[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What do you mean by 70% of the story is in the body?
Acting Coach and Specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique Jean-Louis Rodrigue: These are scientifically proven facts that 70% of communication happens in your body, in the energy of the body, the way you use your body, the way you breathe in your body. Your body is communicating information to the outer world all the time whether we’re conscious or not. That 20% is your voice and the tonality of your voice and then and this is strange 9 to 10% it’s content. Now don’t tell that to a screenwriter because they would get very upset. Yes, written content is so important. The script is so important. If you don’t have a script, you don’t have a movie, but in terms of performance it’s really 70% physicality, 20% the voice and the tone of the voice and then just the script. That’s why this book [BACK TO THE BODY: Infusing Physical Life into Characters in Theatre and Film] and the way I work with people is I want to get their whole bodies into it because it will integrate everything together so beautifully and the performance will be unforgettable.
You don’t want people to forget your performance. Mary McDonnell’s performance in Passion Fish [1992 written and directed by John Sayles] I will never forget. She is an actress that she just goes straight to my heart and that’s true for a lot of people, they have some actors that they keep thinking about them and…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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About:
Jean-Louis Rodrigue is an internationally recognized acting coach, movement director, and specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique to film, theater and television. In film, he coached actors and collaborated with directors in Passion Fish, Vice, J. Edgar, Life of Pi, W., I, Tonya, and many more. In theater, he collaborated with director Larry Moss and former NFL player Bo Eason in his play Runt of the Litter and playwright Pamela Gien in her Obie– and Drama Desk– award-winning one-person play, The Syringa Tree, both in New York and internationally. Jean-Louis has worked on- and off-Broadway and at major performing arts institutions such as Berlin International Film Festival, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Getty Villa, Geffen Playhouse, Royal National Theatre, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Verbier Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company. For the past 34 years, Jean-Louis has taught at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Jean-Louis lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Kristof Konrad.
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