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Actors Struggles in Portraying Film Characters

Films are one of the most widely recognized sources of entertainment that viewers all
across the globe are able to enjoy. However, as an audience, one does not have to worry about all
the filming or acting difficulties that arise during the creation process of the film. Leading actors
or actresses of movies face specific acting demands that challenge them and force them to find
approaches to these obstacles in order to bring out the character that is fitting for their role. These
acting demands can also differ depending on the characters as well as the genres of film that they
are starring in. In the science fiction film Ex-Machina (2015), Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb,
one of the major characters of the movie. While filming the movie, Gleeson faced several acting
demands related to environment, relationships, circumstances, and objectives in order to portray
his character. The character Glass, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, also faces those same acting
demands in the action/adventure movie The Revenant (2015). It is interesting to examine the
similar and different ways in which both of these actors have approached in order to successfully
bring out their character in the film.
One of the main acting demands that both Gleeson and DiCaprio faced when filming
was the environment. Environment is the physical setting in which many scenes of the movie
takes place (Olivieri & Telford 74). Like many science fiction movies, in Ex-Machina, Caleb is
placed into an entirely new environment that is both beautiful and exciting yet mysterious. In
other science fiction movies, the setting could have been another planet or dimension (Lecture
2: Science Fiction Films). As an actor, Gleeson has to relate to the audience in order to
effectively portray his unfamiliarity with the environment. In the scene when Caleb had just
landed from a helicopter in the new environment, Gleeson portrayed his character in a way that
shows he was essentially a stranger. He did this by walking awkwardly and wearing clothes that

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mismatched with the environment. Even when he arrived at the house, he was unfamiliar with it.
Gleeson probably had to relate to his personal experiences of being in unfamiliar territories in
order to portray his character. Gleeson could have done this by using the method of combining
both his imagination and specific past events in his life (Olivieri & Telford 77).
In The Revenant, DiCaprio also had to face certain acting demands with his role of Glass.
As an action/adventure movie, the movie contained many elements from both genres in terms of
an exotic environment, violence, and life or death situations (Lecture 5: Action and Adventure
Films). Glass is experienced with his environment but his characters health is extremely
weakened due to the bear attack. In comparison to Caleb in Ex-Machina, Glass has the skills and
experience to deal with the environment. However, the environments antagonistic nature and his
weakened state leaves him with many obstacles to overcome. DiCaprio had to act in a way that
illustrated the characters inner strength and survival instincts. Although his character was in a
stressful environment, he never panicked and was confident in overcoming obstacles in order to
survive. DiCaprio had to portray a character that was able to solve problems using his own skills
and knowledge of his surroundings. For example, when Glass was left for dead, he forced
himself to wake up, take in his environment, and formulate a plan to survive. His heavy
breathing evokes a sense of desperation and exhaustion, illustrating the state his character is in.
In comparison to Ex-Machina, Calebs interactions with the environment are portrayed by the
actor in a way that shows he is excited and a bit scared about new discoveries and mysteries.
Meanwhile, in The Revenant, Glasss interaction with the environment is more about survival.
Regardless of the differences, both actors must have had to ask themselves a lot of questions
regarding their environment in order to successfully represent their characters (Olivieri & Telford
74). At the same time, due to the various setting of the films, both actors have to wear specific

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outfits and costumes to fit with each films style. These costumes affect their performances and it
is therefore important that they can both wear the proper costumes comfortably and perform
appropriately (Lumet 88).
Another acting demand that both actors had to deal with was relationships. Relationships
are based on the interactions or connections between two or more people (Olivieri & Telford 65).
It is important to portray relationships between characters in a way that is sincere to the
audience. In Ex-Machina, this is especially challenging for Gleeson because he has to portray
Caleb in a way that shows he knows he's interacting with a robot. In scenes where Caleb has his
sessions with Ava, he interacted with her in a way that clearly shows to the audience that he is
interacting with a machine. Gleeson had depicts this by talking to her in a methodically, clear-cut
way. As an actor, Gleeson was probably able to do this by relating to his past experiences with
dealing voice-activating machines such as the Siri function on iPhones.
As the movie progresses and Caleb develops feelings for Ava, Gleeson had to portray this
attraction in a way that was believable to the audience. As Ava learns more about him and
questions his attraction to her, Gleeson had to show his character in a way that shows Caleb
becoming increasingly flustered and uncomfortable. This prompted Gleeson to act in a way that
shows a shift in how Caleb is interacting with the robot to an emotional way rather than an
objective way. This is evident in how he seems confident and sure he is when talking to Ava
about freeing her from imprisonment. However, he still acts in an awkward manner when
speaking to Nathan. The shift in the way he interacts with Ava shows the change in their
relationship dynamic and Gleeson has to depict this in a gradual and believable way. Because of
this, the actor Gleeson probably had to do a lot of takes to get the scenes right. For example,
when Caleb is waiting for Ava to dress up, Gleeson had to show how a mixture of Caleb being

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anxious while waiting for her as well as his surprise at her beauty when she came back. Scenes
like this probably took a lot of different takes and cuts from different angles in order to get it
right. Thus, like a lot of actors, it is demanding in terms of energy and mental strength for
Gleeson to get through all the filming (Lecture 5: Action and Adventure Films).
For The Revenant, the character Glass has a lot of indirect relationships with his wife and
son, the antagonist Fitzgerald, and other characters. For most of the movie, Glass is by himself
but has a lot of flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations about his family. This required DiCaprio
to evoke a sense of loss and believable connection between Glass and his family. This is
especially true since for the majority of the film, his family was not there, so it is up to Glass to
illustrate his love for his family. At the same time, Glasss hatred and anger towards Fitzgerald
needed to be properly illustrated. The scene when Fitzgerald stabbed Hawk to death illustrates
DiCaprios acting skills amazingly. DiCaprio was able to show the desperation and anger at
having to witness Fitzgerald stabbing his son. Although Glass was injured and could not move at
the time, DiCaprio portrayed Glasss anger through both the desperate attempts at flailing to get
up to help his son as well as the saliva that was coming out of his mouth in anger due to his
inability to properly vocalize his speech. His eyes showed a sense of panic and rage that also
showed how useless he felt at being unable to get up and fight for his son. DiCaprio must have
had to channel this rage, panic, and desperation from his own imagination and past experiences.
Like most actors, he could have personalized an event in his life where he felt like this in order to
realistically show those emotions for his character (Lecture 2: Science Fiction Films). Scenes
like this show how taxing acting can be in that actors have to re-live feelings, memories, and
experiences in order to properly execute the emotions required in scenes. (Lumet 55).

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Another important scene that required DiCaprio to properly portray specific emotions
was Glasss fight with the bear. DiCaprio had to put himself in a situation and fight in a way that
was believable to the audience, despite the bear being CGI. Thus, his movements and struggle
had to be realistic and show his desperation at fighting for his life. In comparison with ExMachina, both actors had to face the acting demand of needing to show the relationship between
the character and a CGI character as realistic. With DiCaprio, it is a bear, and with Gleeson, it is
a machine. However, this acting demand also differs due to the movie genre that the actors are in.
With DiCaprio, he had to make the interaction with the bear as realistic and alive as possible
whereas with Gleeson, he had to interact in a way that the audience can believe he is interacting
with a non-human, robot form. DiCaprio probably had to withstand going through numerous
takes and shots from all angles for the bear fight scene. Thus, like Gleeson and other leading
actors in movies, DiCaprio was also subjected to the stamina-consuming physical strains as well
as mental strains that are needed to create the perfect scene that the director intended.
Another important category that is demanded of the actors are the circumstances.
Circumstances are defined as a fact or condition that causes something else to happen (Olivieri
& Telford 24). There are several different categories that fall under circumstances with past given
circumstances being one of the main ones (Olivieri & Telford 24). With Ex-Machina, Calebs
past given circumstances, or his backstory, are needed for Gleeson to be able to understand and
depict his characters loneliness and thus, eventual attraction towards Ava. This is especially
important because Calebs backstory of how he lost his family when he was young as well as his
state of being single affects his feelings and interactions towards Ava. Gleeson needs to
understand this in order to develop and portray his character realistically. With The Revenant,
past given circumstances such as his life when he was living with the natives and the

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tragic event of his wifes death also adversely affect DiCaprios character. DiCaprio
utilized these past given circumstances to make it believable of the things he were willing to do
to survive. Past events including the characters wifes advice about how strong the wind is
and that the tree will not fall if it has strong roots are a constant source of inspiration for
DiCaprios character to stand up and fight for survival. Both actors from these movies need to
use the past given circumstances in order to realize who their characters are and why they are
that way as well as how they would respond to different stimuli. Because of this, it is difficult for
both actors to channel the feelings that they need to display because these past given
circumstances did not really happen to them as an actor. DiCaprio and Gleeson probably needed
to utilize imaginary circumstances, events entirely made up by the actors, in order to strengthen
their character (Olivieri & Telford 37). Thus, both actors face the demands of properly using
circumstances to their disposal while at the same time having to make sure that their imaginary
circumstances are not contradicting the writers intention (Olivieri & Telford 37).
Lastly, objectives are also an important acting demand for both actors. Objectives are
defined as the intentions and goals of the character (Olivieri & Telford 84). In Ex-Machina,
Caleb falls into the categories of emotion-based need. Emotion-based needs are needs for love,
revenge, justice and these needs are validated by the characters objectives (Olivieri & Telford
84). With Caleb, his need for love is fueled by his loneliness since childhood and even now in his
adult life. It is important for Gleeson, as an actor, to understand his characters emotion-based
need and loneliness in order to depict the character accurately. Thus, Gleeson faced the
challenges of having to immerse himself with the same need that his character has in order to
bring his character to life. In the scene where Ava left Caleb trapped in the room at the end of the
movie, Caleb is in shock that Ava toyed with his emotions and fully breaks down at the

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possibility of being trapped forever. This scene is especially powerful and shows Gleesons skills
in depicting how Caleb was so entranced with Ava due to his emotional needs. When she
betrayed him, he is completely shocked and desperate as he yells for her attention and tries to
break down the door to no avail.
The same is true for The Revenant and the character Glass in terms of concrete needs and
emotion-based needs. Concrete needs are physical needs of water, air, and food for a human to
survive (Olivieri & Telford 84). With DiCaprios character, he is placed in an environment where
he is fighting for survival through means of food, water, hiding from his enemies, as well as
struggling to keep warm and to heal from his bear-inflicted wounds. DiCaprio has to understand
his characters objective for survival through these needs in order to portray the desperation of
his character. His character is also seeking revenge, an emotion-based need, against Fitzgerald.
Thus, his character is driven by a need to survive which is fueled by his need for revenge.
DiCaprio, as an actor, has to understand these needs and the complexities of it in order to meet
the acting demands that are required for his character. Thus, both actors need to understand their
characters needs, which are specific to each characters motives and intentions.
Overall, actors and actresses face numerous difficulties and challenges during the filming
process in order to bring out the true characteristics for their roles. Although there are many
terms and categories for these acting demands, the approaches and obstacles for them are unique
to the actors and a movies genre. With the film Ex-Machina and The Revenant, although they
both fall under different genres of science fiction and action/adventure, actor Leonard DiCaprio
and Domhnall Gleeson both faced challenges in terms of environment, objectives, relationships,

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and circumstances. It is interesting to see how these challenges are different or the same to both
actors based on the role and the movie genre that they are starring in.
Works Cited
Lumet, S. Making Movies. New York: Vintage Books. 1995. Print.
Olivieri, J. & Telford, C. FLIXACTING: Illustrating Acting Skills through Film
Performance Volume I. First Edition Version 2.0. Microangelo Educational Media LLC. Pacific
Palisades, California. 2015. Adobe Digital Edition.
Olivieri, J. Lecture 2: Science Fiction Films. Online video lecture. CCLE. UCLA.
2016.
Olivieri, J. Lecture 5: Action and Adventure Films. Online video lecture. CCLE.
UCLA. 2016.