Olatunde Olaolorun “O.T” Fagbenle is an English actor, writer, and director. He has appeared in several films, stage, and television productions. He currently plays the role of Luke Bankole in Hulu’s TV adaption of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. He also recently starred as the character (Rick Mason) in Marvel Studio’s Black Widow. O.T has been nominated for and won multiple awards for his work.
In his special guest appearance on the InkBlot Meet & Greet podcast, O.T explains his acting process and, in the process, drops some lessons about the film industry. Here are some of those lessons.
1. There’s so much to be said without saying anything
O.T talked about his acting method, the Stanislavski Method, which places emphasis on a character’s wants within a play. The character should always want to achieve a goal by the end of the play. To that end, as the actor, every decision you make while playing a character should lead towards that character’s higher goal.
2. Do not try to fill up all the spaces in your story.
Allow them to exist. They add up to the development of the bigger picture.
3. Before playing a character, figure out what their body movements are going to be.
When interpreting a character, assigning an inner animal to the character can help you to be more specific about the character’s physicality.
4. In film, it is not all about you.
No matter what role you’re playing in a movie’s production, you’re part of a very large team working on a production that requires multiple factors (lighting, sound etc) to align. Learn to exercise patience.
5. Improvising can be a good thing.
Though frowned upon in some acting circles, improvising can be used to your advantage. OT said it works for him when directing because he mostly has to edit scripts in real-time as they’re being filmed. The important thing to note when improvising is to drive your improvisation by characters and the story in the most linear way possible.
Watch the full episode of the Inkblot meet & Greet episode starring OT Fagbenle here:
