Looking to work with actors?
Congratulations to the actor shortlist for New Shoots: Actors.
You can get in touch with any of these actors directly, or search the members directory to find other actors you might like to work with. The winning actors will be announced in SP’s bulletins, newsletter and next New Shoots event.
Favourite piece of dialogue? From The ShawShank Redemption (Directed by Frank Darabont, 1994) Andy Dufresne: [in a letter to Red]: 'Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.'
Which performance would you most like to recreate from a film and why? The smile at the end of Magnolia (Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson). It's such a simple moment and it almost comes out of nowhere, but it ties the whole film together with hope. No big showy happy ending, just enough for the audience to make sense of a maddening, chaotic world.
Which performance would you most like to recreate from a film and why? I'd love to recreate the scene at the end of 'The Colour Purple' when Celie and her sister are reunited. The run to each other through a beautiful sunlit field. It reminds me of the time I found my siblings on Facebook, how scared, relieved, happy and sad I was to know that they had been looking for me too. That moment of rejoice is something that would live with me forever and that would be a beautiful and heart-warming thing to recreate.
Favourite piece of dialogue? Right now it's the dialogue between Nelson and Winne Mandela in 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'. The differences of ideas for the same goal of peace for a people: Winnie: Are you ashamed to greet me in front of our people? Nelson: Winnie, when you speak in public, you must represent the policies of the ANC. Winnie: And what does that mean? Nelson: We are negotiating. Winnie: We are not fighting a war. Nelson: But the people have chosen to fight.
Which performance would you most like to recreate from a film and why? The scene from ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’, where Emma confronts Adele about whether she has been seeing someone else. At first Adele denies the accusations but Emma doesn’t stop digging and eventually Adele admits to sleeping with a man she works with. It’s such a beautifully raw performance from both actors who are fully committed throughout the scene. This performance blew me away as it is so different to many American style performances which I’m used to watching. The performances have cemented in my head what I aspire to achieve as an actor myself.
Favourite piece of dialogue? "Quit the shitty cheese sandwich job" It's from Freddy Got Fingered (2001), directed by Tom Green. A box office flop with terrible ratings. But it's my favourite film. The scene is where a casting director tells the lead to quit his shit cheese sandwich shop job to become an animator, which is why he moved to LA in the first place. So it's really a story of following your dreams and taking the risks needed to fulfil them.
Which performance would you most like to recreate from a film and why? I'd love to recreate Alec Baldwin’s character Blake, from 'Glenn Gary Glenn Ross' (1992). The iconic scene “ABC always be closing”. I feel that this character has a strong energy and demonstrates a lot of weight and confidence. He completely commands the room with his voice and presence. It’s a role that I would love to play and it is extremely special because this is the only scene he has in the film, but the impact he has and the way it is written is absolutely brilliant.
Favourite piece of dialogue? Lady Bird and Marion in 'Lady Bird' (Dir: Greta Gerwig). LADY BIRD and her mother, MARION, are driving back from a college tour of their home state, California. LADY BIRD: I wanna go where culture is, like New York. MARION: How in the world did I raise such a snob? LADY BIRD: Or at least Connecticut or New Hampshire, where writers live in the woods. MARION: You couldn't get into those schools anyway. LADY BIRD: MOM! MARION: The way that you work, or the way that you don't work, you're not even worth state tuition, Christine. LADY BIRD: My Name Is LADY BIRD! MARION: Well actually, it's not, and it's ridiculous. Your name is Christine. LADY BIRD: CALL ME LADY BIRD LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD. MARION: You should just go to City College, you know, with your work ethic. Just go to City College, and then to jail, and then back to City College. Maybe you'd learn how to pull yourself up and not expect everybody to do everyth- Lady Bird dramatically opens the door and rolls out of the still-moving car. Marion screams.
Which performance would you most like to recreate from a film and why? A scene from 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' as I loved the film and books as a child, but still look young enough that I could pull off one of the children! I loved the magic of it, the escapism of the kids getting away from the trauma of World War II into a beautiful world only to find injustice and evil just as present. I would most like to recreate Edmund's performance, as he's the one of the four who's the most conflicted, feeling distant and rejected enough by his family to betray them, but not meaning for it to go as far as it does.