There are two main reasons actors get called back or cast: their auditions are effortless and they think about character the way everyone on this side of the camera thinks about character which is also how the film camera thinks about character. We call back and cast actors who are effortless in the frame because they’re believable on camera.
Think of an audition as a job interview where the number one job requirement is knowing how to be believable. The key being believable on camera? Being effortless in the frame.
This is a challenge for many actors because their process teaches them to react on every line and give every line a different intention and importance. It teaches them to use inflection and emphasis to make moments interesting and to make discoveries and have realizations through the scene. It teaches them to drive the scene in an effort to affect the other character and make the scene happen. All of that makes an actor unbelievable on camera.
A good director can easily take a well-trained actor who doesn’t know how to be believable in the film frame and direct that actor to be believable and interesting. But why would a director want to do that when he or she can find actors who know how to do it
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