and still stay in the moment as much as possible, it's pretty smart.

Are you sure they didn't just have a bad memory?

What I heard from my acting teacher is: better forget a line than stress out like crazy about NOT forgetting a line and then act like a stick.

But intentionally? I'm neither Brando, nor nuts.

I haven't heard that about Al Pacino and doubt its true. As for Brando he would read off of cue cards, or be prompted by someone or a device when he did not want to memorize. But in my opinion once you have the lines down you are actually more free and in the moment. If you have to create dialouge that can pull you out of the moment just as well. Be free. MRFREE

I also have not heard that about Al Pacino, and I also doubt it's true. MRFREE is exactly right about Brando, and I totally agree with him about the freedom of having one's lines down. It's a beautiful thing.

In my experience as an indie film director, it is impossible to act if you don't have your lines memorized. I've had scenes ruined by actors who didn't memorize, had to read off cue cards, and as as result, I had very little choices in cutting the scene in the editing room. My advice to actor's is ... please memorize your lines. It's incredible how many actors think they can wing it. Thank god surgeons don't have the same approach to their craft.

Same goes for the audition. If an actor has memorized his lines and I am interested in him/her, I can easily work with him/her.

quote:

Originally posted by Prospective:
I've heard they [Al Pacino/Marlon Brando] didn't/don't memorize all of their lines. What are your thoughts?

I think it's pretty risky, but if you want to stay true to the screenplay writer/playwright's words and still stay in the moment as much as possible, it's pretty smart.

If there was a single thing that would shout, "Unprofessional," it would be not knowing your lines.

If you'll notice, both Pacino and Brando are super stars, icons in our industry. If they showed up late, wearing a pink tutu (which Brandon has done), and not having memorized their lines, they've had earned the privilege. Try doing the same thing and you'd be on unemployment before you could say, "Jack Daniels." They are the exception to the rule.

“Whatever works.”

www.robertkim.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453647/

I wonder if people are making the distinction between MEMORIZING and REMEMBERING. That is, the first is one - but only one - method to achieve the second.

Years ago at HB I was working with a partner who never learned his lines. "But Uta Hagen says not to!" he said. As I recall, upon further research, I found that Hagen does indeed recommend learning one's lines, not by memorizing them mechanically, as words, but by associating them with your intention for each line.

This doesn't mean you don't have to learn your lines; it just means you have to use a more organic approach to making them stick.

There's also this approach (learned with, if not from, Pacino):

quote:

he takes a more organic approach to memorization, which he learned through working on scenes with Al Pacino at the Actors Studio, where Dever is a member: They'd read through the script over and over, and by the third or fourth time, he'd realize he'd memorized huge sections. "Your brain picks things up naturally," he says. Now, when he memorizes lines for plays, he hardly needs to use his iPod; his brain is all tuned up from having worked on soaps and from his more natural approach to memorizing.

Learning lines for soaps

I think actors who don't memorize their lines come off as unprofessional. It is good to take risks, but not stupid risks.

I have a feeling that you may have misinterpreted what you have read.

A professional actor knows his lines. What's as imporant, is that he knows and can demonstrate his intent. What that does NOT mean is memorizing HOW you say your lines (ie. with a certain hand gesture, pause, etc). If your intent is solid, the words come.

My director always says that words are secondary. Learn the lines, but let your intent guide you. If you mistakenly miss a word or line, but have prepared properly, you should be able to recover without the audience knowing. You learn to trust yourself because you know where your scene starts, and where it needs to go.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that you should be careless in learning your lines. You don't want to find out the hard way that a director or writer insists that every word is exact, so unless directed not to do so, learn them word for word.

It's definitely a skill that comes with practice. I try to memorize random things from the newspaper, just to keep my memory sharp.

Memorize your lines. Don't be that guy.

You can go study acting, go to therapy, and grow as a person to be in the moment.

If you wanted to really be in the moment, I'd forget learning your cues.