Aaron Marcus shares two ways to build chemistry with a scene partner: always ask before touching, and spend time together off stage. He recalls an audition where an unexpected arm around the shoulder killed the scene, and working with Ellen Burstyn, whose lunches and conversations made their on-camera connection feel real.
In this video, I'm going to be teaching you how to create powerful chemistry with your co-actor. And watch this until the end, and I've got a special bonus video for you. If you're desperate to find a reader for your next audition, here are 4 amazing tips. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to my Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I share information with you Based on my nearly 40 years of experience working as a full-time actor. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like the video, give it a thumbs up. That's actually very helpful. Having great chemistry with your fellow actor is essential, and I always like to share information Based on real experiences, and that's what I'm going to be doing here. There are 2 things I want to share with you about how to go about getting really good chemistry. One, if you're doing an audition with another actor and you think there is any possible chance that there could be some kind of physical contact With the other actor. You've got to ask permission ahead of time. And unfortunately, I learned this the hard way. And without going into all the details, there was a callback for me, and there was a woman playing my wife, and we are on vacation, we're having a wonderful time drinking wine. And at one point during the audition, or the callback, I took my arm, put it around her shoulder It just felt right, felt loving, and from what we were saying to each other, it seemed right. And for whatever reason, she got really uncomfortable. I don't know, maybe she wasn't expecting it. I don't know what it was. All I did was put my arm around her shoulder, but she started to like— I could feel her tensing up and almost like pulling away a little bit. And for this particular role, they needed this very strong chemistry between us, and it was not there. And I knew Instantly, this just wasn't happening. So anyhow, that, that's one thing— just ask ahead of time. Here's the other thing. I got cast, it was a recurring role on a show, and I was taking care of the other actor who was guest star. And I didn't know the woman at all, Academy Award-winning actor. I— but I, I certainly had met her before and never worked with her, and I was trying to figure out Okay, well, I've got to show her a lot of love. I have to really tap into something that will allow me to care for her. And in some of the scenes with other people, I have to stand up for her as well. So this is what I decided to do, and I think this would be helpful for you as well. Look, I didn't walk over to the other actor and say, hey, look, I'm supposed to love you and care about you, and so tell me about your That would be a little silly. Here's what I did do. I made sure that I spent time with the actor prior to shooting. I asked if I could join her for meals. We had some dinners and lunches together. I asked her a lot of questions about her life, which was— it was fascinating. It was really very interesting. And She started off as a model, and actually, I can tell you, it was Ellen Burstyn. She was just incredible. And she even told me a story about getting an Academy Award, but at that time period in her life, she just decided she just wasn't interested in going. And later, later on, she kind of wished that she had. I mean, she was just, just a phenomenal actor. And once again, I just spent a lot of time asking her questions about her life. And then it was, it was, it was fascinating. And I also could feel love for her. She was a very special woman who, who just did amazing things and took chances and was very brave and courageous. And I just, I loved her. I mean, it was great. And so when we were doing the scenes It just came very naturally for me. I could feel it. And so if you ever have a scene with somebody else and you have to have some kind of thoughts about the person, see if you can spend some time with them beforehand. And once again, you don't have to— I would never announce, hey, I'm— I want to do this. I mean, like, I wanted to know about her life anyway because she's just such a phenomenal actor, and here's a great opportunity to spend time, but it also helped me tremendously in my scenes. So yeah, spend time with the person, ask them questions, and I think you will find that to be an incredible way to develop really strong chemistry with your scene partner. Once again, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget to subscribe, click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up, and please share, share the link with fellow actors so we can continue building a great channel here, a community of actors helping each other. And, and also, if you have used any techniques or have any suggestions on other ways of building strong chemistry with your fellow scene partner, please share it here so we can all learn from each other. I did say I was going to share another bonus video for you, and you can find it right up here. If you get an audition, you need a reader, you're desperate, you can't find one, here are 4 suggestions. So I hope you really enjoy it. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
