Do you care?

Recently we've been on a Polish Brothers kick. We attended a Sundance workshop awhile back and picked up a copy of the Polish Brother's book, "The Declaration of Independent Filmmaking".

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brothers, they are identical twins who came on the scene in 1999 with their Sundance Award winning film, "Twin Falls Idaho". They followed up their success with "Jackpot", "Northfork" and "The Astronaut Farmer". Other recent contributions to the world of independent film are; "The Smell of Success", "Stay Cool" "For Lovers Only" and "Oz". We're still working on finding "The Smell of Success" and "Stay Cool". "For Lovers Only" is in post-production and the status of "Oz' is unknown.

Anyway, the book is a great read and an intriguing look behind the camera from the beginning to the end of the independent film making process. The brothers use their first three films to illustrate in both an entertaining and educational way the dos and don'ts of independent film making. The book so piqued my curiosity that we've now seen their first four films. (Note: Wikipedia lists "Hellraiser Bloodline" as their first film, while Imdb lists "Twin Falls Idaho" first. We have not seen "Hellraiser Bloodline".)

We didn't watch them in the order they were made, and in hindsight, that's probably a good thing. The brothers write as well as direct and act in their films. In three of the four films of theirs we've watched, the writing was magnificent, the brothers are master storytellers. In "Northfork" the cinematography was breathtaking. We even watched "Northfork" a second time the following night with the commentary on. It was that good.

So what happened to "Jackpot"?

It wasn't until about halfway through the film that I realized I didn't care about the main character. Sunny Holiday is immoral, deluded and self-indulgent and I don't care whether he lives or dies by the time the film ends.

Last summer when I took Taunya Gren's class, "A Classical Approach to Acting" one of the keys to successful character development she taught was that the audience has to care about your character. Your character doesn't have to be nice or good or moral, but a successful performance requires that the audience care about him. Dick Whitman a.k.a. Don Draper in "Mad Men" isn't a nice guy, but I care about the guy and I find myself wanting good things to happen to him. (We have the first four seasons on DVD.) Daniel Craig's character in "Layer Cake" doesn't have a name and he's a coke dealer, but we care about what happens to him. Guy Ritchie is a master of this; watch "Revolver", "Snatch" or "RocknRolla". His characters are not nice people, but you care about them and what happens to them.

The ultimate illustration of this concept is found in the "Dexter" books by Jeff Lindsay. Dexter Morgan is a SERIAL KILLER for pity sake. But I challenge you to read more than five pages and not care about what happens to the guy. I've read the first three of the four books in the series, and once I started, I couldn't put them down.

I have two favorite characters I've portrayed, Dr. John Allen in "Raising Kayn" and Dale Harding in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Last month I was recognized in the grocery store as Dr. Allen and that was a really great experience. But, the praise of several actors for my portrayal of Dale Harding was overwhelming. I was so grateful they acknowledged my skills.

So, who are the characters you've most enjoyed developing and portraying?

Wait, don't tell me, send me some clips and I'll see if I can tell you next time we're on location, on set or in the studio…