Page 51 - Demo

www.MOSTmag.com || FITNESS MAG A ZINE || 51likely gets plenty of exercise on sets it seems, but outside of work these days Neil gets his fitness in gentler places: yoga, tennis, running. %u201cHockey with friends is about as dangerous as it gets for me (although I still manage to break my nose a little sometimes - old habits die hard).%u201dNot only a jock, but a nerd as well, Neil says he is in fact not a gamer at all, despite playing numerous roles on video games such as the villainous role of Charles Lee in Assassin%u2019s Creed 3, the burned out old skater/guide, Bob in Shaun White Skateboarding, and the twins, Victor and Hugo in Assassin%u2019s Creed: Unity. %u201cI am entirely useless at games. It is a bit of a joke between me and some of my awesome geek friends in the gaming industry- they mock me mercilessly. Although many of my voice and performancecapture colleagues were drawn to it based primarily on their passion for gaming itself, I initially saw it as simply another mode of story-telling. But I have to say - it is some of the most absurd and enjoyable work I do!%u201dverything keeps coming back to storytelling for Neil, which is a unique perspective on acting as a profession, even though it seems obvious. MOST Fitness had the privilege of learning from Neil as he delves into his mind as an actor, how he breaks down a character, and how he realizes the physicality and the inner workings and motivations of his characters. Although he makes it look seamless on-screen, Neil reveals that even for a fit and talented actor like himself, there is always a certain roles that provides unique challenges and can be particularly difficult to conquer. For him that would have to be the role of Aston in Harold Pinter%u2019s classic play, The Caretaker. In the play, set in the 1960s, Aston is a lovely and gentle character whose adolescence was filled with pain and misunderstanding. He is a schizophrenic, who in his youth, was put through the profound trauma of electro-shock therapy and eventually a lobotomy. He is a character with a deep trench of pain lying hidden from himself underneath a calm, quiet fog. Neil described that the emotional and intellectual challenges of the role were self-evident, but it was the physical demands that were surprising. %u201cI had decided that, while his speech would be light, airy and quick, his movements would be slow, absolutely smooth, have no edges at all, and that his gait would be completely silent without seeming careful. Tuning my speech and physical rhythms to different speeds took some doing, but what made Aston the most physically demanding role for me was the degree of muscular exertion it took to move in that way. It was like doing Tai Chi for three hours at a time, eight times a week.%u201d So how does one prepare for a role like this or for any such role in order to make it appear real for the viewer? Neil divulged for us that while much of it is intuitive, he also generally looks for as much information about the character as he can in the script. %u201cThis is key allowing me to start to understand what makes him tick; what his relationships are like, how he deals with conflict, joy. Then I take this information and use it in discovering his physicality; how does he carry his weight? Does he move slowly and deliberately or quickly and erratically? Or somewhere in between? I can tell you that once I get a feel for how he walks, I know I am on my way.%u201dFor his current role of Dr. Peter Farragut, %u201cthe physical challenge of portraying this sick, and then wholly transformed and creature-like guy,%u201d was the most fun aspect of season one. For season