Field of Dreams
"You like me. You really like."
Yes. We all remember that speech.
We all remember the awkward reaction from the audience.
We've all seen the parodies and heard the jokes.
It was 1984 and Sally Field had just won the OSCAR for BEST ACTRESS for Places in the Heart. Her speech was emotional and honest and I think that's where the awkwardness came from.
I think I can say with some certainty that nobody was upset that she had won the OSCAR. Field's performance in Places in the Heart is a heart-breaking and fierce. The awkwardness after she said 'You like me. You really like me" wasn't because people thought she was weird or crazy or egotistical or whatever.
In my opinion, the awkward applause and weird energy from those in the audience after she uttered that now infamous phrase, was a reaction to honesty.
Field spoke the truth and some people just can't handle the truth.
(Hello Lt. Kaffee!)
Let's address a few points first.
All actors are weird.
We are. Anybody who says differently is full of shit.
And I'm not talking rubs peanut butter all over themselves and humps mailboxes weird, I'm just saying we're all a little weird.
You ever hear some of your favorite actors on talk shows or read interview they give?
Weird. Weird. Weird.
(Hello Shia LeBeouf!)
All of us. We're weird. We all have our stuff to deal with and a lot of us that stuff in our work. It's therapy for us.
So Sally Field is incredibly talented and one of my favorite people to see on screen. She's probably a little weird, just like the rest of us. No harm. No foul.
Being weird had nothing to do with her reaction to winning that OSCAR though.
She was excited and thrilled and overcome with emotion and in a moment within all of that, she let the wall down and she said something honest...from the heart.
More importantly, she said something every person-every actor-in that room that night had thought more than once in their lives.
You like me. You really like me.
Every actor wants to be liked.
If an actor says he or she doesn't care if anybody likes them, they're full of shit too.
Every actors wants to be liked.
It's what we work for and what we hope for and what we want.
We want casting directors to like us.
We want the directors and the producers to like us.
We want the audience to like us.
Can you be unlikeable and still find work? Of course. That doesn't mean the actor or actress who is being deemed unlikeable doesn't want to be liked. It just means they're going about it in the wrong way.
The trick, as an actor, is to not give in to the voice whispering in your ear, "I hope they like us. I really want them to like us. Oh God I want them to like us."
Just do the work and do it the best you can. Everything else is out of your control.
It's not you they need to like. It's what you do when you step onto the stage or in front of the camera because it's not you they're interested in. It's in the character you're auditioning to be.
You can't take rejection personally.
I know. It's to easy to say that but it's the truth. It's hard hearing you didn't get a part. The first thing we all say, deep in those places inside of us where such thoughts are allowed, is, "They didn't like me."
No. They didn't like what you did.
You have to remember that.
So, here is Sally Field, an actress who has been doing what she does so well for a few years and she wins a well-deserved award. Not just any award, but The OSCAR for BEST ACTRESS. You can't get any better reinforcement than that!
And every actor sitting in that room got uncomfortable because Field exposed a raw emotion that every single one of those people sitting there experiences every day. Field said what they had all thought at more than one time and their awkward, uneasy reaction wasn't so much directed at Field, standing up their holding her little gold statue, but more at themselves and the feelings they had experienced.
Yes. It's a weird moment and probably one of the most played clips from any OSCAR broadcast. Yes. You watch it and you think 'Really? Really Sally? A little full of yourself, aren't you?"
But watch the clip again and look at her as an actor who just wants to know if they are liked or not. Look at her as an actor who is finally being told, 'Yes. We like what you did.'
What does an OSCAR mean really?
Some people spend their entire career trying to win one.
Some people win one and then it winds up on their toiler seat in the guest bathroom.
Some people don't give a shit about awards and don't even show up to the ceremony.
I think Field was caught up in the moment and the excitement and overtaken by emotion. She let the wall come down just long enough for some of herself to show through and she spoke the truth.
The truth. In Hollywood? What?
We can fix that in post.
Just keeping it reel.
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