The Broken Shards of Liam Neeson's 4th Wall

Actor Anthony Perkins breaking the 4th Wall at
the end of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho

With three of the highest ranking members of Virginia's government all confessing to have worn blackface this week, it was a weird time for Irish actor Liam Neeson to shatter his 4th Wall with a stunning revelation of his violent, 40-year-old racist fantasy.

Take it from a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild with some experience on the New York stage, one of the cardinal rules of acting is never break the 4th Wall.


Now the 4th Wall is not a physical wall like the one Donald Trump is obsessed with building.

For any of you non-thespian readers, the 4th Wall is an imaginary barrier that exists between the actors onstage and the audience, or between the actor on a film or television set and the lens of the camera capturing their movements.

Like the famous scene where actor Anthony Perkins looks up and stares directly into the camera lens at the end of director Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant 1960 film Psycho - it's an excellent example of a master filmmaker knowing when to break the rule to create a desired effect.

One of the trickier but essential skills an actor must have is the ability to perform with other actors (or alone) on a stage or set and mentally tune out the audience or camera lens and pretend they're not there - but at the same time, maintain a constant awareness of it through concentration and focus.

The 4th Wall functions as the invisible barrier that actors use as a tool to help remind them not to directly address the audience or camera (or look right at them) - unless it's called for.

Actor Matthew Broderick addressing the audience
at the end of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Now there are exceptions of course, after all rules were meant to be broken.

Some plays or screenplays specifically call for the actor(s) to turn downstage and talk directly with the audience.

Or face the camera lens and directly address the audience.

Some really good films break the 4th Wall rule constantly, like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or the recent Marvel Deadpool movies.

And of course there's Woody Allen's brilliant Oscar-winning 1977 comedy Annie Hall which throws the "Don't break the 4th Wall" rule right out the window.

Allen's classic "Marshall McLuhan scene" in Annie Hall is one of my favorite examples.

So obviously the rule isn't set in stone or anything, but breaking the 4th Wall is generally considered a a no-no, because doing so "breaks the spell" that well-written scripts performed by competent actors cast upon the audience during a performance.

Think about one of your favorite films, rarely if ever will you see an actor stare straight into the lens and speak to the audience unless it's an intentional choice by the director, writer or cinematographer.

It's particularly true for film or television actors, the ability to understand one's "self" and one's relationship or proximity to the camera lens, and be comfortable with it, takes years to fully understand; very few master it.

Actress Harriet Andersson breaks the 4th Wall at the
end of Ingmar Bergman's 1953 Summer With Monika

In my humble opinion, I think breaking the 4th Wall on film tends to work much better and more effectively with comedies than it does with serious drama.

But it can work in drama too in the hands of a skilled director.

For example, master Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman famously had star Harriet Andersson break the 4th Wall in the final scene of his 1953 film Summer With Monika

In a way that almost makes the viewer a little uncomfortable - click the link above and watch it for yourself.

I actually just watched the Criterion Collection edition of the film on DVD a couple months ago - simply brilliant.

From the perspective of a person who has a passion for films, and quality television dramas, I've always felt like there's also a different kind of 4th Wall that exists as a barrier between an actor or actress that one really likes, and the reality of who that person might be in real life.

If you watch a particular actor or actress for years, then all of a sudden you see them in a televised interview, or read about something they said or did - it can be kind of jarring.

Like "the spell" they wove over you because you liked a particular character they did, can suddenly be broken because you learn something about who they are as a real person that conflicts with the idea you may have had of them in your mind.

One of the most disappointing aspects of being an avid film fan and amateur film historian is that moment when actors or actresses whose work I've admired in various movies over the years, suddenly breaks that "4th Wall" that exists between my personal perception of them as a performer and the reality of who they really are.

Actor Liam Neeson as the 18th-century
Scottish clan chief in the 1993 film Rob Roy 

Over the years I've admired Irish actor Liam Neeson's work ever since I first saw him onscreen in the 1981 hit film Excalibur.

Writer / director John Boorman's brilliant adaptation of the Arthurian legend chronicling the epic saga of King Arthur, his Knights of the Roundtable and his eccentric counselor and adviser Merlin the Magician.

Neeson's brooding Irish intensity works really well in the kinds physical action roles he's known so well for - films like Taken or The Commuter.

But his quiet intelligence and remarkable sensitivity gives him that rare ability to take roles to that next level in my opinion.

He was certainly exceptional in the title role of businessman Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 historical drama Schindler's List  - which won an Oscar for Best Picture.

Personally speaking I think Neeson's best on-screen role is as the title character in director Michael Caton-Jones' 1993 historical drama Rob Roy.

As a historian I'm a sucker for sweeping historical dramas, and Rob Roy is about as good as they get with a brilliant cast that included Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, John Hurt, Eric Stoltz and Bryan Cox.

It didn't get the box-office returns I thought the story, acting, cinematography, set design and costumes warranted, but he had great on-screen romantic chemistry with Lange and it was critically well received overall - and established Neeson as a legitimate A-List star capable of carrying a film.

The role encapsulated what I always liked about Neeson on-screen - the relentless hero motivated by a clearly-anchored morality and sense of justice that guided his choices and actions.

Liam Neeson discusses his controversial comments
with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America

That's why I found his shocking admission in an interview published in the British Independent on Monday that he once took a club and "went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence" in order to avenge a female friend who'd allegedly been raped by a black man, so disturbing.

Expressing the thought doesn't necessarily make him "racist", but the revenge fantasy he described is dark and disturbing.


Fantasizing about searching for an innocent black person to kill to avenge a heinous act perpetrated on his friend, reinforces the kind of ignorant racial attacks that have intensified in America since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 - like Timothy Caughman being stabbed in the chest with a sword in New York City back in March, 2017 by a deranged racist killer who hated inter-racial relationships searching the streets for an innocent black victim.

In some ways Neeson's words also kind of romanticize the same twisted logic that was used to kidnap, torture and lynch thousands of African-Americans in the 19th and 20th century.

Now I'm not going to condemn him as a racist, or judge his entire life based on one choice he made, but in this current era of racial division that's become the hallmark of Trump's presidency, I just think Neeson should have given a little more thought to how he described a disturbing incident when his own personal rage clouded his perception.

Maybe, as he's since tried to explain, he was simply trying to make a larger point about how racism and bigotry can manifest itself - I don't know, it's good that it's started a conversation about race.

But I'm not going to pile on the guy, Lord knows Neeson is getting enough grief as it is for admitting something like that.

Regardless of how this episode turns out for him, for me personally the 4th Wall is broken as far as Liam Neeson is concerned, doesn't mean I hate him or won't watch another film of his.

I'm just not sure I'll ever quite see him in the same way I once did, not necessarily because he said something "wrong" - but because he looked straight into the camera and broke the spell.