I was recently reading a 1966 Life Magazine interview with Charlie Chaplin when something he said resonated deeply with me: "What differentiates the professional actor, the good actor, from the amateur is the fact that he knows what he is doing - the mechanics every minute. And does it with authority. If you're an authority, the audience will listen to you; if you are not, they won't." (Interviewed by Richard Meryman)
What exactly does it mean to act with authority? How can this attribute be developed by a new actor? The answer goes once again to the roots of acting - shamanism. If you draw a circle in the dirt, the tribe will gather to hear what you have to say. They do that because they expect you to know more than they do about certain things. It is the same as when you go to church, synagogue or mosque. You expect the priest or whoever to know something about life. You are there for a renewal, a fresh perspective, a point of reflection, and a sense of your own humanity. Religion and the arts are joined at the hip and deal with what it means to survive successfully in the world.
Over the years I have seen many new actors training in a variety of techniques and methods that foster honesty but not authority. They work hard on repetition exercises and relaxation exercises and they tap into deep and personal psychological places. They strive to be intuitive and "in the moment", all of which is a definite part of the actor's art, but it does not speak to the thing that Chaplin was talking about. Acting with authority implies a communication with an audience.
Acting with authority means accepting your mantle as a leader. When you act, you are saying to the audience, "I understand this about how this character is surviving in the world." When the audience cries, laughs and applauds, they are saying, "I see what you mean." This is not to suggest that you make your characters Pollyanna. You may be portraying a character that is making lousy choices in life. Your point would be, "Do this and you will die."
An actor that acts with authority accepts the responsibility of considering the bookends of life. Most humans spend their entire lives trying not to think about their mortality. Actors get paid to think about it.
Acting with authority means that an actor has clarity of purpose. This does not imply that you must toot your horn or strut around like a jerk. And of course acting with authority has nothing at all to do with being a movie star. We are talking about art here, not celebrity.
There is a centered-ness, a peacefulness that comes from accepting ones lot in life. It is not always easy to consider our fragility as humans. It is not always easy to look into the dark heart of a character you may not personally like. But that is what actors do. It can be difficult and it can cause an artist pain, but it also generates great joy and satisfaction.
Let me close these notes with more insight from the master, Charlie Chaplin. His words could have been inspired by today's headlines and go to the heart of the artist's mission: "There is a lot of sorrow to life, there's plenty of trouble in the world and I think to make a picture showing the possibility that there is another aspect to life
is very charming. It's not the question of what life is; it's the question of what the possibilities are." (same interview, 1966)
