“A voyeur or a lover”: Donald Sutherland on the art of screen acting
Many people in the public eye have a complex relationship with the idea of being seen, with the very nature of being perceived becoming something you both love, depend on and despise. Whether it be paparazzi photos or the steady gaze of a cinematographer, the camera is a huge part of being an actor, capturing you both at your best and worst. Some actors speak of how you have to make friends with the camera, how you must acknowledge its presence but not be afraid of it, while others describe how you must pretend it isn’t there at all.
For Donald Sutherland, this was something he had years of experience in, allowing him to perfectly hone his craft and relationship to the camera, drawing out the best performance by knowing how to work with it, not against it. The actor discussed this in great detail, describing his nerves around certain sets and his lucky ritual at the beginning of every shoot.
Sutherland was one of the greatest actors of all time, with a thoughtful and colourful approach to his craft that led to incredibly sensitive and nuanced performances. From his early roles in MASH, Kelly’s Heroes and Klute, he rose to fame and found a number of diverse roles in projects like Don’t Look Now, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Ordinary People, showing a natural inclination for challenge through his eclectic roles that span across all genres.
However, something that is most stark about his performances is his ability to steal your attention every minute he is on screen, with an effortlessly watchable presence and captivating physical language. From the fruit market scene in Klute, in which the simple sight of him picking up peaches to check their ripeness is nearly the highlight from the entire film, to the devastating scene in Ordinary People in which they try to take a family photograph, the actor has shown that no moment is too small to spin into a show-stopping scene, making every second count by fully cohabiting with the camera.
However, while this might seem like a natural ability of Sutherland’s, it is something that he had to hone over many years. The actor described his relationship to the camera and how he manages to work with it and welcome it into the performance.
When discussing this with Hugh Grant, Sutherland said, “I did a film with Vanessa Redgrave, and finally I had to say to the director, ‘Listen, shoot me last’, because I would do my close-up, and then she would do hers, and her close-up had nothing to do with anything that she’d done before. It was so precise and specific. I’m nervous all the time. For me, the camera’s either a voyeur or a lover. If it’s your lover, it shares your soul, you give it your virginity over and over again, and it’ll embrace your heart. If it’s a voyeur, it’s a fucking paparazzi.”
In response to this, Grant shared an anecdote about how Anthony Hopkins supposedly strokes the camera every morning on set and says ‘good morning’ to it, with Sutherland replying that he kissed the lens, almost as a good luck ritual to show his appreciation and respect for the camera and its gaze. While this might sound absurd to anyone who isn’t in show business, it just goes to show the many moving parts and intricacies of acting.
