Screen lessons

銀屏教程

Six things a film actor should never do

電影演員絕不該做的六件事

Oct 10th 2011, 8:22 by N.B. | LONDON of The Economist Blog

譯者：nayilus

ROSAMUND PIKE'S affecting performance in “An Education” confirmed that she was definitely more than just a Bond girl. So it’s odd to see her in “Johnny English Reborn” playing a Bond girl once again. Nine years on from her performance as Miranda Frost in “Die Another Day”, she’s the love interest in Rowan Atkinson’s new 007 spoof, effectively parodying herself. It’s a weird choice of roles.

羅莎曼德·派克在“成長教育”中的感人表演確定了她絕對不只是個(gè)邦女郎。所以她在“憨豆特工2”里又一次當(dāng)起了邦女郎就很奇怪了。距她在“擇日再死”中扮演米蘭達(dá)·弗羅斯特九年后，她在這部新的007惡搞版中扮演羅溫·艾金森（憨豆先生）的情人，等于說是在惡搞她自己。這樣的選角非常古怪。

Appearing in a pastiche of one of your earlier films is never a wise move. Not only is it disrespectful to that film, it’s also an acknowledgement that you aren’t known for much else. It turns you from an actor to a punchline. Robert Patrick, for example, seemed as if he might be bound for stardom when he played the T-1000 in “Terminator 2”. But by the time he’d sent up that role not once but twice, first in “Wayne’s World” and then in “Last Action Hero”, audiences assumed that he’d do the same thing at children’s parties. He might as well have taken out an advert announcing that his celebrity was on the wane.

在惡搞你自己過去電影的作品里出演絕不是什么好事。這不僅對舊作不尊敬，也等于承認(rèn)你的名聲全賴這部舊作。它把你從演員變?yōu)樾Ρ?。例如，羅伯特·帕特里克在“終結(jié)者2”里出演T-1000，看上去似乎是一顆明日巨星。但是后來他把這一角色惡搞了整整兩次，先是“反斗智多星”，再來是“幻影英雄”。從那以后觀眾就認(rèn)定他在兒童聚會上也會這么演。他不如干脆登廣告直接宣布他的名氣正在衰減算了。

Any actor who doesn’t want to reek of despair should avoid such self-mockery at all costs. That’s Rule One. Here are some other rules for keeping the stench of a decaying career away:

任何不想透出窮途末路感覺的演員都應(yīng)該盡一切可能避免像這樣的自我惡搞。這是規(guī)則一。要想避開演藝生涯腐朽衰壞的惡臭還有幾條其它規(guī)則一定要看一看。

Rule Two: Don’t do a horror film unless you’re the monster. Horror audiences come to see the villains, and they come back again when those villains are in the sequels. The heroes’ main purpose is to look surprised when they’re impaled by a garden implement. So Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes don’t do themselves any favours by turning up in another of this week’s releases, “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark”.

規(guī)則二：除非你是反角，不要演恐怖片。恐怖片觀眾是來看反角的，而他們會因?yàn)槟切┓唇堑某霈F(xiàn)再回來看續(xù)集。主角的唯一功能就是在被園藝工具刺穿時(shí)面帶驚訝。所以蓋·皮爾斯和凱蒂·福爾摩斯在本周另一部新片“別怕黑”中出演對他們自己毫無幫助。

Rule Three: Don’t play the parents of a child who's the lead character. The message it sends is that your moment has passed, and that you’ve passed on the baton to the next generation. When Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt play the heroine’s parents in “Soul Surfer”, or when anyone old enough to vote co-stars with Dakota or Elle Fanning, they’re accepting that they’re less of a draw than a 12-year-old. Indeed, the showbiz adage that you should never work with children and animals holds water.

規(guī)則三：不要演童星主角的父母。這么做就等于告訴大家你的時(shí)代已結(jié)束了，你已把接力棒遞給下一代。當(dāng)?shù)つ崴埂た潞秃悺ず嗵卦凇办`魂沖浪”中出演女主角的父母時(shí)，或當(dāng)任何老得已經(jīng)可以投票的演員和達(dá)科塔或艾麗·范寧合作演出時(shí)[注1]，他們都接受了自己吸引力不如一個(gè)十二歲孩子這一事實(shí)。說真的，娛樂圈里那句不要和孩子或動物演戲的金言太正確了。[注2]

Rule Four: Don’t play a cartoon character’s sidekick. Bob Hoskins is the exception to the rule with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, but no one else is immune. When Robert DeNiro hammed his way through “The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle”, even rehashing his “You talkin’ to me” speech from “Taxi Driver”, it was a sure sign that he didn’t care about acting any more. Brendan Fraser, meanwhile, rubs shoulders with animated animals in almost all of his films, to the point where it now looks as if he can’t do anything else. Jason Lee’s role in “Alvin & The Chipmunks” laid to rest his stint as a leading man. Even though he was barely in the second “Alvin” film, he’s back in the imminent third instalment.

規(guī)則四：不要當(dāng)卡通人物的副手。鮑勃·霍斯金斯在“誰陷害了兔子羅杰”中的表現(xiàn)是個(gè)例外，而其它所有人都被不幸命中。當(dāng)羅伯特·德尼羅在“飛鼠洛基冒險(xiǎn)記”中夸張表演，甚至不惜篡用他在“出租車司機(jī)”里的名句“你在和我說話？”時(shí)，我們可以肯定他已不再關(guān)心表演。此外，布蘭登·弗雷澤在他幾乎所有的影片里都和動畫動物打交道，看上去他除了這個(gè)都不會干別的了。杰森·李在“鼠來寶”里的角色徹底結(jié)束了他好不容易建立的男主角地位。雖然他在第二部“鼠來寶”里幾乎沒什么戲份，他仍將出演即將上映的第三部。

Rule Five: Don’t return to a franchise you abandoned a few years earlier. Any actor who walks out on a successful film series is telling the world that he or she has moved on to bigger and better things. Any actor who then returns to the series is telling the world that those bigger and better things turned out to be smaller and worse. For instance, Vin Diesel made the first “The Fast and the Furious” before bowing out. His co-star, Paul Walker, hung on for the sequel, but they both steered clear of the third instalment (except for a brief cameo from Mr Diesel). For the fourth episode, though, they were both back—an admission that their careers had stalled. As for Walker’s participation in the second film, that brings us to ...

規(guī)則五：不要重回你當(dāng)年放棄的系列電影。任何從成功電影系列中抽身而出的演員都等于在昭告天下，他（她）找到了更大，也更好的事做。任何之后又回來的演員也是在昭告天下更大更好變成了更小更糟。例如范·迪塞爾出演了第一部“速度與激情”，之后就離開了。他的搭檔保羅·沃克爾繼續(xù)出演了第二部。但是他們兩人都堅(jiān)決避開了第三部（除了迪塞爾的一個(gè)短暫客串鏡頭）。但是，他們在第四部卷土重來，等于承認(rèn)了他們的事業(yè)停步不前。談到沃克爾在第二部內(nèi)的出演，這帶出了……

Rule Six: Don’t sign up for a sequel without your original co-star. When Sharon Stone reprised her role in “Basic Instinct” without Michael Douglas, it seemed as if Mr Douglas had better things to do, whereas Ms Stone was left harking back to former glories. Worse still, Ms Stone had already cameoed as her “Basic Instinct” character in “Last Action Hero”. This brings us back to rule one.

規(guī)則六：不要在你的老搭檔不在的情況下接一部續(xù)集。莎朗·史通在沒有邁克爾·道格拉斯的情況下重新出演她在“本能”里的角色。這看上去好像道格拉斯找到更好的事做，而史通則被留在原地，不得不重溫往日榮耀。更糟的是，史通已經(jīng)在“幻影英雄”中客串了她在“本能”里的角色。這樣我們又回到了規(guī)則一。

譯者注

1 - 美國的投票選舉年齡是17-18歲，這里諷刺和范寧姐妹出演的人18歲就已經(jīng)算是老掉牙了。

2 - 電影圈有一句俗話就是不要拍三種電影，小孩，動物和船。因?yàn)檫@些戲拍起來難度很大，需要耐心。這里把拍戲引申到演戲。