A Note on Robert Bresson's Notes

One of the books I’ve found most helpful to my work is Robert Bresson’sNotes on the Cinematographer. He refers to the actors in his films not as “actors,” but as “models,” because he sees the art of acting as something that gets in the way of the truth that is being shown. He writes:It would not be ridiculous to say to your models: “I am inventing you as you are.”

This reminds me of an interview I read with the actor Ray Winstone, in which he said that his friend Gary Oldman had been hel...