I often say in my classes and workshops, “The secret to being great at acting, comedy, or life, is you have to let your self be horrible. You have to be OK with being terrible. Fall on your face.”
The idea is to break your horrible habits if trying to be great. Don’t try to be funny. Don’t try to be clever.
Those are functions of ego and insecurity, not roads to success. Defoe goes even father in this clue AND I LOVE IT!!!!
You can’t be original if trying to be perfect. Our perception of “perfection” is based on years of observation. When we try to be perfect, we usually settle for mediocre.
When we push ourselves past our comfort zones, we experiment with the unknown. Maybe its better to think of Defoe’s advice as doing the opposite of what we perceive to be a good choice as an actor.
We learn quickly there is no right or wrong. By making a perceived bad choice, we unlock our mind and body to the unlimited potential of ideas. The second we label somethings as “good” we lock ourselves out of maximum creativity.
We are human. We will never be completely without ego and insecurity. That would be robotic. But we constantly find tricks that get us out of the TRY mentality. Focus on DO.
Doing leads to success or fails. This is better that skirting by every day. If it works, AMAZING. It it flops, we just need to make a different choice.
Artistic growth – and life – comes from a series of choices. Take away labels of good and bad. Choices that work, repeat. Choices that flop, make course corrections.
And beware of relying on old successful choices. As we grow, age, what works will change. Every stage of life requires new choices, new perspectives. Similarly every character we play deserves their chance to fail.