Motivational Story - The Process

For this piece, I am going to dip into the movie industry to illustrate the point about the “PROCESS”, a term every athlete hears and has engraved in the back of his or her mind on a yearly basis when competing in team sports?

This will show you that no matter the sport or the profession or regardless of your experience, that you have to be totally prepared before the lights ever get turned on in order to achieve the results necessary to advance in your trade?

So let's look at the Process Hollywood actor Rami Malek subjected himself to when he got the leading role in “Bohemian Rhapsody” where he played legendary frontman Freddie Mercury of the famed rock band QUEEN back in 2018.

This actor took an entire year to learn every single aspect about Mercury’s life and left no stone unturned. He quickly took up residence in London where much of the movie would be filmed and had himself fitted for prosthetic dentures to replicate the unique bucked teeth and shape of Mercury’s mouth. He wore them every day over a 12-month period so that he’d be comfortable with them in place. Malek then began taking Piano and Singing lessons – both essential elements of his role in the movie, none of which, he had ever practiced before?

To play Mercury in the most authentic way, Malek sought out professionals in "ballet and boxing" as well as a “dialect tutor” and a “movement coach” to help him master the physical interpretation of the flamboyant singer on the concert stage. He would end up spending nearly four hours every day perfecting his vocal chords for the songs he would sing in the movie and training on a Piano. He would devote several more hours a day strictly on movement and choreography to develop that unique persona of Freddy Mercury.

Malek admits he also spent an enormous amount of hours just pouring through actual concert footage and live interviews of Mercury that he took from YouTube videos during the 1970’s and 80’s. He picked up on the slightest of things such as how Mercury took a drag of a cigarette to how he even ordered a beer with his bandmates and friends? He carefully wanted to see how the singer evolved and physically matured over the two decades when QUEEN dominated the music industry around the world and sold over 300 million albums!

Malik’s efforts paid off handsomely. He would not only win an Oscar for his work on the film but it led him to securing the role as “chief villain” in the new soon-to-be released James Bond movie “No Time to Die” that stars Daniel Craig.

Jim Loria

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES RELATING TO THIS STORY

“To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge” – stated by Summer Sanders, 8-time USA National Champion in Competitive Swimming and 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1992)

“It’s not the will to win that matters — everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters” – stated by Paul “Bear” Bryant, legendary college football head coach

“A champion is someone who does not settle for that day’s practice, that day’s competition, that day’s performance. They are always striving to be better. They don’t live in the past” – stated by Briana Scurry, former USA Women’s National Soccer Team Goalkeeper and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame (2017)

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