You learn so many different skills on the show «Merlin». You're constantly asked to do green-screen, horse riding, comedy scenes, dramatic scenes, everything. The ability and the skill to adapt under a tight schedule is one that I'll definitely take away.
My first acting lessons were Shakespeare. The first time I ever started working with a coach was doing scenes from 'Measure for Measure,' which were tough dramatic scenes. And then 'Taming of the Shrew,' which required comedic timing. And that's the kind of stuff I love.
I love to do very long and complicated scenes.
As actors, we often look for the scene, big moments that say, 'This is why you have to do this role.'
Unfortunately, I've seen violence, and I think, in films, it is the dramatic extremity of it.
I just shot my first dramatic movie in France, and for those dramatic scenes that I shot, I would not want to look at those. There's a certain mindset you have to put yourself into for those scenes, and looking at the monitor would just take you out of it.
If you look at Stan Lee and the Marvel comics, yes, there's a lot of awesome, serious and dramatic action that takes place.
The so-called commercialism includes elements like story, plots, rhythms and large big scenes.
I always like having kid energy around. I think it's good for a movie, even when you're doing dramatic stuff.
I think that's why 'Game of Thrones' is such a watercooler talking point: because there are these moments that are beautiful and terrible at the same time.
I start with the history, and I ask myself, 'What are the great turning points? What are the big dramatic scenes that are essential to telling the story?'
When the scenes are written really great, we as actors try not to mess them up by getting in the way.
Long scenes of emotion are quite difficult - you've got to build up to them and make sure you're in the right emotional space.
An interesting thing about the beginning of our friendship and professional collaboration [with Tina Fey] was that the improve scenes we would do together were basically dramatic and not funny at all.
I like taking a character at the most intense moments of their lives and exploring all that in full and then moving on.
Actors love to act all those death scenes.
Visions of one powerful scene after another parade across his inner screen, each exploding with drama and meaning
I'm a fan of daytime drama; I totally get it. When we are doing scenes that are romantic or will get the audience riled up, I feel like I'm a fan in the room going, 'People are going to be so mad right now!'
You just want to get it right so badly, so it's stressful when it comes to those vulnerable, dramatic scenes.
Some places you play in America, it's like 'On the Waterfront.'
I actually find it harder to act in the scenes where there's not much happening, say having a milkshake in the diner. That is far harder to do than straight scenes where there's a drama going on and you have something to do.
There's no way around it - drama is very difficult to shoot. It's very heavy and something that you carry with you for the course of the day.
The thing about romance and romantic movies is that they can be somewhat melodramatic. For a lot of actors, there's a certain cringe factor that's involved with that.
It's much easier, for example, to play a heroin addict and you're withdrawing - you tear the ceiling off - that's much easier than it is to come in and say, 'Hello.' Or, 'I love you'. When you judge it in that way, the heavy isn't as difficult.
There's the internal rhythm within a sequence, and then there's the rhythm between the sequences, and that's extremely important in constructing the narrative. For example, you don't put two big dramatic scenes right next to each other. But you can use the rhythm of the transition shots; they can often serve a double purpose.
