hans weingartner

An actors director

Are you an „actors director“?

Yes, I think I am. I do everything for this moments of magic.

For me this all I work for and why I do this job. When an actors performs a scene extremly well, it’s like time stood still. The universe bows. Everybody on the set gets goosebumps and feels that magic has happened. Something that is bigger than us has happened. A kiss from the other side, from the other world. For a brief moment, a window to eternity has opened.

I feel the presence of god, and for me in this moment the actor is a god or at least in connection with god.

For a short moment, we are relieved from the gravity of existence, from the suffering, from the futility of life. Because in this moment we see meaning in front of our eyes. We see and feel that no, the universe is not empty.

This is why I am doing this job, for these moments. True creation, true meaning. Der schöpferische Akt.  The „Welterzeugung“. Only the Artists and the Crazies can do that, true Welterzeugung, unintentional, absichtslos. Sorry but German is the far better language for this kind of things. It can only happen, it cannot be forced, it can only be made possible.

What the actors does in this moment is an act of creation. We all that participate in this moment and become immortal for just an instant. This  createssuch rush of endorphines, I want to embrace the whole world. For a moment I feel lke a child, like a happy child, free of all sorrows and fears. 

My productions are always structured to give the best work atmosphere for the actors. I want them to have enough time and freedom and feel free of pressure.

I also love to rehearse. For weeks and weeks. O live this phase even more than shooting. To develop the character together with the actor. We mend it. Often I change the screenplay to make it fit better to the actor. I take little things and behaviours or traits from the actor. Of course the actor has to be open for this kind of work. Some are not, but I make it very clear in the casting that I expect that. By now, I realize quickly if an actor doesn’t want to give a piece of himself.

But the payoff is immense. Because you get movies that have a soul. And the audience feels that. Not matter how educated or intelligent they are, they feel if a movie has a soul. Because then it touches them, it touches their own soul, and they feel like they found a friend, and don’t feel so alone any more.

I think many producers nowadays don’t pay enough attention to that, many of their movies feel soulless, and I think that’s partly because of the acting, they don’t give enough time and resources for the actors, everything has to be shot very quickly with 8 cameras, and the algorithm wants something to happen all the time.

I have to confess that the other departments sometimes have to suffer because in my movie shootings the actors alway come first place. They can move wherever they want on the stage, tha camera always has to follow. I don’t allow anyone from the technical department to give them instructions. I also love to to Impro takes. That’s so much fun. Like my big Idol John Cassavetes did it all the time. The magic of chance. In der Magie der Unvorhersehbarkeit liegt das größte Glück. I love it when reality breaks in. I love coincidence. 

What is no coincidence is that my actors often win prizes, actually always. It’s because we work hard but also give space for this magic to happen. The actors can fully evolve themselves, flourish and of course you not only see that on the screen, you can feel it. The connection between the audience and the characters is on, and there it is again: the moment when the universe says hello.