Well, now, your point is very consequential. (And thanks for the compliment. I am sure you do many things much better than I, cause that's the design of society, in my mind.)
But it's a large, wealthy point you make. All the little things that life sends to us, all the choices we make, all the genetic material we heft around in our cells, and all the unseen forces that act without our awareness, dribble together to make each one of us a curiously unique being. Each and every one. (Of course everyone exibits a passing mundaneness, from time to time. This is also part of the plan, I think.)
So, the CHALLENGE in putting across another person, with a meaningful degree of success, is HUGE.
Why does that get underplayed or ignored sometimes?
And, to be sure, there are stunning actors in the world. Think of Meryl Streep or Anthony Hopins or Denzel Washington. The list is short in a sense, but too long to list here.
Some of them say they do it instinctively. Some of them say it took years for them to devellop their craft. Some of them continue to study to improve, and some of them are older.
But the ingredient it seems they all share, to an outsider like me, is that they "become" the role they are portraying, to a greater or lesser extent. And it relates to how much they desire to, how willing they are, how rapped up in it they are, how "essential" it is to their super-ego (not egotistical ego; I mean the Freudian inner world) to achieve their mark. "Becoming" is suceeding. And they become by actively "doing." Acting is pro-active; it is all doing. Manifestation comes through action; they are "being" on the inside. Using "craft", "Skill", "talent", they show us by doing.
I don't think my writing is so great; I didn't do much of it until I came to these sites. But I found myself captivated, for reasons I have NEVER understood, and find myself motivated often to reflect on the posts and pictures etc, here. I write as I do, because, well, I write as I do. The real writers I sure have noted my flaws--I know I must have danglings participles, mixed metaphors, split infinitives and for God's sake, sentences that prepositions are the last word in. I don't think there is anything of mine to imitate-----but it's a compliment coming from you, Flaming Pie.
The irony is, as you suggest, that if there is a "Bill", then he IS either the man he would purportedly be imitating, or the man he purportedly imitates is, in "Bill's" mind, then, WELL worth the imitation. He isn't doing it for laughs, or for fun. Aside from it being a dire commitment, he would have to it for passion, and this would be why he does it so well. Passion can make a great performance (along with all the pre-requisite skills) and ONLY passion can make the actor give 100% to his role on stage for thousands and thousands and thousands of performances. (Well, there was Richard Harris doing Camelot, but it's been said that he started ad-libbing so much that people went back to Camelot again and again just to see what the hell he'd add to the script. With sold out houses, the producers aquiesced into a laissez-faire attitude for a time. But really, he WAS King Arthur EVERY time he stepped on stage.)
If there is a "Bill", we must remember that they don't give a Tony, Emmy, or an Oscar for this kind of thing. There isn't an understudy; and your lines change from day to day. What would Lee Strausbourg say?
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On the other hand----------let's think about this for real for just a minute. A convincing imitator............of a man so exposed and seen. Popular. Likeable. Volumes of photgraphs. Spoken to dignitaries, famous people, annoucers, producers, other musicians, other sidemen, fans with long memories, directors, on and on. The element that makes PID so unbelievable, is that common sense tells us that no imitator, regardless of ability,could possibly appease the scrutiny of all the people Paul reacted with and affected in his life prior to 1966.
Could I find someone to be me with all my idiosycrasies and foibles, relative strengths, and mannerisms, chubbiness and whatever other physical traits, (I feel sorry for the man......) and over-modulated, nasal but robust speaking voice I have? The lifelong mole of my left.....................never mind, I make it too personal. (Knocks on wood.) Not worth the search. That would be too eerie. Poor guy! But, I like some things about me. What if he was missing those subtle gems? My close associates would know
right off. So would yours. And yours and yours and yours. Its not something easy to do. Can doubles be made and implemented, and successfully continue their portrayal for a lifetime?
Is it possible to ever do this?
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Flaming Pie, you have formulated the biggest question of them all.
I wasn't able to do it......................
