In terms of learning to act, there are very pragmatic things you can learn to do. If you do them like a recipe, you will be able to act a scene and act it well. So, in that regard, I don’t think it’s magical at all. The magical question relates back to: do some people have talent and others not? I don’t believe that’s the case: I believe anybody can learn anything about acting that they need to know to be a good actor.
