Emma Stone’s only furious outburst on set: “I’m usually a people pleaser, but fuck it”
Sometimes, the best avenue to creativity is to let ourselves lose control and completely resign to our most primal impulses. There are some actors who approach their craft in a precise and structured way, with specific routines and rituals to help access their character and get in touch with their subconscious. For others, the process of complete submission is what works best, with the method approach being employed by the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Jared Leto, immersing themselves in the inner world of their character.
However, it isn’t always easy to access this side of yourself without resorting to extreme methods, with some directors using other techniques to coax raw performances from their actors. It could be David O’Russell’s method of ruling by fear and screaming at his actors to get what he wants, or William Friedkin’s similar method of physical violence to threaten his collaborators. Or it could be Stanley Kubrick and his somewhat effective mind game of essentially hazing one of his actors and pushing them to the point of exhaustion for a truly frazzled performance.
This was something that Emma Stone experienced in a unique way after working with legendary director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, with the production of Birdman pushing her to new extremes and causing her to break one of her golden rules that actually ended up helping her performance.
Birdman is shot in a one-take wonder style, something that is incredible to look at and equally incredibly challenging to execute. The film follows a floundering actor who stars in a Broadway play in an attempt to rescue his reputation, with Stone starring as Sam.
There is one particularly heavy scene in which the pair scream at each other on a rooftop, with Stone describing the toll the scene had taken on her and how letting go of control allowed her performance to flourish, floating her to a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nomination at the Academy Awards.
When discussing this, Stone said, “Edward Norton and I were shooting on a rooftop at, like, 02:00. We’d done this scene 30 times, and Alejandro wasn’t getting what he wanted. He said, ‘Maybe it’s not going to work.’ I went to my dressing room, pacing, like, ‘I can’t do it. I’m losing my f****** mind.’ This thing came over me. I’m usually a people pleaser, but I felt like, ‘F*** it. I don’t even care any more.’ So when we went back to do the scene, I was crazy, spitting. And Alejandro goes, ‘Beautiful—there it is!’ I wasn’t trying to make it perfect any more.”
Sometimes our own inhibitions can get in the way of a truly great performance, with Stone learning that completely letting go and unleashing your demons can be the best thing for a vulnerable scene. While it might have gone against her better nature, it certainly had a strong impact on Iñarritu, with the director finally finding what he had been looking for and perfectly executing the madness of his vision. It might be an unconventional method, but sometimes a mental breakdown can work wonders, allowing one to release everything bubbling beneath the surface.
