It’s about listening instead of acting, about letting go of control and opening up to outside influences instead of forcing your will on others. Thus, you attempt to become more and more receptive, and as a result, more and more things begin to happen to you, turning you into a kind of container. I must be completely exposed, susceptible to the split second between a scene and a cut, and extremely vulnerable to the other actor. I prefer to sense my narrative function to see what the other actor requires. What is the greatest way to get them to be the person they need to be? And thus, as one of my heroes, Spencer Tracy, used to say, “make the other guy look good.” To put it succinctly, skilled performers never become fixated on their performance. In the beginning, I found it quite difficult to let go of a really cool or dramatic manner I had come up with to convey anything since it made me appear amazing. However, the scene as a whole would make me appear even better, and that can only happen if you can pay attention to what the other person is saying and how they’re expressing it, then respond spontaneously on the spur of the moment.
