I bet I know what scene it was, and I get emotional just thinking about it.
I think you’re right about this being the scene.
It’s really interesting to me; he’s surrounded by actors with exceptionally strong acting pedigrees: half the cast got their MFAs at Yale, Rickman went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, even Sam Rockwell went to a top flight acting school.
The scene is also shot with multiple cameras for coverage so everyone is doing this in one big take. When you think about all the scene entails of Allen—being physically manhandled and ridiculed by Sarris, having to watch the other actor he’s working closely with in the scene feel betrayed as he explains the nature of acting to him—it’s an intense scene and it would be easy to get lost in it, to lose your sense of self a bit and start to feel like it’s a little too real.
Here’s this standup comedian with a degree in radio disc jockeying from a state school, surrounded by Real Actors, having to Actually Fucking Act for the first time in his career, and he kinda pulls it off! I think that reaction shot of Sigourney Weaver is 100% genuine and hers.
Alan Rickman is definitely taking the piss and I have no doubt he probably didn’t like Tim Allen in general, but I can’t help but think he was simply stating a fact. Tim Allen experienced acting, probably for the first time. Because that guy hadn’t had to Actually Fucking Act before.
By all accounts Tim Allen is a jerk, so I’m definitely laughing with Alan Rickman here, but I can imagine that scene would be overwhelming if you don’t have the training to prepare for it.
[ ID: image of Tim Allen and Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest, with text: director Dean Parisot recalled how Tim Allen was unsettled after a particularly dramatic scene:
I turned back, and Tim is just completely emotional; heart-wrenching, actually. He says, “Yeah, I don’t like these feelings I’m having, I’d like to go back to the trailer.” And Alan Rickman said, “Oh my God, I think he just experienced acting.” /ID ]
Even if Alan Rickman disliked Tim Allen at first, they soon became friends. Five days after Rickman died, Allen wrote an article for The Hollywood Reporterabout the friendship they built:
“I don’t think he liked me all that much when we first started shooting Galaxy Quest. I was a stage performer, a concert comic, and I was coming into this group of very polished thespians – Sigourney Weaver and Sam Rockwell and Tony Shalhoub and then Alan adding his English roots.
"All of them had this process and method – voice stretching and all that kind of prep – and it was so different from mine. I was doing penis jokes right up to action.
"I went to a very different school, shitty clubs and basements and big arenas. But then, one day on the set, Alan came to me and apologized. He said he mistook my behavior for lack of commitment. And we became very fast friends.
"Alan was just an amazing person and an amazing actor. We had these dinner parties during production, and Alan always brought gifts whenever he came to the house. He was that kind of guy – he had class and style and manners. But he was also gentle and funny and wonderful.”
Sometimes you do have to admit that while the “lower classes” aren’t the upper ones, they do have their own culture and mannerisms, and an “upper class” person will step their foot in it because they don’t know the proper manners and etiquette for that social circle.
Highbrow Acting versus Comedy is very much like that. It may not look like there’s etiquette in stage comedy…but there actually is, and a lot of effort that goes into making it look flawless. Comedic timing is harder to learn than physical stage blocking and delivering your lines because there isn’t as much stage blocking. It’s all based on what the audience is reacting to, and yes, you do have to change your performance based on their reaction. (This is why improv actors make good comedians and vice versa.) In a movie, show, or most stage productions, you don’t do that.
Yes, Tim finally had an Actually Acting Moment. Good for him. And then Alan realized the dick jokes were Tim’s vocal stretches, and realized yes, he does take this all seriously. it’s just a completely different display of committment. A different method, literally, of acting.
I’m glad they both came to a better understanding!
Discussion ¬