Getting into Character and Being C.S. Lewis with Max McLean

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Hi there and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voiceover. I'm your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. How do you get into character? Joining me today is Max McLean, award winning actor and the artistic director and founder of Fellowship for the Performing Arts. Max is adapted for stage The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis Onstage the most reluctant convert the Great Divorce, Genesis and Mark's Gospel. His recent writing and producing credits include Martin Luther on Trial. And not to forget all of this, everybody, Max has been nominated for four awards from the Audio Publishers Association for his narration of the Listener's Bible. Max McLean's creative work has been cited with distinction by the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and CNN, to name a few. Welcome to the show, Max.

Max McLean:

Thank you very much.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Oh, such a pleasure to see you, Max. I know we've run into each other once after a production of The Most Reluctant Convert in New York and been in touch a little bit since, but just such a pleasure to speak with you today and to learn more about your process. So, Max, most people know C. S. Lewis because of the Chronicles of Narnia. Most famously, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Now, you've adapted a number of his works for the stage, what role does C.S. Lewis play in shaping your career?

Max McLean:

Well, for the last 15 to 20 years, pretty significantly because we've invested so much of our resources and of course, in any kind of artistic endeavor, there's a tremendous opportunity cost in the sense if you decide to do one thing, that means you can't do something else because there's such a focus and comment. So we started working on Screwtape back in 2004. We did our first production of Screwtape in 2006 and then that had a really long run. And we follow that up by several other Lewis books that we have adapted from the page to the stage. So I would say for the past 18 years Lewis has occupied a central place in my creative work.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

That's a long time to spend with one author, I must say. But when you find someone that you're really inspired by and you love their work, it's hard to leave it alone. So I know that you obviously have stage productions of these works, but you've also just recently created a film of the same ones. And as an actor and someone who is talented in other ways for producing and making these great shows, how is acting for the stage different?

Max McLean:

For acting for film, it's pretty significant. On stage, the imprint that the audience remembers is the voice whereas the imprint that the audience remembers in film is the image. So the actor is much more central to the theater process than in the film process. He has a lot more help, a lot more moving parts. The actual process of producing a film. Here we have two mediums, film and theater, using essentially the same script. And the process was completely different. In theater, you would start rehearsing maybe four to six weeks out, maybe more, and then at the performance, you start from the beginning, and you go until it's over all in one continuous flow, and it gains momentum in the process. Whereas in film, you're breaking it up into 100 different pieces, all out of order. Your concentration in theater, it becomes a marathon, whereas in film, you have these short little sprints, whether it be 30 seconds a minute, perhaps 90 seconds, rarely more than two minutes, and then you stop and do the same scene again from a different angle, then somebody else actually pieces it all together. So it's a completely different process. And I don't know how well I could have done it if I hadn't done the play beforehand, especially in terms of emotional continuity or making sure that you understood the character's motive and intent at that moment.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

And you have done such an amazing job in that. As I mentioned to you earlier, I've seen you do C.S. Lewis Onstage. I even bought a mug, and I love having my tea, and it'll tell you just the cutest little glasses on the back. But I just think it's so important that actors are fully invested in what they're doing, and that when they're telling stories, that they understand there's a difference between doing it for theater or for on camera, or if you're narrating an audiobook, which I know you're familiar with the audio side as well, so you've just spent so much time with C.S. Lewis. I can totally see it, just every little detail, as a Lewis fan watching you in the film, but also on stage, kind of repeating the way that C.S. Lewis would come into the classroom. He'd have a way of taking off his hat, his scarf, his coat, and then as he'd be leaving the classroom, he'd be trusting him, leaving, and just all of these neat little things that clearly you've picked up on, right? Like, as someone who's paying attention to detail, that's just amazing. So how did you get into the crafting of C.S. Lewis? And what makes this complex character, who, of course, is a real person, tick.

Max McLean:

Well, you always start with his words. And one of the great things that decisions that we made was not trying to invent words for Lewis, but getting the rights in the CS. Lewis estate to use his words. And it all begins with articulating his thoughts after him. Probably the most important thing I did when I was rehearsing or when I was writing the original script, it was based on his memoir, Surprised by Joy. And I took the time and the trouble to transcribe the whole book, because I wanted to think his thoughts after him, to follow his train, to follow why he took a particular moment this way instead of that way. Discover his sense of humor and how he turns phrases, all of that. And then, of course, when you get the costume designer and when you get the makeup designer to make you dress and look like him that also has an enormous effect on the way you walk, the way you carry yourself. All of that goes into bringing a character to life.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

So were there any tricks that you had for getting into the character?

Max McLean:

No, I wouldn't say tricks. I mean, acting is a very technical process in the sense that your voice, your body, your mind are your instruments. It's like a musical instrument that you learn to play. You have an impulse that goes into your mind and that sends a signal into your diaphragm and that sends up air through your lungs and through your vocal cords and through your articulators. And it impacts the breath and that impacts your emotion. And then it comes out into the air and it has to come out of the air into reach another person. Probably the main difference between film and theater is theater you have to overcome so much space, whereas in film, the camera is just inches in front of you in many cases, never much more than four or 5ft away. And so the close up is really intense and you feel like the camera will pick up any false moment. So you really have to be clear on what you're doing, why you're doing it, and make sure that it's as truthful as possible.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

I like that. Make sure that it's as truthful as possible. Because there are a lot of actors out there who take any role that comes to them or they'll do work that they don't actually agree with or they don't believe in what they're saying. And of course, there's a little bit of, I guess you could say, lack of authenticity in that way. But some actors will just say, I can do anything because I'm an actor. I'm just acting. It isn't really me. I can just take on this role and just pretend. So how does that work, Max? Because I know that you're an actor, but also you're behind the scenes in a lot of ways and helping people and directing them and getting to do, so is there anything to the whole, well, I'm just an actor. I can do it, and I don't have to believe what I'm saying? Or is there something that there's much more, I guess, intellectual and subconscious about this whole process that we're missing?

Max McLean:

I do think that you can create a character that you do not in your real life believe the way that person believes. I think that that's very doable. That is what it acting is. It is make believe. Children do it. They're not policemen. They're not firemen. Yet they play them because in a certain sense, they want to feel like, what does it feel like to be that person. And you use your imagination, you use your intellect, you do your studies, and you interpret, and that's how you create a character. I do think that when you have the added benefit of not just believing in real life, but taking your real life belief and putting it into the character, that does add another dimension to it. I'm not sure that means you're a better actor for that person, it just does add another dimension that you can play with and use. In my case, what it would mean is it really informs my decision making in terms of what I want to do. One of the main reasons I spent a lot of time with Lewis and other quote unquote religious works is because that's what I was interested in. Producers weren't necessarily producing those kinds of works, and they weren't serving that audience either. So I thought, ‘Well, I'll produce that work. I'll write it, I'll raise the money, and we'll try to find our audience.’ And it just so happened that we did.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yes. And that would be the Fellowship for the Performing Arts, is that right?

Max McLean:

Yeah. So we produce theater from a Christian worldview meant to engage an intellectually diverse audience, meaning we want to help people get a picture, get inside the Christian worldview in a way that perhaps if they don't live in that world, they can imagine what it's like. Blaise Pascal once said, ‘Make them want it to be true and then show them that it is.’ And so the way we do that in theater is to engage the imagination, because the imagination is the raw material of what we think about. If an idea or thought or scene doesn't really engage the imagination, it's not going to stir up the juices that make you want to reevaluate, because if it doesn't capture the imagination, it's not going to go anywhere else. You're not going to think about it.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Good stories always capture the imagination. And I was just thinking in your productions there and just knowing C.S. Lewis' own story and the walk at Magdalen, down at, what is it? Addison's Walk?

Max McLean:
Yes.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

So how he had friends with Hugo Dyson and of course, Tolkien and an assortment of others. I don't want to leave them all out, but yeah, he had a group of people that were the Inklings, and they inspired him, they inspired each other, and they certainly didn't all have the same worldview, but they were able to come together and share. And I think that that's something that's important as an artist, to be able to have a small group of people that you can connect with to kind of bounce your ideas off of, but also to be challenged by.

Max McLean:

Yeah, well, that's the role of friendship and colleagues at work. Lewis said, lovers look at each other, friends look side by side at the same thing. I think that one of the things that it's a fellowship of people who believe art and theater from a Christian worldview can engage the imagination and influence culture. So that's what we do.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Wonderful. So I know that there are other actors out there who probably want to do what you're doing in a way. They want to take a work that they were really inspired by, and they're like, ‘oh, I'd like to make this into a stage adaptation, or I don't want to make my own work, for that matter. Right, an audiobook and so on. Do you have any advice for them, like when you were getting started that you wish you knew about how to go about making your own work and present it to others?

Max McLean:

Right. I was invested in the work itself. I love doing the work. I was passionate about the work. I was focused on the work, and that made me create better work. And then when it was time to share the work with others, I started small. We had a small circle, an inner circle, and they shared it with others, and then the circles grew into larger circles, and it took a lot of time. So some people think I'm an overnight sensation, but that overnight sensation took 40 years, and that's kind of the nature of the work. Somebody wrote a book called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. It is a little bit that you're focused on something that you love, that you feel called to do, and you stick with it. And then slowly but surely, God opens doors. Do what you love, what you're passionate about and what you're good at. Sometimes you're passionate about things that you're not good at, and a lot of times your passion makes you good at it, makes you better because you stick with it. But if you're passionate about something and you're good at it, and opportunities come, those are the three things that have to happen.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

I love it when I see actors or any creative, really, doing what they really love, bringing their voice to their work, presenting it to others in a way that is really engaging and professional. And having seen not just the one show, I've actually seen two of the shows your theater company’s produced... Anytime I was in New York, Max, I tell you, ‘I was always like, what is FPA doing? I have to go see there's a show going on. I want to see it.’ And I have not seen Screwtape. You've got to bring it to Canada! Honestly, I've not seen it anyway. But that's like the one that I was super excited to. But that's what happens, is when you create work that lights the fire in other people, then they want to tell other people, they want to say, ‘Oh, my gosh, you gotta see this,’ or ‘this changed my life,’ or you pick up a book, or whatever it might be, that's the sort of way that you can affect change in the world. It's through telling stories, creating great content, and finding ways to connect with your audience in a way that is meaningful.

Max McLean:

Absolutely. And it starts with, we're a product of the thoughts we think, the books we read, the people we talk with, and that creates who we are. And it is out of that, that the overflow of that comes the work that we love and the work that we create.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

And it's a beautiful work. Like, oh, my goodness, I just like, I could spend all day in that little store that you had after you go buy things that reminded you of what you’ve just seen, the tote bag shirts and memories. In fact, today I'm wearing something from the Stratford Festival. You might have seen it just off camera there, but people just want to feel part of something. And I'm really glad that so many people have found what you're doing and also wish to be part of it. So, Max, before we go, I know this conversation is short, but just so lovely. Where can people go to learn more about what you do and your work?

Max McLean:

Sure. Probably the two easiest places would be our website, CSLewisMovie.com, or you can go to Amazon Prime. In fact, Amazon is going to have a big promotion on our film next week, I think, or a couple of weeks. Or for our stage, you can go to CSLewisOnstage.com. CSLewisOnstage.com.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

That's fabulous. So, yes, as I said, everyone, learn more about anything you'd like to learn about what you heard today. But, Max, thank you so much for joining us.

Max McLean:

Well, thank you very much for having me.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

It's a pleasure.

And that's the way we saw the world, through the lens of voice over this week, a special thank you to Max McLean, our special guest, for sharing his wisdom today on Vox Talk. Getting into character is one of the most exciting things for actors, but can also be a unique challenge. And I'm so glad that Max walked us through what you can do to be thinking of when creating a character and how to best approach it. Now, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to let me know, share it online or comment on our or social post. To join the conversation for Voices. I'm your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli. Vox Talk is produced by Geoff Bremner. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next week.