Kevin Spacey: belief

Transcript context

…There is something of a seduction of an audience in theater, even more intense than there is when you’re talking about film. I got a chance to watch the documentary, Now in the Wings on a World Stage, which is behind the scenes of … you mentioned you teaming up with Sam Mendes in 2011 to stage Richard III, a play by William Shakespeare. I was also surprised to learn, you haven’t really done Shakespeare, or at least you said that in the movie, but there’s a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff there. First of all, the camaraderie of everybody, the bond theater creates, especially when you’re traveling. But another interesting thing you mentioned with the chairs of Sam Mendes, trying different stuff, it seemed like everybody was really open to trying stuff, embarrassing themselves, taking risks, all of that. I suppose that’s part of acting in general, but theater especially, just take risks. It’s okay to embarrass the shit out of yourself, including the director. And it’s also because you become a family. It’s unlike a movie, where I might have a scene with so-and-so on this day, and then another scene with them in a week and a half, and then that’s the only scenes we have in the whole movie together. Every single day, when you show up in the rehearsal room, it’s the whole company. You’re all up for it every day. You’re learning, you’re growing, you’re trying, and there is an incredible trust that happens. And I was, of course, fortunate that some of the things I learned and observed about being a part of that family, being included in that family, and being a part of creating that family, I was able to observe from people like Jack Lemmon, who led many companies that I was fortunate to work in and be a part of. There’s also a sad moment where at the end, everybody is really sad to say goodbye, because you do form a family and then it’s over. I guess, somebody said that that’s just part of theater. There’s a kind of assume goodbye, and that this is it.…

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