Brian: First thing – Learn the words. Peter O’Toole said that in an interview with Charlie Rose. After 45 – 50 minutes of an interview, Keating is smiling because we go through this all the time, near the end of the interview Charlie Rose said, “Okay, you’ve worked with some of the greatest, you are one of the greatest, what’s the most important thing you learned about acting and working with major stars?”.
And he said, “LEARN YOUR WORDS!”.
Once you do that and then put Anthony Hopkins little saying into play, “You must have the willingness to learn the words and courage to forget that you learned them.”, then they become yours. Then you’re in the right brain. You’re not in the left brain at all. If you slip into the left brain at all when you’re working on camera, the camera knows it.
The camera is a marvelous tool but it’s very evasive. I mean, intrusive. It gets into the soul. Every little nuance you have as a human being is magnified by the lens of the camera. And so stillness is paramount. So, you were extremely still. Which I love.