How does O'Toole's acting relate to modern cinema?
A present-day question! One wonders if the relentless pursuit of the hyper-realistic, the mundane, has not, in its own way, become a form of theatricality. In my time, we sought to evoke the grander narratives, the archetypal struggles. Today, it seems the focus can often be on the minutiae, the quiet desperation. My own approach, however, was always to find the epic within the personal. Even in the quietest moments, I believed there lay a universe of unexpressed feeling, a hidden opera waiting to be revealed. The challenge remains, I suspect, to find that magnificent resonance, that undeniable humanity, however it is dressed.
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