I was asked the other day, “What do you need to see in an audition?” As a casting director, I get asked this question a lot. I love to read with actors because I can truly see if they’re connecting with me and listening, or if they’re just performing on their own and not truly in the scene. Like a poker player, the true “tell” that an actor isn’t in the scene is his body language. Your body language is everything.
Imagine you’re in a scene where you’re fighting with your spouse over your monthly budget. You know he/she is spending money behind your back and you’ve been trying to dig yourselves out of a financial hole for the last year. Why on earth would you have your hands shoved in your pockets?
I’m not sure why, but I see men do this more than women. Think about it: If you’re in the middle of a highly charged emotional situation and you’re trying to convince the other person about something important to you, why would your hands be in your pockets in a casual body language stance? It doesn’t make any sense to me—what it does show me is that you aren’t fully connected to the character or the scene. It shows me that you aren’t living in the skin of your character. If you were fighting for your financial life, you would probably be flailing your arms, pointing at the other person, slamming the bills on the table, and rubbing your forehead for some relief because your brain is exploding.
When I’m casting or coaching actors, I watch their body language closely. I’ve found that many actors simply don’t know how to stand and don’t know what to do with their bodies within the scene. Many have never trained properly, stood on a stage, or taken a movement class. Too many actors are “studying and training” by just taking workshops rather than weekly classes to build a foundation. These workshops and intensives are meant to be in addition to your training.
Another tell is “indicating.” I see this mostly with children whose parents have badly coached them to do a sort of pantomime movement in which he or she does hand gestures associated with the words. Wikipedia describes indicating as “unrealistic acting. At its worst it is often associated with acting of the past in which realism was not ubiquitously prized and stereotyped gestures were used to ‘indicate’ emotions rather than actually showing them.” You’ve seen this actor. Rather than tell the story coming from his emotions he indicates the result of those emotions, and isn’t truly feeling them.
In an audition setting you’re sometimes confined to a small space in which to act. You need to make sure the camera can see you. Yet, when an actor is firmly planted and stock-still while doing a scene, it feels somewhat false and unnatural. Know that the camera can follow you, as long as you don’t walk completely out of frame. Tell the cameraperson ahead of time that you’ll be moving a bit during the scene so they’ll know to follow you. You have about a 2–3 foot range on either side of you (don’t walk toward the camera), and make sure to throw your looks to either side of the camera, not behind you.
For most television and film, the key is to look natural. Your body language reflects what’s going on emotionally—if the two contradict each other, you’re giving a false performance.
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Known for her work in film and television, producer and casting director Marci Liroff has worked with some of the most successful directors in the world such as Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Mark Waters, Christopher Nolan, Brad Bird, and Herbert Ross. While working at Fenton-Feinberg Casting, she, along with Mike Fenton, cast such films as “A Christmas Story," “Poltergeist," “E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial," “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," and “Blade Runner." After establishing her own casting company in 1983, Liroff cast “Footloose," “St. Elmo's Fire," “Pretty in Pink," “The Iron Giant," “The Spitfire Grill," “Untamed Heart," “Freaky Friday," “Mean Girls," “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “Vampire Academy,” and the upcoming “The Sublime and Beautiful,” which she produced as well.
Liroff is also an acting coach, and her three-night Audition Bootcamp has empowered actors to view the audition process in a new light. The class spawned an online course available at Udemy entitled "How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp".
Visit Liroff online at marciliroff.com, follow her on Twitter @marciliroff and Facebook, and watch her advice videos on YouTube. You can also read her blog.
