I recently went to a panel for the New Yorker Festival with author Emily Nussbaum and Ethan Hawke as a career retrospective as well as an investigation into the state of independent film today. Hawke’s career spans decades starting when he was only 12 and has included everything from blockbuster like Dead Poets Society, 5 Oscar nominated performance, independent films, director roles, and now television with The Lowdown. Beyond film he’s written two books, a graphic novel, and continues to work in Theatre. Their conversation snaked through many topics like his work with Richard Linklater and eventually to Hawke’s recent interview discussing his stage background and the importance of the theatre with acting. On that discussion, he brought up an interesting perspective on not only performance, but a larger point on the artist way he was discussing throughout the conversation.
“It’s hard to suck in a movie. There are so many people to help you—the editor, the cinematographer, the music, the sound engineers. But when you’re onstage they can hear the quiver in your voice, feel your concentration slip. The stage lacerates you. It exposes you.”
Sir Ian Mckellen’s performance in Lord of the Rings is a great parallel. Mckellen’s stage acting background is incredibly rich spanning back to his stage debut in 1961 as Gildas in A Man for All Seasons and most recently in 2024 Player Kings. Hawke described Mckellen’s performance as Gandalf and his particular line read as he gets pulled into the depths of a volcano as the perfect example of the stage benefiting a film performance. After one of the more iconic line readings of this century (and a very iconic run as a meme in the 2010s), Gandalf banishes the Balrog to the depths of the mines. Unfortunately, the Balrog grabs his leg on the way down and before also getting pulled in himself (spoilers), Gandalf states to their party, “Fly you fools.”. According to Hawke, this line in a vacuum is incredibly boring. Without context to the actual performance, he’s very right. Here’s what the original Fellowship of the Ring script has verbatim:
He thumps the bridge with his staff...a blinding sheet of
white flame springs up... the staff shatters...the bridge
breaks... right at Balrog's feet. The stone bridge drops away
into the gulf...from under the Balrog. For a moment, the
great Beast remains poised in the air...then it plunges down:
in slow motion Relief floods Frodo's face..Gandalf remains
trembling on the lip of the broken bridge. Slow motion: As
the Balrog falls, he lashes out with his whip of fire... Slow
motion: The thongs of the whip lash and curl around Gandalf's
knees, dragging him over the brink! Gandalf just manages to
hand on by his fingertips
**FRODO** (screaming)
Gandalf!
**GANDALF** (fierce)
Fly, you fools!
CLOSE ON: Gandalf lets go his grip and falls away...
following the Balrog into the bottomless Abyss! Frodo cries
out! Boromir scoops him up and carries him away.
Hawke argued that a line so simple can be botched in so many different ways, but that the infrastructure of the format with editing, sound, VFX (of which they won multiple Oscars for) can often be used as crutch. However, Mckellen’s exceeds what could be a flat delivery through the years of experience without those supports to inhabit the character so deeply it carries the weight of what his loss means. Furthermore, it bolsters the surrounding reactions even further!
Vulnerability in different forms
All of this is not to say that all these tools are not to be used or that their benefit can’t help already great performances. With any art form there is a benefit to addition, but also one of subtraction. Just as the theatre leaves you vulnerable and pulls your ticks to the front, so to do acts of subtraction in other forms. Famously before making Star Wars, George Lucas stoutly told by his friend Francis Ford Coppola to show him that he could make a comedy before doing sci fi. That film became the successful film American Graffitti and more importantly showed George he could first get the relationships right before diving into all the frills. Things get complicated quickly, but maybe its important to just focus on what the essence of the bare minimum is. As someone wanting to expand my repetoire of videography and digital tooling, I am inundated with so many ‘how to get this effect’ tik toks or ‘watch this cool edit’ reels. And they are really cool! But I’m asking myself now how can all these tools and ideas be expressed in a way that captures a moment and connects with viewer who has a million other things they could watch. Maybe the cure is subtraction. A deep appreciation for the act and form of creation that can blossom with a strong foundation. Instead of getting pulled in all these directions, maybe the best idea is to just sit right where I’m at and fall deeply into the subtle quivering I find in my creation.