Uta Would have Frowned
If you have ever watched television in your lifetime, you have probably noticed that hard liquor is just not something you see much of being peddled in commercials. That is because for the past fifty years, makers of hard liquor have operated under a self imposed ban of advertising on tv. Then, there were actual rules put in place that someone cannot be shown in a commercial actually drinking wine or a beer. They can have it on the table to advertise it, but no one takes a sip.
In the movies, there were codes in place after the 1930s which regulated the portrayal of smoking and drinking. When the codes were lifted, smoking returned in fits and spurts. What I think that the old studio heads would roll over in their graves about are the goings on in films today. The film Pineapple Express not only discusses or implies drug use, but portrays it. Unlike many movies portraying addicts who “pretend” with baking soda, sugar, and other props, the actors in the movie are actually smoking. (?)
Okay, there is a technicality here. What they are smoking are scientifically altered hybrids from International Oddities. So TECHNICALLY they are legal as they are not the actual plants that are banned. Seth Rogan had mentioned it was used in every scene.
I subscribed to the Uta Hagen school and got “drunk” on stage drinking apple juice and flat ginger ale. There was also a famous encounter between Sir Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman had stayed up all night in order to appear he had stayed up all night for the film “Marathon Man.” I do not want to hack up the words of Olivier, so will paraphrase that he mentioned to Hoffman that they used to “just act” in his day.
As a Stanislavski, method trained actor, I wag my finger at this. Perhaps this is a stalemate. They have the world on the technicality that its not scientifically real, and they have me on the technicality that it technically ISN’T anything illegal and may smell slightly different, so they TECHNICALLY are acting.
I would like to see them use sliced carrots and let’s see them use their acting muscles. Touche’
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