Scott embodies the body language so completely that it simply plays as drama (and comedy). "He can barrel in that baby so low!" Scott says, with his arms spread wide like wings, and his head shaking in admiration at how good his pilots are-so good one of them is about to bring an end to civilization.Īnother actor, waving his arms around, might look absurd. Buck Turgidson, is informing the president that it is quite likely a B-52 bomber will be able to fly under Russian radar and deliver its payload even though the entire Soviet air force knows where the plane is headed. Consider the scene where his character, Gen. He means what he says so urgently that the expressions accompany his dialogue instead of distracting from it.
Yet you don't consciously notice his expressions because Scott sells them with the energy and conviction of his performance. His face here is so plastic and mobile it reminds you of Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey (in completely different kinds of movies). Scott's facial gymnastics, and yet he endorsed them, and when you watch "Strangelove" you can see why. Billy Wilder once asked Jack Lemmon for "a little less" so many takes in a row that Lemmon finally exploded: "Whaddya want! Nothing?" Lemmon recalls that Wilder raised his eyes to heaven: "Please God!" Kubrick, whose attention to the smallest detail in every frame was obsessive, would have been aware of George C. Directors often ask actors to underplay closer shots, because too much facial movement translates into mugging or overacting.