Acting in the Dark: Difference between revisions

When an actor is not told something that will happen later to avoid having it possibly affect the way they play the character currently.

 

 

In most shows the writers have at least an outline of what's going to happen, if not a complete set of scripts. This trope is for when even that outline is not communicated to actors. It covers cases of things their character would know (see above) and cases where their character wouldn't know the later developments (such as their character getting hit by a bus.)

 

Compare [[Enforced Method Acting]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* An in-universe example: It's what the director in the movie ''[[Perfect Blue]]'' does to his actors, making the parallels between the main character and the character she plays in the movie even creepier as both start to suspect they are the killer.

* [[Gen Urobuchi]], writer of ''[[Madoka Magica]]'', did not informed [[Emiri Katou]], voice actress of Kyubey, show's mascot, of her character's [[Faux Affably Evil|true]] [[Complete Monster|nature]] and kept character designer [[Ume Aoki]] in the dark about show's dark storyline. He either wanted to make sure the viewer will get fooled, in which case it was this trope, or he really wanted to see [[Heroic BSOD|their faces]] once they'll find out, in which case he was just [[Trolling Creator|trolling]].

 

* Slim Pickens, who famously played the B-52 bomber commander and pilot in ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', was not told that the movie was a comedy during filming, and played his part straight.

** Which is a brilliant example (and mentioned in) [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Messala comes across as someone trying to rekindle the relationship while Judah is uncomfortable because he'd prefer to forget it happened and doesn't want to be reminded of it.

* In ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'', actors weren't given instructions until the beginning of each day of filming (most dialogue was improvised). They also weren't told when they would be "attacked" at night, so those moments were genuine surprises.

* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'': [[Mel Brooks]] used a musical version of sorts when he got Frankie Laine, who originally sang the ''[[Rawhide]]'' theme, to sing the theme. Brooks wanted Laine to sound like this was a genuine, dramatic cowboy movie, and so completely "forgot" to tell him about the comedic nature of the film, to the point that Laine didn't realize the truth until he actually ''saw the film at his local cinema''. He consequently produced such an epic cowboy movie song that it's sometimes played alongside other classic cowboy movie themes non-ironically.

** Craven also hid the final pages of the second movie's script.

** Prowse was very upset after the premiere, and told Lucas his body language would have been completely different if he'd known the truth.

* In the film ''Smile'', none of the actresses playing the pageant contestants were told who the winner was until the scene was being shot.

* Legend has it that during the filming of ''[[Casablanca]]'', after each scene was filmed, Humphrey Bogart and the writers would sit down together and decide what should happen next. Ingrid Bergman had no idea until the very last scene was filmed whether her character would leave with Victor or stay with Rick.

* According to [[Kevin Spacey]], none of the actors were told of the ending of ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' while filming.

== Live Action TV ==

 

** Specifically, the character who turned out to be the murderer {{spoiler|(Henry, the character played by star Christopher Gorham)}} wasn't told {{spoiler|he}} was the bad guy until eight episodes into a 13-episode season.

* ''[[Lost]]''.

** Matthew Fox (who plays Jack Shepherd) has stated that he was the only actor on the show who knew how the series would end before the production of the final season.

** Terry O'Quinn was not informed that he was {{spoiler|no longer playing Locke}} in season 5 because he was meant to act consistently with what was known until the reveal.

* On ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'', the actress Cheryl Hines is usually unaware of what the character Larry David has gotten himself into during an episode.

* [[Twin Peaks]]. [[David Lynch]] had planned out the identity of the killer of Laura Palmer long before the big reveal, but he didn't tell the actor until the time came to actually shoot said reveal.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Creator Speak]]