fandomhigh | How to Be a Really Famous Actor (And Other Acting Tips), Friday, Period 1

Entry tags:

acting

How to Be a Really Famous Actor (And Other Acting Tips), Friday, Period 1

Lucas was leaning against his desk at the start of class today. Next to him was one of his stuntmen. The stuntman was dressed in black with white greasepaint on his face (but not on the chinstrap beard because that wouldn't be cool).

"Today we're going to talk about mimes," Lucas said. "Miming is a centuries old art of expressing emotion, action, and objects by not talking and poking at the air. Go ahead, Rusty."

Rusty the chinstrapped stunt mime started miming a box closing in on him. And just when the box was getting really believable, Lucas turned around and punched Rusty in the face, knocking him over the desk, knocking Lucas's chair over, too.

"JK. This is the start of our action session. And this week is all about knowing how to give and take a stage punch. Rusty, get back here." The stuntmime popped back up and jumped over the desk to land next to Lucas. "There are three main keys to throwing a stage punch. First, choosing the right angle. The goal is the make it look like you hit the person but not actually hit them. This is mostly on your director, choreographer, and camera guy, so just do what they tell you. Second is knowing how to throw a punch. Do this," Lucas said, throwing a punch. "One more time, pay attention." He punched the air again. "That's all I'm showing you. Third is to make sure the person taking the punch knows how to deal with it if you actually hit them. If you have a crap stuntman taking the punch, go ahead and get them fired. You're more important than them. Right, Rusty?" Rusty nodded. "See? He knows the deal."

"If you're taking the punch, remember three more things. First, don't bale out too soon or you're going to make everyone look like an idiot. Second, if you do get hit, suck it up, that's what you're paid for. And third, it's your job to make the other person look like an action hero, even if they're short, bald, or a chick. If you're taking a stage punch, make it look like it really hurt."

"Everyone set with that? Good. Two options for you today. You can either pretend to punch the guy dressed like a mime, or you can pretend punching each other, which will be done completely by your own choice so I can't get in trouble if somebody starts bleeding. Let's get started."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kate felt a little... something, about how stuff had gone last time. Not bad, as such, but. Something. Enough to lean over a bit, once what passed for a lecture in this class seemed to be over.

"Hey, second favorite Irishman."

That was probably a better opening than wondering about how useful this particular class would be for him, especially in other classes.

"Second favorite?" Nathan repeated incredulously and then made a show of turning up his nose at her. "We have nothing to talk about with that kind of language. Second favorite, as if."

Edited 2011-02-04 20:07 (UTC)

Kate snorted and shook her head. "Save my ass a couple of times, then we'll talk about moving you up the list."

"No excuses," he said extravagantly, waving a hand at her. "You've cut my heart deep and I don't know how I'll ever recover from this madness."

"Somehow I doubt that," she replied, raising an eyebrow, somewhat amused at him. "But what if I named you mt favorite in some other category?"

"Depends on the category," he said but he sounded interested. "Which category of yours would I top?"

Kate tilted her head, thinking. "Favorite... curly haired person?"

She'd probably come up with something better in a moment.

"Oh, that's lame," Nathan declared with a shake of his curly hair. "I know my hair is amazing but I expected more of you, Kate. Honestly, now, where is your creativity?"

"It's Friday morning, I'm not even supposed to be up at this hour!" Kate defended herself, though it was light. "It's unnatural. Okay. Favorite human nightlight?"

"Slightly better," Nathan said, somewhat appeased. "Have a late night or something? Hot date? Knitting party? Lesbian threesome?"

[And I head home so AFK for a bit!]

"Nothing that exciting, sorry." She wasn't. "I just don't like first period classes."

"You should have just lied to me on that last one, Kate," he said and sighed. "You would have made my fucking day. I would have had some pleasant dreams tonight. Now, I'll probably just dream about dying via cheese or something."

"Well, maybe the reason I dislike first period classes is that I was dreaming of a totally hot lesbian threesome and my alarm interrupted that?"

She hadn't but maybe this was her way of being nice.

"You know, it's unfair to say things like that without details," Nathan told her, shaking his head. "If you were dreaming of a totally hot lesbian threesome, I demand details of this encounter."

Kate glanced around the room as if pondering something, then shook her head. "I don't really think class is the right place for those kinds of details." Also she was a huge tease.

"Then, I refuse to believe that you had any such dream," Nathan decided, shaking his head. "I know you well enough to know that you're not shy so you'd tell me if there was actual content to share."

"I could've made something up," Kate shrugged, not bothering to put energy into pretending he wasn't right. Not this time. "Just not in class."

"You didn't though," he said and shook his head sadly. "You are, apparently, falling off your game rather magnificently. I don't know if I should be worried or impressed."

"You know, I doubt I've ever measured up to this idealized Kate you have in your head," Kate mused lightly. "Too bad, she sounds like quite a hoot."

"You really don't know that," Nathan said but he shook his head because he was in too good a mood to want to get into her pretend personality right now. "If you wanna think that, go for it. I've decided to give up on trying to convince you otherwise. It's become obvious that it's rather pointless."

Kate wasn't looking to get into it again, either. "Well, I'm notoriously stubborn," she said, and even that was light. Not like a joke, she rarely did those, but still. "So... we're cool?"

Aside from his continued disapproval of her choices, obviously.

"What?" Nathan asked, a little surprised at that question. "Cool about what?"

Honestly, he'd just been irritated that she was fucking blind to what she was doing but he wasn't one to get pissed and stomp away. He'd just forgotten about it.

Well, him not even knowing what she was talking about was really good enough for her.

She paused, then said, "Nothing."

Nathan tilted his head at her and realized followed soon after. "What, I'm not fucking mad at you. I'd love for you to take a look at yourself just to see what I see but fuck it, your life, not mine. The only thing I pity you for is that you continue to resist me. You are missing out on one of life's greatest experiences."

"You'll just have keep hoping I'll see the light and stop resisting, I guess," Kate drawled, but it was accompanied by something of a lopsided smile. Look, it was nice to know she wasn't disliked, okay? "Try not to weep for me too much."

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture