*Don’t watch the clip until you’ve read the below side.* There are a couple of techniques you can use so that you end up with interesting, as opposed to predictable choices when working on a script. The first method is to go through your script line and line and think of 5 different ways you can say each line (meaning 5 different subtexts and or motivations). Its a challenge but I bet you’ll be surprised with what you can come up with. If you find yourself totally stuck and unable to come up with anything innovative, then think of three ways that are “wrong” and work on those. Even if you end up throwing them out, they will spark your imagination.
If any of you have ever seen David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive, the character of Betty, played by Naomi Watts, is absolutely spellbinding in her audition scene. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it. Betty makes a very, very unusual choice that ends up being absolutely unforgettable. If you know the scene that I’m referring to then you know what I mean, but if you don’t, read through these lines once or twice and see what you come up with, then watch the below scene.
Betty
You're still here?
JIMMY
I came back. I thought that's what you
wanted.
BETTY
Nobody wants you here.
JIMMY
Really?
BETTY
My parents are right upstairs! They
think you've left.
JIMMY
So ... surprise!
BETTY
I can call them... I can call my dad.
JIMMY
But you won't.
BETTY
You're playing a dangerous game here. if
you're trying to blackmail me... it's not
going to work.
JIMMY
You know what I want...it's not that
difficult.
BETTY
Get out... Get out before I call my dad.
He trusts you... you're his best friend.
This will be the end of everything.
JIMMY
What about you? What will your dad think
about you?
BETTY
Stop... just stop! That's what you said
from the beginning. If I tell what
happened... they'll arrest you and put
you in jail, so get out of here before...
JIMMY
Before what?
BETTY
Before I kill you.
JIMMY
Then they'd put you in jail.
BETTY
I hate you... I hate us both!
The scene ends.
In the above scene, aspiring movie actress Betty Elms goes to her first audition. And nails it beyond all belief. Up to this point, Naomi Watts has been playing Betty a little overeagerly, a little overcheerfully, and a little, well, badly. In addition, we’ve seen Betty practice the audition script with her friend Rita and perform it like a particularly bad telenovela. This audition has every potential of being disastrous, if we take the character of Betty and the so-far-exhibited acting ability of Watts at face value.
But when she steps into the audition room and begins the scene, something happens. She takes the scene, as melodramatic and soap opera-ish as it is, and goes somewhere with it that the lines themselves don’t even seem to suggest. She adds layers of complexity to her character and subtext to her brief set of lines. – Jandy Hardesty