Filming / being filmed: Acting according to Icíar Bollaín, filmmaker and actress

Abstract

From the dual perspectives of actress and filmmaker, in this interview Iciar Bollaín (Madrid, 1967) discusses the key issues of performance on film and the direction of actors, such as casting strategies, the contribution of actors to the changes made during filming, the degrees of dependence between acting and the other elements of the mise en scène, the relationship between acting styles and narrative models or film genres and the construction of characters in documentary films. Her experience with filmmakers as diverse as José Luis Borau and Ken Loach enables her to approach two radically different ways of conceiving the direction of actors, which could be roughly summarised as acting at the service of the other elements of the mise en scène, in the case of Borau, compared to subordination of filming to the work of the actors, in the case of Loach. As a filmmaker, Bollaín owes much to both directors, but feels closer to Loach in his way of engaging actors in the process of film creation and facilitating their work in order to achieve the greatest degree of freshness and authenticity possible.