Sir Ben Kingsley believes three takes is all a director should need
Sir Ben Kingsley is one of those actors who boasts a career quite unlike many of his contemporaries. In fact, most other actors could only dream of winning an Academy Award, a Bafta, two Golden Globes and a British knighthood in just one lifetime, but that’s precisely what Kingsley has accomplished.
After coming through the ranks with the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of Richard III, The Tempest and Hamlet, Kingsley became known on the screen with phenomenal performances in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and the likes of Sexy Beast and Shutter Island.
The true acting legend was once asked whether his profession was based on dedication to learning the craft or if it was something more inherent and instinctive. Kingsley then went on to explain that a director should only ever require three takes of their actors rather than ask them to do endless repetitions.
“I think you can learn to say something with one gesture instead of nine,” he once told The Talks. “I told a director once, ‘On take one, I give you something. On take two, if I am really doing my job, I give you less. On take three, even less than in take two.’ I don’t mean in terms of generosity; I mean in terms of fiddling around as an actor.”
Kingsley continued: “I bet with you that take three is the best take because all the energy is going into fiddling around, but if you can dare to be still – which is quite hard – you can be more focused”. Evidently, Kingsley knows his process as an actor and understands that takes can differ from one to the next, and there’s a certain element of uniqueness in his approach.
There’s also the idea that there’s meditative artistry to acting in Kingsley, or as he puts it, “I think you can learn stillness like with certain painters and composers – and I wouldn’t elevate myself to that level – but occasionally I think actors become artists for a few seconds”.
He adds: “A painter is doing something with one brushstroke that is brilliant, but if he would add something, he is lost. Or one note in a symphony, it is just astonishing, but if you had more notes next to it, it’s lost. It is that economy that we can learn.”
Ultimately, though, Kingsley takes “responsibility” for each of his takes rather than using any of them as warmups or throwaways. He admits that much of what we see in a film occurs in the editing room anyway, so to be “absolutely in character and faithful to that character in every take” is of the utmost importance, and it’s always been proven throughout the actor’s fantastic career.
However, Kingsley still can’t stand directors who go beyond their station and act for too much. He noted, “What I am allergic to is a director who says, ‘Just for me’ or, ‘Could you give me,’ or ‘One more take where you just do a little’.” When those requests do arrive, the actor obliges; such is his impressive professionalism.
