Lesson 4

[Joan Butler]

Day 4 How Your Lead Character Attracts Actors

I learned there are specific things I can add to my character to make her attractive to an actor.

Movie Title: Love Actually

Lead Character Name: Karen

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

With very few lines Karen creates a memorable character.

Karen is so kind, has so much integrity, and is such a supportive mom that the audience empathizes with her in every scene and goes on an unforgettable emotional ride with her.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

She is the most unsophisticated character in the movie and has most of the funny lines that she says deadpan because she doesn’t realize they’re funny. More importantly, she is an Everywoman character who reacts differently than many women with straying husbands.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

Karen’s situation is not unique but her reaction to her husband is. When her husband breaks her heart, she doesn’t yell at him. She simply lets him know in an off-the-cuff way that she realizes he bought the necklace for someone else.

When she reads her son’s essay, we expect her to get mad at him. Instead, she totally supports him.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Karen is introduced as “obviously mid-forties, very English, still quite nice looking, and good” which is funny. Then she says a funny line that she takes very seriously.

“Doesn’t mean I’m not terribly concerned that your wife just died.”

She listens to her children’s ridiculous conversations and is totally supportive.

We see that she’s a bit batty but has a heart of gold.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

From joy to heartbreak.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

She acts as if it’s perfectly natural to have a lobster in the Nativity play.

She suggests to her son that invisible fart-detecting gas could be developed.

She is heartbroken but she acts as if the CD is just what she wanted.

7. What are the most interesting relationships this character has?

As Karen, her relationship with her children. Where another mother might laugh at or yell at her child, she remains ever-interested and supportive.

In real life, Emma Thompson may have wanted to play off Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

She is deadpan as she says some of the funniest lines because she doesn’t realize they’re funny.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

She wants to be seen as more than the quintessential mother. But her lack of sophistication and her need to keep her family happy allows her husband to walk on her. Yet these traits are the reason we love her.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)

“She tries to smile – and as the song continues, heads back to re-join family life with smiles, kisses, and laughter… And a breaking heart.”

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Joan Butler.