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Variety
June 23 - 29, 2003
Coaches on Euro role
Thesps across the pond hope to act more American
By BEN FRITZ
HOLLYWOOD -- When it comes to acting lessons, the path
between Europe and the U.S. has traditionally been one-way
only.
It was European masters like Stanislavski, after all, who
inspired many of America's modern acting gurus and icons
like Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Marlon Brando.
But the educational inspiration is now starting to flow
the other way.
More and more acting coaches from the U.S. are spending
time in cities from Paris to Rome to Moscow to London teaching
aspiring European film actors to act more, well, American.
Bernard Hiller, who has been an acting coach in L.A. since
1990, led his first one-week seminar in Paris three years
ago and now teaches regularly across the Continent, generating
about 50% of his income there.
"They want to learn how to act like Pacino and De Niro,"
he says of his European students.
Larry Moss, Bob McAndrew and Jack Waltzer are just some
of the other prominent acting coaches from L.A. and New
York who have found a big demand in Europe for their style
of coaching.
Amy Werba, who trained with Lee Strasberg and now directs
her own acting studio in Paris, says European students want
to emulate the more naturalistic style of acting taught
in America not only to increase their skills but to boost
the international appeal of their films.
"They tend to be performing for the audience and don't
know as much how to be vulnerable," she observes. "But
with the growing number of international co-productions,
they need a style that translates. In the global market,
it's the American style that has proven successful."
Several of the coaches also find they are the first instructors
to work with their students on career motivation.
"I've noticed a suffocation of hope about going as
far as they're able to," observes Moss, who is teaching
his first class in Paris. "Part of my job seems to
be helping them gain the confidence to move into the international
world of acting."
The very concept of professional coaching for a role is,
in fact, new to many European students, who are typically
more used to one stint of state-sponsored training at university
than paying for private lessons throughout their careers.
"Coaching is a newer thing there," says McAndrew.
"But because oftentimes American actors do films in
Europe and have a coach, it's starting to catch on."
The phenomenon is still new enough that there's not yet
a direct impact on the films being made, but American coaches
are working with some rising young European actors. Hiller,
for instance, recently accompanied his student Cesare Cremonini
to Cannes, where his film "Il Cuore Altrove" was
in competition.
More than 50 years after groups like the Actors Studio and
the Group Theater first brought Stanislavski's style into
prominence Stateside, it seems the students have become
the teachers.
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