It's more or less involuntary/we are unaware of it but we do and that's something that actors need to train themselves out of, because like you pointed out - it's really distracting on screen! It looks far more natural to focus on one eye - usually the eye closest to the camera.
Apparently actors do it to purposefully draw attention to their eyes.
I think there can be several reasons for this: In a close up an actor can't move too much. Everything she does is magnified and draws attention. They can move their head a little bit but if done too often it could be distracting or they may not be used as much as they could in the final edit.
This is sage advice given by the highly accomplished, Academy Award winning actor, Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters, The Italian Job, The Cider House Rules) during a BBC interview. According to Caine, in a close-up scene, an actor can send a signal of strength and seriousness of purpose by not blinking.
When one actor looks in another person's eyes, that's not what they're doing. They stare at the third eye. A made-up term to identify the place right between both eyes. This way focus is maintained and the eyes aren't darting around between left and right eyes.
"Then you'll need to take a deep breath just before the director says 'Action' and hold it for the duration of the shot until you hear 'Cut. ' This way, you'll avoid being seen breathing during the take. You don't want to be the corpse whose stomach is clearly moving up and down."
Haridas, 37, secured the record for spending the longest time (1 hour 31 minutes) without blinking his eyes. His feat has been recognized by India Book of Records and he received the medal and certificate in July.
You don't need to be a seasoned pro to know a key rule of onscreen acting: Don't look at the camera! The practice stems from the importance of actors' eyelines in creating a smooth shooting experience and an effective final product.
The world record for staring — not blinking once — is 57 minutes and 24 seconds, set by a Chinese naval serviceman in 2015. That is no easy feat! The clear outer dome of the eye, or cornea, is the most sensitive part of the human body. When the cornea is exposed to the elements, it triggers the blink reflex.
Not being able to blink results in: Greater evaporation of tears. Poor distribution of the tear film. Disruption of the mucin layer component of the tear film.
They visit their dermatologist often to see what treatments, procedures, and products will work best for them. They use Botox, fillers, sunscreen, chemical peels, and IPL/photofacial. It's not that they have access to anything unique — it's that they actually get the treatments.
Most celebrities either use makeup or eye drops to make the whites of their eyes appear brighter.
Making/keeping their attitudes and facial expressions are easier. Sometimes they're also reading some script whilst looking in the general direction but not directly at the other cast member. This is important when it's an emotional scene but nowadays it's standard.
There's a common wives' tale that tries to help us out with this: It says, if you look into a person's left eye, it means you're connecting to their emotional side, because that's the side of the brain that processes emotion.
In general, eye rolling signals a variety of emotions such as boredom, disbelief, sarcasm, cynicism or contempt. Addressing the situation with the friend is the only way to get the issue out on the table.
Guinness World Records said it has no official record for not blinking, but website RecordSetter.com lists the world record as being 1 hour, 5 minutes and 11 seconds, set by Julio Jaime of Colorado in 2016.
For Mathura's Mahendra Singh Verma, this Sunday was not an usual one for several reasons. First, he stared at the sun with bare eyes for 1 hour and 26 minutes at 39 degree celsius without even blinking and second he created a national record with that.
We have all wondered how do they do that. But actors do not possess some kind of supernatural memory, and they do not simply memorize their entire scripts by heart. The process is much more complex than that and involves various techniques actors use to remember the lines.
So, do actors really kiss? Short answer: It depends. They usually do some form of kissing, but there are ways to get around it (more on that later). Whether you wind up locking lips with another actor or not, there's a lot that goes into kissing scenes that you should know about.
From the strawberry frozen yogurt scene in “Seinfeld,” to the breakfast at Tiffany's in the (appropriately titled) “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” eating scenes in TV shows and movies are common fare. But although eating scenes might appear as organic as GMO-free produce, actors usually don't actually eat on camera.
Agostino "Angus" Giuseppe A Barbieri (1939 – 7 September 1990) was a Scottish man who fasted for 382 days, from June 1965 to July 1966. He lived on tea, coffee, sparkling water, and vitamins while living at home in Tayport, Scotland, and frequently visiting Maryfield Hospital for medical evaluation.
The longest kiss ever lasted 58 hours 35 minutes, achieved by Thai couple Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat, at an event organised by Ripley's Believe It or Not! in Pattaya, Thailand.
Other weird records
Previously, Peter Tripp held the first record at 201 hours and suffered from hallucinations for several days after. Between Peter and Randy, Honolulu DJ Tom Rounds made it to 260 hours. Randy tapped out at 264 hours, and slept for 14 hours straight after.