Off Cut Forty Six

TENNIS AND ACTING.
"Hearts in Atlantis" is a very enjoyable film with good performances from young and old alike. It is currently available on DVD and included in the package is an interview with ANTHONY HOPKINS. This is well worth watching. Conducted by director Scott Hicks it explores ANTHONY'S approach to performance in a detailed and informative way. In it ANTHONY HOPKINS uses a tennis analogy to explain the joys of working with actors who have learnt their lines well "… it makes it a lot of fun … you get a sense that you are playing tennis. You are playing a give and take game," he said.

By coincidence The Rehearsal Room also recently watched the Michael Parkinson interview with JUDI DENCH and KEVIN SPACEY where more tennis analogies emerged. KEVIN in making reference to the 'great thrill' he gets when he goes back to the theatre, explained that he thought people who believed actors just did the same thing night after night in the theatre, didn't understand the process. He went on to say, "It's a little like sports to me. If you love playing tennis or any game, every time you get up it's a different game. The rules are the same, the lines are the same but you're always working on a different angle and coming at it a different way."

ANTHONY HOPKINS appears not to be sporty, while KEVIN probably is - either way they both see value in the tennis analogy. How's your tennis?

August 2002