If you were an actor…

I have done a good deal of college and community theater. The term "willing suspension of disbelief" usually refers to the audience. As an audience member, I have to be willing to forget that I am seeing only actors delivering memorized lines, and that what is happening is not real.

So I am not sure exactly what your question means, but I think I have something to say about it anyway! 😂

In my experience, there are different kinds of atheists and different kinds of believers. There are atheists who have a great deal of respect for religious people and for the experience of "having faith", even though they disagree. And there are atheists who are cynical and antagonistic toward anything smacking of religion.

Likewise, there are religious people who have experienced that doubt is a part of faith. There are religious people who have known and respected atheists who are good and even admirable people. On the other hand, there are religious people who will dismiss out of hand anyone who does not believe as they do.

Those distinctions not only apply to the actors who might appear in a play, but they also apply to the characters being portrayed.

And there are atheists who used to be believers, and believers who used to be atheists, so actors of either type can draw on past life experience.

So I will boldly and decisively answer your question with "it depends." 😌

There's a very well known person that is already acting religious.

Yet acting is the art of being what you are not.

I suspect it's like the saying: "all the good lies have an element of truth to them".

So all good actors must have a element of the part in themselves.

I will say this is. I have played the anadvocate before...

https://www.lawnet.gov.lk/hodgson-v-george/

It's not easy arguing for values that you don't agree with. Yet that's exactly what many lawyers do.

I think its equal. The Man who wrote,A man for All Seasons,Robert Bolt,was agnostic yet wrote with a clear admiration for Thomas Moore,if not his beliefs...conversely(sort of) in Graham Greenes,The Power and the Glory,the main protagonist The Whiskey Priest is beset with doubt and conflict,and in his travels hears a Mother reading a story of a Saint that is not credible,its risible..yet the priest continues on,eventually being executed,but feeling a FAILURE.

Actors are ,hopefully trained to play a wide range of characters,with no intersection of their personal views..I winder what Anthony Hopkins felt playing Hitler🤔

Oh well goodness. I think it depends on what kind of atheist or religious person we’re talking about here. These are beliefs that often have a strong emotion behind them. If we’re talking of the extreme ends of the spectrum, I think it would be harder for the religious zealot to play an atheist than vice versa. The atheist who is condescending and derisive could still draw on what put them there…they may actually overplay the part a bit in that case.

I think it would depend on the role and the talent of the actor. I remember a conversation on the Johnny Carson show: All great actors can't be great comedians, but some great comedians can be great actors. "Robin Williams" was the example.

I don't care as long as I get paid.
I've seen Ben Kingsley playing Islamic, Christian, Hindu and Jewish roles and he did them very nicely. My favorite role is him as Afghanistan's former president Karzai, also the funniest in War Machine.

This clip is hilarious
[media=https://youtu.be/IaRchrMIfRk]

Great question... I have no answer, though. I do believe not all "great" actors can play any part convincingly: for example, I've never seen Brando play comedy well nor, imho, has De Niro ever played the romantic lead with any conviction.

Good question. I think the religious person playing an atheist, but it could be just as difficult the other way around too.

It would have to come down to the talent of the actor and his ability to put his convictions aside for the roll.

Both situations require a certain amount of extrapolation. That is, if the actor is a very-well-known Atheist, it's going to take a lot for them to completely possess that character without coming off as contemptuous as many Hollywood types are(think Sean Penn). Maybe it would be easier for someone who has faith to imagine themselves questioning it/rejecting it? I don't know.

I've seen that usually, when an actor plays against their political type, the result is often buffoonish and goofy. It's a very, very difficult balance. I'm not certain who could pull that off.

A good actor is a good actor. I don't need to suspend my disbelief if they draw me in to the character and the writing/production is convincing.

I think as an actor I just play the role, and I try to do it damn convincingly. For the most part dedicated actors don't BECOME the characters they play off camera.

I can play the role of a religious guy

From my point of view the former

I wouldn't attempt either role. 🤔

It wouldn't bother me either way.