The Actor's Workshop is pleased to add segment that will feature an interview a different actor each month. Subjects will include actors who've studied at the Studio - past and present - and others in the business.
PAOLO MUGNAINI
1. WHAT ACTOR HAS MOST INFLUENCED YOU AND WHY?
Well I think probably DeNiro. He definitely had a huge impact on me. But also Alberto Sordi, an Italian actor that I used to watch as I was growing up.The truth is that lots of actors influenced me, Brando, Welles, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, E.G. Robinson, Al Pacino... along with many female actors. I could go on forever.The fact is that I keep on picking up things here and there from all the actors in the films I watch. There's so much talent out there....there's ALWAYS something I can learn.
2. WHAT MAKES A GOOD ACTOR?
This is a really good question...what makes a good actor? well 1st of all I believe a good actor must know him/herself, he/she must be in touch with his/her inner self and he/she must be willing to discover what he doesn't know about himself. A good actor should be a student of human behavior, a good observer; he/she should strive to learn as much as possible about the world, art, philosophy, politics and everything that permeates this life we live.A good actor should be sensitive, sensible and vulnerable to people, situation and emotions. A good actor has to make the script his/hers, he/she's got to own the character, find him/herself in it to then be able to create an alter ego.Being a good actor is hard work and it should never and I mean never be taken for granted.
3. WHAT IS THE GREATEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT ACTING OR ACTORS?
About acting is that [it] is easy...yes it may come easy to some in the beginning but then one needs to work and work hard if he/she wants to have range, depth and so on. Some actors are that good to make it look easy. About actors....well...let's see...that we're superficial, eccentric, I mean the arts in general have always been snubbed a little. But I think the one that most surprised me is that actors can hide their emotions better than others....folks....we are 100% the same as you, maybe even more susceptible to feelings...not maybe surely more. And that if an actor is famous he/she must be a good actor. There are more unemployed and unknown good actors that there are good famous ones.
4. NAME THREE THINGS YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR A ROLE.
Research, research and research. And by that I mean research about the character's job, life, etc. Research how I am going to find the link to take me where I need to be for the role, an inner research. Research places where the circumstances will unfold, research the script for clues that can help me understand the main action, goal and purpose of this human being I will become. Write a full bio of the character, from when and where the character was born to the present. A bio that gets updated as the script goes through changes, and in that bio I put layers there, even secrets that can help me forge this person. If I am auditioning and I have a chance to look at the sides one day before hand, I will write a small bio, I will write down where I will be in the scene according to the script I was given, I will invent facets of this person to be hidden in his personality. Exactly the same as a full character but on a smaller scale. Defining my first emotion for each scene is also key, that way I know already.
5. WHAT DO YOU KNOW NOW THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW AS A BEGINNING ACTOR?
Well one can sure learn a lot just by being on a movie set, through reading about actors and acting and by watching movies. But the truth is that without instruction, without coaching, without a teacher that can explain the dynamics and how they work, how to make my own discoveries I couldn't have possibly have grown the way I did. See...before I started taking classes I thought I knew the dynamics, only after taking the classes I realised I really didn't and I was going on based on instinct, which can be good, actually even essential at times in a scene, but certainly not the proper foundation for an actor. So basically...what do I know now that I didn't know before? Just about everything. Everything that matters, that is.
6. NAME FIVE FILMS THAT HAVE BEEN MOST INFLUENTIAL TO YOU.
Rome Open City, by Roberto Rossellini. I watched this movie for the first time when I was 11 or so, and I remember how shaken I was by the events depicted in the film. I always heard my grandmother talking about the war and the Nazis and Mussolini but as a kid growing up there was no sign of that past in my life, so once I watched it in that picture I was deeply touched, especially by the performances given from the actors who so realistically played the events. Events that were still extremely fresh in the minds of the people and the film makers cause the movie was shot right after the end of the war and before the rebuilding of Rome. Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder.That movie grabbed me because of the way it was shot and after that all film noir. The light used to express the mood of situations, a certain mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. Psycho and Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock. Well he's my favorite director, and these movies are just masterpieces. In Psycho, Hitch decides to kill the star of the movie within the first 15 minutes, and what 15 minutes those are! The shower scene is just a superb work of art from every aspect of film making. Not a case there hasn't been anything like it ever since. The plot, writing, directing, editing I mean just terrific in my view. Vertigo is just an unbelievable love story. A psychological thriller that has everything in it. A movie that stunned me...literally. I liked the clothes, the cars, the technicolor look that this movie has (I mean other movies have it too.) I remember I kept thinking about the ending, the scenes, the story and as I did with the other movies I kept on watching it over an over. Raging Bull by Martin Scorsese.I love this picture because it feel like an old movie shot in modern times, with the creativity that modern times generate but with a certain throwback feel. And also because of DeNiro's incredible performance, and because it is a movie with boxing in it and lots of it. I love boxing so that was easy to love. but besides that this one too I kept on watching along with many other movies that have touched or influenced me one way or another.I love movies...there's always something new to discover while watching a movie.They're like an adventure every time.