“ Acting is like lying. The art of lying well. I’m paid to tell elaborate lies.” – Mel Gibson. Everyone at least once in their life has been told, “ Don’t lie,” or “ lying will get you nowhere”. What about acting? Isn’t acting just another clever way to lie? Throughout my essay, I will tell about the differences and similarities that acting and lying share.
Both the arts of acting and lying are trying to convince their audience by leading them into a trap of words. Both are devious and are tactics to impress or convince someone that something is true. An actor is a fantastic liar, while a liar is a fantastic actor. What that means is that they are both similar though the body language is not the same. People who act tend to lie for the sake of their character, but liars just lie for him or herself.
In order to act one must act, speak, and think like their character would. However, a liar tries hard to be themselves, which accomplishes nothing. When an actor is trying to be a personality that is far from their own, people tend to catch on. They can see a twitching in the lips, looking secretly towards a script, or smiling at incorrect times. A liar would possibly hide behind hair, avoid eye contact, and make jokes to ease tension.
How much time do you think an actor puts in for a great movie? This is the same as asking, how much time do liars put into their lies? When an actor receives a role in a big production or film, they try to focus only on that one thing and try to keep the limelight on them. The liar puts as much time and effort into their lies, but do not always want the spotlight. Lies basically roll of the tip of a person’s tongue when they lie too much. When a person knows the basics of it, they just need to practice lying. Acting is in the script, according to the basic acting rules; it is offensive to change the script. An actor has to stick with the writer’s own phrases.
