‘Get back to the script’: Elaine May, John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and On-Camera Improvisation.
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Improvisation is a creative practice, not an artistic object, but we can observe traces of improvisation in some film performances. Studying the training, acting, and directing techniques of filmmakers who employ improvisation illuminates benefits and pitfalls of the practice. Elaine May, John Cassavetes, and Peter Falk came from different acting schools, but they thrived together on the set of May’s Mikey and Nicky (1976) because of similarities in their artistic sensibilities and training. Although known as improvisers, May and Cassavetes rarely included improvised dialogue in their films. Still, commentators often assumed the dialogue was improvised because of the spontaneous energy of the performances. Studying training practices of different acting schools, May’s production methods as Mikey and Nicky’s writer-director, journalistic material, and scenes from the film, we learn to broaden our conception of improvisation to include moments in which actors experience spontaneous thoughts and emotions, even as they deliver scripted dialogue.
