<<Falling>> Thoughts

 Posted on 12/5/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


Scott Baker <76072.1744@compuserve.com> asks:
> I assume that you don't make comments during filming then
> directly to the actors, so what do you do if you see something
> during filming that needs to be changed?

I will, on *rare* occasions, address a note or correction
directly to an actor while we're shooting, but in general I give any
notes to the director on the set, who passes them on to the actor.
There really can't be a multiplicity of voices talking to actors on the
set...it can become confusing, and they can get contradictory
directions. They can get skittish and lose concentration.

One occasion where I *did* do this recently...in the scene
where Londo explains to Cartagia why he shouldn't be killed for being
late, the director had Londo playing that scene submissive and nervous
in rehearsals, didn't understand that the whole point of the exercise
was Londo standing up to Cartagia, but doing so in a very sly way, not
giving him any room to maneuver. Cartagia likes Londo because there's
intelligence and steel, in a very manipulative fashion..."you think the
same way I do," Cartagia says. So before we shot the scene, I pulled
Peter aside and gave him the correction, and that's how we shot it.

But, again, those incidents are fairly rare.

jms