August 11, 2025 • 44 mins
Former dancer and choreographer Cindy Claes, now action actress and filmmaker, reveals the essential skills and mindset needed to break into action acting, drawing from her extensive background as a "movement nerd". She is now also leading workshops called the ACTION ACTORS LAB.
• Understanding the fundamental differences between real combat sports and screen fighting choreography
• How physical posture directly influences emotional states for more authentic character development
• Using physical theatre embodiment techniques to create unique physical signatures for characters
• Balancing technical skills with character awareness in action scenes
• Adapting self-tape techniques specifically for action scenes
• Working with multiple languages and how each affects physical presence and authority
• and more!
If you're interested in joining the Action Actors Lab to develop these skills in person, send Cindy a DM or message on social media to learn more about these workshops.
Instagram Cindy Claes:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Loud Whisper Takeover podcast.
My name is Cindy Klaas.
I'm an action actress and I'm afilmmaker.
Before that, I had aprofessional background in the
world of dance and choreography.
I also have a background in theworld of fitness, combat sports
and, obviously, screen fighting.
The journey it has been tobecome an action actress has
(00:23):
been a journey of self-discovery, but also of research of what
are the skills that I need tohave to be an action actress,
same thing as a filmmaker.
It has been a quest tounderstand what kind of films I
wanted to make, which kind ofstories I wanted to tell and,
more specifically, how I wantedto tell those stories.
(00:47):
A lot of my work is rooted,grounded, in movement.
So really action movies and anygenres of cinema that are
related brothers, sisters orcousins of action movies movies
are really my world.
Today's episode is really foractors that want to get involved
(01:12):
in action movies or actors thatreally want to use their bodies
with full awareness withintheir roles, within their
characters, and really feelconnected to the body.
So in this episode we will talkabout what it takes for an
actor or an actress to become anaction actor.
(01:33):
We will also talk about theconnection between all the work
we do as actors and theconnection with our body, how we
can use the body to dive into ascript.
How can we use the body as astarting point of a character's
(01:54):
journey.
How can we use the body to tapinto an emotional state that we
can't really tap into throughthe mental, the intellectual,
the analysis of words?
I'm also the founder of theAction Actors Lab, which is a
(02:15):
workshop for action actors.
If you cannot come to join theworkshop physically, I hope that
this podcast will at least giveyou some pointers or some food
for thought of how you, as anactor or as an actress, can
start challenging yourself to beand become an action actor or a
(02:36):
better action actor.
First I'll tell you a littlebit more about myself and my
journey so that you fullyunderstand where I'm coming from
.
I'm an action actress today anda filmmaker.
How I started was actually as achoreographer and a dancer.
I started in the world of hiphop, krump and dancehall.
(02:56):
Those were my specialties.
Of course, being a dancer, Ialso did a whole bunch of other
different dance forms.
I did salsa, bachata,contemporary dance, house
dancing and you name it, but myspecialties were really hip-hop,
krump and dancehall.
I very quickly, as achoreographer, started to tell
(03:17):
stories through my dance work.
So I started to mix theater anddance together and I dived deep
into the world of narrative, ofstorytelling through the body.
Then I also wanted to add words, because the body was not
enough to really portray themessages or the narrative arcs
(03:41):
that I was after.
I wanted some things to be veryspecific.
So that's how I ended up usingwords, dialogues, slam, poetry
into my dance work as well.
In the world of theater, I was achoreographer.
I also was a movement director,usually for other productions.
I wrote plays, so I was aplaywright and I was a
(04:05):
choreographer.
And I was a choreographer.
I was a theater maker.
I always worked with people,performers that either were
dancers either actors that wereready for a physical challenge.
As a teacher, I've beenteaching internationally, in the
UK, in Spain, in the UnitedStates, in Jamaica, in Venezuela
(04:27):
, in Belgium, probably othercountries too that I don't think
of now, but I very often havebeen teaching dancers how to use
words and how to act.
I've been teaching dancers howto face this fear that they had
of speaking, and then I've beencoaching a lot of actors how to
(04:51):
move and how to use their bodies, because the words or text was
their comfort zone, but movingwas stepping out of their
comfort zone.
Alongside my career in dance,choreography and theater, I also
worked in the world of circus,and I did aerial circus, harness
(05:12):
work, bungee work, and this issomething that I am still very
much, very fond of.
I really hope that as anactress, I will book a role
where a lot of cable work isinvolved.
That's a big dream.
Later down the line, I had toface some health issues.
These health issues actuallybrought me on the path of
(05:36):
fitness, so I became a gym ratand freaking passionate about
weightlifting Once my health gotback on track.
At that time I actually hadbecome an actress and I wasn't
really working that much anymorewith movement and dance and I
was bored.
I really felt something wasmissing in my day-to-day
(06:01):
creative expression.
I wanted to go back to it,somehow being able to work out
again at a very high level andeven at a higher level than
whatever I did before being aprofessional dancer.
I started to really dive deeperinto stage, combat and screen,
fighting and combat sports,fighting and combat sports.
(06:23):
So all of this started to makesense Movement, choreography,
this new vitality that I hadfound through fitness, feeling
strong, feeling like I had thepower to really face any
physical challenge possible,getting more and more interested
in a variety of martial artsand combat sports and
(06:45):
self-defense, like the dotsstarted linking and that's where
this door opened up for me,which was actually action.
Movies is the dream.
That's the path I want to walk.
I also forgot to mention I wentto a physical theater school
(07:06):
called Jacques Lecoq, which isan international theater school,
which was previously based inParis.
Now they are in Avignon, but Iwent there to study when I was
an adult and that was also anopportunity for me to dive
deeper into the world ofphysical theater.
So, on top of my career that Ihad before, which was making
(07:29):
theater with dance, I started todive deeper into the world of
what an actor is able to do withacrobatics, the understanding
of its body and how to reallyuse the body as a starting point
for an emotional state, for acharacter, for a narrative, and
(07:50):
not start with the text, theword, and not start with the
analysis of a script and notstart with the mental or the
intellectual or the memories wehave, but really with the body,
and the body only as a tool.
So where I'm at now is I'm anaction actress, I'm a filmmaker.
I'm also a movement nerd.
(08:11):
When I say movement nerd, yes,I have a huge amount of
knowledge in the world ofmovement and body awareness, but
it's never enough.
There is always a new skill Iwant to learn and I continue
learning new skills and Iliterally continue also diving
(08:31):
down the rabbit hole.
When I touch on something newas an action actor or action
actress, you will also see anddiscover that, yes, you will
master some skills, but it'snever enough.
There is always a new skillthat you could start learning or
could start mastering.
You will have to make choices,but the journey probably never
(08:53):
ends.
So let's talk about you as anactor or an actress that wants
to dive in the world of amovement.
I am aware that you might notbe able to lead a whole parallel
life as a dancer, as a circusartist, as a martial arts
practitioner on the side, butthere are still a lot of things
(09:14):
that you can do to really masteror advance your understanding
of how the body is going to helpyou move forward in the world
of action movies.
So I'll break down this podcastepisode, the same way I break
down the Action Actors Lab,which is the workshop that I'm
(09:35):
teaching.
Part one we're going to talkabout how to develop our
fighting skills for the camera,which is very different from
real fighting skills.
Whatever you would do in a realcombat, you will probably not
do it for a choreographed piecethat will be used for the camera
(09:56):
.
Part two we're going to talkabout the physicality of the
actor, and that is really abouthow can you discover more about
body connection and script.
Body connection in narrativearc, body connection and
emotional states.
Part three is scene work andtext, and part four is how to
(10:17):
flip.
Do we self-tape for an actionscene?
So, for example, if a castingdirector or your agent is
sending you a script and yourealize, oh amazing.
So, number one, I have a weapon.
Number two there is anexplosion on the side.
Number three the roof isfalling over my head.
Number four somebody attacks me, and how do you translate that
(10:39):
in a self-tape, which is a verydifferent way of trying to
portray all this madness, withjust you in the frame and having
no other body to work with.
So we will talk about that inthis podcast too.
Every industry works a littlebit differently.
(11:01):
So I speak four languages.
I speak English, french, dutchand Spanish.
I have worked a lot in theEnglish speaking markets, in the
Spanish speaking markets.
I have not worked that much inthe French speaking market and I
have never been booked on aDutch speaking production.
(11:24):
And obviously I'm based inEurope.
So I'm going to talk more aboutthe European side of things.
In the United States thingsmight be different, but just be
aware as well that every singlemarket slightly works
differently in regards tonetworking, in regards to
expectations of what they haveof actors and so forth, in
regards to how casting directorswork.
(11:45):
But I hope that what I will beproviding you in this episode
will at least give you some foodfor thought and some pointers,
or if you can come and join theAction Actors Lab when I'm
teaching it.
Okay, let's talk about part oneFighting choreography.
So, as an action actor, ofcourse there will be a lot of
fights and you will haveprobably two possibilities of
(12:09):
gaining skills in screenfighting.
Either you join a course thatis specifically aimed to actors
or some sort of stunt coursemade for performers that will be
performing in front of thecamera.
Another option is to enroll ina martial arts practice or a
(12:29):
combat sport or someself-defense classes and gain
knowledge there.
There are pros and cons to both, and I'll explain.
If you want to register for aclass that is all about screen
fighting or that is reallyfocusing on stunt work, usually
speaking, these classes will bemore expensive.
(12:53):
The thing is as well is usuallythese classes are like a one-off
workshop.
So these one-off workshops aregreat because you learn some
skills, but then it doesn't stayin your body.
You don't do it on a weekly ora daily basis and your body
forgets.
The pro is that one of the mainthings in fighting choreography
(13:17):
is action reaction.
The reaction of the characterthat is being hit is extremely
important, both in regards tohow your body reacts, so that it
looks real, how your facereacts so that it looks real,
but also the timing, becauseobviously the camera needs to be
able to capture all of that andso that in the editing, when we
(13:41):
have the reaction of thecharacter that is being beaten
up, it feels real, so theaudience can really dive into
the pain of what is happening.
So screen fighting courses areamazing, stunt courses are
amazing, but it will probablyrequire a bit more money.
Usually it's quite pricey,usually it's not a regular class
(14:04):
.
It's very difficult to find,like weekly classes or something
like that.
And number three is the positivethings.
You're going to learn thoseaction reactions.
Also, you're going to learn thechoreographic part of it.
That is four, which is veryimportant.
You're going to really learnwhat a choreography looks like.
(14:25):
Some fighting scenes are shotin, like they're just going to
shoot it from A to Z, and somefighting scenes they just want
to have three moves, shoot it indifferent angles, and then we
do another three moves and thenanother three moves and like
it's bit by bit.
It really depends on you knowwhat the the director has
(14:46):
decided how to capture the fight, if it's going to be a wide
shot, a close-up, all that kindof things.
So, but the choreographic partof it you will also learn in
these specific courses.
If you decide to go for a realmartial arts practice or a
combat sport or someself-defense classes so I'm
(15:07):
talking Krav Maga, I'm talkingboxing, I'm talking any sort of
martial arts.
So the pros is that it's veryeasy to find affordable classes
that you can go to on a weeklybasis.
This means that your body isreally gonna work on a
particular skill and it's gonnabe so used to it that the day
(15:31):
you are on set is just a part ofyour DNA, right?
If you've been boxing likethree times a week for that many
years and they ask you to playa boxer like, it's so easy for
you to get into the physicalityof this character, so it's more
affordable.
You can do it on a weekly ordaily basis, depending on the
(15:52):
club that you're joining.
The only thing is you willprobably not work on action,
reaction, the reaction part, therealness of how we react to
being hit or being beaten orthat sort of things.
You will not see that in any ofthese classes, so that work is
(16:18):
really the work of the actor.
Or Krav Maga.
There is a lot of choreography,so to speak, that is being
rehearsed.
It's not the same as creating apiece of choreography where
action-reaction is the mostimportant element of the
choreography.
In Krav Maga, for example,there are choreographed parts,
(16:39):
let's say, where you reallylearn to drill certain
self-defense mechanisms.
But the thing is, the aim ofthe exercise is to drill you
that if somebody attacks youwith a weapon or tries to catch
your bag or whatever, you havelike an automatic response to
(17:01):
self-defend yourself in thatmoment.
But the aim of the exercise isnot a piece of choreography that
needs to be captured on camera.
So the con of these kind ofclasses is that you're not
learning the reaction part thatwe would want in the world of
cinema.
The other thing we want to talkabout is what do we do in a
(17:23):
real combat?
What do we do when somethingreally happens to us?
To defend ourselves is verydifferent of how we're going to
transpose that in thechoreographic world of cinema.
So of course, we want to makeit look as real as possible.
However, for example, in boxing,you want to protect certain
(17:47):
parts of your face.
You want to have your elbows inwhy?
Because you need to protectyour sides to make sure that you
are not hit.
You want to make sure that yourhands, your wrists are like
next to your face so that youdon't get hit by your opponent.
For example, in boxing, youwant to make sure that when
you're going to jab like thepunch is going to come out in
(18:10):
such a way that your opponentcan't even see it coming.
In the world of cinema andchoreography you don't want to
have your fists right totallyclose to to your face and the
camera can't see anything, somaybe you will have to lower
(18:30):
them.
However, you don't want to haveto have your elbows up, because
you would not look like a boxer.
So you want to have someelements of reality, for example
, the elbows down, but you mighthave to lower your hands so
that the camera can capture yourface.
When it comes to the jab, in areal combat sport, the
(18:52):
trajectory of the jab is done insuch a way that is efficient,
effective.
Your opponent can't see itcoming.
In the world of cinema, youwant to have a moment where your
opponent, your fictionalopponent, can see it coming, so
that nobody ever gets hurt.
(19:13):
So instead of going straight toyour target, you would have
some sort of calling oh, theother one can see it coming, and
then you hit and then yourfictional opponent reacts.
There is also an element ofsafety and distance.
(19:34):
So that is another thing thatyou don't particularly learn in
real combat sports or martialarts or Krav Maga settings,
because you really want toattack.
Yes, there is an element ofsafety and there is an element
of keeping distance.
Of course, nobody wants to gethurt.
No teacher wants people to gethurt, but in cinema there is way
(19:57):
more distance that is beingheld just because the camera
angle can fake the fact that youare 10 or 20 centimeters away
from the opponent's face.
So, again, there are pros andcons in enrolling in any of
these classes, and I think bothare definitely worth looking at.
(20:17):
Then, when it comes to fightingchoreography, we also want to
look at which type of characterare we playing.
Are we a character that knowshow to fight?
Is it a person that has beenmilitary trained?
Is it a person that went to apolice academy?
Or is it a ghetto person thatwas hired by some sort of
(20:40):
narco-trafficants and thatbasically has been in the
criminal world since being ateenager but never really
learned of how to use a weapon,but just learned on the job and
miraculously stayed alive?
For example, I am at the momentgoing to the gun range, the
(21:00):
shooting range, because I'mdoing my license, my sport
license in gun handling, becauseI want to make sure that I can
really understand how a gunworks.
If I had to play the role of apolice officer, right, but a
police officer will hold his orher weapon in a very different
way than somebody that neverlearned it a certain way but
(21:25):
just was handed a gun when theywere a teenager, right, and that
are then a part of a drug gang.
Again, thinking about yourcharacter, is your character
drunk?
Is your character totally lucid?
Is your character scared ofweapons?
Let's say that you are a womanthat gets in a lot of trouble
(21:48):
and all of a sudden she'srunning away from something and
then all of a sudden she's in awarehouse, there is a gun on the
floor.
She grabs the gun, but she hasnever held a gun before in her
life and she's, like, scared todeath to even shoot with it.
Very different from somebodythat you know is a part of the
FBI or is a part of the army andhas been trained to use these
(22:12):
weapons.
So even though you know how tobox, even though you have some
martial arts skills, even thoughyou know how to do things,
maybe your character will besomebody that doesn't really
know.
So then you have to be able tophysically adapt your body as a
(22:32):
dancer, using this new knowledge, but breaking the rules.
But at least by knowing therules you know how your
character would then look likehe can't or she can't box.
So, for example, if you knowthat a boxer needs to have their
elbows in and the characteryou're playing is just trying to
box but doesn't know how to doit.
(22:53):
Boom, go elbows out and haveyour fists in the air and you
know that you're breaking therules and you will look like a
person that is absolutelyunaware of what to do in these
situations.
I think another pro of doingreal combat sports, a real
martial art or something likeKrav Maga is that it triggers
(23:18):
your nervous system.
Like, for example, I've done ahuge amount of Krav Maga with a
teacher.
I did 17 hours a week for ayear and it triggered my nervous
system so much because thereare sparring sessions.
There's a lot of role playwhere you have to, there is
(23:40):
obviously a sense of safety, butyou really play it as if you
were being attacked and the bodydoesn't really make the
difference if it's a real attackor not.
At the end of the day, there isadrenaline and there is stress.
At the end of the day, there isadrenaline and there is stress.
But I think something that Ilearned about myself is that I
was so scared to hit somebody, Iwas so scared to hurt somebody
(24:02):
During the sparring sessions orwhen I was paired up with a
person that was way smaller thanme.
Sometimes for me it was reallyhard to just play that role and
use all my strength.
It was terribly confronting asI even started crying in class
(24:22):
because I was so scared to tojust hurt somebody.
The other way around as well,during sparring and stuff.
Sometimes during Krav Maga wehad to wear like a big helmet
and obviously teeth protectionand stuff.
And for me, because I was oftenpaired up with men and bless
(24:45):
them seriously, bless those menin Krav Maga, because I think
they were as terrified as me.
They were scared of hurtingother people.
That's not why they did theclass for it but they had to
play the role of the bad guy sothat I, as a more tinier person,
could be ready to face anythingthat could happen in the street
(25:05):
.
They had to play the role ofthe bully or use their strength,
and it must have been veryconfronting for them too.
But when we did the sparringsessions, I was so scared of
really being hit in the faceLike I didn't care to be hit
anywhere else on my body, like Iwould be bruised up after
(25:25):
certain sessions and I didn'tcare, but being hit in the face
was something that was sotriggering for me really
triggering.
It would bring me to tears, Iwould sometimes cry and even I
had a couple of times had tostep out of class.
So these kind of experiencesyou will not have it in a screen
fighting workshop, in a stuntworkshop, because everything is
(25:49):
made to be safe.
You have a distance betweenyour fictional opponent and
yourself.
With a real martial artspractice, with a real combat
sports practice, you could betriggered.
But it is actually a goodexperience for you as an actor
or an actress to know what itfeels like in your body when
you're scared scared of hittinganother person or scared of
(26:12):
being hit, and I think veryoften people talk about the fear
of being hit, but hittingsomebody else is terribly
nerve-wracking.
So again, there are pros andcons to both.
You will make your decision,but fight choreography obviously
is essential for any actionactress or actor.
But also think that it's notonly very well trained fighters
(26:41):
that get a role in a movie.
You have the drunken person.
You have the person that is avictim of domestic abuse.
You have those people that arevery goofy and don't know how to
fight and somehow miraculouslyget out of the fight because
they did something unexpected.
But the thing is that the moreknowledge you have, the more
(27:01):
fighting skills you have, themore you can break the rules to
understand why your characterlooks goofy or that sort of
things.
Part two of what I'm exploringin the Action Actors Lab is the
physicality of the actor.
So the physicality of the actoris really the understanding of
how the body can inform us,stepping into this new world,
(27:24):
stepping into the life of thischaracter.
I could talk about it for hours, but I will just try to give a
couple of pointers.
For example, the first thing isbalance.
So balance, two feet firmly inthe ground.
Story happens and emotionalstates happen when there is
(27:46):
imbalance Falling forward,falling back, falling to the
side, leaning to the side,leaning forward, falling forward
, falling back, falling to theside, leaning to the side,
leaning forward.
So even a very slight leaningforward or a very slight leaning
back can already inform yourcharacter where it's at.
Leaning back is usually whoa,no, I'm okay, I'm not doing
anything.
(28:06):
Leaning forward is really likemore of ready to attack.
But it is within imbalance thatsomething happens.
Any story happens becausesomething gets out of balance.
Right, somebody loses its money, somebody gets a lot of money.
Somebody loses a lover,somebody gets a lover, somebody
(28:29):
falls into trouble, somebodyfalls into love.
So within the body all of thatis translated.
Sometimes a very subtleimbalance in the shoulders one
shoulder front, one shoulderback makes a whole difference of
a character that would benonchalant or trying to turn
(28:51):
around because they don't wantto face this conversation.
A slight tilt in the face canmake everything very comedic.
Then a very big chapter in a lotof physical theater schools is
being an animal.
So your body transforms into ananimal.
(29:11):
You could be a cat, you couldbe a bull, you could be a
gazelle, but there is everythingfrom the tip of your fingers
through your spine, through yourlegs, through the tip of your
toes.
Everything transforms into howthis character moves.
So now imagine being a bull,really being a bull, and having
(29:37):
sort of those horns and wantingto attack and everything.
Every time you see the colorred, aka somebody's triggering
you in a bar or whatever, youwant to just like attack it and
face it, then you're going tolower that percentage in your
body.
So let's say that first you'regoing to really embody this bull
100%, then you're going to have50% of bull, 50% of human.
(30:00):
Eventually you will find theright balance of the bull and
the human in you, but so thereis a certain percentage of bull
in you.
This could be 5%, 10%, 20% andthe rest is human.
But this informs of how thisperson is actually walking
through the street, walking intothe bar, interacting with
(30:23):
whoever he wants to fight.
Same thing could be with thesquirrel.
Your body is a little bit of asquirrel and it'spsy and looks
around.
And it's looking around.
It's fearful of what is here.
Oh, something is there.
I'm running away.
So first you embody thesquirrel fully and then you
reduce the percentage of thesquirrel in the body until you
(30:45):
find this thing, human beingthat is very fearful of the
environment and tries to keepitself small and is ready to run
away no matter what, becauseevery sound or every person or
every shadow is making themfearful.
Another example is in scientificstudies they have shown that if
(31:08):
you feel sad, for example,smiling, like basically giving
your body a smile so you smileand you smile for several
minutes.
Eventually your body will feelhappy.
Right, so it is not per se theintellectual, mental activity of
(31:30):
thinking I am happy that willgive you a smile.
It also works the other wayaround Smile, give the body the
smile and eventually it willcreate a neurological effect
that makes you happy.
What does that mean Is that ifyou take any sort of body
(31:50):
posture, it will inform theemotional state of your
character.
For example, somebody that ismore confident will have their
shoulders down and back.
Somebody that is carrying theweight of the world has their
shoulders falling slightly frontand their heart sinks in, and
they're small and they just walkdifferently.
And they're small and they justwalk differently.
(32:11):
This will inform anything thatyou're feeling inside, aka what
your character is feeling.
So, for example, if yourcharacter is falling in love
with somebody in the script, howabout you just put your chest a
(32:32):
little bit more front, have oneshoulder a little bit more off.
The chest is front because theheart wants to connect, but the
shoulder is a bit turned becauseit's scared to actually connect
and ask the person out, and thechin is down, and then from
here you just move the eyes up alittle bit and you try to get
(32:52):
the words out and ask them out.
So there is a huge amount ofwork that can also be done for
the actor in general and that'snot just for action actors, of
how the body can be the startingpoint of a lot of things.
Your character has a certainamount of power and authority or
(33:14):
has a lack of power andauthority.
Again, that can be worked on inthe body.
For example, we talked aboutbeing an animal.
Let's say that we are going toembody being a dog.
Now a german shepherd or aRottweiler has a very different
(33:35):
body posture, a very differentway of walking than a tiny
little Chihuahua.
Right, and the little Chihuahua, we know it.
It is just barking a lot morebecause it's trying to defend
itself, but it can't really.
Or it's scared and it hidesbetween the legs of its owner to
be protected because it can'tdo much, and from the Rottweiler
.
So you could also embody a dog,rottweiler or Chihuahua.
(33:58):
Diminish the percentage of theexistence of the body of the dog
Within your human body and thensee how your character is
bringing the text on from there.
Part 3.
Scene work and text.
Within an action movie youmight have text.
(34:19):
During a fighting scene, youmight have no text at all, it's
just the fighting.
And maybe you're going to havetext during the chasing, right.
So you're in a car and you'rebeing chased by the police, or
you are hiding in a warehouseand the only thing you have is a
cell phone and you'recommunicating with your partners
through the cell phone thatsort of things.
(34:41):
First of all, I'm speaking fourdifferent languages.
Each language I do sounddifferently.
There is another Cindy, thatpeople have access to.
It's just a normal way of life.
I think every language we ownit in a different way, we
associate ourselves with adifferent way, but also the way
people perceive us is verydifferent, depending on our
(35:03):
accents.
So, for example, my accent inSpanish I sound like a foreigner
with a French accent.
I make a lot of grammaticalmistakes, but I know there is
something that makes me a bitmore childish in Spanish.
I don't perceive it that way,but I know that when native
(35:25):
Spanish speakers listen to me,it's going to be very
complicated them to imagine thisaccent being a very strong
woman with authority that wentto the army, because in Spanish
I do not sound the same as Isound in English or in French or
(35:46):
in Dutch.
Like literally, in every singlelanguage we have a different way
of expressing ourselves.
But also you have to rememberthat it's also the way people
perceive you and it's okay.
But so accent reduction and ortonality is very important for
us to incorporate that in ourvoice work, especially when
(36:07):
doing action movies, becausealso the way a drunk person
talks and a person withauthority talks is very
different, and I just want us tobe very aware of that.
So, for example, in my ActionActors Lab it's a multilingual
workshop, so we're also workingon what does it feel like to be
this or this character inanother language?
(36:28):
And then there is also the workof what if I have to do a lot
of movements and talk at thesame time.
That is again a very specifickind of work that we do a lot in
theater, in physical theater.
I've also studied mime and soit is worth looking into doing
(36:51):
mime classes or physical theaterclasses to really have this
dexterity to be able to walk andtalk kind of thing, or walk and
fight, or walk and carryobjects or that sort of things.
Then the last part self-tapes.
So self-tapes for action movies.
Do you want to be an actionactor, action actress, so you
(37:12):
want to be good at acting.
So, in regards to showreels, alot of agents and casting
directors will recommend to havetwo different showreels one
where you showcase your physicalskills and one where you
showcase your acting skills oryou have some sort of blend, but
then make sure that it's verybalanced, like we really need to
see you acting even though youhave extra physical skills, for
(37:37):
the self-tapes.
There's a lot of rules thatapply for any self-tapes, such
as having good lighting, havinga neutral background, framing it
well, making sure there is nottoo much space between the top
of your head and above, makingsure that the sound is good.
Making sure that the sound isgood, making sure you avoid
(37:58):
black or white clothes but havet-shirts of some sort of neutral
colors.
Remember that if you use verybright colors, usually it's more
associated with comedy.
But have a couple of thingsthat you can use for self-tapes.
You don't need a full-onmilitary outfit.
You don't need a full-on FBIoutfit but, for example, have a
(38:19):
navy blue jacket or somethingthat is a bit khaki in your
wardrobe, or have some earthytones and t-shirts or maybe tank
tops where you can see theshoulders and the fact that you
have muscular shoulders orsomething like that.
It can be useful for yourself-tapes.
Some of the complications inself-tapes for action movies are
(38:39):
the action parts.
So, for example, if you have touse a weapon if it is
specifically indicated that youare using this or this weapon in
the self-tape.
This or this weapon in theself-tape, let's say you're
(39:00):
using a sword, or you are usinga bow staff, or you're using a
joe staff or you're using somecallies or right, so you're
using a baseball bat orsomething like that.
If you're too much in aclose-up it's going to be
distracting you moving thatweapon around.
So I generally for myself-tapes, if I have to use a
weapon, I like to zoom out alittle bit and have it more from
(39:22):
my waist up and have a bit morerange where I can move this
weapon around.
If, for example, you're justusing a gun and you're about to
shoot somebody, maybe you have agun like for cinema, but this
gun is not moving, you're justlike holding it right.
So there you can go more in, abit more close up if needed,
(39:46):
because you're not moving aroundwith this weapon.
But be very aware that you canhave a bit of this I mean a boat
kind of thing when you'removing around with this weapon.
Then there is this element ofthings are happening around me.
For example, there was anexplosion on the right hand side
.
There is the roof that isfalling apart, that sort of
(40:07):
things.
Just make sure that, the sameway, you would have a very
precise eye line.
So, for example, if you'retalking to two characters, you
know that this particularcharacter is on the left-hand
side of the camera and thesecond character is on the other
side of the camera and you'reso specific with your eye line
(40:30):
when you're going through thescript.
Have the same thing in placewith any sort of things that are
happening around you.
There is an explosion, there isa window that smashes.
Have it clear in your head.
The window is there, theexplosion is there, the person
that is being murdered is infront of me.
Be so precise that there is noshadow of a doubt when you're
(40:50):
doing your self-tape, that youare seeing it because you know
exactly where these things arehappening.
Personally, when I have aself-tape where it's a bit more
of you are being strangled, oryou are strangling somebody, or
you are being attacked or youare being stabbed, I personally
prefer, instead of filmingmyself from the waist up, I'd
(41:12):
rather for it to be a bit closer.
Why?
Because if I'm going to fakebeing stabbed and my stomach is
in the frame, it looks fake.
It just looks so fake, whereasif I'm in a real close-up, they
will have the reactions to thestabbing which they want to see,
which is my facial reactions,but also there is no, which is
(41:33):
my facial reactions, but alsothere is no.
They don't see the miming of it.
Now, when I say the miming, Ireally want to make this very
clear.
I studied mime.
I'm extremely precise.
I can fake it because I studiedmime.
A lot of actors are not trainedin miming and so they will look
fake, really fake.
(41:54):
So, in that case, have a realtable in front of you if you're
self-taping, even if it's not inthe frame, have real whatever
paper knives and pens in frontof you, because it will help you
not to fake it and it will lookrealer, right?
But yeah, if I'm being attackedor if I'm being strangled or if
(42:16):
I'm being stabbed, I prefer tohave a closer frame so that it
doesn't look fake and thecasting director or the director
will see my reactions in myface.
Again, everything that I've saidin this episode is really based
on my personal experience andhaving interviewed a lot of
people on this podcast andhaving worked with different
(42:36):
people in different countries inthe world of action movies.
Things that I've said might betrue for certain casting
directors or for certainproductions.
For other productions, specificdirectors, specific casting
directors they might disagreewith me, so it's always like a
little bit of a searching or alittle bit of an adapting to
different industries as well.
(42:58):
France might not be working thesame way as Spain or the UK or
Belgium there are differentartistic, creative approaches to
it as well, but I hope thatthis will at least give you a
lot of food for thought and alot of new things to think about
when you want to work on yourskills as an action actor or
prepare for castings.
(43:19):
I am teaching the Action ActorsLab.
Feel free to send me a DM ifyou want to be a part of it in
person, and if you live far awayand you can't absolutely can't
travel to where I'm teaching,definitely send me a DM to let
me know how this episode landedfor you, wishing you a huge
amount of movies to make and seeyou in the next episode.
Welcome to the Loud Whisper Takeover podcast.
My name is Cindy Klaas.
I'm an action actress and I'm afilmmaker.
Before that, I had aprofessional background in the
world of dance and choreography.
I also have a background in theworld of fitness, combat sports
and, obviously, screen fighting.
The journey it has been tobecome an action actress has
(00:23):
been a journey of self-discovery, but also of research of what
are the skills that I need tohave to be an action actress,
same thing as a filmmaker.
It has been a quest tounderstand what kind of films I
wanted to make, which kind ofstories I wanted to tell and,
more specifically, how I wantedto tell those stories.
(00:47):
A lot of my work is rooted,grounded, in movement.
So really action movies and anygenres of cinema that are
related brothers, sisters orcousins of action movies movies
are really my world.
Today's episode is really foractors that want to get involved
(01:12):
in action movies or actors thatreally want to use their bodies
with full awareness withintheir roles, within their
characters, and really feelconnected to the body.
So in this episode we will talkabout what it takes for an
actor or an actress to become anaction actor.
(01:33):
We will also talk about theconnection between all the work
we do as actors and theconnection with our body, how we
can use the body to dive into ascript.
How can we use the body as astarting point of a character's
(01:54):
journey.
How can we use the body to tapinto an emotional state that we
can't really tap into throughthe mental, the intellectual,
the analysis of words?
I'm also the founder of theAction Actors Lab, which is a
(02:15):
workshop for action actors.
If you cannot come to join theworkshop physically, I hope that
this podcast will at least giveyou some pointers or some food
for thought of how you, as anactor or as an actress, can
start challenging yourself to beand become an action actor or a
(02:36):
better action actor.
First I'll tell you a littlebit more about myself and my
journey so that you fullyunderstand where I'm coming from
.
I'm an action actress today anda filmmaker.
How I started was actually as achoreographer and a dancer.
I started in the world of hiphop, krump and dancehall.
(02:56):
Those were my specialties.
Of course, being a dancer, Ialso did a whole bunch of other
different dance forms.
I did salsa, bachata,contemporary dance, house
dancing and you name it, but myspecialties were really hip-hop,
krump and dancehall.
I very quickly, as achoreographer, started to tell
(03:17):
stories through my dance work.
So I started to mix theater anddance together and I dived deep
into the world of narrative, ofstorytelling through the body.
Then I also wanted to add words, because the body was not
enough to really portray themessages or the narrative arcs
(03:41):
that I was after.
I wanted some things to be veryspecific.
So that's how I ended up usingwords, dialogues, slam, poetry
into my dance work as well.
In the world of theater, I was achoreographer.
I also was a movement director,usually for other productions.
I wrote plays, so I was aplaywright and I was a
(04:05):
choreographer.
And I was a choreographer.
I was a theater maker.
I always worked with people,performers that either were
dancers either actors that wereready for a physical challenge.
As a teacher, I've beenteaching internationally, in the
UK, in Spain, in the UnitedStates, in Jamaica, in Venezuela
(04:27):
, in Belgium, probably othercountries too that I don't think
of now, but I very often havebeen teaching dancers how to use
words and how to act.
I've been teaching dancers howto face this fear that they had
of speaking, and then I've beencoaching a lot of actors how to
(04:51):
move and how to use their bodies, because the words or text was
their comfort zone, but movingwas stepping out of their
comfort zone.
Alongside my career in dance,choreography and theater, I also
worked in the world of circus,and I did aerial circus, harness
(05:12):
work, bungee work, and this issomething that I am still very
much, very fond of.
I really hope that as anactress, I will book a role
where a lot of cable work isinvolved.
That's a big dream.
Later down the line, I had toface some health issues.
These health issues actuallybrought me on the path of
(05:36):
fitness, so I became a gym ratand freaking passionate about
weightlifting Once my health gotback on track.
At that time I actually hadbecome an actress and I wasn't
really working that much anymorewith movement and dance and I
was bored.
I really felt something wasmissing in my day-to-day
(06:01):
creative expression.
I wanted to go back to it,somehow being able to work out
again at a very high level andeven at a higher level than
whatever I did before being aprofessional dancer.
I started to really dive deeperinto stage, combat and screen,
fighting and combat sports,fighting and combat sports.
(06:23):
So all of this started to makesense Movement, choreography,
this new vitality that I hadfound through fitness, feeling
strong, feeling like I had thepower to really face any
physical challenge possible,getting more and more interested
in a variety of martial artsand combat sports and
(06:45):
self-defense, like the dotsstarted linking and that's where
this door opened up for me,which was actually action.
Movies is the dream.
That's the path I want to walk.
I also forgot to mention I wentto a physical theater school
(07:06):
called Jacques Lecoq, which isan international theater school,
which was previously based inParis.
Now they are in Avignon, but Iwent there to study when I was
an adult and that was also anopportunity for me to dive
deeper into the world ofphysical theater.
So, on top of my career that Ihad before, which was making
(07:29):
theater with dance, I started todive deeper into the world of
what an actor is able to do withacrobatics, the understanding
of its body and how to reallyuse the body as a starting point
for an emotional state, for acharacter, for a narrative, and
(07:50):
not start with the text, theword, and not start with the
analysis of a script and notstart with the mental or the
intellectual or the memories wehave, but really with the body,
and the body only as a tool.
So where I'm at now is I'm anaction actress, I'm a filmmaker.
I'm also a movement nerd.
(08:11):
When I say movement nerd, yes,I have a huge amount of
knowledge in the world ofmovement and body awareness, but
it's never enough.
There is always a new skill Iwant to learn and I continue
learning new skills and Iliterally continue also diving
(08:31):
down the rabbit hole.
When I touch on something newas an action actor or action
actress, you will also see anddiscover that, yes, you will
master some skills, but it'snever enough.
There is always a new skillthat you could start learning or
could start mastering.
You will have to make choices,but the journey probably never
(08:53):
ends.
So let's talk about you as anactor or an actress that wants
to dive in the world of amovement.
I am aware that you might notbe able to lead a whole parallel
life as a dancer, as a circusartist, as a martial arts
practitioner on the side, butthere are still a lot of things
(09:14):
that you can do to really masteror advance your understanding
of how the body is going to helpyou move forward in the world
of action movies.
So I'll break down this podcastepisode, the same way I break
down the Action Actors Lab,which is the workshop that I'm
(09:35):
teaching.
Part one we're going to talkabout how to develop our
fighting skills for the camera,which is very different from
real fighting skills.
Whatever you would do in a realcombat, you will probably not
do it for a choreographed piecethat will be used for the camera
(09:56):
.
Part two we're going to talkabout the physicality of the
actor, and that is really abouthow can you discover more about
body connection and script.
Body connection in narrativearc, body connection and
emotional states.
Part three is scene work andtext, and part four is how to
(10:17):
flip.
Do we self-tape for an actionscene?
So, for example, if a castingdirector or your agent is
sending you a script and yourealize, oh amazing.
So, number one, I have a weapon.
Number two there is anexplosion on the side.
Number three the roof isfalling over my head.
Number four somebody attacks me, and how do you translate that
(10:39):
in a self-tape, which is a verydifferent way of trying to
portray all this madness, withjust you in the frame and having
no other body to work with.
So we will talk about that inthis podcast too.
Every industry works a littlebit differently.
(11:01):
So I speak four languages.
I speak English, french, dutchand Spanish.
I have worked a lot in theEnglish speaking markets, in the
Spanish speaking markets.
I have not worked that much inthe French speaking market and I
have never been booked on aDutch speaking production.
(11:24):
And obviously I'm based inEurope.
So I'm going to talk more aboutthe European side of things.
In the United States thingsmight be different, but just be
aware as well that every singlemarket slightly works
differently in regards tonetworking, in regards to
expectations of what they haveof actors and so forth, in
regards to how casting directorswork.
(11:45):
But I hope that what I will beproviding you in this episode
will at least give you some foodfor thought and some pointers,
or if you can come and join theAction Actors Lab when I'm
teaching it.
Okay, let's talk about part oneFighting choreography.
So, as an action actor, ofcourse there will be a lot of
fights and you will haveprobably two possibilities of
(12:09):
gaining skills in screenfighting.
Either you join a course thatis specifically aimed to actors
or some sort of stunt coursemade for performers that will be
performing in front of thecamera.
Another option is to enroll ina martial arts practice or a
(12:29):
combat sport or someself-defense classes and gain
knowledge there.
There are pros and cons to both, and I'll explain.
If you want to register for aclass that is all about screen
fighting or that is reallyfocusing on stunt work, usually
speaking, these classes will bemore expensive.
(12:53):
The thing is as well is usuallythese classes are like a one-off
workshop.
So these one-off workshops aregreat because you learn some
skills, but then it doesn't stayin your body.
You don't do it on a weekly ora daily basis and your body
forgets.
The pro is that one of the mainthings in fighting choreography
(13:17):
is action reaction.
The reaction of the characterthat is being hit is extremely
important, both in regards tohow your body reacts, so that it
looks real, how your facereacts so that it looks real,
but also the timing, becauseobviously the camera needs to be
able to capture all of that andso that in the editing, when we
(13:41):
have the reaction of thecharacter that is being beaten
up, it feels real, so theaudience can really dive into
the pain of what is happening.
So screen fighting courses areamazing, stunt courses are
amazing, but it will probablyrequire a bit more money.
Usually it's quite pricey,usually it's not a regular class
(14:04):
.
It's very difficult to find,like weekly classes or something
like that.
And number three is the positivethings.
You're going to learn thoseaction reactions.
Also, you're going to learn thechoreographic part of it.
That is four, which is veryimportant.
You're going to really learnwhat a choreography looks like.
(14:25):
Some fighting scenes are shotin, like they're just going to
shoot it from A to Z, and somefighting scenes they just want
to have three moves, shoot it indifferent angles, and then we
do another three moves and thenanother three moves and like
it's bit by bit.
It really depends on you knowwhat the the director has
(14:46):
decided how to capture the fight, if it's going to be a wide
shot, a close-up, all that kindof things.
So, but the choreographic partof it you will also learn in
these specific courses.
If you decide to go for a realmartial arts practice or a
combat sport or someself-defense classes so I'm
(15:07):
talking Krav Maga, I'm talkingboxing, I'm talking any sort of
martial arts.
So the pros is that it's veryeasy to find affordable classes
that you can go to on a weeklybasis.
This means that your body isreally gonna work on a
particular skill and it's gonnabe so used to it that the day
(15:31):
you are on set is just a part ofyour DNA, right?
If you've been boxing likethree times a week for that many
years and they ask you to playa boxer like, it's so easy for
you to get into the physicalityof this character, so it's more
affordable.
You can do it on a weekly ordaily basis, depending on the
(15:52):
club that you're joining.
The only thing is you willprobably not work on action,
reaction, the reaction part, therealness of how we react to
being hit or being beaten orthat sort of things.
You will not see that in any ofthese classes, so that work is
(16:18):
really the work of the actor.
Or Krav Maga.
There is a lot of choreography,so to speak, that is being
rehearsed.
It's not the same as creating apiece of choreography where
action-reaction is the mostimportant element of the
choreography.
In Krav Maga, for example,there are choreographed parts,
(16:39):
let's say, where you reallylearn to drill certain
self-defense mechanisms.
But the thing is, the aim ofthe exercise is to drill you
that if somebody attacks youwith a weapon or tries to catch
your bag or whatever, you havelike an automatic response to
(17:01):
self-defend yourself in thatmoment.
But the aim of the exercise isnot a piece of choreography that
needs to be captured on camera.
So the con of these kind ofclasses is that you're not
learning the reaction part thatwe would want in the world of
cinema.
The other thing we want to talkabout is what do we do in a
(17:23):
real combat?
What do we do when somethingreally happens to us?
To defend ourselves is verydifferent of how we're going to
transpose that in thechoreographic world of cinema.
So of course, we want to makeit look as real as possible.
However, for example, in boxing,you want to protect certain
(17:47):
parts of your face.
You want to have your elbows inwhy?
Because you need to protectyour sides to make sure that you
are not hit.
You want to make sure that yourhands, your wrists are like
next to your face so that youdon't get hit by your opponent.
For example, in boxing, youwant to make sure that when
you're going to jab like thepunch is going to come out in
(18:10):
such a way that your opponentcan't even see it coming.
In the world of cinema andchoreography you don't want to
have your fists right totallyclose to to your face and the
camera can't see anything, somaybe you will have to lower
(18:30):
them.
However, you don't want to haveto have your elbows up, because
you would not look like a boxer.
So you want to have someelements of reality, for example
, the elbows down, but you mighthave to lower your hands so
that the camera can capture yourface.
When it comes to the jab, in areal combat sport, the
(18:52):
trajectory of the jab is done insuch a way that is efficient,
effective.
Your opponent can't see itcoming.
In the world of cinema, youwant to have a moment where your
opponent, your fictionalopponent, can see it coming, so
that nobody ever gets hurt.
(19:13):
So instead of going straight toyour target, you would have
some sort of calling oh, theother one can see it coming, and
then you hit and then yourfictional opponent reacts.
There is also an element ofsafety and distance.
(19:34):
So that is another thing thatyou don't particularly learn in
real combat sports or martialarts or Krav Maga settings,
because you really want toattack.
Yes, there is an element ofsafety and there is an element
of keeping distance.
Of course, nobody wants to gethurt.
No teacher wants people to gethurt, but in cinema there is way
(19:57):
more distance that is beingheld just because the camera
angle can fake the fact that youare 10 or 20 centimeters away
from the opponent's face.
So, again, there are pros andcons in enrolling in any of
these classes, and I think bothare definitely worth looking at.
(20:17):
Then, when it comes to fightingchoreography, we also want to
look at which type of characterare we playing.
Are we a character that knowshow to fight?
Is it a person that has beenmilitary trained?
Is it a person that went to apolice academy?
Or is it a ghetto person thatwas hired by some sort of
(20:40):
narco-trafficants and thatbasically has been in the
criminal world since being ateenager but never really
learned of how to use a weapon,but just learned on the job and
miraculously stayed alive?
For example, I am at the momentgoing to the gun range, the
(21:00):
shooting range, because I'mdoing my license, my sport
license in gun handling, becauseI want to make sure that I can
really understand how a gunworks.
If I had to play the role of apolice officer, right, but a
police officer will hold his orher weapon in a very different
way than somebody that neverlearned it a certain way but
(21:25):
just was handed a gun when theywere a teenager, right, and that
are then a part of a drug gang.
Again, thinking about yourcharacter, is your character
drunk?
Is your character totally lucid?
Is your character scared ofweapons?
Let's say that you are a womanthat gets in a lot of trouble
(21:48):
and all of a sudden she'srunning away from something and
then all of a sudden she's in awarehouse, there is a gun on the
floor.
She grabs the gun, but she hasnever held a gun before in her
life and she's, like, scared todeath to even shoot with it.
Very different from somebodythat you know is a part of the
FBI or is a part of the army andhas been trained to use these
(22:12):
weapons.
So even though you know how tobox, even though you have some
martial arts skills, even thoughyou know how to do things,
maybe your character will besomebody that doesn't really
know.
So then you have to be able tophysically adapt your body as a
(22:32):
dancer, using this new knowledge, but breaking the rules.
But at least by knowing therules you know how your
character would then look likehe can't or she can't box.
So, for example, if you knowthat a boxer needs to have their
elbows in and the characteryou're playing is just trying to
box but doesn't know how to doit.
(22:53):
Boom, go elbows out and haveyour fists in the air and you
know that you're breaking therules and you will look like a
person that is absolutelyunaware of what to do in these
situations.
I think another pro of doingreal combat sports, a real
martial art or something likeKrav Maga is that it triggers
(23:18):
your nervous system.
Like, for example, I've done ahuge amount of Krav Maga with a
teacher.
I did 17 hours a week for ayear and it triggered my nervous
system so much because thereare sparring sessions.
There's a lot of role playwhere you have to, there is
(23:40):
obviously a sense of safety, butyou really play it as if you
were being attacked and the bodydoesn't really make the
difference if it's a real attackor not.
At the end of the day, there isadrenaline and there is stress.
At the end of the day, there isadrenaline and there is stress.
But I think something that Ilearned about myself is that I
was so scared to hit somebody, Iwas so scared to hurt somebody
(24:02):
During the sparring sessions orwhen I was paired up with a
person that was way smaller thanme.
Sometimes for me it was reallyhard to just play that role and
use all my strength.
It was terribly confronting asI even started crying in class
(24:22):
because I was so scared to tojust hurt somebody.
The other way around as well,during sparring and stuff.
Sometimes during Krav Maga wehad to wear like a big helmet
and obviously teeth protectionand stuff.
And for me, because I was oftenpaired up with men and bless
(24:45):
them seriously, bless those menin Krav Maga, because I think
they were as terrified as me.
They were scared of hurtingother people.
That's not why they did theclass for it but they had to
play the role of the bad guy sothat I, as a more tinier person,
could be ready to face anythingthat could happen in the street
(25:05):
.
They had to play the role ofthe bully or use their strength,
and it must have been veryconfronting for them too.
But when we did the sparringsessions, I was so scared of
really being hit in the faceLike I didn't care to be hit
anywhere else on my body, like Iwould be bruised up after
(25:25):
certain sessions and I didn'tcare, but being hit in the face
was something that was sotriggering for me really
triggering.
It would bring me to tears, Iwould sometimes cry and even I
had a couple of times had tostep out of class.
So these kind of experiencesyou will not have it in a screen
fighting workshop, in a stuntworkshop, because everything is
(25:49):
made to be safe.
You have a distance betweenyour fictional opponent and
yourself.
With a real martial artspractice, with a real combat
sports practice, you could betriggered.
But it is actually a goodexperience for you as an actor
or an actress to know what itfeels like in your body when
you're scared scared of hittinganother person or scared of
(26:12):
being hit, and I think veryoften people talk about the fear
of being hit, but hittingsomebody else is terribly
nerve-wracking.
So again, there are pros andcons to both.
You will make your decision,but fight choreography obviously
is essential for any actionactress or actor.
But also think that it's notonly very well trained fighters
(26:41):
that get a role in a movie.
You have the drunken person.
You have the person that is avictim of domestic abuse.
You have those people that arevery goofy and don't know how to
fight and somehow miraculouslyget out of the fight because
they did something unexpected.
But the thing is that the moreknowledge you have, the more
(27:01):
fighting skills you have, themore you can break the rules to
understand why your characterlooks goofy or that sort of
things.
Part two of what I'm exploringin the Action Actors Lab is the
physicality of the actor.
So the physicality of the actoris really the understanding of
how the body can inform us,stepping into this new world,
(27:24):
stepping into the life of thischaracter.
I could talk about it for hours, but I will just try to give a
couple of pointers.
For example, the first thing isbalance.
So balance, two feet firmly inthe ground.
Story happens and emotionalstates happen when there is
(27:46):
imbalance Falling forward,falling back, falling to the
side, leaning to the side,leaning forward, falling forward
, falling back, falling to theside, leaning to the side,
leaning forward.
So even a very slight leaningforward or a very slight leaning
back can already inform yourcharacter where it's at.
Leaning back is usually whoa,no, I'm okay, I'm not doing
anything.
(28:06):
Leaning forward is really likemore of ready to attack.
But it is within imbalance thatsomething happens.
Any story happens becausesomething gets out of balance.
Right, somebody loses its money, somebody gets a lot of money.
Somebody loses a lover,somebody gets a lover, somebody
(28:29):
falls into trouble, somebodyfalls into love.
So within the body all of thatis translated.
Sometimes a very subtleimbalance in the shoulders one
shoulder front, one shoulderback makes a whole difference of
a character that would benonchalant or trying to turn
(28:51):
around because they don't wantto face this conversation.
A slight tilt in the face canmake everything very comedic.
Then a very big chapter in a lotof physical theater schools is
being an animal.
So your body transforms into ananimal.
(29:11):
You could be a cat, you couldbe a bull, you could be a
gazelle, but there is everythingfrom the tip of your fingers
through your spine, through yourlegs, through the tip of your
toes.
Everything transforms into howthis character moves.
So now imagine being a bull,really being a bull, and having
(29:37):
sort of those horns and wantingto attack and everything.
Every time you see the colorred, aka somebody's triggering
you in a bar or whatever, youwant to just like attack it and
face it, then you're going tolower that percentage in your
body.
So let's say that first you'regoing to really embody this bull
100%, then you're going to have50% of bull, 50% of human.
(30:00):
Eventually you will find theright balance of the bull and
the human in you, but so thereis a certain percentage of bull
in you.
This could be 5%, 10%, 20% andthe rest is human.
But this informs of how thisperson is actually walking
through the street, walking intothe bar, interacting with
(30:23):
whoever he wants to fight.
Same thing could be with thesquirrel.
Your body is a little bit of asquirrel and it'spsy and looks
around.
And it's looking around.
It's fearful of what is here.
Oh, something is there.
I'm running away.
So first you embody thesquirrel fully and then you
reduce the percentage of thesquirrel in the body until you
(30:45):
find this thing, human beingthat is very fearful of the
environment and tries to keepitself small and is ready to run
away no matter what, becauseevery sound or every person or
every shadow is making themfearful.
Another example is in scientificstudies they have shown that if
(31:08):
you feel sad, for example,smiling, like basically giving
your body a smile so you smileand you smile for several
minutes.
Eventually your body will feelhappy.
Right, so it is not per se theintellectual, mental activity of
(31:30):
thinking I am happy that willgive you a smile.
It also works the other wayaround Smile, give the body the
smile and eventually it willcreate a neurological effect
that makes you happy.
What does that mean Is that ifyou take any sort of body
(31:50):
posture, it will inform theemotional state of your
character.
For example, somebody that ismore confident will have their
shoulders down and back.
Somebody that is carrying theweight of the world has their
shoulders falling slightly frontand their heart sinks in, and
they're small and they just walkdifferently.
And they're small and they justwalk differently.
(32:11):
This will inform anything thatyou're feeling inside, aka what
your character is feeling.
So, for example, if yourcharacter is falling in love
with somebody in the script, howabout you just put your chest a
(32:32):
little bit more front, have oneshoulder a little bit more off.
The chest is front because theheart wants to connect, but the
shoulder is a bit turned becauseit's scared to actually connect
and ask the person out, and thechin is down, and then from
here you just move the eyes up alittle bit and you try to get
(32:52):
the words out and ask them out.
So there is a huge amount ofwork that can also be done for
the actor in general and that'snot just for action actors, of
how the body can be the startingpoint of a lot of things.
Your character has a certainamount of power and authority or
(33:14):
has a lack of power andauthority.
Again, that can be worked on inthe body.
For example, we talked aboutbeing an animal.
Let's say that we are going toembody being a dog.
Now a german shepherd or aRottweiler has a very different
(33:35):
body posture, a very differentway of walking than a tiny
little Chihuahua.
Right, and the little Chihuahua, we know it.
It is just barking a lot morebecause it's trying to defend
itself, but it can't really.
Or it's scared and it hidesbetween the legs of its owner to
be protected because it can'tdo much, and from the Rottweiler
.
So you could also embody a dog,rottweiler or Chihuahua.
(33:58):
Diminish the percentage of theexistence of the body of the dog
Within your human body and thensee how your character is
bringing the text on from there.
Part 3.
Scene work and text.
Within an action movie youmight have text.
(34:19):
During a fighting scene, youmight have no text at all, it's
just the fighting.
And maybe you're going to havetext during the chasing, right.
So you're in a car and you'rebeing chased by the police, or
you are hiding in a warehouseand the only thing you have is a
cell phone and you'recommunicating with your partners
through the cell phone thatsort of things.
(34:41):
First of all, I'm speaking fourdifferent languages.
Each language I do sounddifferently.
There is another Cindy, thatpeople have access to.
It's just a normal way of life.
I think every language we ownit in a different way, we
associate ourselves with adifferent way, but also the way
people perceive us is verydifferent, depending on our
(35:03):
accents.
So, for example, my accent inSpanish I sound like a foreigner
with a French accent.
I make a lot of grammaticalmistakes, but I know there is
something that makes me a bitmore childish in Spanish.
I don't perceive it that way,but I know that when native
(35:25):
Spanish speakers listen to me,it's going to be very
complicated them to imagine thisaccent being a very strong
woman with authority that wentto the army, because in Spanish
I do not sound the same as Isound in English or in French or
(35:46):
in Dutch.
Like literally, in every singlelanguage we have a different way
of expressing ourselves.
But also you have to rememberthat it's also the way people
perceive you and it's okay.
But so accent reduction and ortonality is very important for
us to incorporate that in ourvoice work, especially when
(36:07):
doing action movies, becausealso the way a drunk person
talks and a person withauthority talks is very
different, and I just want us tobe very aware of that.
So, for example, in my ActionActors Lab it's a multilingual
workshop, so we're also workingon what does it feel like to be
this or this character inanother language?
(36:28):
And then there is also the workof what if I have to do a lot
of movements and talk at thesame time.
That is again a very specifickind of work that we do a lot in
theater, in physical theater.
I've also studied mime and soit is worth looking into doing
(36:51):
mime classes or physical theaterclasses to really have this
dexterity to be able to walk andtalk kind of thing, or walk and
fight, or walk and carryobjects or that sort of things.
Then the last part self-tapes.
So self-tapes for action movies.
Do you want to be an actionactor, action actress, so you
(37:12):
want to be good at acting.
So, in regards to showreels, alot of agents and casting
directors will recommend to havetwo different showreels one
where you showcase your physicalskills and one where you
showcase your acting skills oryou have some sort of blend, but
then make sure that it's verybalanced, like we really need to
see you acting even though youhave extra physical skills, for
(37:37):
the self-tapes.
There's a lot of rules thatapply for any self-tapes, such
as having good lighting, havinga neutral background, framing it
well, making sure there is nottoo much space between the top
of your head and above, makingsure that the sound is good.
Making sure that the sound isgood, making sure you avoid
(37:58):
black or white clothes but havet-shirts of some sort of neutral
colors.
Remember that if you use verybright colors, usually it's more
associated with comedy.
But have a couple of thingsthat you can use for self-tapes.
You don't need a full-onmilitary outfit.
You don't need a full-on FBIoutfit but, for example, have a
(38:19):
navy blue jacket or somethingthat is a bit khaki in your
wardrobe, or have some earthytones and t-shirts or maybe tank
tops where you can see theshoulders and the fact that you
have muscular shoulders orsomething like that.
It can be useful for yourself-tapes.
Some of the complications inself-tapes for action movies are
(38:39):
the action parts.
So, for example, if you have touse a weapon if it is
specifically indicated that youare using this or this weapon in
the self-tape.
This or this weapon in theself-tape, let's say you're
(39:00):
using a sword, or you are usinga bow staff, or you're using a
joe staff or you're using somecallies or right, so you're
using a baseball bat orsomething like that.
If you're too much in aclose-up it's going to be
distracting you moving thatweapon around.
So I generally for myself-tapes, if I have to use a
weapon, I like to zoom out alittle bit and have it more from
(39:22):
my waist up and have a bit morerange where I can move this
weapon around.
If, for example, you're justusing a gun and you're about to
shoot somebody, maybe you have agun like for cinema, but this
gun is not moving, you're justlike holding it right.
So there you can go more in, abit more close up if needed,
(39:46):
because you're not moving aroundwith this weapon.
But be very aware that you canhave a bit of this I mean a boat
kind of thing when you'removing around with this weapon.
Then there is this element ofthings are happening around me.
For example, there was anexplosion on the right hand side
.
There is the roof that isfalling apart, that sort of
(40:07):
things.
Just make sure that, the sameway, you would have a very
precise eye line.
So, for example, if you'retalking to two characters, you
know that this particularcharacter is on the left-hand
side of the camera and thesecond character is on the other
side of the camera and you'reso specific with your eye line
(40:30):
when you're going through thescript.
Have the same thing in placewith any sort of things that are
happening around you.
There is an explosion, there isa window that smashes.
Have it clear in your head.
The window is there, theexplosion is there, the person
that is being murdered is infront of me.
Be so precise that there is noshadow of a doubt when you're
(40:50):
doing your self-tape, that youare seeing it because you know
exactly where these things arehappening.
Personally, when I have aself-tape where it's a bit more
of you are being strangled, oryou are strangling somebody, or
you are being attacked or youare being stabbed, I personally
prefer, instead of filmingmyself from the waist up, I'd
(41:12):
rather for it to be a bit closer.
Why?
Because if I'm going to fakebeing stabbed and my stomach is
in the frame, it looks fake.
It just looks so fake, whereasif I'm in a real close-up, they
will have the reactions to thestabbing which they want to see,
which is my facial reactions,but also there is no, which is
(41:33):
my facial reactions, but alsothere is no.
They don't see the miming of it.
Now, when I say the miming, Ireally want to make this very
clear.
I studied mime.
I'm extremely precise.
I can fake it because I studiedmime.
A lot of actors are not trainedin miming and so they will look
fake, really fake.
(41:54):
So, in that case, have a realtable in front of you if you're
self-taping, even if it's not inthe frame, have real whatever
paper knives and pens in frontof you, because it will help you
not to fake it and it will lookrealer, right?
But yeah, if I'm being attackedor if I'm being strangled or if
(42:16):
I'm being stabbed, I prefer tohave a closer frame so that it
doesn't look fake and thecasting director or the director
will see my reactions in myface.
Again, everything that I've saidin this episode is really based
on my personal experience andhaving interviewed a lot of
people on this podcast andhaving worked with different
(42:36):
people in different countries inthe world of action movies.
Things that I've said might betrue for certain casting
directors or for certainproductions.
For other productions, specificdirectors, specific casting
directors they might disagreewith me, so it's always like a
little bit of a searching or alittle bit of an adapting to
different industries as well.
(42:58):
France might not be working thesame way as Spain or the UK or
Belgium there are differentartistic, creative approaches to
it as well, but I hope thatthis will at least give you a
lot of food for thought and alot of new things to think about
when you want to work on yourskills as an action actor or
prepare for castings.
(43:19):
I am teaching the Action ActorsLab.
Feel free to send me a DM ifyou want to be a part of it in
person, and if you live far awayand you can't absolutely can't
travel to where I'm teaching,definitely send me a DM to let
me know how this episode landedfor you, wishing you a huge
amount of movies to make and seeyou in the next episode.
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