Interview with actor of movie Joker, Josh Pais

Well, yea, the first movie I did was Jacknife with Robert De Niro. Our paths have crossed many times since then - most recently at the table read for Joker. But prior to Jacknife I had only worked in the theatre - where I was always told to project my voice to the back row. So, the first day of filming I meet Bob, as he introduced himself to me. The director sets up a rehearsal - and the crew of 50 or so people are watching the rehearsal. In the scene, I’m asking De Niro’s character about one of the cars in the mechanic shop where we work. So, in the rehearsal I spoke REALLY loud (practically yelled) so that every crew member could hear me. Then Bob just talked only to me. Then I screamed my next line and then Bob again spoke softly and only to me. Finally I got it - just talk to Bob. Sounds obvious, but it was my first time on camera and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Bob taught me a great lesson about listening and presence. It was embarrassing, funny and now kinda beautiful.