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SELF MADE

By Gillian WEARING

Documentary - Completed 2011

A diverse group of British people respond to an ad from artist Gillian Wearing. Taking part in an
experiment with Method acting, they find themselves for the first time confronting their innermost personal truths.

- Year of production
- 2011
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- UNITED KINGDOM
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 84 mn
- Director(s)
- Gillian WEARING
- Writer(s)
- Gillian WEARING, Leo BUTLER
- Cast
- Sam RUMBELOW
- Producer(s)
- Lisa Marie RUSSO (Fly Film Company)
- Synopsis
- Artist Gillian Wearing places an ad asking, “Would you like to be in a film? You can play yourself or a
  fictional character.” Her film Self Made documents the intense, revealing and sometimes disturbing
  experiences of seven people who sign up for the project. They take part in a series of workshops led by Method acting teacher Sam Rumbelow, who uses different techniques to help them access their memories and personal experiences so that each participant can create a vivid and authentic moment of performance. Gradually, we see five members of the group working towards their own individual ‘end
  scenes’, filmed dramatic vignettes that directly emerge from their personal histories. The scenes range from episodes of violence, to images of imagined love, via an excerpt from Shakespeare’s King Lear. As the lights finally go off in the studio, the participants leave the experiment having for the first time confronted and articulated deep truths about themselves.