#actingasks

[oatmilkovich]

i rewatched episode 6 (i like to torture myself) and the scene of wille getting ready to give the statement. it absolutely kills me. how he's so anxious and alone, yet pulls himself together and makes himself do it, does what's expected of him. maybe he thinks it'll be okay, because it's the only way. it'll be even worse if he doesn't do it. and after he puts himself through it, it does get worse 😭

i would love to hear what your favourite scenes are, acting wise!

okay anon i also just rewatched ep 6 also and i am in pain 💔god that build up to him giving the statement, the way his whole resolve just drops in the car as his mum talks him into denying it – the worse thing is like, we know he doesn't believe that it was the only way – we know that he thought that he was going to be able to talk his mum around and get her to understand...

now the acting. this may get hella rambley so i'm going to shove it under the cut because i know the majority of my followers won't care lol <3

edvin's approach to wilhelm's anxiety is most likely my favourite acting aspect of the entire show – it's incredibly nuanced for someone of his age (not in a condescending way bc there's only like 5 years between us lol but like, you hardly see that degree of detail in a way that isn't over played or presented rather than experienced by seasoned Adult Actors). i know he's mentioned previously that it's something he relates to which is very clear in how personalised his work is. when we see wilhelm experience high anxiety it's honest to the moment because it's grounded in truth. he's connected it with his own anxiety and not in a way that lets his own experience do the work (which is method and that's 👎imo) but that it informs the decisions and motions wilhelm goes through in the scenes.

one of my favourite scenes where we see his anxiety manifest is in the scene in episode 5 where wilhelm tells him that he doesn't want to lose him.

the way he's clearly so distressed at the idea of losing simon that you can hear the emotion in his voice from the beginning of the conversation but as the scene goes on, his resolve begins to crumble and the anxiety he's been holding back comes to the surface when they hug. the way edvin let the anxiety inform the scene rather than direct the scene was so impressive – we can see and feel wilhelm's emotions but they don't take over the scene. omar plays wonderfully off them also and the hug they share is heart wrenching.

another scene i find myself rewatching over and over is the one where he confronts august in episode 6. immediately when wilhelm walks into the room you can feel the anger and fury radiate off of him. i really love how it wasn't approached as this huge screaming confrontation – whilst his definitely does yell at him (deservingly so) it again doesn't overpower the emotional drive behind the dialogue. wilhelm isn't just angry here – he's heartbroken.

august was one of wilhelm's last proper connections to erik – we know wilhelm looks up and trust's erik's judgements more so than anyone else so to be betrayed by that, by someone erik loved so much, it's heartbreaking. he was told he could trust him, he was told he would do right by him and he was wrong. all of this pain wilhelm is going through his partly because the queen wants to protect erik's legacy and give his death meaning, and here august completely spat upon it all. edvin does a phenomenal job w the line deliveries, they're clear and devastating and cut right to the heart.

i was going to end the post here, but i'm going to quickly highlight omar's work in The Break Up scene because they both work off of each other beautifully.

there is such a quiet devastation to omar's line delivery here - simon's clearly heartbroken but he's determined to stand up for himself and stand his ground (i just realised that maybe he took sara's words about letting people piss on him truly to heart). the dialogue comes out slowly and not in a way that drags or is over played for the drama, but for the audience to truly understand how difficult it is for simon to say these things AND how important it is for wilhelm to hear them.

i'm now going to end the post otherwise it's gonna get super long lol and i'm not even sure who else is going to read this but! the acting on this show is phenomenal (particularly from these two) and i could probably write many, many posts about it! it's only been a week since i first watched it and i've watched it through maybe 4 or 5 times since then because i can't get enough of the acting. it's truly something special.

thanks for asking anon! ❤️

[oatmilkovich]

Hi! I've been thinking about your post that focused on Edvins acting in YR, and was hoping you were cool with going more in depth about what you meant? Mostly drawing from two quotes,"...In a way that isn't over played or presented rather than experienced.." and also, "the way that edvin let the anxiety inform the scene rather than direct the scene was so impressive." Could you talk more about what it means to inform rather than direct? And what does it look like when ppl do the opposite? 1/2

2/2 Or any thoughts about the topic you have to share? I love hearing ppl's analysis on acting and your comments really intrigued me lol thank you and take care :)

hi there! sorry this took a week to get back to, i have been crazy, crazy busy and haven’t had the time to give it the attention it deserved ❤️i’m also glad i waited because now i can write this post whilst listening to the score that dropped earlier 😌

of course i don’t mind going into more depth — i’d love to. okay so, here i’m analysing edvin’s portrayal of wilhelm’s anxiety in the st lucia scene in episode 5 - THIS is a link to the original post in case someone comes across this ask and doesn’t know what i’m referring to. 

what i mean when i say “in a way that isn’t over played or presented rather than experienced” is that as actors we’re trained with the idea that we are our characters, we’re not playing a role – we’re existing as ourselves with the circumstances of the character placed on us. so, for example if i was approaching a scene where the character i’m playing is experiencing heavy anxiety, i have to connect with my own experiences of anxiety/the things that make me anxious. the more detailed and specific i can be when connecting the circumstances in the script to my own experiences, the more authentic the character’s experience will be in the scene. it will be more real for the actor and will definitely feel more real for the audience watching. you can always tell when an actor hasn’t put in the necessary work emotionally because it will seem fake or over dramatic – they’re just playing pretend. they’re not experiencing the anxiety (for example), they’re playing an idea – they’re too concerned over trying to show you what the character is feeling/going through, rather than simply living that experience in the scene. 

this leads to your next point – "the way that edvin let the anxiety inform the scene rather than direct the scene was so impressive." often, when an actor has underprepared for a scene that deals with a heavy emotion (like anxiety), they end up making the entire scene be about that emotion, rather than just allowing that emotion to be present in the moment. they come into the scene with the intent of showing you that it’s a moment of sadness/happiness/rage, rather than actually allowing those emotions to come up naturally by connecting with the circumstances and listening to their scene partner. edvin here clearly did the work necessary beforehand, he knew that wilhelm was anxious about losing simon and connected that how that would make him, edvin, feel to lose someone that way (obviously I don’t know the specifics of his technique, but this is an educated guess from what I can analyse from his performance). then, instead of walking into the scene ready to direct it like ‘wilhelm is really anxious so i’m gonna show everyone that he’s anxious and that’s exactly what this scene is about’, he allows that anxiety to build up and bubble naturally by working off of omar, thus allowing it to inform the scene. that is why it feels so real and packs a powerful punch – we’re not being told that wille is anxious through edvin’s preplanned idea of how to show us he’s anxious, instead we see him react in the moment and allow those feelings of anxiety to come through authentically. he’s done the work and it pays off beautifully. 

this is a really good video where an acting coach breaks down good vs bad rage scenes (an experienced emotion vs an overplayed/presenting us an emotion) – it might be helpful to have a proper visual (if you’re a visual learner like me). 

i hope this helps and answers what you were looking for! i’m planning on doing a post soon with breaking down certain scenes/moments that i really want to comment on and analyse. edvin and omar’s work (plus the rest of the cast, they’re truly all so impressive) is truly what keeps pulling me back to the show over and over again. we often talk about how nice it is to see young people playing young people because it’s more authentic, relatable and believable – it’s the same with acting. when an actor has truly done the work – especially such young actors – and they give as detailed a performance that edvin and omar do – it’s such a breath of fresh air. i cannot wait to see where they take us in season 2 – especially as we know the boys want drama, lol. 

have a lovely day/evening - thank you so much for reaching out and asking for clarification. there’s nothing i love more than talking about acting. so sorry, once again, for sitting on it for a few days! i just really wanted to take the time and answer properly. 

ps: just a reminder for those who may stumble across this post in the tag, i have a young royals sideblog here! 

❤️

[oatmilkovich]

i didn't ask for your thoughts on the football date, but i am so glad you wrote them 🥰 yesterday i listened to some podcast with edvin and he said he spent a lot of time mapping out wilhelm in his head to make him as nuanced as possible. i know we think in this other fandom that the actors know their characters better than some writers ( i wholeheartedly agree and i'm sure you do too), but for edvin to improvise the other football field scene as a 17yo and be so accurate? that scene is pure magic tbh. like wilhelm's life must really seem like it's all fake, he needed to lie to the entire nation about the reasons why he went to hillerska and erik (😭😭😭) also told him to just pretend to be someone else on the days the parents visited. his whole life has probably been full of similar situations. and edvin made up the perfect lines for when wilhelm finally found something that wasn't fake and that was JUST REAL. Just. !!!!! kdjfjdkdjs.

have a safe trip tomorrow and enjoy! 😊

i'm very glad you didn't mind me dumping my thoughts on you (i always feel a little bad when i can't just simplify what i want to say into a sentence or two) 😘❤️

but this is exactly it! easily the biggest thing – in my personal opinion (from my training and experience) – that will help your performance be the most authentic and grounded in the moment is your preparation and character work prior to do absolutely anything in the scene, on screen or on stage. filling in every single detail and mapping out your character's nuance is they key. you're supposed to be yourself under your character's circumstances, so you truly need to be able to exist within those circumstances and understand them in great detail. the effort you put into mapping out and colouring in the details of your character's different relationships, childhood, hopes, dreams, fears, wants and needs etc – literally everything – will 100% pay off, tenfold. nuance is everything! nuance is the micro-expressions and the look behind the eyes that tell us more than the things they say. nuance allows you to react truthfully in the scene and not just follow a plan – and that's why edvin's moments of improvisation worked so well for wilhelm, why they feel like the absolute perfect thing for him to say in that moment (because it was! because it came from the circumstances in the moment!).

i could definitely go into this in greater detail but it truly doesn't surprise me that edvin put such an effort into mapping out wilhelm in great detail because you can really tell. the detail is there in all of wilhelm's relationships, in his feelings towards hillerska, the royal family. you can feel his desperation for something real, anything authentic, in practically everything that wilhelm interacts with. the royal family is fake, his relationship with august is fake, hillerska is all fake. that's why his connection with simon is so real – because simon isn't fake. simon doesn't pretend to give a shit about the royal family or anything like the stuff wille has been dealing with his entire life. that's why it all pours out during the football field, because wille finally, finally has the moment (and well, he's inebriated) to let himself say what he truly believes. and that all comes from edvin's preparation work – that's why it's such an impactful moment of improvisation. why it's so perfect and why none of us could possibly ever come up with anything else that would fit that moment.

i hope you don't mind me rambling again lol! and thank you so so much, have a lovely lovely day anon! ❤️

[oatmilkovich]

I'd really love if you made a post about Noel's acting this episode! If you still want to

hey!! <3

this episode reminded us (not that we needed the reminder, looks at the writers) what the show is missing out on when they reduce the characters and their storyline’s down to comedy with very little substance. 

this is the first time in a long while that it feels like mickey’s trauma surrounding terry has been giving the time, space and the dialogue it deserves. I’ve been waiting many, many years for this sort of resolution for mickey...

my thoughts on noel’s performance under the cut (it’s a little lengthy!)...

as always, disclaimer: this is all my opinion, but i did go to drama school and have a degree. there’s a pandemic and nothing else to do, i just like talking about it. 

firstly, something I’ve always admired about noel’s work is his ability to tell us a thousand things without saying a single word. we’ve seen it from the very first season – there’s very few other actors on the show that consistently carry that much power with their silence and noel really did the most this week. let’s look at this moment:

mickey doesn’t say anything until prompted by ian and yet because of the intensity in noel’s look and the sheer amount of tension he’s carrying, we’re completely aware of mickey’s feelings in the moment without having to hear any dialogue. his physicality tells us more than any dialogue would. his shoulders are tense, his face is fight – it’s a deep, visceral reaction to seeing his father. noel has clearly thought about mickey’s pov here – not only about terry, but about this moment in general, about the first time he sees him after coming home from the hospital, about watching the man who tortured him for years finally be met with even an ounce of the same pain he was subjected to. immediately, we’re thrown into the heavy weight of the moment and when mickey does speak, it only echoes what we already know from his physicality. the dialogue complements noel’s performance, rather than solely carrying it. he’s managed to tap into the perfect balance of allowing the lines to come from truth — they don’t feel planned out or rehearsed but delivering them in a way we can tell that mickey has thought about it – mickey’s history with terry is lengthy and incredibly complex and that’s completely embodied in how noel delivers each line. It’s important to me that we can feel the history there, but that history is left at the door when it comes to his work in the scene. he’s not displaying the history, he’s existing in it. 

my personal ‘acting theory’ (to avoid sounding like a wanker) is that you don’t act as your character, but that you exist as yourself under those circumstances. mickey’s circumstances in the scene are noel’s circumstances and he reacts — as he would — in the moment. prep work for this is key. noel has said in previous interviews that when approaching mickey in the earlier seasons, he focused on having a secret and lengths he would go to protect it. knowing this, we have a small idea on how he approaches mickey now. he clearly has taken something in his own life and used it to personalise this situation with mickey, he’s thought about how he himself would react in those circumstances, because he is himself in mickey’s circumstances — this is why it feels so personal, this is why his performance is still so consistently nuanced all these years later. this is why he can tell us so much in a simple shift of the eyes. 

take emma’s performance during this episode – in the moments she’s talking about sandy and how upset she is (eg: inside the ambulance with ian and mick) she’s very much really going for the oh my heart is so broken blah blah, but it doesn’t land because you don’t believe her heart is broken. the lines are empty. you compare that to the subtleties noel shows us throughout the episode and it’s almost unfair that they have her scenes next to his. this isn’t to roast her, but just to highlight the differences in nuance and depth. allowing dialogue to carry a performance vs actually living in the performance. 

discomfort played a huge part in noel’s performance in 11x06 too and discomfort in scenes can bring wonders. mickey is uncomfortable — he’s faced with some horribly difficult decisions. we see a stark difference from his easy going ‘just pull the plug on him’ energy vs when he’s actually given the chance to. the stakes in the scene and situation are extremely high – mickey is quite literally battling with an opportunity he’s been waiting his entire life for. the weight of those stakes are heavy on his shoulders and the highlight of the episode for me was the physical journey on noel’s face as he holds the gun to terry's chest. noel gives us mickey’s internal battle – there’s the pent up rage he clearly had been carrying with him on the ride over, then the irritation, the fear, the sadness, the frustration. you can almost see everything mickey has ever had to go through because of terry in the way he looks at him. 

this shot above in particular has really, really stuck with me. the way he doesn’t respond to ian, keeping his eyes firmly planted on terry – he’s lost in his thoughts, in his history and you can feel everything behind noel’s eyes. 

it’s such a fantastically layered performance that he makes it impossible to look away. he allows the moment to play out and live and doesn’t speed run to achieve anything in his performance. he doesn’t push. noel doesn’t walk into the scene and go ‘oh i’m gonna make mickey feel this on this line and this on this line’ – he gives the emotions their time and place to land, we see and feel mickey’s journey without a single word. it all comes from his natural reactions to the circumstances. he doesn’t try and show us what mickey is going through when faced with the option to kill terry — he lives it, he sits in it and he exists in it. 

we also had a great example of noel’s range this ep. he delivered his funny, usual one liners like he has done throughout this season but really hammered home his talent when given dramatic scenes. it was a refreshing balance. 

overall, noel’s performance in this episode is a great example of how a well acted scene doesn’t have to contain screaming or crying or overt, obvious dramatics in order to be categorised as ‘good’. similarly to what I said in my post about ian’s vows, some of the smallest and subtle moments can carry as much as a 5 minute monologue or an intense shouting match. 

this is long and probably a little boring, but I could honestly talk about his work for ages. thanks for the question (and the other anons too!) and please feel free to send me anymore – especially as we now have a 3 week break before the next episode <3

[oatmilkovich]

hi, i like reading your acting thoughts and was wondering your thoughts on cam?

hey! i know this was asked weeks ago (so sorry about that!) but in honour of the boys’ one year anniversary today, i’m finally going to answer it.

i’m going to talk about cameron’s acting during ian’s vows and why that is my favourite piece of work he did in season 10! 

discussion under the cut... almost 1k worth <3 

(remember this is all my own opinion! but i did go to drama school and do have an acting degree – i just like talking about it. we’re in a pandemic, there’s not much else i can do.) 

firstly, cameron’s delivery of the lines. in general, he doesn’t have the most consistent line delivery – sometimes the spontaneity is there, sometimes it’s not – but, in my opinion, his vows to mickey were the most believable thing he said throughout the whole season. every single different vow is said with a different point of view – meaning, you can tell how ian feels about each thing by the way he says them eg: in sickness and in health, richer or for poorer. it’s not done overly so that it removes us from the situation, but as a simple understatement. not only does this gives us a great insight into ian’s pov, but also an insight into how he feels about those things in relation to mickey. cameron does this perfectly – ian’s love for mickey underlines and drives the dialogue forward. 

the words are delivered so gently – you can tell how deeply precious they are to him. his love for mickey is precious and he says them in a way that it’s clear he never wants mickey to doubt it ever again. he never wants a moment like the court house, like the front porch, like the uncertainty in prison, ever again. cam has personalised the words so much, you believe ian. you believe in sickness and in health, in richer or poorer. you believe he’s sealing the deal. cameron wasn’t kidding when he knew that mickey brings out some of the best in his work with ian and whatever text work he put into crafting ian’s pov on the wedding, marriage and mickey is solidly upholding and supporting him here completely. he’s able to fully be 100% in the moment.

the honesty. i’m not sure what objective cameron was working with in this scene (to get married? that’s not a very workable objective – as my professor would say) but it’s clearly working for him to stay grounded in the truth of the moment. there’s so much vulnerability and cameron allows himself to be vulnerable, and that serves us so many moments that surprise us – in the way ian’s looking at mickey, in the little smiled mickey, even in ian’s whispered now? all of those moments come from spontaneous work in the scene. i’d be incredibly surprised if the script gave a direction for the way ian smiles as he says mickey’s name. 

even more so, if it was scripted, cam does a phenomenal job at making it come from a truthful reaction to saying mickey’s name – rather than being something he’d planned or instructed to do on that line. (this again isn’t something that is super consistent) another instance like this is the really beautiful moment when mickey says ‘i, mikhailo, take you ian, to be my husband.’ and ian shifts ever so slightly at the word husband. his face softens as he allows the words to wash over him. ian is so vulnerable in that moment and cameron allows himself to fully allow those words to hit him. his face tells how nervous ian is, how excited he is, how huge this moment is for him. it’s such a beautiful and genuine reaction sprung purely from cam working in the moment and off noel. it’s simple, but it’s a standout. 

the vows ending with them staring at each other, holding each other’s face, is a gorgeous moment of cam and noel’s chemistry together. they’ve done the relationship work, they know what they need to tap into, they can simply allow themselves to sit in the moment and tell us so much by the way they stare into each other’s eyes. that’s all down to two actors who know each other, know their circumstances and believe their circumstances. but i digress, this is about cameron. 

ultimately, i love his work here because i believe it all. i believe everything ian is experiencing in the moment and i believe it’s the first time he’s ever experiencing it. i believe it’s the first time he’s ever said those words. i believe his nervousness, i believe his excitement. cameron brings so much personality to dialogue that we have seen said on tv a million times over – words that could easily be stale, but they’re not. his work is subtle, yet there is so much behind it. i think it’s a really beautiful moment that showcases his talents as an actor that isn’t necessarily A Big Dramatic Crying Screaming Scene which people often point to when talking about an actor’s talent. good work doesn’t have to be crying or drama or screaming, good work can simply be the whispered vows of a man promising himself to the love of his life forever. 

thanks so much for the question! i’m so sorry this took forever. i’ve got a few more asks about cameron – specifically some about season 5, so i will approach his work in other seasons soon, but i really wanted to highlight his work here because it’s truly some of my favourite he’s done on the whole show.

<3

[oatmilkovich]

shameless acting thoughts master list

aka willa’s acting thoughts:

- on cameron monaghan and noel fisher’s chemistry  - on shanola hampton and steve howey’s chemistry  - on awkwardness and shooting intimate scenes (between cameron and noel) - on noel fisher - on chloe webb  - on william h macy + season 11  - on emma rose kenney - on cameron monaghan + ian’s vows - on emma rose kenney being a child actor vs adult (aka why she is better as a kid) - noel fisher’s acting in 11x06 - are ian and mickey kissing differently?  - on jeremy allen white + monologuing  - general tag for acting asks, comments or when i go off under gifsets (not everything shows up in this tag annoyingly) 

thanks to the anon who suggested this! i’ll add to it as i answer the questions in my inbox! (sorry for taking forever, i’m the worst) but please continue to send more if you have any specific questions! or just come say hi. 

<3  

[oatmilkovich]

not sure if you've shared your acting thoughts on j.a.w. but would love to hear if you have any stand-out moments. it keeps hitting me what a powerhouse he is and his arc (and especially the incredible power of his scenes with emmy) pretty much singlehandedly kept me watching through seasons 6-8 when a lot of other storylines dragged on! i'm still happy with the show in a post-fiona world but i really miss the lip and fiona dynamic as it really felt like the backbone of the show and the gallagher family!

hey! <3

you sent this weeks ago and i am profusely sorry about that. i haven’t talked about jeremy yet but since it was lip love hours on the dash today, i decided to have a crack at it. lip’s storyline has definitely been the most consistent and solid throughout the entire show – there’s never really a time i don’t enjoy watching his scenes (though i do find it difficult to watch the helene sl in s6). he and emmy consistently worked phenomenally off one another and though i really miss emmy now, i do think we need to hand it to jaw and his contribution to carrying the show for it’s run. 

there’s a lot I could talk about with jeremy’s work so i’ve had to pick a couple of my favourite things for today, otherwise i’d be writing for hours. discussion under the cut! 

remember: this is all my opinion! i’m just an unemployed actor in a pandemic. 

one of my ultimate favourite things about jeremy’s performance is the way he approaches lip’s monologues. in my personal opinion as an actor, monologues fucking suck. they’re unnatural, difficult to pull off and so easily end up being a vehicle for the self indulgent actor to just hear their own voice. luckily for us, jaw manages to knock them out of the park every single time. the key to a successful monologue is a hell of a lot of prep work before hand – you’ve always got to remember that no one monologues and talks at a great interrupted length naturally, that’s just not how humans exist and interact in the world, so an actor always has to consider why their character continues talking and doesn’t stop after the first line. their objective for the scene – what they want to gain – has to be so solid, so vital to the actor/character that we believe they can’t stop talking until they achieve it. an objective is the only thing that drives dialogue forward – we only speak out loud because we want to achieve something. now, there’s an incredibly fine line between pushing to achieve your objective during a monologue and allowing the objective to push you. this is never a problem with jeremy’s work. 

a good objective goes hand in hand with how the lines of the monologue are delivered. every line a character speaks is new to them – the actor rehearses a line but the character doesn’t – each thought behind a line, even if it’s something they’ve thought about before, is new to them. when you’re working in a scene with another actor and trading dialogue, it’s easier for that new line of dialogue to feel more natural as a response to your partner – when you’re on your own in a monologue this can be a huge challenge. monologues are badly done when everything sounds rehearsed – you can tell when the actor isn’t working from moment to moment and is simply saying the lines they’ve learnt in a huge chunk. you don’t believe they’re speaking to achieve their objective, they’re simply speaking the lines on the page and probably are thinking about how good they sound. again, this is never a problem with jeremy’s work. 

now let’s look at this monologue from 5x08:

this is a really well done and subtle monologue on jeremy’s part – it’s one of my favourites and it does a really good job at highlighting how detailed and personalised his work is. before he even begins to speak, you can tell jeremy is prepared for the circumstances of scene. lip is completely riddled with tension – you can see it in the way he clenches his jaw and wipes his hands on his trousers – as an audience member, we already know there’s a hell of a lot on his plate. this monologue is a moment where he allows it all to bubble over. 

lip’s obviously trying to get some leeway on his college finances by explaining his situation to his adviser – perhaps that was jeremy’s objective (to achieve help with his finances) but as he continues talking, it morphs into really heartbreaking glimpse into lip’s pov of being the ‘golden goose’ of the family. it’s the first time we really hear his thoughts on ian’s diagnosis, monica’s illness and how guilty he feels every single day being away from his family. lip asking for a favour becomes less about financial help and even more so about being heard. he needs someone to understand and hear him out. to understand the heavy pressure he feels to achieve what everyone else expects of him. 

a monologue has a mini storyline arc within it and jeremy takes us on journey as we watch lip continue talking, continue exposing himself, putting himself in a horribly vulnerable position. he starts by easing himself in – cracking a joke about how they should get to know one another because he’ll be there a lot – but as soon as he starts going into detail about ian and why he needs an extension on payments, there’s a significant shift in jeremy’s delivery and lip’s relationship to how badly he needs this. jeremy allows himself to fully experience each thought before he delivers a line – he doesn't rush and allows moments to breathe. every single line he says, every single sibling or situation he mentions, we get a glimpse of his pov on the subject. these moments of pause allow lip’s journey throughout the speech to be so clear to us as audience members, there’s never a moment where a piece of dialogue feels delivered falsely or preplanned. jeremy doesn’t push to achieve anything and we follow lip throughout the speech on his journey without a clue where he’s going to end up. 

by the end of the monologue, lip’s desperation to be understood is clearer than ever. he’s panicking but jeremy never overplays it. even as it builds and he begins to visibly get more emotional with tears in his eyes, it never becomes a performance. jeremy always manages to get the balance right and it’s just a really, really beautiful reaction to his circumstances and truthful acting coming from the moment. it’s a huge deal to bare his heart like this to someone – a stranger at that – and jeremy manages to capture that vulnerable dent in lip’s pride perfectly. he’s not yelling, he’s not pulling his hair out, but we still completely understand why this is so important to him. although I'll never know how he actually prepares his work, his text work here is deeply personalised – you can tell jeremy has given lip’s pov a good thought. I believe him the entire way through, his objective is clear and whatever it was that jeremy decided to use worked perfectly for both his motivation and our belief. 

as someone who has shed a tear over performing many a monologue, he makes it seem so fucking effortless – i think that’s what really gets me. i’d love to see him do work on stage one day. as i said, there are about a million things I could talk about when it comes to jaw’s work on the show. this baaaaaarely even scratches the surface! I wanted to talk about another monologue here too, but i think this got long enough only talking about one! 

please always feel free to ask me about any specific moments if you have any pressing questions, i can’t promise i’ll get to it very quickly (i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry!) but i will always try.my inbox is always open for anything, acting or otherwise. it takes me a while, but I really, really do love talking about this stuff. 

thanks for reading! <3 

[oatmilkovich]

I have more acting opinion questions for you! I think that Cam and Noel have pretty good "annoyed" bickering chemistry in their scenes. I do think that their "friendly" bickering chemistry is stronger (maybe just cuz I like it better). I think when they are supposed to bring sexual passion or genuine angst to a scene they usually nail it. Do you think their chemistry is still strong? I feel like they've grown a lot as scene partners (not that they were ever bad!)

hey!! sorry it took me a couple days.

(gonna start prefacing my acting posts with: remember my acting opinions are all subjective but i did go to drama school and have a degree in acting! i just love talking about it)

in my opinion their chemistry is still a strong as it always has been, the only thing that hinders things in scenes sometimes is writing and unnatural dialogue. it’s very clear to me that they still work super well off of each other and like, are able to riff off of one another in the scenes. noel is naturally a stronger actor than cam, but like any actor - cam’s work is complimented with a good scene partner! there’s a reason why ian’s other relationships aren’t very interesting lol — there’s no chemistry there!

they’ve definitely developed as scene partners and you’re right — they’ve never been bad but they’ve clearly grown familiar with one another over time and that shows in the work. you didn’t ask but, like if you look at them in season 1:

in this scene in particular, they really clearly feel super comfortable with one another. like cam’s smile here in response to say that again and i’ll rip your tongue out of your head wouldn’t have been scripted — that’s all on him reading the moment and reacting properly to it. mick’s little smile from noel as a response is such a perfect read of their relationship to one another at this point. i love knowing that they worked so well with each other already this early on in the production of the show.

the difference now is the quality in writing and the shift towards comedy. there’s little stakes involved in the writing — like ian and mickey fight, but we know they’re never going to break up. cam and noel know they’re never going to break up. mickey and ian know they’re never going to break up. there’s nothing really on the line or at risk. good stakes are key to an actor’s performance. there’s nothing really going on in the annoyed bickering scenes. i think this is why the scenes w/ sexual passion and genuine angst (eg: the hallway scene from hos) tend to land better, because cam and noel have so much more to work with and therefore, more to work off from each other. and you’re right, the friendly bickering scenes are a lot more interesting to watch because the scenes are way more endearing and like, show a different side to their relationship. we’ve seen enough anger from their relationship for a lifetime and i’m sure cam and noel feel the same (see cam’s line abt them not hitting each other in that video that dropped earlier)

i’m happy to talk about my favourite scenes of theirs and where i think they work particularly well off of one another :)

but — long story short, yes i think their chemistry is still as good as it always has been but an actor can only do so much with the text they’re given.

[oatmilkovich]

what are your thoughts on shanola and steve's acting/chemistry?

hey hey! sorry for sitting on this for a few weeks, i’ve been dealing w/ a bunch of stuff so my head hasn’t been in the right place. but, here we go!

(prefacing this as always with: my acting opinions are all subjective! but i did go to drama school and have a degree in acting, i just like talking about it!)

shanola is one of my favourite actors on the show. her dramatic work is criminally underrated and i think she brings great depth to veronica’s character. my favourite moments of her’s – and honestly one of my favourite piece of non-verbal acting on the show – is this scene in season 3. as kev is reiterating his love for her, you can see her go through a complete emotional journey before she bursts into tears. shanola really lets what kev is saying hit her (take the hits! as my old professor would say) and affect her emotionally. this is such a beautiful moment because you really feel and understand veronica’s devastation over possibly losing kev. it’s so simple yet so rooted in truth, i think about it all the time. give shanola more dramatic work!! side note, i love shanola’s line delivery, they 9 times out of 10 always land! 

as for steve – i think he’s got much less of a solid technique as ground work for his acting, but i still think he’s able, in the main, to carry himself (i doesn’t help in the last few seasons kev has been reduced completely down to comedic relief) and he definitely benefits from having shanola as a scene partner. now i’m not a huge fan of only highlighting dramatic moments to talk about someone’s acting, but one of my favourite moments of steve’s is when they realise that veronica’s mum wants to keep the baby and he like, breaks down in veronica’s arms. it’s a super nuanced moment that i think really shows how much the weird storyline w/ carole took such a toll on kev. 

as a pair, they work really, really well together and when the writing is good they’re great. they’ve been let down in recent years by the writing, but kev and v’s relationship stays strong because it’s clear that shanola and steve are close and know how to work with each other well – much like cameron and noel. they’ve worked together for 10 years and with that comfort, comes great relationship work. one of the things i like about kev and v is that despite all the ups and downs they’ve gone through, you never really doubt their love for one another and even during their lowest, (which was probably season 5?) you still are very much rooting for the two of them to work it out. their scenes and storylines can sometimes get a little stale but at no point do i not believe in their relationship or the feelings they feel towards one another. 

when the show begins and you meet kev and v, it’s very clear that not only do they love each other romantically but that they’re best friends too. i think that despite the quality of their storylines fluctuating, the level of intimacy and familiarity between the two of the has been upheld throughout the entire show – 11 seasons later and you do still believe that they know each other better than anyone else in the world and that’s all down to shanola and steve’s work. 

thanks for the question <3

[oatmilkovich]

its always so odd to me when shows about teenagers have all adult casts

it's literally my least favourite thing in the world. i think if you're making a story about teenagers and trying to do it authentically but you're not willing to work with the child protection laws, then you shouldn't be creating the project. make something about adults. that's the only reason why they're not played by teens – they want to be able to film for hours, not worry about education or any laws that might get in the way of touching on more adult themes. it's cheaper to hire adults. so beyond the fact that it's completely inauthentic and looks terrible when they’re all thirty year olds, it's actually gross bc they just don't wanna spend the extra money on kids/deal with protection laws.

i mean, how many of us as kids looked at a 25+ playing a 16 year old and felt a little shitty about ourselves because we didn’t look like that? the simple fact that they don’t wanna go the extra mile by having teens creates all sorts of damage. 

[oatmilkovich]

Do you have any thoughts on why Emma’s acting (in my opinion) got worse as she got older? She played debbie so well when she was younger and I’m curious if it’s the writing or her acting? I notice the same thing with Ethan too. Although he has had some moments in later seasons where he was still believable but just not consistent in my opinion.

hey! <3

thanks for the question - sorry, i was supposed to answer this yesterday and then earlier, but accidentally hit refresh and deleted it all. but yes, i have many, many thoughts on this... 

disclaimer, as always: this is all my personal opinion but i did go to drama school and have a degree in acting. i just like talking about it and we’re in a pandemic. 

it’s important to remember that when a child actor is cast in a role – this isn’t 100% all the time but in a majority – they’re not looking at whether they’re a fantastic actor, they’re looking to make sure they can take direction and fit into the family picture they’re trying to create. for shameless, they cast william h macy first, then emmy, and then built the rest of the family around them. it’s usually a happy accident or a really, really hardworking actor if they end up actually being good. 

regardless, children are the best scene partners. kids are reactive and don’t think about their actions. they don’t overthink their impulses and they definitely don’t play to please people. kids will do what they want. this is basically what all good (adult) actors try to achieve. we want to be reactive and follow all our impulses without thought – this is what results in natural and interesting performances. 

we lose this childlike quality as we get older. we become more aware of our surroundings and other people’s judgements, our impulses are interrupted by habits. we worry about what people think, we worry about looking good. we stop following our impulses and start to plan. actors have to work really fucking hard to overcome this and remain truthful in their scenes. 

this is often what happens with child actors who continue acting as adults (often in the same roles for a long period of time like emma or ethan, or another example, kiernan shipka as sally draper in mad men) – the reason we see such a difference between emma’s performance as younger debbie vs older debbie, is that she is aware of being an actor now. she’s aware of her actions and she plans. you can see this in her scenes. this is why you don’t believe a word that comes out of debbie’s mouth – it doesn’t seem like emma believes them when she says them. this is the stark difference with jeremy’s acting, noel’s acting, shanola’s acting. she’s not living in the moment – she’s planning what move to do next. sure, the writing now doesn’t do her any favours but in my personal opinion, a lot of it could be helped if i actually believed her during her scenes. instead, i’m usually just cringing and waiting for them to be over. 

as a kid, she was living truthfully as debbie during scenes...it’s been a very, very long time since we saw any of that truth from emma. 

thanks again for the question! <3 

[oatmilkovich]

7.10 my beloved! Acting choices/chemistry to the rescue! The way it’s aggressive, but Ian stops it and pull mickeys hair(wig?) back, to kiss and smell his neck. He likes how he smells!!! And he hasn’t seen him in a year, and it’s all hitting him, the dam has been broken, and he’s thinking “how the hell did I go a year without this?” And the hand holding, 😕 why is it so romantic. Still can’t believe the writers separated them again for another year after this. rude.

i loveeeeee the choices cam and noel made for 7x10 – that's the reason why it feels so electric and significant. you believe that they're two soulmates coming back together after being apart for a long time. it's exactly like you said, a dam has broken, and it's heightened by the fact that we had watched ian for two seasons attempt to move on from mickey – even at the beginning of that very episode, "i'm not getting involved in his shit." – so it's even more satisfying to watch his resolve crumble. cam does a really great job dealing with ian's inner conflict because even when he says the sentence 'i have a boyfriend' it feels like a joke. ian was always, always going to come back to mickey.

we know that cam and noel care a lot about their characters and the relationship they have to one another (see: coming back for season 10) – that's why their chemistry is always so good, why this scene is so good in particular. you can see it in their interactions, how even being in the same environment again is like a match being lit (prev anon who was talking to me about chris colfer's acting in s5 of glee, this is pretty much the opposite of the work that chris did 💀)

the work you do behind scenes DOES show in your work on screen (and stage) and that's why i think it's so romantic and heavy hitting. thank god they were allowed to improvise around the text for that scene because it definitely paid off.

(VERY sorry if you sent this to me months ago! i wrote it out but then stuck it in my drafts and forgot about it 🙃❤️)

[oatmilkovich]

Thoughts on the strongest actors in the buffyverse? For me I feel like it’s SMG, Anthony Head (I feel like he may have been one of the headliners since SMG was probably unknown then), Allyson Hannigan, I feel like there’s more such but can’t think of any. WhT about you? Anyone else I forgot or disagree etc?

anon! 🥰

smg and anthony head are both incredibly, incredibly strong. the show obviously wouldn't have been the same without smg at the head of it, but to avoid the more obvious answer (and believe me, they are fantastic actors and i could definitely go on about them), i really wanna highlight alyson hannigan – because i was really surprised by her.

her work is honest and incredibly vulnerable – willow can make me cry at the drop of a hat because she is just so truthful. especially with the heavy emotional stuff, she's incredibly grounded and i feel and believe absolutely everything that we see her go through on screen. i think she has fantastic line delivery too.

james marsters is really good at allowing an emotional beat take it's time to fully realise and impact him. his facial journeys and physical acting in spike's vulnerable moments is one of his strongest aspects of his performance (eg: the scene in 6x03 where spike realises buffy is alive). his british accent could use a shit load of work though. i really love alexis denisof as wesley, also. overall the cast are all pretty strong or at least have their own individual stand out moments!

<3

[oatmilkovich]

willa, i am boldly bringing you an acting ask off anon because you are so smart and rad and i’d love to hear your thoughts/insider info.

i’m curious about the table reading process and i’m wondering if you could speak to how actors might approach them? i’m sure it varies from actor to actor on some level, but do they generally bring their all and go full in-character or not so much? i’m not an actor but it feels like it would be difficult to really lean into it without the physicality of a scene/location.

i adore your acting insights so any thoughts you may have are welcomed and beloved 🖤

rhys my beloved! ❤️❤️ you are so wonderful and i appreciate every kind word you say. this made me smile so huge — of course i’d answer anything you want to ask.

so with table reads — it can differ between actor to actor but in general and especially in my personal experience, it’s usually as if there’s a sprinkling of characterisation. you still want to connect with your character, the text and the other actors you’re interacting with, but the table reads are primarily for hearing the text out loud for first time with the whole cast, rather than major character/plot exploration and development — so actors don’t necessarily have to lean into it 100% in order for it to be successful. it’s the first rehearsal you have after the casting process is done, so really it’s about getting a feel for the character (if it’s a new one for you and not an episodic script like shameless) and the text on a whole. actors can use the table read to explore certain things — for example if they’re having to use an accent for the role, it may be their first opportunity to explore the lines w other people whilst trying out the accent. it’s a good chance to discuss plot points and like, character choices with other people too — perhaps clarify things you may not have understood the first time you read the script over on your own. but in the main, it’s about the actual text and hearing the words said out loud and how the story may or may not come across.

that being said, i’ve been been part of many rehearsal processes where there’s been weeks of table reads, each one of them getting deeper and more connected. the basics of the technique i learnt (and approach to acting that i use) uses a table read as first step to connecting w your scene partner and i’ve had some really fascinating and important discoveries during them. they’re a really good opportunity to look your scene partner in the eye and fully connect on such a simple level — without feeling the need to lean into (and get distracted by) physicality and location. it’s a good starting point to get to the real grit and bone deep personalisation because you’re not distracted by the other things — all you gotta do is use the text and work off your scene partner. but bare in mind, that was my particular training and my personal experience w it. i’m less familiar w other techniques particular approaches to table reads.

so what i’m trying to say, i guess, is that it differs! depends on actor to actor but also from production to production! standardly, it’s about introducing yourself to the text and hearing it as a group for the first time w the main crew involved. but in some instances, there is opportunity to explore connections w your scene partners and start making initial discoveries. most of my personal experience draws from theatre as well as a little film. it’s important to remember though that on productions w such a quick turn around — like episodic tv shows — it’s most likely that the table read is one of the few — if not only — moments to rehearse and work on something before the actual shoot — so there definitely isn’t time or grounds for fun or deep character exploration! (i’m pretty sure i’m correct in thinking that glee didn’t even have table reads before shooting episodes... which uh... explains everything).

anyways, i hope this all makes sense and i didn’t just ramble nonsensically for a couple of hundred words. i’m sorry it got super long but i can happily clarify anything for you if i didn’t quite answer it! you’re truly the best rhys and i value you so much. thank you for always taking the time to say the nicest and most supportive things to me — it means a huge huge amount ❤️❤️

(one of my favourite things ever is lady gaga singing during the star is born table read, she really went for it lol)

[oatmilkovich]

Yes! Willa's acting thoughts for Chloe Webb

chloe webb is one of my favourite actors on the show - i think she is severely underrated and her performance isn’t talked about enough. firstly, what draws me to her work is how reactive she is! her scene work is great because she works so well off her other actors - for example: 

her reaction to fiona saying ‘you were my mother too’ is one of my favourite moments. the jaw drop is her initial response - a reflex to someone yelling something hurtful in her face, chloe working off of emmy’s work - but what makes this so great for me, is how she takes a moment for the comment to hit her properly before her face begins to completely crumble. this isn’t an instance of chloe planning how monica is going to react (eg: in her head saying ok i’m gonna drop my jaw and then i’m going to break down) but her allowing herself to fully realise the implications of what fiona has said to her and the expression on her face is an outcome of her experiencing that. it’s a visible and thought provoking reaction that comes naturally, you can see the beat change here as monica (imo) for the first time gets an understanding of the weight that her absence has on fiona. 

another thing is her physicality. chloe is so interesting to watch on screen! the way she distributes her weight to the front of her feet and her choice to play monica with this light/airy physicality really sells the ‘hurricane’ aspect of her character. physicality is such a huge part of embodying a character. you can buy the idea that she comes into their lives, turns things upside down before leaving again - like a storm - because of how chloe carries herself. the airy-ness gives us an idea that perhaps she’s unreliable, doesn’t quite know where she’s going in the future and hard to pin down. personally, i think it was a perfect choice for monica and i think if someone else had played her with a different physical approach, it wouldn’t have worked as well for her character. she fully embodies monica - it doesn’t feel like she is playing but that she is monica (you know how a lot of the time you don’t believe emma’s work because it just feels like she’s playing pretend? yeah, that comes with lack of commitment to your circumstances and prep for a scene, clearly either chloe is very talented to pull that off or more likely, has done the proper work needed to support her performance). 

her line delivery is another aspect i really love from her performance. it does help that monica is a little bit all over the place, but her dialogue work is really natural but you can tell that she has put a lot of work into what monica wants from scenes and the people she interacts with. she has great emotional depth - which shows that she has done the text work and filled in the blanks for herself. each line means something and she does a great job at taking moments and making sure lines land. 

i think she brings a lot of depth to monica and gives us a really good understanding of the kid’s upbringing with her as a mother before she left - despite the fact she is only in a handful of episodes. (honestly, i think she has a more depthful performance than whm, i feel like you really get a good understanding of who monica is whereas i think frank’s characterisation is less consistent and hasn’t been played interestingly in years) some of this is down to the writing, but imo i don’t think she would’ve been even as half as impactful had she be played by a different performer without her level of truth. you can really see how much she does love her kids, but how her un-treated illness and addictions, have caused her responsibility to them to take a back burner. 

[oatmilkovich]

loved reading all your acting thoughts! there's been some talk in fandom lately about how gallavich kisses have changed over the course of the last 2 seasons and seem a bit awkward and perfunctory at times even vs. earlier seasons where they seemed much more 'natural' for lack of a better word. wondered if you had also observed this and had thoughts on this from an acting perspective. it sounds like the show got an intimacy coordinator recently and part of me wonders if that led to the change since noel and cam clearly didnt have issues throwing themselves into those scenes previously. i'm also still trying to wrap my head around the hos bloopers kiss and how that would have fit in (scripted or improv) but that's probably a whole other can of worms. they clearly seem very comfortable with each other after having worked together for so long, which is wonderful! anyway, just love hearing you talk about acting and cam and noel :)

hey!

thanks for the question, it’s a super interesting one. so i discussed this quite a bit with @xgoldendays – because we discuss everything. so michelle feel free to add your take if you want to! <3 

i’ve seen this conversation happen a lot on my various timelines in the last few days and honestly, kisses are kisses to me – idk maybe it’s because i’ve been watching the show for years and lived off the club kiss for an entire season, but the shift between kisses old vs new hasn’t really been significant enough to bother me. anyhow here’s my actor-y thoughts... 

firstly, an intimacy coordinator isn’t going to be like ‘don’t shove your tongue down each other’s throat’ – an intimacy coordinator is there to make sure no one is being exploited or taken advantage of during intimate scenes. it’s very unlikely that their introduction in the crew had very little impact on the way cam and noel kiss each other in the scenes. what is more likely to have impacted the way that they kiss is the writing. 

the club kiss, border kiss, docks kiss etc... are all born from moments that are very heightened. the stakes are HIGH, mickey and ian have things to say and things to lose with those kisses. noel and cam have a lot more to work with and sink their teeth into. we know as a fact that they improv-ed a lot of the docks scene – this naturally leads to more reactive and real responses. even in scenes where they’re not improv-ing, eg: the club kiss, the situation they’re in is so significant for both characters, so fuelled by the drama, that of course it’ll result in a passionate kiss. those moments are so much easier to ground yourself in as an actor. it’s okay for a silly horny kiss in an ambulance to be less. it’s okay for the good morning mr gallavich kitchen kiss to be less. those scenes are less. i understand why people would compare them, but it’s a little silly to me cause ian and mickey are in completely different places now. cam and noel are going to be interacting with those scenes differently now. 

i go on about it quite a bit, but there’s no stakes in the writing anymore. they’re married now, they’re not leaving each other at the mexico border worried they won’t see each other ever again, it’s okay for a kiss to be boring or less than the ones that have come before it because the show is different now. ian and mickey are different people than they were. cam and noel will have a different experience filming those scenes – they’re not going to be filled with as much passion or drama. in the grand scheme of the dramatic story of ian and mickey, their scenes now are boring – and that’s okay! and for cam and noel they’re gonna be less exciting and interesting to film! their acting is still very much rooted in truth, but given the lack of stakes and significance of those kisses, things are gonna be different! it’s completely understandable to me that they seem different. they’re still clearly very comfortable with each other (you can tell that by the hos kiss) but, imo, it’s simply that the scenes have less behind them, therefore their kisses have less behind them. like, i’m sure if the show actually allowed a truly pivotal moment for them again (take the proposal kiss for example, we know there was a lot cut in the editing room and that was a moment in the last few seasons WITH higher stakes) things may be different. 

in regards to the hos kiss – it’s up for your interpretation but i like thinking about it as just a silly extra gallavich kiss, rather than a moment of improv tacked onto the end of that episode. don’t think too hard about fitting it into the canon storyline, just let yourself enjoy it for what it was! <3 

thanks for the question, it was a great one to ponder because i have actually been thinking about it a little. 

<3