UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The moving parts Screen acting and empathy Leberg, D.H.M. Publication date 2018 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Leberg, D. H. M. (2018). The moving parts: Screen acting and empathy. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:03 Oct 2021 THE MOVING PARTS: SCREEN ACTING AND EMPATHY SCREEN ACTING PARTS: THE MOVING THE MOVING PARTS: SCREEN ACTING AND EMPATHY Tis research seeks to analyze screen acting as a practice from the actor outwards, rather than from the perspective of a flm spectator watching a performance. In doing so, this study breaks with the performance analysis tradition in flm and media studies, arguing that screen acting is the solicitation of three distinct, overlapping, and complementary empathetic relationships. Tis theoretical claim, which combines cognitive science with phenomenological philosophy, is qualifed by ethnographic data from interviews with professional screen actors and with examples from prominent American Method Acting practices. By prioritizing the screen LebergDaniel actor’s process over a semiotic dissection of the fnal performance on screen, this research reassesses the screen actor’s creative agency as being more than just another “moving part” of the mise-en-scene. Daniel Leberg 1 THE MOVING PARTS: SCREEN ACTING AND EMPATHY ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 8 november 2018, te 10.00 uur door Daniel Herbert Mars Leberg geboren te Toronto, Canada 2 Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof. dr. P.P.R.W. Pisters Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor: dr. C.M. Lord Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: Prof. dr. K.E. Röttger Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. A.H. Fischer Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. M.J.O. Pratt Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. M. Bleeker Universiteit Utrecht dr. J.D. Kiverstein AMC-UvA dr. M.C. Wilkinson Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. A. Taylor University of Lethbridge Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen This research was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). This thesis was printed with financial support from the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam. Cover art by Sylvia van Schie || https://www.sylviavanschie.nl Printed by: ProefschriftMaken || www.proefschriftmaken.nl ISBN: 978-94-6380-027-3 © Daniel Leberg, 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the author. 2 3 Promotiecommissie: Acknowledgements Promotor: Prof. dr. P.P.R.W. Pisters Universiteit van Amsterdam I must first thank my promoters, Patricia Pisters and Catherine Lord of the Copromotor: dr. C.M. Lord Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: Prof. dr. K.E. Röttger Universiteit van Amsterdam University of Amsterdam, whose continual support, criticism, and kindness helped to turn Prof. dr. A.H. Fischer Universiteit van Amsterdam a my rants about a topic that no one writes about within a theoretical framework that no Prof. dr. M.J.O. Pratt Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. M. Bleeker Universiteit Utrecht one agrees about into a real – and finished – book. Thank you also to my dissertation dr. J.D. Kiverstein AMC-UvA defence committee for their thoughtful feedback: Maaike Bleeker, Agneta Fischer, Julian dr. M.C. Wilkinson Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. A. Taylor University of Lethbridge Kiverstein, Murray Pratt, Kati Röttger, Aaron Taylor, and Maryn Wilkinson. I would also like to acknowledge the ongoing work of the Screen Acting and Embodied Cognition Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen project led by Aaron Taylor at the University of Lethbridge as a project that parallels my own, and I look forward to reading their published results. This research was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of That I made it to Amsterdam at all was due in no small part to some clever Canada (SSHRC). bureaucratic manoeuvring by Eloe Kingma. The votes of professional confidence extended by Mariëtte Willemsen, Marcel Broersma, and Julian Hanich also helped to keep my lights on, my coffeepot full, and my spirits high. Thank you to the graduate students and faculty of Concordia University’s Mel This thesis was printed with financial support from the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam. Hoppenheim School of Cinema and Faculty of Humanities, for their friendship, guidance, Cover art by Sylvia van Schie || https://www.sylviavanschie.nl and patience during the first stages of this project: Martin Lefebvre, Masha Salazkina, Printed by: ProefschriftMaken || www.proefschriftmaken.nl Luca Caminati, Tom Waugh, Kay Dickinson, Rosanna Maule, Dirk Gindt, Rachel ISBN: 978-94-6380-027-3 Jekanowski, Antoine Damiens, Fulvia Massimi, Meredith Slifkin, and Viviane Saglier. I © Daniel Leberg, 2018 also have to thank Svetla Turnin, Ezra Winton, and the Cinema Politica team for making All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sure that I never lost sight of the present world while theorizing about imagined and system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the author. remembered ones. 4 Thank you to the many mentors that I worked with during my years as a professional actor for sharing their craft, passion, and strength with me. More immediately, the screen-specific and Method acting techniques that I learned from Bruce Clayton, Deb Mulholland, and Sebastian Gerold were invaluable firsthand experiences that informed considerable portions of this dissertation. I am deeply indebted to the wonderful actors who generously took the time to talk to me about their experiences: Chris Baker, Antonio Cayonne, Joe Dinicol, Julian De Zotti, Natalie Lisinska, Matt MacFadzean, Lauren MacKinlay, Sheila McCarthy, Kevin McGarry, Lindsey Middleton, Danelene O’Flynn, Jamie Spilchuk, and the innumerable others with whom I’ve discussed my thesis over the years. I also wish to extend a special thank you to Jason Leaver and Meagan Allison-Hancock, both of whom went out of their way to help connect me to as many of their favourite actor colleagues as they could. Thank you to my Dutch and Canadian families for their unwavering support of my work. Bob, Ines, Federico, Oscar, Cytherea, Rita, Olivia, Dylan, and all of the Larissas: thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me feel so welcome and accepted in my new home. I would never have adjusted to life in the Netherlands without the friendship of Tamara Smit, Martine Scheen, Maartje Rooker, and the many wonderful gezeligitos that come with them. Thank you to my grandparents, Edith and Herbert, who never saw their names on university diplomas, and Margaret and John, who first gave me the idea to go back to school. Thank you to Jane Tredway for unconditionally cheering me on, through thick and thin. To the rest of my family – Chris, John, James, Maeve, Zoe, Johnny, Ben, and 4 5 Thank you to the many mentors that I worked with during my years as a Marion – I couldn’t ask for more loving, funny, and inspiring pack of weirdoes to call my professional actor for sharing their craft, passion, and strength with me. More own. immediately, the screen-specific and Method acting techniques that I learned from Bruce This long strange journey through graduate school would simply never have Clayton, Deb Mulholland, and Sebastian Gerold were invaluable firsthand experiences happened without the friendship, love, and support of Jamila Allidina, Sarah Joy Bennett, that informed considerable portions of this dissertation. John Crawford, Gabriela and Steven Dale, and Robin Wright. I am deeply indebted to the wonderful actors who generously took the time to talk Most of all, I want to thank my wife, Sabrina Sauer, for being the most brilliant, to me about their experiences: Chris Baker, Antonio Cayonne, Joe Dinicol, Julian De thoughtful, and generous person that I could have hoped to live with. You are my Zotti, Natalie Lisinska, Matt MacFadzean, Lauren MacKinlay, Sheila McCarthy, Kevin inspiration, my springboard, my anchor, and my best friend. I love you off the edge of the McGarry, Lindsey Middleton, Danelene O’Flynn, Jamie Spilchuk, and the innumerable world. others with whom I’ve discussed my thesis over the years. I also wish to extend a special thank you to Jason Leaver and Meagan Allison-Hancock, both of whom went out of their way to help connect me to as many of their favourite actor colleagues as they could. Thank you to my Dutch and Canadian families for their unwavering support of my work. Bob, Ines, Federico, Oscar, Cytherea, Rita, Olivia, Dylan, and all of the Larissas: thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me feel so welcome and accepted in my new home.