Uma Thurman gained my respect.
Do you see that dress!
And I’m not just dropping celebrity names here to get recognition. Uma Thurman
Well, maybe I am dropping names. Just a little.
Oh come on. This is a Video Production Blog from a Teleprompter Operator. I can only talk about scrolling or hardware so much. The really interesting things are who I work with, and the most interesting of those people (for you at least) are celebrities.
So, Uma Thurman.
Once again this is from the star studded gig of that Marilyn Monroe documentary. It’s been a blast. Plus it’s going to be very cool.
I get the script the day of, which is unusual, but there were lots of adjustments and additions. When Uma Thurman arrives we are ready to go, but she needs to get in makeup.
The director tells me that she has some notes, and would like to go over them with me. So I go back to make up.
There she is: Uma Thurman. The Bride herself.
I love Kill Bill, but I keep that to myself. I just say “Good morning” and tell her that I’m a fan. That always seems to go over well.
So I sit down with Uma and we start making changes and notes. She wants a lot of underlinings, initializations, and breaks. Since she isn’t quite familiar with the material, as all the talent have been on this gig, and since it’s direct address for the most part, they’ve been utilizing the Teleprompter. So she is actually planning, thinking and adjusting the text to help guide her performance. , Very smart.
Though that is A LOT more work for yours truly. I don’t mind, it’s a pleasure to be working with her.
We’re going through the script, and Uma is using a lot of classic script markings that every actor, including me, learns in college or drama school. No one else has broken the script down like that before, at least not with me. I immediately put Uma Thurman above other actors for simply doing the grunt work. An actor prepares! She is definitely doing that. I admire her commitment to the craft. I wonder how many models turned actresses would do so if they were in her shoes? I wonder how many professional actors still do markups?
Uma is talking to me about the script, well she’s thinking aloud, but to me. She is really reading into the words and finding their meaning. There was one section that read, “Do you think DiMaggio could hit ball. . .” and Uma thought that made Marilyn sound dumb and should be rewritten as “hit a ball”, but I brought up that I thought it was a colloquialism and that “hit ball” should just be emphasized differently.
Thought for a second and said, “You’re right, you are absolutely right. That’s it!”
So I gave Uma Thurman a note, a suggestion, and she took it. I felt great.
Awesome.
Who am I? I’m an actor who has graced the internet, private screenings, and Off Off Broadway. You probably couldn’t pick me out of a crowd. I am by no means famous. But I do have insight. I do understand performance. And I’m clever to boot. (I am also very humble.)
So, Uma Thurman gained my respect not only for her OWN respect for the Craft of Acting, but also for taking my note without any guff that I wasn’t “famous” or “in charge” or whatever.
It was a good feeling.
IMDB states that Uma Thurman will return as the Bride in Kill Bill 3 in 2014.
