Actors who mimic playing piano

[16251]

 

[D. Gauss]

 

[Ivan May]

 

[o0Ampy0o]

With very few exceptions, probably every scene calling for an actor to play piano because there is more to the scene than playing piano. 

 

Easier to recall the film title than actor's name:

 

The Piano

The Pianist

Amadeus

Maestro

Ray

Green Card

Ally Mcbeal (Robert Downey Junior is probably an exception who could act and play and sing in one scene)

The Queen band film

The Elton John film Rocket Man?

The Liberace film starring Michael Douglas

A Star is Born with Lady Gaga

Pretty Woman Richard Gere's character played piano

 

 

 

[drawback]

Back in 2004 I was invited to audition for a movie that was looking for either an actor who could fake playing piano, or a player who could act. The role was a 1930’s sidekick bandleader, a fourth scripted role. I got the gig, and learned all the piano parts by ear from the prerecorded soundtrack. The first run through, the director realizes I’m actually playing along to the soundtracked piano and from that point on, my hands are filmed extensively. Scripted scenes went off fine. But I did have other filmies asking how long I’d been playing piano… all my life, I said. But how long have I been acting? About 10 minutes. I won best supporting actor (not the Oscars, folks, ha ha). Anyhoo, that led to a couple more auditions, but I dropped out. Oscar Levant, I’m not!

 

[Docbop]

 

[timwat]

Apparently Ryan Gosling is actually playing what is purported to be 'jazz piano' in La La Land. 

 

On the other hand, a favorite movie of mine, The Legend of 1900, prominently features Tim Roth as the titular pianist; sadly, Roth is not actually a player. Neither, apparently is Clarence Williams III (most famous role of Lync in The Mod Squad), who was the son of a jazz and blues musician; he portrays Jelly Roll Morton in the film's piano duel sequence.

[CHarrell]

37 minutes ago, timwat said:

Apparently Ryan Gosling is actually playing what is purported to be 'jazz piano' in La La Land

 

Heh.

 

 

Best actor instrument miming I've ever seen is Spike Lee' Mo' Better Blues. The actors must've spent so much time sitting in with musicians and watching them, down to all the little tics musicians do between phrases etc.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

My favorite actor who acts, jokes and plays piano is Leonard Joseph Marx 

 

Or Chico Marx to the masses.

 

Man a talented fellow. I'm yet to see an actor who can match those 3 attributes. But offscreen he was a loose cannon with his earnings.  

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, timwat said:

On the other hand, a favorite movie of mine, The Legend of 1900, prominently features Tim Roth as the titular pianist; sadly, Roth is not actually a player. Neither, apparently is Clarence Williams III (most famous role of Lync in The Mod Squad), who was the son of a jazz and blues musician; he portrays Jelly Roll Morton in the film's piano duel sequence.

 

It'll blow you away. Tim Roth is The Man. Great actor, anywhere he appears. Its a unique film.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UPftoWxFnY

[Josh Paxton]

I have a bit of experience as a "piano hand double" in film and TV – one of each. For the film, part of my duties included coaching the actor I was doubling for on how to hold himself and move in the shots where he was pretending to play, but his hands weren't visible. He had never played piano, and possibly no instrument at all (I no longer recall). I mean, he couldn't even play "Hot Cross Buns" with one finger. So getting him to even hold himself and move his body in a halfway convincing manner turned out to be a bit of a challenge, but he eventually got it well enough. My first tactic was to suggest that he just hit random keys without worrying about what it sounded like, but that made him too self-conscious since it sounded completely chaotic. They ended up having the piano tech mute the strings of the piano as much as possible, so it sounded like just a series of dull thuds. That worked well enough to do the job.

 

The TV show was an episode of "NCIS: New Orleans," which I still haven't seen. But the film was a 2022 thriller with Ben Affleck called "Deep Water," which turned out to be, IMO, a rather awful movie. (Quick plot summary: terrible people behaving terribly. More thorough summary: terrible but attractive people behaving terribly while being attractive.) And I'm reasonably sure I would have felt that way about it even if they had included my name in the credits, which they did not. Apparently the piano hand double is not as important as the snail wrangler, whose name they did include, Yes, I'm serious.

[Josh Paxton]

Also, I have a love/hate relationship with the "Ray" movie, and the hate portion is entirely due to the piano playing. At first I was prepared to forgive the inaccurate playing in it like I do with every movie. But then shortly before it came out, I read 3 or 4 different interview with Jamie Foxx, and in all of them he made a very big deal out of the fact that he had learned all the piano parts, so that when pianists saw his hands onscreen, they'd be playing the right notes. So that was one of the things I was looking forward to about the movie. Then I saw it, and the opening shot – the very first thing you see – shows his hands on the keys playing the opening riff to "What'd I Say" – which is a pretty damn easy riff to hear and to play. And instead of the actual notes – E-B-B-D-E – you saw Jamie's hands playing E-A-A-B-C#. I was embarrassed for him, and that feeling never let up. What's more, I later learned that if I had been living in New Orleans while the movie was being filmed there, through people I knew and connections I had, I probably could have gotten the gig as the piano coach he clearly needed. Not that I'm bitter.

[Synthaholic]

Mahershala Ali playing Rhodes, as villain 'Cottonmouth' in Season 1 of the Netflix/Marvel series 'Luke Cage', now available on Disney+. He also starred as Don Shirley in 'Green Book'. I hear he plays in real life, but didn't for the shows.

 

 

[tonybanksfan]

No faking here, all authentic and hilarious Gerard Depardieu giving it all.

[Synthaholic]

One of my favorites - so realistic! (they are cued up)

 

 

 

 

 

[Legatoboy]

I know Jeff actuals plays some piano and guitar and who knows what else .... And ah!!.... then there is Michelle in this also🙃she doesn't need to play anything as far as I'm concerned as long as she just plays herself.   

[16251]

 

[Finale]

 

[Radagast]

Casablanca.  Actor Arthur "Dooley" Wilson sang the songs, but Elliot Carpenter played the piano.  He was placed where Wilson could see and imitate his hand movements.

[tapes]

On 2/10/2024 at 4:13 AM, CHarrell said:

 

Heh.

 

 

Best actor instrument miming I've ever seen is Spike Lee' Mo' Better Blues. The actors must've spent so much time sitting in with musicians and watching them, down to all the little tics musicians do between phrases etc.

 

Agreed, it's very impressive. Just re-watched it on blu-ray recently. And usually I hate movies where the actors mimic playing anything. "Mo' Better Blues" was also my least favorite Spike movie, but it's grown on me.

 

My pet peeve regarding these things, though? The screen shows an actor playing a clearly electric keyboard like a Rhodes or a DX7 - and the sound we hear is an acoustic concert grand.

 

[SMcD]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:55 PM, Josh Paxton said:

Also, I have a love/hate relationship with the "Ray" movie, and the hate portion is entirely due to the piano playing. At first I was prepared to forgive the inaccurate playing in it like I do with every movie. But then shortly before it came out, I read 3 or 4 different interview with Jamie Foxx, and in all of them he made a very big deal out of the fact that he had learned all the piano parts, so that when pianists saw his hands onscreen, they'd be playing the right notes. So that was one of the things I was looking forward to about the movie. Then I saw it, and the opening shot – the very first thing you see – shows his hands on the keys playing the opening riff to "What'd I Say" – which is a pretty damn easy riff to hear and to play. And instead of the actual notes – E-B-B-D-E – you saw Jamie's hands playing E-A-A-B-C#. I was embarrassed for him, and that feeling never let up. What's more, I later learned that if I had been living in New Orleans while the movie was being filmed there, through people I knew and connections I had, I probably could have gotten the gig as the piano coach he clearly needed. Not that I'm bitter.

 

Man, that's disappointing. And surprising since I've seen behind-the-scenes video of Jamie taking lessons from Ray himself.

[WesG]

 

[kpl1228]

On 2/9/2024 at 8:10 PM, AUSSIEKEYS said:

My favorite actor who acts, jokes and plays piano is Leonard Joseph Marx 

 

Or Chico Marx to the masses.

 

Man a talented fellow. I'm yet to see an actor who can match those 3 attributes. But offscreen he was a loose cannon with his earnings.  

Always liked his shooting the keys and his other tricks. How one family could have cranked out those kids over a century ago is amazing with that ridiculous talent pile they possessed.

[SMcD]

33 minutes ago, WesG said:

 

Hugh Laurie's the man. He dropped blues albums in 2011 and 2014 and I've been waiting for a third ever since.

[o0Ampy0o]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:25 AM, D. Gauss said:

 

 

Bugs's representation has varied some over the years but 99% of the time they have retained life and personality. That is by far the most anemic official rendering of Bugs. Just awful. 

[CHarrell]

33 minutes ago, o0Ampy0o said:

 

Bugs's representation has varied some over the years but 99% of the time they have retained life and personality. That is by far the most anemic official rendering of Bugs. Just awful. 

 

Musicians such as Lang Lang get blasted for extroverted showmanship, now Bugs Bunny gets blasted because he looks really concentrated on the music? No one can win, smh....

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, kpl1228 said:

Always liked his shooting the keys and his other tricks. How one family could have cranked out those kids over a century ago is amazing with that ridiculous talent pile they possessed.

 

If you want to learn a lot of it, I strongly suggest "Harpo Speaks!" Its his autobiography, where you learn many amusing things, but also get a nice history lesson along the way. You can feel his times. He says "I quit school early. I already knew how to steal an orange for lunch, find a nickel for the movies, make a friend and have a dog. What other important thing could they possibly teach me that I didn't already know?" He and his wife adopted 4 kids and on the refrigerator were taped 10 permanent house rules. #10: "Anyone found guilty of scratching the felt on the pool table or abusing a pet will be docked a month's wages."

 

Go read it. The book is brimming with rewards.

[Stokely]

This very thing recent came to mind watching Sam play when I rewatched Casablanca.

Depending on whether they were doing vocal overdubs for the scene, I imagine making actual sound on the piano could be a real problem, or so I imagine.  Not really up on how movies are made to any great degree  

 

I beg to differ on that Bugs from the Looney Tunes vid.  That looked to be an older Bugs (maybe from the 40s I'm guessing?), but it's far better than some of the later ones from the 60s and up to me.   I feel the same about MGM and others...there was a sweet spot around the 50s that I like the best for those classic cartoons.   Too much older and the quality isn't great, later and they just were pale imitations (again, just IMO).  

[o0Ampy0o]

4 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

Musicians such as Lang Lang get blasted for extroverted showmanship, now Bugs Bunny gets blasted because he looks really concentrated on the music? No one can win, smh....

 

One could say the opposite of extroverted is withdrawn, in this case Bugs is weakly-drawn.