The full conversation on lines you will not cross: guns, nudity, kissing, swearing, and the difference between a value and a preference you have not examined.
10 Things Actors Should Know About Their Values and the Work
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 7:04 watching it.
Probably not, so know your own
Asked whether the industry shares your values, the answer is a flat no. Nothing about the business will hold a line for you, which makes being clear on what yours are, and why, a practical requirement rather than a philosophical one.
The cost of a boundary is yours, not the production's
Actors who will not swear, will not handle a gun, or will not do a romantic scene with anyone but their spouse will lose jobs. She is unusually direct about this. It is a legitimate choice and the consequence belongs to the person making it.
Her sharpest example: an actress who refused to play women who cheat, because she did not respect cheaters, while wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor and having cheated herself. Sometimes what looks like a value is simply not liking the character, which is fine and is a different thing.
A religious actress had no objection to profanity in general but would not take one particular name in vain. The solution was to leave the harder words in so the omission was never noticed. Specific lines often have specific accommodations.
Decline before you audition, not after you are cast
If you will not do nudity, do not go up for parts that require it. Backing out once a network has cast you upsets everyone who invested in you, and she says as it should. The objection is legitimate. The timing is what makes it a problem.
If refusing nudity is one of your values, being truthful about it should be another. A line you conceal in order to stay in contention is not a line you are actually holding.
She has played several murderers and reports that characters furthest from you are frequently the most fun. Your characters will not share your values, and that is a feature of the work rather than a compromise of it.
Kate Winslet has done a great deal of it, always in service of the script. Other actors have never done any. Both are described as entirely valid, and Anora is offered as a recent example of work most actresses could not have done and one did beautifully.
She turned down auditions on a show she was working on because of specific storylines, and other actresses played those parts well. There is a little regret at not even having read for them, and she still got to be on the show.
Your reps should understand it, and may push back once
They should never pressure you. They are allowed to make the counterargument: that this nudity will be handled tastefully, or that this is an award-caliber part. Hearing the case and still saying no is a stronger no than never having heard it.
Does Hollywood share your values? [music] That's a really good question. I think probably not. It probably does not. So, how do you navigate your role as an actor in Hollywood if it clashes with your values? I have many actors who maybe they don't want to swear. That's not part of what they do. Is it going to cost them jobs? Absolutely it will. You've got to be able to say the words, but there are jobs that don't require swearing. So there's always a way to navigate around it. The most important thing is to be clear on what they are and to also understand and be clear on why you hold them.
I have been talked into doing jobs that at first I thought did not go with my values and I wasn't pressured into it. I came around to understanding like yeah that's a good job to do. There was a job at the beginning of my career where I I screen tested for a series regular role on a show that was about the occult witches and things like that. I was fine with it. I didn't have any problem with that. One of the actors who was cast decided that she had a problem with it and that was something that she didn't want to do. That's really upsetting to your team, to your to the network. Upsets a lot of people as it should. people invest in you. So at the beginning if you don't want to do for instance nudity you need to be very clear and not audition for things where nudity is required if you don't want to do it. On the other hand I think there's many many movies where nudity makes perfect sense. It's not gratuitous.
a wonderful actress like Kate Winslett has been naked in most of her films or at least topless and it's never gratuitous. It serves the script, but there's other actors who have never shown their bodies. So, it's really a personal decision. You need to make sure that you don't lie because if not doing nudity is a value of yours then being honest should also be a value of yours. I had an actress in that I worked with in class once and she refused. She didn't want to do any characters where the woman was cheating on her boyfriend or husband. She just didn't respect cheaters. She clearly had an ankle monitor on. she had done something that had gotten her arrested and been monitored by the court and I'd also found out that she had indeed cheated in the past. So, I will not pressure anybody to do something that is against their values. But really taking a look at why am I holding this value? Perhaps she just didn't like the character.
That's fine. That's not going to be your character. Then I had an actress who very religious. She had no problem swearing if it was appropriate for the character mofo and such, but she didn't want to say god. She didn't want to say that one. And so she would I said, "Well, if you're saying mofo, then they won't notice that you've taken out that other one." You've got to stay true to to your values, to what it is that you want and need and that lets you go to bed at night. There are some actors who have they don't want to kiss or do romantic scenes with people that are not their spouse. And of course, I understand that. But that is going to cost you jobs. And that is not the production's fault. That is yours. That's the choice that you're making.
doing things that are only about business, that aren't about romance at all. Fine. Some people don't ever want to handle a gun. They don't believe in guns. I get it. But you have to understand it will cost you jobs and there will be things that you can't do. And not everyone of your characters are going to hold the values that you do. I've played a few murderers in my career. I can tell you there might have been some people I say I wanted to kill, but I've never really wanted to do that. And I would never. But have I played Killers? Absolutely.
Is it super duper fun? You bet. Sometimes those characters that are so unlike you are the most fun to play. But being open and honest and understanding yourself and why you hold those. I had done a show called Niptuck back in the day. And a lot of those auditions that came through had some very questionable storylines. There were a couple that I turned down that I just felt I couldn't be the woman who was having that procedure or that thing had happened and wonderful actresses played those parts and did a wonderful job. And maybe there was a little part of me that regretted the idea that I didn't at least audition for it, but I got to be on the show and my character had a procedure that I've never had because cosmetic surgery. it's you and you're allowed to say no and your managers, agents, your reps should understand why you say no, but also if they have not not to pressure you, but if they have a countering reason why they think, well, the nudity in this I think will be tasteful. I think this could be an Academy Award nominated role. I loved Anora, right? There's a lot of nudity and uh simulated sex in that movie.
That's there's a lot of actresses who couldn't do that, much less wouldn't do that. She played it beautifully. So hopefully you haven't had to really wrestle with the idea of you can have a career and your values. I hope your value is to subscribe and to like and to comment on the videos. Stay all the way through my silly bloopers. And when you are ready to do what you came here for in person or online, I hope I'll see you at the studio for a class. Not with my broken nail. [laughter] Too cheap to get my nails fixed. [music]
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