We return once more to our friend, Epictetus: "When you are going to take in hand any act, remind yourself what kind of an act it is. If you are going to bathe, place before yourself what happens in the bath: some splashing the water, others...
Read MoreStaying fixed on our big goals, on our dreams (to make a movie, or sign with that top agent, or to play King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company) relieves pressure. Perhaps the reality is that we will not be able to accomplish them for many...
Read Morehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHk-ooDV2HE I clicked on the link for "The Many Deaths of John Hurt", expecting a fun couple of minutes watching Hurt expire in a number of his films, but ended up being struck by the resonance of a great actor's life. The clips seem capture the...
Read MoreIn order to progress in our work we must be able to learn from experience, that is; we do something, then we look at what we've done, keep what we like, get rid of what we don't like, and make the necessary changes for next...
Read MoreI've known actors over the years who convinced themselves that they were going to be big stars. In order to maintain this self-delusion, they would strut around the place as though they were special, treating their colleagues like second class citizens. They saw the production...
Read MoreIf a production was insipid or the actors incompetent, why pretend otherwise? We live in an age where we're supposed to be "positive", and criticism is seen as snarky and negative. But I see nothing wrong with intelligent, precise and genuine criticism. Infact, it is a...
Read MoreThe good director understands that his idea of the way a certain moment in a scene should be played, is only one person's view, and that it may not even be the strongest. He knows instinctively when to back off an actor's performance. If an actor...
Read Morehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ooNOcpfK4 "it's like someone saying, "you're film's not stupid enough, so it's pretentious"- Jim Jarmusch A Jim Jarmusch film doesn't happen all that often, perhaps about once every four or five years. However, while his contemporaries from the US indie film scene of the 1980s have either...
Read Morehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyw4b8LGe9I Growing up watching old British movies on daytime television whenever I was off school ill, I became a big fan of Terry-Thomas. I always loved the daft comedy in films like Monte Carlo Or Bust and School For Scoundrels. So I was delighted when I...
Read MoreIt used to be common for actors to head their own companies. They would produce a play, and cast themselves in the lead role. Sir John Gielgud, at the age of 25, directed a production of King Lear, playing the title role himself. At some point...
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