By: Valeria Castanaro
During the 92nd St Y Event, “An Evening with Sideny Lumet”, Mr. Lumet made several insightful comments regarding the inspiration behind his vision in portraying the moral situations that unfold in his movies, most of which have to do with some kind of dilemma with the legal system. I was unaware that prior to directing, Mr. Lumet was an actor, and it was a comment he made while discussing his decision to leave acting for directing that most stuck with me. He said that he had to give up acting because it was just too hard for him to give so much fo himself to his work. I think that it is easy for the public to forget that for those professionals for whom acting is truly an art, it is an exhausting profession becuase of the amount of self the actor has to devote to the role. Every emotion that the character portrays to the audience comes from somewhere inside the actor, from some personal experience.
While Mr. Lumet was discussing this concept, I was reminded of the common analogy that is drawn between litigation attorneys and actors. There is a common perception among the public that truly great lawyers are really just good actors because they are able to draw the jury into their side by being convincing, etc. Additionally, I think this perception comes from the notion that the public thinks good lawyers are actors because they are being fake in the courtroom to get the legal result they desire. This is so far removed from the Mr. Lumet’s concept of the acting profession. So it stands to reason, if lawyers are truly meant to share the stage with professional actors, shouldn’t they be giving of their personal lives and experiences and devoting a degree of themselves to their work to achieve a moral remedy for their client instead of “acting” in a manner that they think will achieve the desired legal result? If lawyers are going to be continued to be equated with actors who truly treat their careers and roles as a profession, then I think most lawyers will have to dig a little deeper into who they are to connect with their client and their client’s situation, and that inevitably involves looking beyond the purely legal aspects of any case to considering and understanding the moral ramifications of the client’s situation. Sure, lawyers as a group would continue to be overworked and perpetually tired – but being “tired” from delving into your humanity and deeper self to better serve your clients will ultimately make you a better person as opposed to being tired from baseless “acting”.
