I'm directing my first feature. I will also play the lead and I have an actress that will play my love interest. One of my concerns is that we don't have what you would call on-screen chemistry I think. I asked her to rehearse scenes with me (which I almost never do with anyone). So we met up to rehearse. She was mostly reading lines instead of doing the actual rehearsing.
It turns out she doesn't really believe in rehearsing. This makes sense, as I don't really tell my other actors to rehearse either. I don't want them to know their lines so well that they sound like robots. But we rehearsed anyways (It was more of a walkthrough).
And she didn't go ALL IN. Like when she was supposed to go in for the kiss, or hold my hand, punch me in the shoulder playfully, or even open the door when I knocked. She didn't really do the 'actions.' Just the walkthrough. I had to remind her to do the actions almost everytime.
I respect her approach. I am guilty of this approach myself...even when it comes to the times I have performed on stage I don't let my performance come alive until very close to the production. However, how am I supposed to know if we have on-screen chemistry like this? I recorded the rehearsal and our characters look like acquaintances instead of two people that like each other.
So the questions I have: Does anyone else go through this? Can you FAKE chemistry? How do you know if you have chemistry?
I am working VERY hard on my film (Writer, Actor, Director, Producer, Editor, Compositor, VFX Artist, Modeler, Animator, Rigs, textures, etc.)
I absolutely cannot afford to have the audience say "It was ok, but the two leads didn't really have chemistry." Any help and advice is appreciated.
It turns out she doesn't really believe in rehearsing. This makes sense, as I don't really tell my other actors to rehearse either. I don't want them to know their lines so well that they sound like robots. But we rehearsed anyways (It was more of a walkthrough).
And she didn't go ALL IN. Like when she was supposed to go in for the kiss, or hold my hand, punch me in the shoulder playfully, or even open the door when I knocked. She didn't really do the 'actions.' Just the walkthrough. I had to remind her to do the actions almost everytime.
I respect her approach. I am guilty of this approach myself...even when it comes to the times I have performed on stage I don't let my performance come alive until very close to the production. However, how am I supposed to know if we have on-screen chemistry like this? I recorded the rehearsal and our characters look like acquaintances instead of two people that like each other.
So the questions I have: Does anyone else go through this? Can you FAKE chemistry? How do you know if you have chemistry?
I am working VERY hard on my film (Writer, Actor, Director, Producer, Editor, Compositor, VFX Artist, Modeler, Animator, Rigs, textures, etc.)
I absolutely cannot afford to have the audience say "It was ok, but the two leads didn't really have chemistry." Any help and advice is appreciated.