Actors try to make a role their own, to put their personal touch on it, to make it memorable.
To do this, they can sometimes come up with stupid ideas that the director will have to dismiss with more or less tact. It’s a great cinema classic.
“What if my character had a scar on his face? What if my character was in shorts all the time? What if my character spoke with a Russian accent? What if I started all my lines with ‘Ola!’ ? »
When it’s Brad Pitt and he absolutely wants to have scenes where he talks while eating, that’s okay, but when the actor’s ideas only serve his ego or are too far-fetched, you have to tell him no while keeping good relationship with him.
That being said, a good director knows how to hear good ideas and let the actor do his job.
A concrete example:
When Jake Gyllenhaal was hired by Denis Villeneuve to play the police inspector in Prisoners , one of the first things he did was suggest something to the director for his character.
“Before the start of filming,” says Jake Gyllenhaal, “ I had dinner with Denis in a restaurant in New York and I told him: “I think my character should have a nervous tic or something physical that sets him apart…” Immediately , Denis rolled his eyes and raised his hand at me to say that he didn’t want to hear any more! Directors are terrified when they hear this kind of thing from actors. But I insisted, and I I managed to convince him.”
In the end, if you have seen Prisoners , you will certainly have noticed that Jake Gyllenhaal actually has a tic in the film, he blinks twice in a row very regularly.
Personally, I am divided on the interest of such an addition. In an unknown actor, it’s interesting. With a star, we can’t help but say to ourselves: ” Hey, Jake Gyllenhaal is pretending to have a tic.” It can break the illusion of acting.
That said, Gyllenhaal is good in this film and, overall, he’s a very good actor.