Becoming an Actor (Interview w/ Christian Robertson)

Eli Price (00:03.304)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot of podcast where we do deep dives into directors and their filmographies I am your host Eli Price here on episode 53 of the podcast We are taking a break this week from our early Spielberg series covering his movies of the 70s and 80s And bringing back on our guests from last week Christian Robertson

to talk about, his experience in acting. we kind of, talked, last week, last week for you, like, you know, an hour or two ago for us. we Christian before we started, it was like, so we, do we pretend like this was a week ago? And I was like, yes and no, I like always break the fourth wall. Yeah. Yeah.

Christian Robertson (00:45.823)
Yeah

Christian Robertson (00:56.927)
Gotta have some podcast magic, you know.

Eli Price (01:00.904)
but yeah, so Christian is, is coming back on to that. We talked a little bit last week when I was introducing him about, his kind of like, acting, he, he says it's a hobby at this point. so if you're listening and you're like, man, I really like what this, this Christian guy is saying about acting. you know, he, he shared last week that his DMs are always open. get them on that casting call.

the next, the next star of your, blockbuster film, Christian Robertson. yeah. You know, it, you never know. You never know what can happen. but, but thanks for joining me again, Christian. I hope you're, you're still doing well after our long conversation, and all the controversy with the color purple.

Christian Robertson (01:36.339)
Yeah, I'll take that.

Christian Robertson (01:43.711)
Never know. Never know who's listening.

Christian Robertson (01:56.735)
Absolutely. Thanks for having me back, man. I really appreciate you bringing me back on the pod. I survived.

Eli Price (02:00.552)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:04.104)
Yeah, you survived. You survived the color purple talk. so yeah. but yeah, I thought, you know, Christian is a friend of mine. I know he's, he's done some, the way I put it, I think last week was that you dabbled in acting. and, but yeah, you, you've, so you've been on, some like bigger movie sets.

Christian Robertson (02:24.063)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (02:33.576)
in like kind of maybe smaller extra and extra roles. And also done some like lead roles in some short films. And am I correct in my memory that you've been in some commercials? So yeah, you've had your feet in some different areas. So.

Christian Robertson (02:43.487)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (02:50.623)
Yeah, correct.

I dabbled. Yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (02:59.08)
I thought it would be fun to bring Christian on and give us some insight into the acting, the world of acting. Some insight that I personally don't have because I've never acted. So yeah, we're going to ask Christian some questions, get some insight so that we can, when we're talking about these films, maybe we can dissect the acting a little bit better. But yeah.

Christian Robertson (03:10.591)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (03:26.335)
Yeah, bring it on, man.

Eli Price (03:27.624)
But I guess we should start at the beginning. What, what was it? And I think I've heard this story. I think you've told me this story before. And so I'm excited. I'm interested to see if you're going to tell the truth to the audience on, but what, what first sparked your interest in, in acting and performing? Was it, was it like a particular movie or play or performer? Where did this all begin?

Christian Robertson (03:34.399)
Hahaha.

Christian Robertson (03:53.567)
So this began, you, trying to think if I can lie real fast because, no, but I'm actually, I'm not ashamed of it, I'm not. So this began, let's go back to, it had to be, I was in high school. It was the spring of 2006.

Eli Price (04:01.352)
No, no shame no shame I know you're not yeah

Christian Robertson (04:24.479)
I believe that's the correct year, 2006. It was my sophomore year in high school. High School Musical was released and I was a basketball player. I was on the basketball team and I just figured, you know, I'm gonna watch this because it's a basketball movie, right? And I love Disney, you know, watched all the D -coms on Fridays and all of that stuff. So this was a basketball one. I didn't even...

Eli Price (04:46.472)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (04:51.455)
realized it was a musical, even though they had a high school musical in the name. But I watched it on that Friday night and I was like, that's what I want to do. I want to be an actor. Like right then and there. So that Monday, I go to the theater teacher who's putting on a spring musical. She happened to be my English teacher at the time as well. I'm like, hey, Ms. Mittens.

Eli Price (05:03.976)
Yeah.

Eli Price (05:10.28)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (05:20.479)
Is there any way to get me into the play? And she told me, hey, someone actually just dropped out. You can audition. And if you get the role, you can be in it. So I'm like, okay, perfect. So I auditioned, get the role. And I'm like, hey, you got to talk to my basketball coach. And so she talks to him and he says, you can do it, but you better not miss basketball practice for this crap. So it was like,

Eli Price (05:37.544)
Yeah.

Eli Price (05:45.64)
Hey.

Christian Robertson (05:47.551)
literally a real life high school musical thing going on, you know? And so I go through it, go through the auditions, you know, and I've done like little small plays, you know, growing up here and there, you know, like school things and little things in class. But that moment was the time I realized I really want to do this. And I had a blast that first.

Eli Price (05:52.328)
Yeah.

Eli Price (06:01.416)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (06:13.407)
Then I ended up getting the lead role by next year and another leading role my senior year. A classmate of mine, she did a senior project and it was like a, it was a film and she shot it, you know, and I got a role in that and that was technically my first film role, you know, a high school thing. Yeah, it counts, you know, we had a movie poster for it and everything, you know.

Eli Price (06:32.456)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Hey, it counts.

Eli Price (06:40.072)
There you go.

Christian Robertson (06:41.087)
Shout out to Chris Daisy, good buddy of mine. So yeah, that was how it started and I just absolutely love it.

Eli Price (06:51.144)
Yeah. No, I think it's like an incredible origin story of you, like basically seeing high school musical and, and basically like constructing that plot line for yourself, in real life. I think it's, yeah, I think it's just very maniacal of you to, have constructed that scenario for yourself. no, I love it. I wasn't a high school musical person.

Christian Robertson (07:02.275)
Yeah, yeah.

Christian Robertson (07:12.159)
Yeah

Christian Robertson (07:17.295)
You should be.

Eli Price (07:20.2)
personally myself, but you know, that's on me, you know, that's so yeah, I love it. I love that. I think it's a great I really like that story. I know you're not yet. That's why I knew you would tell it. I knew you wouldn't tell a lie. But yeah, so, so,

Christian Robertson (07:26.591)
It is.

Christian Robertson (07:34.207)
Yeah, I'm not ashamed of it. I tell people on set.

Eli Price (07:46.984)
As you are getting into acting and, like, so, you know, eventually you're not in high school doing, you know, high school plays anymore. what, what was some of the stuff you did maybe, did you do any in college or, did you start like getting back into it like after college? What were some of the next sort of things you did after high school?

Christian Robertson (07:50.079)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (07:57.951)
Right.

Christian Robertson (08:14.079)
So it's funny because I have this extreme high that I'm coming off of in high school. I decided to go to college. I was going to major in sports medicine and I was going to double major in theater because, hey, I just, you know, went through theater in high school, loved it. I want to, you know, maybe be an actor someday or whatever. And my advisor sat me down and he was like, you're going to be in school forever if you double major in

Eli Price (08:20.264)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (08:42.559)
theater and sports medicine. Because sports medicine, we had a clinical program, kind of like nursing, you know, so we had our classes, but then we spend hours and hours on the field training in hospitals, you know, whatever. So I was like, okay, you know more than me. So I had to let my theater acting dream go for a real quote unquote job.

Eli Price (08:44.072)
Yeah.

Eli Price (08:48.296)
Right.

Eli Price (08:53.8)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (09:03.432)
Man.

Eli Price (09:08.2)
Yeah, yeah.

Christian Robertson (09:09.503)
And so I didn't do anything in college. I tried out for one play in the theater department, didn't get it. I did take a theater course. I took another acting course, you know, but it was more of the history of it, you know. But I did like little skits here and there with the campus ministry I was involved with. But outside of that, nothing throughout college, unfortunately. It wasn't until after

Eli Price (09:22.792)
Sure, yeah.

Eli Price (09:28.474)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (09:33.352)
Yeah, yeah.

Christian Robertson (09:38.079)
I graduated college a year after my wife and I, we moved to Denver. We were serving at a church plant, but we were working our normal jobs. I was working in a clinic as an athletic trainer, you know, doing physical therapy and covering some sports at a local high school in the area. And we had this patient who, she was big into theater and she had a knee injury.

Eli Price (09:50.665)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (10:06.783)
And the whole reason she was coming to us was to get her ready for her production of Into the Woods. So she had to be able to dance and twirl and stuff like that. So we had to get her ready for that. And having those conversations, you know, three times a week, she encouraged me like, hey, you should get back into it. So she encouraged me to go try out for this play. It was To Kill a Mockingbird, actually. And I get to the second callback.

Eli Price (10:14.312)
Yeah.

Eli Price (10:25.384)
Yeah.

Eli Price (10:33.064)
Okay.

Christian Robertson (10:36.383)
and I didn't get the role, but I met so many people there. They're exchanging information and that led me to audition for some film projects with some students at Denver University. And that was my first introduction to film acting, which that was always the goal for me. And, you know, that's kind of where it took off from there.

Eli Price (10:39.688)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (10:48.52)
Cool, yeah.

Eli Price (10:55.752)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, yeah. Very cool. Yeah. And so, so did you, so I know you've done some, like, some acting, like coaching and stuff like that. did you start doing that around this time or was that later?

Christian Robertson (11:18.719)
So outside of what I learned in high school, I didn't have any coaching or any teaching. It wasn't until I moved back to Lafayette in 2016, I auditioned for this short film. And the person I taped the audition with, she happened to be helping with the casting. And her name is Rachel Whittle. And I ended up getting the role.

Eli Price (11:25.)
Yeah.

Eli Price (11:43.688)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (11:47.999)
And it's funny, it's a blessing how that whole thing happened. The casting call was closed, but they haven't found the, they didn't find the person yet. I asked if I could submit late. They said, yeah. And then I just happened to be the person. Hey, we want to go with you. And so she helped me so much in that audition. And then she became my acting coach. So I still take classes with her to this day. She's been, you know, so instrumental in this whole acting.

Eli Price (12:02.536)
Yeah.

Eli Price (12:16.968)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (12:17.087)
Sharon is for me, you know, I get to work with her very often, you know, on commercials and other projects we have going on. She's taught me so much. I'm very grateful to her. I tell her all the time, like, hey, you, a big reason while I'm able to live out this acting dream. So thank you very much.

Eli Price (12:36.584)
Yeah. Yeah. What is that? What are like some of the maybe exercises that you do with like acting coaches and stuff like that? Just to give us like maybe like a bird's eye view of what that looks like.

Christian Robertson (12:53.375)
Yeah, so everyone's different, right? So, and I've taken classes with a couple of different other coaches just to get, you know, different perspectives and such like that are people that she's connected with. And some things, you know, with acting, the big key is to not act, you know, like you want it to be,

Eli Price (13:05.512)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (13:19.752)
Right, yeah.

Christian Robertson (13:22.335)
as authentic as possible. So one of the things we work on is this thing called thought to thought. So if we are reading a script, we want to actually think these lines that we're seeing. So if I'm saying a line, I need to be able to think what that motivation is behind it, because the camera catches everything.

Eli Price (13:24.328)
Yeah.

Eli Price (13:43.24)
Yeah.

Eli Price (13:52.168)
Right.

Christian Robertson (13:52.287)
And so the camera is going to catch if I'm just saying lines. The camera is also going to catch like, he actually thought about what he was about to say. You can see he's thinking about, hey, who were you with last night? You know, you can tell, the audience can tell. So we go over things like that, you know, how to make it as authentic as possible. Also, what is our motivation behind what we say? You know, what do we ultimately want?

Eli Price (13:55.752)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (14:06.504)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (14:22.495)
we going into the scene like, hey, ultimately we want you to get on the bus and go home. So everything that we say in this scene, every line, we have to remember that motivation of what we want the other character to do. So a lot of, exactly, exactly. So a lot of that type of stuff, a lot of scene studies, audition studies, you know.

Eli Price (14:36.072)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, your body language and everything. Yeah. Yeah.

Eli Price (14:51.368)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (14:52.575)
doing a scene is different than auditioning for the part. So we have to learn how to move with the camera and where the camera is. A lot of times in auditions, we're not even talking to a real person. So we have to make it seem as authentic and real as possible.

Eli Price (14:56.936)
Gotcha.

Eli Price (15:05.992)
Yeah.

Eli Price (15:12.872)
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there's some of like, I'm sure there's a lot of adjusting to pretending the camera's not there too. Yeah. Cause yeah, I remember in the, the, I think it was the Nolan series, you know, he's all into like doing everything as practical as possible. And so like that even goes down to like camera zoom or like closeups. And so like,

Christian Robertson (15:23.775)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always know where the camera is, but never look at it.

Christian Robertson (15:42.559)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (15:43.208)
There's a scene in the movie Insomnia with Al Pacino and the camera, like when you watch the behind the scenes, the camera's like in his face. Like literally right in front of his face. And like, to me, I'm like, I would be like so focused on pretending that the camera wasn't in my face that I don't feel like I could act very well.

Christian Robertson (15:54.559)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (16:12.584)
no.

Eli Price (16:21.672)
Are you back?

Christian Robertson (16:22.943)
Yeah, I'm back.

Eli Price (16:25.032)
Okay. My internet kind of, I don't know if it was mine or yours, but it kind of cut out. Okay. I'll jump back into where we were. Yeah. I don't know if I could like actually act out that scene and just pretend that the camera wasn't right in my face. You know, I'm sure there's a lot of that kind of just getting used to a camera being in front of you, even if it's not.

Christian Robertson (16:42.494)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (16:46.591)
Right.

Eli Price (16:54.44)
in your face. Literally.

Christian Robertson (16:56.127)
Right, it takes practice, a lot of rehearsal and I can practice something and feel like I have it down so well, you know, how I want to do it, you know, but once the camera is there, it's different, you know, because you kind of get a little self -conscious and stuff. But one thing a coach told us was like, hey,

Eli Price (16:59.944)
Hmm.

Eli Price (17:07.674)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (17:22.271)
Are you practicing like your facial expressions and stuff like that? Like, no, just be a real person, you know, whatever would happen in a normal conversation about whatever you're talking about, just let that happen. You don't need to like snarl your mouth or do these little things, these acting things, just be a real person.

Eli Price (17:27.464)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli Price (17:40.264)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, so what, another like thing that really like kind of pertains to the endeavor of this podcast, which is digging into, you know, directors and kind of following them through their filmographies. As an actor, what is your, what has been your experience with like different directors and like their, their

I guess their styles and their personalities. What has been like your experience as far as that goes?

Christian Robertson (18:24.383)
Yeah, so I've been able to work with some great directors and there's a difference with sometimes when I'm working on a commercial compared to a short film. You know, commercials are usually, you know, designed to be turned around real quick. So there's not a lot of time for the director to really do a whole lot of coaching. You know, it's like,

Eli Price (18:40.808)
Sure, yeah.

Eli Price (18:47.368)
Yeah.

Eli Price (18:52.68)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (18:53.695)
Hey, line up here, let's get this line, let's get this action. All right, good to go, moving on. So it's a lot of, hey, it's all in your hands. If it looks good on camera, we're probably gonna go with it. Maybe they'll give you a little tips if you need to say something differently, but a lot of the times on a commercial shoot, it's all up to you, whatever you're bringing to the table. Now, with a film, you may get a director who's...

Eli Price (19:00.232)
Yeah, yeah.

Christian Robertson (19:23.199)
more of like a player coach, which I really like. I like a lot of hands -on to where if the director sees, because they know the story, they know how they wanna shoot it, and they know a lot of the motivations that they wanna have carried out. So they'll come up to you and say like, hey,

Eli Price (19:29.768)
Mm.

Eli Price (19:38.408)
huh.

Christian Robertson (19:49.791)
Let's talk about this scene or let's talk about this line. Like, here's what I'm thinking. Here's what this character is probably thinking of. And so I love that collaboration because that helps me a lot because I can come in with something, you know, in my rehearsal time or whatever, but it'd be completely different than what the director is wanting or is looking for. And we just have to be flexible with that. And...

Eli Price (20:01.768)
Cool. Yeah.

Eli Price (20:14.888)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (20:18.847)
you know, be coachable, you know, and then be able to change things and be, you know, you know, be flexible with that. I think that you do run into some directors who are a little more hard -nosed. It makes it a little harder to, you know, be free, you know, because they're very specific on what they want.

Eli Price (20:35.432)
Yeah, sure.

Eli Price (20:45.544)
Sure.

Christian Robertson (20:48.575)
But you just sort of roll with it. But my favorite directors are the ones who really dig in with you and really talk about the history of the character, the motivations, you know, all of those things. And it all ultimately helps the story.

Eli Price (21:00.328)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (21:06.888)
Yeah, yeah, that's cool. One of the things I was thinking of while you were saying that is, so when I was doing the Wes Anderson series, so you know, his characters are very like,

Christian Robertson (21:17.407)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (21:25.192)
They're like very...

They have very strong personalities a lot of the time and they're like kind of, like overemphasize certain aspects of their personalities. But then also like, with his dialogue, he, he's such, his films are so like precise. so like the dialogue is like set up and like, even like timed to set up like this returning dialogue or this joke or this situation. And so like,

Christian Robertson (21:32.863)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (21:38.879)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (21:46.655)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (21:58.376)
One of the things I came across was actors talking about how There's not really like you don't really do improv with With Wes Anderson when you're acting on his films But they like they kind of came around to how within that structure though and not having to like improv they kind of had more freedom to

Christian Robertson (22:13.215)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (22:28.456)
run with the role. and I thought that was super interesting, like how you would think it would be the opposite. Like you would feel more freedom if you could like improv and do this, but they're the insight that they were kind of some of the actors were sharing was that because like when you showed up on set, he had everything so planned out, like even to like, this is the line of dialogue. And like, if you, if you like change,

Christian Robertson (22:33.791)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (22:51.871)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (22:58.12)
his line of dialogue, he'll be like, no, you got to say it. You got to say it exactly like it's written sort of thing. what, because he had all that so like structured and exact, they kind of were free to just like say the lines and act like, and kind of like bring themselves to it. I don't know. Does that ring true for you? What have you had like experiences like that where you kind of.

Christian Robertson (23:01.023)
Thank you.

Yeah.

Christian Robertson (23:14.975)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (23:25.736)
You found like, I guess, freedom within the boundaries and the structure and the discipline, I guess.

Christian Robertson (23:29.631)
this structure.

Christian Robertson (23:33.855)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you just hit it on the head because I was going to say there's freedom for me. There's freedom and structure. So I love one acting coach that, you know, if you get a script, you get the job, you know, you go in word perfect. So word for word, whatever's on the script, don't try to improvise anything. Don't leave out a word, add something else. Do it exactly as the script says.

Eli Price (23:42.728)
Yeah.

Eli Price (24:03.592)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (24:04.703)
And then with that, you'll learn to have some freedom. You'll learn if the director wants you to be exactly word perfect, like the Wes Anderson, or if you can get some freedom in there. But for me, I work best whenever I know exactly what I'm saying, exactly what the other character is saying, and then being able to get a little freedom into that. Maybe the cadence is a little different.

Eli Price (24:14.664)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (24:32.456)
Yeah. Yeah. What you bring, yeah. What you bring to it, like with your distinct, like style and persona and that within that structure is what makes it unique, I guess.

Christian Robertson (24:33.663)
we can change that up from take to take.

Christian Robertson (24:44.287)
Take.

Exactly, because I can give you the same script as myself, and we can bring two different things to the table.

Eli Price (24:52.776)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (24:57.096)
Yeah, we can both be saying the exact same words, but it have a totally different feel. Yeah.

Christian Robertson (25:01.311)
Yeah, right. I remember one role I went for that I ended up winning, getting the job for. The reason they chose me because I had a more drama feel to it. And the other person was saying the same lines, but they had a more comedic delivery to it. For the film, it was more drama, more serious.

Eli Price (25:17.416)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (25:23.752)
Mm.

Christian Robertson (25:28.831)
So that's why they went with me instead. So kind of to your point, you can have the same dialogue, the same words, but what you bring, how you deliver it, what you emphasize all makes a difference.

Eli Price (25:33.416)
Yeah.

Eli Price (25:42.084)
Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, ultimately, like one of the things maybe that we, we don't talk about when we talk about acting is like not getting the roles that won't be good for you. So like if they did need a more comedic thing for that and they just went with you, maybe because like, you were closer to someone in casting than the other guy. Like it could, it could like hurt maybe like.

Christian Robertson (25:55.391)
Mm.

Christian Robertson (26:06.559)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (26:12.008)
the film as a whole because like, you're not delivering it the way that it needs to be delivered. and also like, then someone sees that and be like, well, that guy's not a great actor when really it's not that it's just like, you weren't a good fit for the role. And I think, I think sometimes we, we, maybe it's like a blessing when you don't get a role because you don't, you don't like, you don't want to have a role where you don't fit. Like what is, what the vision is, you know?

Christian Robertson (26:18.559)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (26:32.415)
Yeah.

Eli Price (26:41.96)
But I don't, I don't guess like you hear that talked about a whole lot is, I, I've come across it a few times. Like, there was a, there was a Spielberg film where he wanted, I'm blanking on the, which film it was and what the, it was, I think it was for Close Encounters. There was an actor he wanted for the lead character and, but the character at one point, like, is like cries and something. And.

Christian Robertson (26:46.623)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (27:05.375)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (27:11.592)
The actor was like, you know, Hey, you know, I love this role. I think it's a great character, but like, I just, like, I don't, I can't cry really on film. He's like, I, I don't, I just can't, I've never been able to really do it. so I can't do the role and Spielberg was like, we'll take that out. And the guy, the actor was like, no, no, no, no. he was like, no, it needs it. Like the care, like the story from what I've read, like that's perfect.

Christian Robertson (27:22.079)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (27:27.743)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (27:33.951)
Yeah.

you

Eli Price (27:41.288)
It just needs to not be me. And I, I thought that was like so self -aware and like, he recognized that if, if they tried to force him into this role, the movie would have been lesser for it. And I thought that was really cool.

Christian Robertson (27:43.327)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (27:54.303)
Yeah. Right.

Yeah, I think there's a certain level of, sure, you want to get the job, but ultimately, you want to tell a good story. You know, so you want the, you want, you want to play to your strengths. Everybody wants to do that, you know, so you, the job for the director and the casting is to have the actors in the best role for the story, you know, there's.

Eli Price (28:07.304)
Sure.

Eli Price (28:12.68)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (28:27.071)
I was working on this project and, you know, our audition for this one role, I didn't get it, you know, and I ended up getting another role. And at first I was, you know, bummed out about it. Like, man, you know, I was really hoping to get that role. But then I got this other role and it ended up turning into like a really sweet, sweet role, you know, and.

Eli Price (28:45.64)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (28:55.263)
And I was grateful for it, you know, and I felt like, okay, this was the character for me, you know, and for the story. And when you also see the person who ended up playing the role that you originally went for, like, yeah, they perfect for that role, so yeah.

Eli Price (28:57.064)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (29:03.304)
Sure, yeah. Yeah.

Eli Price (29:13.32)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's really cool. What, I guess a couple more questions. What, when you're like preparing for a role, like what do you do? Like, is it, how do you, I guess how do you prepare or research? And then like, once you get through that, like what is...

usually like the biggest challenge for you personally and like taking on that character, you know.

Christian Robertson (29:45.183)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot to that one. So, read the script so many times, you know, just to get every smidgen of detail that you can about your character, about the other characters, what they're doing, you know, so that's one thing. The second thing is, I was taught to, you know, come up with a background for your character.

Eli Price (29:56.456)
Yeah.

Eli Price (30:16.648)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (30:17.279)
You know, even though you may not get a bunch of that in the script itself, it's good to come in with something like, hey, these are my core motivations. Like maybe my character, you know, was raised in a single parent home and this is my motivation. This is how I operate in a lot of different things, you know? So kind of, Ms. Rachel taught us, you know, to, you know, journal out your life a little bit, you know, as that character.

Eli Price (30:24.712)
Yeah.

Eli Price (30:34.728)
Mm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (30:46.632)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (30:47.199)
And that helps. So that's part of my process. I will say the harder things, you know, because I am a believer. And so I think one of the things to navigate is when I'm auditioning for a role or I'm in a film or something like that, that doesn't necessarily...

My personal beliefs are, you know, whatever, or maybe the language or something like that. That's a little tough, you know, and I have to make decisions like, okay, is this something I want to go for or is this something I should pass up because it's a little too far for me personally. You know, I would say those are some of the harder decisions to make.

Eli Price (31:20.2)
Sure, yeah.

Eli Price (31:25.16)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (31:38.216)
Sure, yeah.

Christian Robertson (31:42.655)
because again, you want the job, but then if I can't have peace and have fun doing a role, then it's not the role for me, you know, because, you know, I have a family that I'm representing and I have morals and stuff like that. And I'm not saying every set is bad or anything like that, but you know, you.

Eli Price (31:42.696)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (31:47.976)
Yeah.

Eli Price (31:53.864)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (31:58.12)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli Price (32:04.36)
Yeah. Yeah. It's everybody's personal, like lines that they're willing to cross. Like everybody has those or, or they, like they should, you know, they should have thought you, everyone should have fought at least through like, what are the lines I will and won't cross, you know? yeah.

Christian Robertson (32:11.871)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Christian Robertson (32:23.987)
Right. Exactly. And so that's a big part because I want to, you know, do the character justice and I don't want anything holding me back, you know, so if I feel like I would be held back then, you know, I kind of reassess and maybe go in a different direction. I also think that one thing that I do that I learned is to kind of bring my personality.

Eli Price (32:31.784)
Yeah.

Eli Price (32:39.848)
Mm -hmm.

Christian Robertson (32:52.831)
to the character, you know, like, what is it about me that I can bring to this character? And the more that I can sort of, quote unquote, be myself in that character, I think the better the character can be, so.

Eli Price (32:54.311)
Yeah.

Eli Price (32:58.376)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (33:07.656)
Yeah, because it feels less like acting and more just like you being. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's good. how, what about this? How, are there any like interesting anecdotes or like memorable moment moments from being on a set that, that you would like to share before we kind of wrap up?

Christian Robertson (33:11.207)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Christian Robertson (33:41.343)
I would say...

One.

Christian Robertson (33:50.303)
This particular moment was in a class, I will talk about. But I was really struggling with just relaxing in the scene that we were going over. And the teacher had both of us lay on the floor and was like, OK, now I want you to go through the scene. So kind of took away any actions that we were doing. You know.

Eli Price (34:02.728)
Sure.

Eli Price (34:15.624)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (34:16.415)
took away all of that. I just want you to lay on the floor and go through the scene like that. And it was revolutionary for me because I had to put myself in a different head space. I had to do the work without being very physical. And it did help me to relax because I was on my back, hand was across my chest. And it just gave me this calmness to get to where I needed to be. So I think that was a...

Eli Price (34:29.096)
Hmm.

Eli Price (34:33.896)
Mm -hmm.

Eli Price (34:38.6)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (34:45.535)
That was a big turning point for me. You know, sometimes I kind of practice that on my own, you know, if I'm loving lines or, you know, just having a hard time. But I will say the second thing, I was on a set once and I had to essentially run into this bush. It was a comedic thing. And the director pulled me to the side. He was like, okay, here's...

Eli Price (34:49.096)
Yeah.

Okay, yeah.

Eli Price (35:07.528)
Okay.

Christian Robertson (35:14.943)
Here's what I want you to think about. You know how you get out the shower and the shower curtain maybe like touches you and it's like kind of icky because it's still wet and stuff like that? That's what I want you to imagine like you're running into and you like you kind of like sniff your arm a little bit. You're like, you know, and you kind of react to that. And it was just something so simple, so funny, you know, and it just made the scene work, you know, and so it's.

Eli Price (35:25.256)
Yeah.

Eli Price (35:31.784)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, just silly, yeah.

Christian Robertson (35:44.799)
It doesn't have to be grand things like, hey, you need to be this character for two weeks before you come in, you know, at the end of the day, it's just acting, you know, it could be these small things that kind of get you there, you know, and it just think about real life.

Eli Price (35:47.208)
Right, yeah.

Eli Price (35:52.936)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (35:59.048)
Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. Awesome. Well, before we go, do you want to give any like, encouragements or maybe tips for people that are interested in like breaking into acting?

Christian Robertson (36:15.231)
Yeah, for sure. If it's a dream, do it. You know, you shy little buff, you know, you say, just do it, you know, whatever. But literally find someone who's doing it. Talk to them like, hey, I see you're doing this. I see you're doing commercials. You're talking about these types of things. Where do I start? You know, so humble yourself and make that connection. Find a, you know, a coach.

Eli Price (36:22.472)
Yeah.

Eli Price (36:32.424)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Make connections. Yeah.

Christian Robertson (36:44.831)
or someone who's connected in the industry and kind of get some wisdom from them. They'll lead you in the right direction. Also, whenever you do start getting on sets, just be humble and treat everybody with respect. There's so many people who are working to make the story come alive, the lighting, costume, makeup.

Eli Price (37:08.168)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (37:11.103)
director, assistant directors, everyone, treat them all with respect. It's a community. And also, just due to training, due to work, to get better, it's a craft and you can always get better. So learn as much as you can. But definitely, if you know someone who's doing it, talk to them, see how you can get in. And it doesn't have to be, I need to run into this big director to get...

Eli Price (37:14.024)
It's a community, yeah.

Eli Price (37:24.808)
Mm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (37:38.696)
You're right.

Christian Robertson (37:38.911)
started, it's not that. It's as simple as, hey, I'm going to go sign up for my first class and just learn what acting is.

Eli Price (37:47.368)
Yeah. Yeah. Just start, start doing something. Yeah. You know, get, you know, get, talk to your basketball coach and your, your high school drama teacher and, you know, work out a high school musical scenario for yourself. If that's, if that's your, your thing, you know,

Christian Robertson (37:51.007)
Just start, yes.

Christian Robertson (37:57.823)
Yep.

Christian Robertson (38:05.183)
Yeah, that's what it takes, you know. There's a lot of, you know, local theater stuff going on in your town. So there's a lot of ways to get connected.

Eli Price (38:12.968)
Yeah, -huh.

Eli Price (38:17.72)
yeah, for sure. And, and I mean, honestly, like we live in a day where like, you can just film yourself like, and start a YouTube channel. like there, there's like, so there, so many less barriers than there used to be to, to filmmaking and acting and all that. So, yeah, put yourself out there, you know, you don't have.

Christian Robertson (38:28.127)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Christian Robertson (38:39.231)
Exactly.

Eli Price (38:47.696)
like look for those connections and make those connections, but like you don't even have to wait for those. Like just start, you know, putting yourself out there and yeah, YouTube is, it's free to upload stuff to YouTube, you know.

Christian Robertson (39:04.191)
Exactly. You can make your own stuff. I literally worked on a project just recently and the director, her whole motivation behind it was, hey, I kept, you know, being passed up on things for a season. So I just decided to do my own thing. And that's how we all ended up on the set, you know, to make her movie, you know. So you can definitely.

Eli Price (39:25.704)
Yeah.

Eli Price (39:29.832)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (39:34.207)
take things into your own hands and start creating things.

Eli Price (39:35.912)
Yeah, we all, you know, you can make actually good looking films just with your iPhone. That's incredible. Even like, yeah, even big directors have done it. Like Steven Soderbergh has like a few movies that he shot on his iPhone and he's like a big director. So like it can happen, you know.

Christian Robertson (39:44.383)
And then people.

Christian Robertson (39:52.735)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

it can happen and then you can discuss their movie on your pod.

Eli Price (40:02.472)
Yeah. Yeah, I will. I, yeah, hit me up and I'll bring, maybe bring you on. but yeah, Christian, I really, really appreciate the insights. I learned some things, with, with this little interview and I'm sure other people did too. yeah, appreciate the insights. I appreciate, you,

Christian Robertson (40:10.527)
Yeah.

Christian Robertson (40:24.767)
Yeah.

Eli Price (40:31.656)
surviving that color purple talk with me last week. And, yeah, yeah, it's been, been really fun having you on for these episodes. And, you know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll have you back for, for another time, when I get into another series, but, we'll, we'll, we'll see, you know, love it. but, yeah, that's all we have for, for this, this acting discussion with Christian.

Christian Robertson (40:34.143)
Hey, I had a blast with that.

Christian Robertson (40:44.511)
You

Hey, well, maybe I'll come back.

Eli Price (41:01.16)
we're going to be jumping back into our Spielberg series next week with Empire of the Sun, looking at a young Christian Bale. excited about, finally feeling in that blind spot for myself. so yeah, you can be looking forward to that episode next week, but until then I've been Eli Price for Christian Robertson. You've been listening to the Establishing Shot. We will see you next time.

Christian Robertson (41:31.071)
Had a great time, thanks.