The Details

Some acting advice from the great Quentin Tarantino…

INT.  MEN'S ROOM - L.A. TRAIN STATION - NIGHT

       Freddy and Holdaway at one of their many rendezvous.
       Holdaway wears an extra large Lakers sweatshirt.  Freddy
       sits on one of the sinks, wearing his high school jacket,
       looking at pieces of paper stapled together.

                              FREDDY
                 What's this?

                              HOLDAWAY
                 It's a scene.  Memorize it.

                              FREDDY
                 What?

                              HOLDAWAY
                 A undercover cop has got to be
                 Marlon Brando.  To do this job you
                 got to be a great actor.  You got
                 to be naturalistic.  You got to be
                 naturalistic as hell.  If you
                 ain't a great actor you're a bad
                 actor, and bad acting is bull shit
                 in this job.

                              FREDDY
                         (referring to the
                          papers)
                 But what is this?

                              HOLDAWAY
                 It's a amusing anecdote about a
                 drug deal.

                              FREDDY
                 What?

                              HOLDAWAY
                 Something funny that happened to
                 you while you were doing a job.

                              FREDDY
                 I gotta memorize all this shit?

                              HOLDAWAY
                 It's like a joke.  You remember
                 what's important, and the rest you
                 make your own.  The only way to
                 make it your own is to keep sayin
                 it, and sayin it, and sayin it,
                 and sayin it, and sayin it.

                              FREDDY
                 I can do that.

                              HOLDAWAY
                 The things you gotta remember are
                 the details.  It's the details
                 that sell your story.  Now this
                 story takes place in this men's
                 room.  So you gotta know the
                 details about this men's room.
                 You gotta know they got a blower
                 instead of a towel to dry your
                 hands.  You gotta know the stalls
                 ain't got no doors.  You gotta
                 know whether they got liquid or
                 powdered soap, whether they got
                 hot water or not, 'cause if you do
                 your job when you tell your story,
                 everybody should believe it.  And
                 if you tell your story to somebody
                 who's actually taken a piss in
                 this men's room, and you get one
                 detail they remember right,
                 they'll swear by you.

Here’s the scene from RESERVOIR DOGS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-f-nzOTV4