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Ein Interview mit Bernard Hiller | Los Angeles
Acting is representing life - If you are dead in life, you will be dead on stage
Bernard Hiller kann eine mittlerweile źber 30-jŠhrige Arbeitserfahrung in den verschiedensten Filmgewerken vorweisen: nach seiner Ausbildung bei beispielsweise Sanford Meisner und Lee Strasberg (Actors Studio, The Method), arbeitete er als Schauspieler, SŠnger und TŠnzer am Broadway und spielte in zahlreichen Film - und Fernsehprojekten. In seiner Eigenschaft als Acting - und Dialect-Coach trainierte er unter anderem schon
First of all: How did you become a coach?
I wasn't a coach from the very beginning - actually I started as an actor. But then, about 25 years ago, I got a call from someone in New York: "Please, help me with this casting". And that is how it started: One person asking another person for help. And slowly, I became a coach. The thing is: I always wanted to be a different type of coach. Because, I felt that acting - and that is what Uta Hagen said - is "the worst taught subject in the world". In my opinion, there are only twelve great acting teachers in the whole world. And every actor needs to find the right coach for them.
How important is your acting background for you, being a coach?
It is everything! I would never ask my actors to do something that I would not do myself. See, I started in New York as a professional singer, dancer and actor. Therefore, I know what the actors are going through, what they want. I have total sympathy. I understand. I am them and they are me. The studying that we do in L.A. isn't "the guru and the student" - we are one. We are working together. I am talking about empathy here. We are realizing, we are working on the same thing, it's not like "I am the boss, and you are nobody". Straight hierarchy like in Germany - (lacht) -this is not the way we work.
What is the biggest problem in learning acting?
The problem with learning about acting is that acting is representing life. But if you don't know much about life, how can you represent life? How can you play about life when you don't know much about your life or even about yourself! So, what I do first with the actor is: teaching them to be a professional human being. After that, I teach them about acting, and then I'm teaching them about success, which is a very dirty word in most schools, meaning how to be successful as an actor.
"How to be successful as an actor" - Are you referring to marketing?
Well, it is even more than marketing. It is a way of living a successful life. I teach my actors who want to be stars: "Become a star in your own life." Because when you're dead in your life, you're dead on stage. One of the things I ask my students is: "Do you have a relationship right now?" And sometimes people raise their hands, and say "I'm single." And I say: "GO! Find someone now." Why? Every scene is about love and and when you don't know anything about love? You can't play it. Living alone does not make you understand love scenes. You have to be in love in your life, to know about love. And I know that relationships can be terrible and wonderful and everything that it is - but at least you are in something. See, I know why many actors come to acting: they don't like their own life. And they come to acting to be someone else than who they are. So they try to get away from who they are, butĘyou can never do that and you will never be more interesting on stage than who you are in your own life.
On your website, you posted that you coached for example Cameron Diaz and Jeff Goldblum. Are you working with them all the time or was it only for one project?
Ah, well, I started Cameron Diaz. She was auditioning for her first movie, "The Mask", with Jim Carrey. She had never acted one day in her life. So I worked with her for sixth months and she got the job. She had 13 auditions for that part. And she always thanks me. She said that if she hadn't met me, she would never have had a film career. You work with different actors, usually for one film, sometimes they call you again, sometimes they don't, but that is what happens.
Are you allowed to talk about the actors you coach?
Sometimes actors don't want you to talk about their coaching - because it's private. Some people don't care. But take a look at the great football players here, they all have coaches! I mean it's an open secret that everybody has a coach. Roger Federer, he doesn't stop winning, he has a tennis coach. What does he need a coach for' Well, acting is a sport. There is no way to be an opera singer or a ballet dancer without a coach.
What is it like to work with big names in Hollywood and how could you help them?
One of the things about stars: stars always ask for help. That's how you can tell you're a star. A star knows that the right coach can help him. Someone who is insecure doesn't want any help because they think: "Hey-I 'm a star." I tell you when you are a star: You are a real star when you ask for help, you are a star when you're very thankful to people. Stars I have worked withĘare very thankful people. They thank me, they will thank the garbage man, they thank everybody. You're a real star when you bring love to everybody and you are making the world a better place. That's how you can tell you are a real star.
How come that you're working as a coach in Germany?
I lived in Germany for five years, I lived in Frankfurt am Main, und ich habe nur Deutsch gesprochen. In Deutschland habe ich Deutsch gelernt. I have an affinity towards German actors, who tell me: "I am dying here. I don't have a chance in Hollywood". And right now, I have four actors that I've been training with me for the last year and a half, German actors, who are succeeding in Hollywood! I'm so happy about that! It gives me so much joy that I am looking for other german actors to succeed in Hollywood.
What do you think about Christoph Walz?
Brilliant! He is an example of a fantastic actor. Light. Easy. Charming. He is playing a Nazi very charming. There is no acting, he is always so nice, always so polite. He is not the old style. There is an old style which is very dramatic. Acting changes and training changes too. Like music. Germany is producing actors that work for the German market but it will not work in Hollywood. You have to learn the Hollywood rules to succeed.
Why do you think German actors do not succeed in Hollywood?
There is thing that Germany and Europe still doesn't understand. They think that once you have a diploma that's all that matters! I will tell you what you can do with your diploma: You can do absolutely nothing with your diploma! This country needs to stop thinking about diplomas as the end but just the beginning. And that is something that has to change and is going to change! One of the reasons that the German actors have not succeeded is they stopped training. That's why they are not competitive. One of the differences between a professional athlete, a successful athlete is, that the more they learn, the more they want to learn. The unprofessional average people thinks: "I know what I am doing! I've learned it. I don't need to learn more!" And that's the difference between successful actors and unsuccessful actors. Successful actors know that there is so much to learn and so much more to know. And they are constantly learning. Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino - they have coaching all their lives. Because all big stars know one thing: I need to learn more. I have to get better. The other reason that German actors - and this is important - not been successful in Hollywood is: they didn't understand the Regeln the rules. If you come to L.A. with a German mindset you will lose. Don't come to Los Angeles if you don't know how the game is played. And that's why they usually lose: They don't know the game.
What do you think about the training at acting schools in Germany?
There was not one school in all of Germany that trained actors to become successful in Hollywood. And that is what I am trying to do now with my courses. There is one school in Hamburg and the other one is the Film Acting School Cologne (FAS), where I am trying to create a new way in training to give the German actors a chance to success. It's been very successful. I recommend studying there. By the way, some of the FAS-actors will have the chance to go for a special 5-days-workshop in Hollywood with me. July 17-25, 2010
How come you were engaged for "Mission Hollywood"?
They were looking for a coach that works internationally, and I think I am the only one who actually works in so many countries: I have a big group in Rome, a big group in London and a big group in Paris. These are my three cities. I don't think, there are no other coaches who work in so many different countries. They were looking for someone who is an international acting coach, someone who knew about the latest film acting techniques and someone who speaks a little German, so it was me (lacht)!
What chances do you see in this kind of show?
What do I think the chances are? Fantastic! I think every chance is an opportunity that you never know where it can go.
What kind of methods do you apply?
I am a big fan of the Uta Hagen theory: you have to BE the part, not play the part. The camera never sees the role, it only sees YOU. It is a different way of looking at it! We don't hide behind the role, we show it through WHO we really are. That is the American way of acting: letting the world see exactly who you are. That is why people around the world like American movies better: because we show people our hearts. The other world shows people their minds, but people don't want to see minds - we want people's hearts! It is not about becoming a queen, when you are going to play a queen. First, you have to find the queen in yourself. So, when I coach the actors, I am teaching them who they are, I teach them the latest film acting techniques, I teach them about success and then the fourth part: is how the business works. I also know some wonderful agents in Hollywood. They come to my classes to find actors. "Desperate Housewives", "Ironman", "Lost", "Star Trek", they all came looking for actors. I also bring directors and producers. And so they all meet each other. It is a very unique experience.
In Germany, casting is often done by internet. How did the internet influence your work?
Internet did not change my work at all.
You can talk to someone via Skype, give him some advice. But is not like the real thing!
Coming back to the younger actors: which problems do young actors often or mostly have to face during your workshops?
Well I think one of the biggest problems is overcoming their fears and blocks, because you will need a lot of confidence to succeed. But the only way to get confidence is by doing things that scare you. And if you have more fears you have to do more things. Also, you have to learn how to express what is on the inside. Because we live in a world which tells you: "hold your feelings, hold your emotions". Especially Germany is very bad with that. This country does not want you to really express your real feelings. And a coach doesn't tell you how to act. A coach just gives you ideas how to play a character. And one idea could be worth an academy award. Remember two people can come up with a better idea then one person. Two people came up with the idea of the Microsoft Computer - (Bill Gates and Paul Allen) Two people makes it a lot better, because actors need someone to talk to, someone to learn from and someone to work with on the role. That's why we are here to help. By working with a great coach you could become the actor that you were born to be.
Thank you very much! Das GesprŠch fźhrte Tina Thiele
KONTAKT
Die Website des Bernard Hiller Acting Studio - www.bernardhiller.com
