Why Some Actors Don't Bother Learning Their Lines

[@Ulleskelf]

"They [Americans] have no access to Greggs or universal health care. The two tragedies of American life" 😄

[@dominicbriggs2418]

“But they do kinda cancel each other out”😂😂

[@kernowchris]

Ah mentioning that Baker again, what a Tired old tune.

[@jamesbmcauley]

But we do have Buc-ees, and cheap fentanyl; so who really wins? 🎉

[@richardwindebank3207]

We don't even have access to a doctor anymore in Britain.

[@DSQueenie]

6:34 I worked on a yet to be released TV series where a big American actress didn’t have an earpiece but an autocues for her lines. Watching her work you wouldn’t have known she was reading her lines, she performed very well.

[@bassistmike1987]

I work with RDJ on two films and was involved in running this system. I would often listen in on a spare earwig to check the system was working. Hearing a line whilst performing another line is no easy task and it impressed me every day. Especially in his role as Sherlock where dialogue had to roll off the tongue rapidly in an English dialect. It was part of his performance. Occasionally I am asked to supply the system to an actor who’s never done it before and I always try to talk them out of it. Give it a trying try yourself by repeating the words of this podcast a line later.

[@kernowchris]

Mr Downey Junior speaks fast all the time in all his films so it's no stretch for the ego monster to speak his lines out loud in a rambling nonsense.

[@thescowlingschnauzer]

Fascinating. It really is a high wire act. And then people on the ground say "All he has to do is walk straight forward. I saw him wobble!"

[@Nomsa]

Not as hard as learning a script inside out. And for what they are paid that is the bare minimum

[@nonindividual]

Attention seeker alert.

[@bassistmike1987]

@@NomsaIn the instance of Sherlock. The scenes could often be rewritten on the day. Did you give it a try? The bare minimum is set by the employer, not a KZbin commenter.

[@lindagustafsson1337]

I often allow some of my students to read/listen to a book at the same time to encourage reading. Also it's very useful if they have reading difficulties.

[@ILikeBirds80]

Yes! Been proven now to help "paired reading". Wish more teachers did this for their students.

[@davidshead1323]

I will say earwigs are more commonly used to provide an actor with sound that they need for their perforance that would compromise the recording of the dialogue. Say a karaoke scene for instance, we dont want to record any music outloud but it would help the actor to perform the song and hear the beat. Very simple example there.

[@kosefix]

In Fellowship of the Ring Sean Bean read the famous "can't just walk into Mordor"-line from a note on his knee. But that was because they rewrote the lines all the time and it was impossible to rememember everything. I wouldn't be suprised if that is another common reason it happens.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Yes. Sometimes they're not given enough time to prepare and memorise.

[@markclawrie007]

13:58 I love the way Marina sits back on that ad read for Sweetpea 😂 missed the right side of the chair and thought - fuck it, this is a one take ad read 😂 👏🏻

[@matthewreynolds4382]

Terrific spot!

[@captainblack1021]

I remember that sketch by Mitchell and Web, that’s number wang 😂

[@stixdan]

"Depends what game they're playing" - absolutely Richard, I've met some of those sorts of people and they are definitely playing by a different set of rules with different objectives to me!

[@RetroBytesUK]

I once had to explain to Jonny Depp what a meal deal was, at the time I did not think it was Jonny Depp, as you dont expect to find Jonny Depp in a Sainsburys in Sheffield city centre on a work day afternoon. I tought it was just a guy who looked a bit like Jonny Depp. Turns out he was joining in with someone elses gig at City Hall that night, opposite that Sainsbury.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

Maybe it wasn’t him

[@csurname]

Jeff Beck?

[@nonindividual]

I once had to do the same thing to Michael Jackson. 🙄

[@fitzfitzchivalry4538]

Cool story bro.

[@Eve181dublin]

Well, that’s one more American who now knows what a meal deal is. Good job 😊

[@DuncanEvans-t7q]

It's lovely to hear "quite" an amount of swearing within the first 5 minutes of a podcast haha. I always remember the tale of the 3rd Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, where an entire extra page or so of prose was added to the American edition to explain that Belgium was an offensive swear word throughout the galaxy. For the British version Douglas Adams just used f***

[@lyndsayanderson3199]

I read and listen to technical documents all the time, it makes it easier to understand and improves my reading.

[@felinetherapy4782]

Do love Questions and Answers - great questions this week!

[@johngorman6765]

Marina paying out on passengers on below deck. Hilarious

[@daylightrambler]

25:14 Leslie Jones of SNL extensively re-wrote her book whilst recording the audio version; 288 pages in print became 16 hours on tape!!

[@billswifejo]

I recently wrote to an author about the English/American word usage. She had an English Victorian gentleman saying the word ‘period’ to mean full stop. I explained that my mother (born in 1920) would never had said the word as in the UK it refers to a menstrual bleed, I suggested that she obtained a British editor, and she was kind enough to answer to say that it was a helpful idea.

[@CynicalRhys]

My mantra for the day is now "A lot of assholes don't realise they're assholes" Richard revealing the big truths in this one

[@ClayMann]

and there's that one "Villains are the hero of their own story" I like that. Can't remember where its from.

[@SkinnyObelix]

Localization is something fascinating. Even more so here in Belgium, where in the Dutch speaking part we generally don't want changes from the original, even if we're not familiar with the references. While in The Netherlands even the names of people get translated. To the point that there often are two translations, one for The Netherlands and one for Belgium. This wasn't always the case and I couldn't get over the bad translations, so I ended up reading most of my books in English rather than Dutch.

[@leonnehaaijman4709]

Totally, totally love this podcast.

[@dondesmond7969]

Can't read Clive James without his voice in my head. Wouldn't want it any other way.

[@thenewvoice8]

Back when Star Trek and Stargate SG1 did 26 odd episodes a season, you'd generally get the old 'clip' episode just before the end of season cliff hanger extravaganza episodes

[@Elwaves2925]

Especially in the later seasons. One of the characters would be in some form of coma, or they'd be judged in some way on their past actions or whatever. That would set up a reason to show clips within a plot.

[@jamesbmcauley]

That's why I loved when community would do clip shows of things that we hadn't seen, like a canoe trip on st Patrick's day, or a visit to a ghost town.

[@simonmandrakejones]

​@@jamesbmcauleyI think they did something like that on South Park where they replayed things that happened in previous episodes but differently.

[@Tomwithnonumbers]

SG1 was famous for getting surprisingly decent plots out of its clip episodes.

[@GoldenBlaisdale]

the book audio thing is real .. I do it more with non-fiction books but you can get the Kindle book audio synced with the audible book and the kindle book words actually light up as they're being said it's brilliant for non-fiction you take in so much more information

[@costeris35]

It sounds great for non fiction. I always understand things I’ve heard better than things I’ve only read. While at uni I used to read theory that I didn’t understand out loud to myself😂

[@geezertechhead]

Brando in 'Island of Dr Moreau' has now become a reference in a number of films/TV shows… South Park and Modern Family probably being the biggest examples.

[@magnuswarnessmusical]

One of my friends directed the fifth Pirates movie, and I had the honour of being on set for some of it. I can confirm that Depp did indeed use an earwig, but not for lines; it was used to play music. He would have a large playlist of songs to put him in a certain mood, or to trigger a specific style of movement. According to Joachim (director), he had apparently been doing it since Sweeney Todd. They did however have loads of rewrites, but the new lines were never fed through an earwig, but either hidden on set, cue cards of literally saying the new lines over the god mic just before a take. I thought I’d share that bit of trivia that I actually experienced first hand, especially since Marina made that claim in the episode.

[@jayzee9149]

If you pull the other one you will hear a chorus of bells...JD is the most unprofessional so-called actor that Hollywood ever simped. It was over for him by 2014 when he turned up wasted for an awards show. Disney could not wait to bin him. 50-something women who had his posters in his boyband phase of the 80s and weirdo Burton stans kept him relevant but he's basically a cosplayer rather than a performer of any depth. The myth of Depp will be destroyed when he passes and his enablers tell the the lurid truth for the $$$$. The greatest example of image over talent I've ever seen..

[@grammapolice]

@28:00 this is a rather common practice for people who are dyslexic or have other learning disabilities.

[@jten6632]

An example of algorithm success! Love this, what a delight!

[@borlach_]

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Wil Wheaton as a general rule, but having heard audiobooks read by him (Ready Player One for instance) I think he is top notch at this particular skill, and have bought books I would otherwise have never read just because he is the narrator.

[@billswifejo]

Stephen Briggs and Benedict Cumberbatch are great too.

[@SarahL-v5t]

Yes! Starter Villain is an amazing listen because of his read.

[@borlach_]

@@SarahL-v5t Added to my wishlist, thanks!

[@mikerichards6065]

'They have no access to Gregg's. Or universal healthcare.' Savage.

[@patriceevra4]

Love the way Marina explains how americans use 'Quite' to mean alot and how strange that concept is. Then 2 minutes later says use of swear words is 'Quite a big thing' with emphasis on the quite meaning alot! So maybe we do use it to mean that

[@grammapolice]

Yeah. Brits use quite as “a lot” more often than they use it ‘sarcastically’ to mean the opposite- I guess it’s just an awareness thing.

[@archgirl7797]

I see why you think that but actually for the 'quite' part, we still mean 'a little / a bit'. So, saying 'quite a lot' is less intense than just saying 'a lot' in British English. Whereas, 'quite a lot' makes the 'a lot' part more intense in American English. When we emphasise the word 'quite' in a sentense when saying 'quite a lot' . We mean 'a really tiny bit less that a lot' / 'almost a lot'. Whereas Americans use it to mean 'even more than a lot'. It's easy to misinterpret and sometimes it doesn't matter too much which way you interpret it, particularly in the phrase 'quite a lot'. But if you said it's quite stormy, quite heavy, quite expensive ect, that's where it can make more of a difference and becomes confusing if you misinterpret. Americans can do what they like with language, I don't mind that. It would just help if they understood the difference here when speaking to a Brit. They get confused from us saying 'quite' quite a lot 😂 As an aside - I think the word 'quite' in America can be kind of posh, at least in some circumstances. They way it's used in America seems to be a sort of posh understated thing of saying a little to mean a lot instead. We don't use it that way. We are literal with the word, always. But Americans tend to have in their mind that Brits are more posh than them so the thought that the Americans are being posh with a word and we are not adds to the confusion I think. I might be totally off the mark but that's my interpretation from watching too much American TV 😂

[@grammapolice]

@@archgirl7797 since its first use in the 1300s it has meant “a great deal” in rather recent history, it has been employed occasionally by some dialects sarcastically to mean the opposite. Brits use it both ways, but if you listen closely, the sarcastic use is actually less common.

[@petergilbert7106]

@@grammapolice Quite often the deviation from old English has been done by the English and the Americans have hung on to the original definition/spelling.

[@stuartbadminton]

She missed the opportunity to explain to Americans that "Quite good" means "Absolutely atrocious", in British English.

[@PianoKwanMan]

Like group reading in school, i listen and read at the same time. I used to record my university textbooks, then listen to them and read at the same time. I have trouble reading and understanding at the same time

[@Sarah.H5]

I had an American also share his observation about the British 'quite' with me about 15 years ago. Funny to hear it come up again

[@pjsaythis]

I do both because i get easily distracted and interacting with the book on multiple input (reading and listening) helps me focus. Whilst i absolutely love being read to, sometimes i want to flip back and say when was this character introduced again... or a particularly poetic line deserves a second read, a pause to appreciate it and an underline... I need both to really engage with a book. When an audiobook is not available i will use a screenreader with the ebook. Not the AI one though, the flattening really is maddening...

[@abzulooks6012]

If you've ever seen the Taiwanese edition of the Thursday Murder Club books, the covers are gorgeous.

[@ronanmartin1990]

28:31 "If you do this please write in and explain yourself" lol

[@philippaclarke2844]

Yes! Mark Billingham is amazing, reading his books!

[@RobDW24]

Big Question: When will Marina be on House of Games?.

[@barbararowley6077]

I wonder if earwigs are perhaps more an accomodation for dyslexia than a laziness thing? Like pre-cut fruits and vegetables in supermarkets are a godsend for arthritis sufferers, whilst most of those with healthy joints think them the height of laziness.

[@jten6632]

Johnny Depp though, totally wasted and lazy!

[@WendyGascoine-nl8vi]

That is such a good point about pre cut veg and fruit. Never thought of that. You’ve opened my eyes to that.

[@geoffz100]

My favourite time of the week

[@jonharvey6277]

The "one does not simply walk into Mordor" meme with Sean bean comes from him having his lines written on his leg

[@hedgehog1965uk]

One moving example of an author asking to have another specific person read their audiobook, is Dawn French's 2008 autobiography "Dear Fatty". In the Audible description, it say "Dear Fatty is read by Liza Tarbuck at the request of the author. With an introduction from Dawn French". In the introduction Dawn explains that the reason she asked her "good friend Liza Tarbuck" to read the book was that it contains a lot of detail that she would find difficult to read herself. When you listen to the book, you find that she talks a lot about her dad's suicide when she was 19 and in fact a lot of the book is written as though it is a letter to her deceased dad, so her decision is completely understandable.

[@ladygwarth]

I love to listen to audio books when I paint and I have listened to all your Thursday Murder Club books and We Solve Murders. All excellent, I do buy the hard copies too and read them as well., not at the same time though 😉.

[@chrisknight2631]

With the American/English words thing, it is something that annoys me. I was watching Black Mirror on Netflix with my son the other day (Shut Up & Dance) and it’s set in England with an all English cast, but Jerome Flynn’s character refers to a car he has to pick up and says he’s been sent the ‘License Plate’ so he can find the car in the ‘parking lot’ and I just looked at my son and he had a disgusted look on his face!! The characters then said they were getting the ‘elevator’ and we both shouted shut up at the TV! I always found that annoying, and I guess I’ve brainwashed my son into it as well, which is not a good thing really. As long as you know what they mean, it shouldn’t be a problem!

[@DSQueenie]

I was about to say there are a lot of Americanisms these days but “parking lot”, “license plate” and “elevator” aren’t good examples! 😅 I do hear a lot of people say “drivers license” rather than “driving license” these days.

[@stuffhereprojects]

I like to have the audoo book playing whilst reading from time to.time. i guess its sort of like that thing at school where your having a voice aloud as you read along, something helpful about it. And when the narrator is doing an especially good job it really adds something. Plus, if its a famous person's autobiography Im going to read it in rheir voice anyway!

[@Cloudcat42]

Reading a book whilst listening to an audio book reminds me of Storyteller 😍 I might have to start doing that.

[@drphobus]

On language in books, I read Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan. At the end it has an Australian slang guide. Just being from East London I got all the references without needing any explanations as to the true meaning

[@tombarnett5542]

The opening tease was 🤌 nice to see them matching the times

[@billybob-bm4mn]

It annoys me when a celebrity doesn't know the format of the show. Judy Love on 8 out of 10 cats does countdown didn't have a clue about the show. To make matters worse she did the same thing on another panel show. She was clueless, I can't stand the woman now and won't watch anything she's on. I think its very disrespectful to the viewers just to turn up for the cheque.

[@Chezcat]

I do audio and visual reading at the same time too. I also watch tv with subtitles.

[@alicemay5453]

I read the book while listening to the audio book, I'm an english lit student so I have really too many books to try to get through. It makes it go far quicker than just me reading would, I think I get distracted thinking about other random stuff if I'm just reading so listening helps keep me on track.

[@peadar-o]

I’m in love with that brown jumper.

[@MrHerrGotlieb]

I always assumed that Netflix House of Cards had 13 episodes per season so that after 4 seasons there'd be 52 episodes, like cards in a deck

[@valeriehadfield7083]

hello, thank you for this channel, you are both so good. Love the house of games Richard, many husband and I compete against each other. I made him a gorgeous silver cup which he hasn't kept. Ok, I used tin foil but even so .... I listen to loads of audio books and almost always listen to the narrators sample. There are some narrators who shouldn't narrate a book, ever. Others are good but speak so slowly that I have to speed up the narrator or I lose the will to live 😞 yet others who are great and I can listen to a book again because of the voice. Also, I admire them being able to have so many voices. Blessings

[@phyllidaacworth5212]

When I read non fiction I will sometimes have the audiobook version playing while I read it. But I have also collected Stephen Fry's books about ancient Greece and his recordings of the Harry Potter books so I can read them with him also reading them to me. The only time this creates a problem is if the narrator speaks too quickly and I want to read the book more slowly. I am not sure if changing the speed of playback would distort the person's voice.

[@nathanbinford5715]

Marina has the best sweaters

[@MarkTourish]

I read along with the book of certain books..jrr tolkien I find I can take in more if I'm hearing and reading at the same time.

[@asoiseth]

Also about print copy and listening at the same time, my daughter with serious ADHD has, since high school, done both at the same time for focus.

[@simac3880]

I must say, Marina's jumper is awesome (for Americans... her sweater)

[@soothingsense9396]

M&S I think (or there is, at least one that looks the same there!)

[@thebagelsproductions]

Often has a Wendy Craig in Butterflies vibe to the outfits. Tres chic

[@lakrids-pibe]

It's quite something

[@longjonwhite]

Isn’t it a pullover? Or a jersey?

[@simac3880]

@@longjonwhite I think either of those would also be acceptable, but jumper seems to me more apropriate for the wollen garment

[@whatiwasgoingtosay]

All these years, it never occurred to me that "quite" might mean something else to the Brits.

[@chippydogwoofwoof]

"Well i suppose if you are interested in hiring a super yacht anyway then you might have a certain personality type" Such a very British way of calling someone an asshole yes they made it quite clear but just that statement alone would be enough for 90% of people to know exactly what you meant.

[@dibdab101]

it worries me that americans are in charge of The Thursday Murder Club, as for me the British quirkiness of the characters is one of the main attraction and I fear a lot of it will be 'autotuned' for the american market.

[@hedgehog1965uk]

The whole thing about reading the book whilst listening to the audiobook at the same time...do they not know that if you have the audiobook on Audible and also have the book in the Kindle app (both owned by Amazon, of course) many books are synched so that the words can be automatically highlighted in Kindle as they are read by the audiobook. I have tried this on a couple of books, and have found it "quite" (English meaning) effective, but found that not all books have been synched in this way. I don't know if you can do this on an actual Kindle device, cos I don't own one and don't think the Audible app can be run on those. I use both apps on my Android phone.

[@chunkybird1241]

27:40 Can anyone tell me what Hugh Laurie's response is here? I've noticed this lady sometimes gets excited and her words become a rushed mess, or she'll cut across her own sentences!Thanks in advance!

[@slapshot0074]

I think the difference is if a British person comes across a reference to something they don't understand or haven't come across in a book , they would simply look it up and move on. It tends to be only the American audience that is incapable or unwilling to do this and has an expectation that media will be altered for their consumption. Plus,as mentioned, you can often get the intent or meaning of something from the rest of the content. Not a big fan of changing original content and pandering for another English speaking country. You have to change some things when translating into another language but the expectation is that an English speaking country should be able to get on with it.

[@McZorr0101]

When you sign off with “See you next Tuesday” is that to be taken at face value or is it an allusion to C U Next Tuesday? This may have been mentioned in earlier episodes so forgive me if I am behind the curve on this. If it is meant at face value then I apologise for the insinuation.

[@andrew66862]

For the American audience, my understanding is that "quite" means "nearly" or "rather" in British English and "very" in American English

[@philroberts7238]

Usually, that is indeed the case. On occasion, however, we Brits can also use 'quite' to mean 'very' - and intonation is the clue as to which is which. Often, it's used to express annoyance: ("That's QUITE enough!"), but you can also hear it in a more positive, though slightly affected, sense: ("That's quite delightful, darling!")

[@philroberts7238]

....Or the Noel Coward line: : "Where he took to pig-sticking in QUITE the wrong way!"

[@emmad-ul4tn]

Yeah it depends on how you say it

[@MrThemaskedavenger]

We use it like a contronym.

[@tom5216]

For me quite means ‘a bit’ not ‘a lot’

[@stukay2803]

I'm also a listener of audiobooks while reading. It scratches an itch in me. I don't know if it's a concentration thing or an information retention thing, but I find myself reading "less" as I do.

[@simonmeadows7961]

With the first question about 'translating into American' do published books introduce spelling mistakes to suit US audiences? For example, if you picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet Fire in a Los Angeles bookshop, would the letter u be dropped from every use of the word 'colour'?

[@lakrids-pibe]

This episode is quite good

[@colinmcconnell827]

I'm quite sure.

[@asoiseth]

Yes loved Nicola!!! And Lesley Manville!! I’ve loved Fiona Shaw in other things (dirtbag anyone???) but I’m sorry Richard, Lesley rocked it and sorry she didn’t do all the books.

[@EdwardLindon]

"Quite" to mean "thoroughly" is perfectly standard British English that dates back to the early 14C. "Quite" meaning "fairly" came in in the mid 19th.

[@teecee7475]

I don't think Hugh Laurie has done Jeeves&Wooster books but Mr. Fry has narrated them, with great success.

[@lukedinsmoreharris3068]

I listen to audiobook and read at the same time but only when the book is in Spanish. It's a good way to practice listening skills in another language.

[@flickflack18]

Damn, that's really clever. I've never thought to do that. You've maybe just changed my life!

[@Mullinino]

I think there's a point being missed here - learning lines should really be for the stage, we don't learn everything we're going to say beforehand in real life, and actors saying cool things flawlessly has really put me off 99% of all films made today...Marlons reasoning wasn't laziness - as he said himself people don't automatically just spew out words but think in their heads what they are going to say first so there's a slight delay (which on screen is him reading his line or hearing it in an Earwig). I'd love to see a film where the whole cast are wearing them or reading their lines out of sight, I just think it would be so much more believable as people don't talk like Hollywood especially thinks they do. Actually I've changed my mind - do it on the stage too. Not in cartoons, though.

[@lottie2525]

I think you make some good points. Learning lines means an actor is anticipating something they know another character is going to say, so are preparing to react in a certain way too. Off the cuff could be more believable. Guess it depends on how good the actors are.

[@DavidJones-pi8rl]

I rely on Audio Books because I have bad sight, have a wife who doesn't like lights and I use CPAP, so totally love a good Audio Book reader. By the way, I really missed the Reader chatting with Richard at the end of "We solve Murders"!

[@Bolehillbilly]

I listen to the audiobook and read it at the same time. Currently doing it with Mythos by Stephen Fry.

[@MrGavinReid]

I listen to audiobooks while reading along because, with dyslexia, it helps me focus and keeps my mind from wandering. To keep costs down, I try to find affordable copies of both formats, second-hand book shops and audible help. It gets tricky when I have the book, but there's no audiobook version available. Is anyone out there interested in recording an audiobook for George Melly’s autobiography, Rum, Bum and Concertina?"

[@chrisofnottingham]

I appreciate the effort that has gone into some snappy inserts and other fun editing but frankly I could live without it :-)

[@simac3880]

I hope you'll manage the challenge between your appreciation and overall dislike. Great to hear about the journey

[@mikefarley8563]

Re.audiobooks..One of my most disappointing examples of this was when I heard Jack Kerouac reading "On the road",I had heard the Matt Dillon version,and also extracts during an old Channel 4 docco named "Road Dreams"[look it up],in which many extracts were read by Mark Murphy,many included a sign off of the same passage after every eprsode[of 6]which sounded so perfect,and for some reason I expected Kerouac to sound like,but no..not at all,and,to go off tangent,Peter Coyote is used fantastically for voice-overs on many of the wonderful Ken Burns documentaries,which in themselves are works of art..

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

I've never really got on with audiobooks. Probably because I like reading to be my primary activity when I do it(I might have music or the football on in the background or something), and audiobooks just encourage me to do something else which steals the focus and then something will happen in the audiobook that hooks my attention back but I've not really been paying attention for the last 15-20 minutes and I've got no context for it at all. Whereas if I zone out with a book, it stays on the same page.

[@ohmightyzeus6135]

I find I can really focus on an audiobook when I drive. I'm not sure that is great, but I can do it. Listening while walking the dog works to a point, but I feel when out with the furry boy my attention really should be on being with him and reveling in having a lovely dog in my life, so I stopped doing that.

[@vickiekostecki]

I've never done the listening while reading thing, because I'm a fast reader and I find audiobooks unbearably slow. But I've got a couple of audiobooks where I own the e-version too so might give it a try.

[@daylightrambler]

Most audiobook formats these days have the option of increasing the speed in increments. It takes some getting used to, and definitely gets some weird looks from people who happen to overhear it.

[@daylightrambler]

7:25 speaking of coverage, while shooting the dramatic back of the car scene in "On The Waterfront", Rod Steiger dutifully sat through Brando's part, then they reset and Brando had his stand-in take over for Steiger's lines 🙄

[@simonmandrakejones]

In Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman writes about Paul Newman being off screen during the making of Harper while they got Robert Wagner's coverage. Robert Wagner was quite moved by this as it wasn't normal for a big star like Paul Newman to hang around to do that, but he cared about getting the scene right and helping his fellow actors.

[@TheAdArchive]

Back in the mid 90s I did a radio Ad in London and the VO had just come back from the filming of The Island of Dr Moreau and boy did he have some stories about what an utter sh11t show it was.

[@abzulooks6012]

Random comment on numbers of episodes in a season: In Japan, anime seasons are split up into four seasons of thirteen episodes each, so most anime seasons... are thirteen episodes. Even now that's pretty standard.

[@KevinClairSoutham]

Binging has lead to shorter seasons but streaming has lead to longer seasons. I’ve lost track of the number of shows out there that - pre streaming - would be 3 x 1 hour or 2 feature length. These days they stretch and pad them to be 9 hours or more. It’s another example of something you guys discussed a few weeks ago about the lack of oversight leading to flabby narrative. In this case the lack of time pressure means a lot more gumph stays in that previously would have been edited out for reason of length.

[@LoudMinded]

I just finished The Perfect Couple with Nicole Kidman, and I wonder why it was filmed and how on earth did they fill all those episodes with nothing.

[@KevinClairSoutham]

@@LoudMinded exactly. It’s all style and no substance. I’ve taken to watching great shows of yesteryear that I missed first time around. The first season of Barry is brilliant as is Mr Robot and The Americans. I’m watching The Sopranos last season at the moment! So much better than anything new I’ve seen in the last few years.

[@LoudMinded]

@@KevinClairSoutham Girls5eva is a good exception out of the new shows, a fast paced and funny show with great references to yesteryear, give it a chance if you haven't already.

[@johnking5174]

The brilliant Heartstopper on Netflix is 8 episodes per series. They have done three series, but all episodes are roughly a half hour each, which for a drama seems a little bit stingy of Netflix.

[@geozeo710]

Robin Williams managed to somehow get a character called 'Mr Wanker' in Mork and Mindy. He knew it was naughty, but got away with it.

[@Buckaroo_Baldwin]

In Married With Children, Wanker was Peg's maiden name.

[@geozeo710]

@@Buckaroo_Baldwin awesome!

[@oneoldgit]

Worked in Detroit back in the 90s. My family came over to visit during the school holidays. The appartment complex organised a pizza party for the residents. A young man arrived in a 3 piece suit looking rather overheated. My wife said 'you look hot'. He replied 'Thank you very much'. I nearly choked

[@serkles8597]

I suppose listening to and reading a book at the same time is a good way to improve your English language skills. You pick up on what punctuation does and the spelling of words. Learning pronunciation is another point but could be skewed by the voice actors background.

[@timyoung6653]

Is everyone that Marina knows ‘brilliant’? 😂

[@chrisofnottingham]

To me, RDJ often sounds like he is repeating lines he has only just heard for the first time, so that explains it.

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

He doersn't read the script, the script reads him.

[@RobbieB2606]

😂😂

[@archgirl7797]

He also pretty much always plays himself or a character he is already very familiar with. Which probably helps him get away with it

[@johntilsley9111]

Trying to explain how Pointless works every evening to a family member with dementia can actually be the lowest point of the day.

[@thescowlingschnauzer]

Earwigs aren't an easy fix. Most actors who try them have very stilted performances. There's a delay in how they react to others. RDJ can be present in the moment with another actor, hear someone saying lines in his ear, and make decisions about how to deliver the line, without it coming off stilted and unnatural. Now I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if he has a specialized assistant for the earwig linereading. Can't imagine RDJ would put up with a producer rushing him.

[@bassistmike1987]

Sherlock was his dialect coach. Avengers was done by his standin.

[@simonmandrakejones]

I wonder whether RDJ had to learn his lines for something like Oppenheimer. It really came across like he had to work at it

[@10538overture]

If you want a challenge, explain the rules of The Chase without visuals

[@wjoboogie]

odd the audio version is in a different order to this video ep....not a problem, just odd....i listened to half on the bus, then tried to watch the rest on vid, was a bit confusing

[@lynnedelacy2841]

My Turkish friend had problems with British use of ‘mostly’ He thought it meant the ultimate version of most rather than a qualifier

[@Graysonn1]

I still don't understand where the Poindexter insult comes from in the simpsons.

[@daviebananas1735]

Yeah I didn’t either. It’s from a genius nerd character in an old cartoon from the 50s.

[@nicr5911]

Isn't the reading the book with audio book 80s cassette and book

[@waiting4more]

90 seconds after saying 'quite' has a different meaning in America you were yourself using it to mean "a lot": "...you have to be quite careful on that"

[@krissbuddle]

In this studio, with the split screen presentation, Marina constantly looks, to her right, at something/someone we can't see. It's driving me mental! What/ Who is it???