HER (2013), a film by Spike Jonze

I am playing Theodore. This is a restaurant scene. Theodore wants his ex-girlfriend Catherine to sign their divorce papers. He has found a new love, and he is ready to go wherever it will take him to be with his new love, Samantha...

But who is Samantha?

Playing this character was a bit challenging because I previously learnt the lines of Catherine. I felt playing Catherine was much easier for me to play as I could find some similarities between this character and my own personal life.

Theodore appears as a very passive character in this scene and that challenged me.

What work did I do on my character?

First, I wrote down all the facts that appeared in the scene about my character and the facts of my partner in the scene.

I divided the scene in units looking for the beats. I wrote down my super objective, my objectives in each unit and my obstacles (I followed the same process for my partner’s objectives).

The subtext in this scene was interesting. Most of the scene was guided by the subtext and that helped me a lot when I had to play my character.

I used different techniques to work on my character. From ‘The Six Fundamental Questions’ of Stanislavski, to his ‘The Magic if.2’

How did I use ‘The Magic if’? I thought what if I was a man in love who was meeting his ex-wife to sign their divorce papers.

As that man, I still had some feeling for my ex-wife, and seeing her reminded me the good times we had together but unfortunately that time was already gone. I simply was not in love with her anymore. I had feelings for somebody else. And while I did not want to hurt my ex-wife, I wanted to move on with my life (and I wanted the same thing for her).

I found the situation a bit awkward and uncomfortable. Those divorce papers symbolized that it was the end of whatever my ex-wife and I had before (even if it was already a while we were not living together, neither having a life together). Those papers made me feel sad and relief. Sad because those papers were the proof that something I believed in and made me happy (my marriage and the person sitting in front of me, my ex-wife) did not work as I expected. And relief because I had decided to stop duelling and to carry on with my life. I was ready to be in love again (I was already in love), I was ready to believe in love again.

I used the image of a man I know whose character is like Theodore’s character. He is a very reserved person who does not like to speak much. That image helped me to get into the state of mind of Theodore. I wore some clothes of that man the day we did the shooting. It helped me to wear real clothes that belonged to a man. It reminded me about that person and about being a man.  As I woman it was challenging to play the part of a man.

How did I use ‘The Six Fundamental Questions’ of Stanislavski?

WHO? Theodore, a man in love of an operating system who is getting divorce of his ex-wife Catherine.

WHEN? Some months after Theodore and Catherine decided to end their relationship.

WHERE? Meeting in a restaurant with his ex-wife.

WHY? He wants to sign the divorce papers.

FOR WHAT REASON? He is in another relationship and in love.

HOW? Showing care for his ex-wife and trying to be as friendly as possible.

This performance was part of my Acting for Screen class. I emptied my mind from whatever was around us and I only focused on my partner. I felt as if I was alone with her chatting about our things, without nobody else around us.

My final performance can be found here.

*This is a project for my MA Acting for Stage and Screen at UEL, London (2021)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Meisner, Sanford, and Dennis Longwell. Sanford Meisner on acting. A Vintage Original. New York, 1987

Merlin, Bella. The complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. Nick Hern Books. London, 2007