Vanessa Hudgens on acting for film and stage

Vanessa Hudgens in “The Princess Switch 3” —PHOTO courtesy of NETFLIX

What adjustment do you make when you act from stage to screen—and what sort of shift happens in terms of technique? We asked Vanessa Hudgens this question when we spoke to her recently.

“Film is a lot more technical,” the lovely 32-year-old Filipino American actress, who’s currently in Netflix’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and “The Princess Switch 3,” told Inquirer Entertainment. “I mean, they’re similar but so different at the same time.

“With stage, you are living in the moment. You have an audience that’s feeding you energy immediately. And it’s almost a sacred space because your performance is unfiltered. It’s raw and unedited—the experience you share with an audience is unique, and it will be different every night!

Love for theater

“With film, you do it with a lot more lights, and there’s much you got to hit. It takes so much more time. I feel like you definitely have to rein it in a little bit and rely more on subtleties because the camera is right here (in your face) rather than having the audience far away.

“But, you know, you give it your all and then, it’s someone other people’s job to do something with it as they please. Which is why I will always love theater because it is such a raw, uncensored experience—for both the artist and his or her audience.” INQ