Yesterday Kristen Bell slapped a reporter, Kevin Donnelly, from "The Fix". This occurred on the red carpet for premier of her new film, The Boss. When you watch this video, there should be several body language tells which should make you suspect this was staged.
Most of these clues are committed by the actor playing the alleged reporter Kevin Donnelly. Ms. Bell did a pretty good job acting here (but not perfect). One of her nonverbal acting mistakes is discussed below.
During the 0:15 as the actor playing Kevin Donnelly fake-falls over a barrier, Kristen Bell spins around in what is a less than well acted surprise feign.
Although her eyelids are opened wider than base-line, they do not match her mouth opening. If this surprise was real, Kristen's eyelids would be opened more widely.
In addition, although Bell's mouth takes on a relatively vertically-oriented oval - during sincere surprise, when the mouth is opened this widely we would see not teeth.
With significant sincere surprise, teeth are not visible (not even a little bit - with the exceptions of extreme camera/visual angle or dentition abnormalities). In this charade, although it's of poor resolution, the lower aspect of her two top front incisors (maxillary central incisors) can be seen here.
Sincere surprise also has the characteristic of tighter lips. Her lips are loose and relatively uncontracted - despite a relatively widely opened mouth. This nonverbal signal is very telling and if it was the only signal, it alone would reveal this as a faked moment. Of course, clustered together with earlier observations of the edges of her two teeth exposed and her less than full eyelid opening lets us know the truth of Kristen Bell's PR stunt wrapped in a promotion.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3524: Paddleboarder's Encounter with Spinner Shark
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3512: Emilia Clarke, "Me Before You" and Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2971: Not Giving Good Actors an Easy Pass - Interstellar Trailer - When the Body Language is Not Congruent with Real Life
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3489: Margot Robbie wants Prince Harry
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2997: Halloween Haunted Houses - Transitioning from Expressions of Surprise to Fear
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3511: Ted Cruz Statement Regarding Allegations of Extramarital Affairs - Body Language and Statement Analysis
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3281: Donald Trump on "Meet The Press" - Who Does He Talk to for Military Advice?
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