Actor's thoughts, Beginning my character "Grotesque"

Actors thoughts, Beginning my character "Salice" in the film "Grotesque"

Well, here we go. The new year has begun and I have quite a bit on my plate so long as everything goes as planned. The final draft for Grotesque is in my hands. I guess different actors have different ways of doing things to prepare for a role. Upon receiving the final script for about 6 days ago, I have so far read through it 5 times. (Roughly 102 pages) It takes a few times to really let everything sink in. I will continue to read it at least once a day. This is a lead role.

I have my yellow highlighter out now. Now that I am familiar with the story, I will begin highlighting my speaking roles in the film. Then of course, begin reading my lines over and over again. I will read and record the entire script on a cassette player and on an individual cassette read only my lines. So I can begin obsessing over them. Meanwhile I will be writing down little notes on the side about that character, (What I like to call the rules with in the world he lives in)  things that he likes to do that are brought up in the script. For example, If the script mentions he is allergic to milk, I know how to associate that with other parts of his life in my character development. If someone is to mention buying ice cream at the end of the film, his reaction will be slightly different that the normal person, even if he doesn't say it.

It is mention that there is something willed to Salice (My character) Which also leads me to believe that, although not mentioned, there is a reason it was left to him and not his brother, sister, or aunt, who also play major roles in this film. I would like to think, although not mentioned, is that his father was lead to believe that he was the most responsible of the four. He is also a very firm believer in taking care of his family, although he is not trusted, he is the only one that could be trusted. There are a lot of things that go into character development, and why a character acts the way that he/ she/ it does. This is all just a beginning process. This is usually about how I start. What about you? How do you start? If this has helped anyone please feel free to share it. This will also be available to read at www.christopherinlow.com