The Great Acting Blog

The Great Acting Blog: “Noirish Project Swings Into Motion”

Rehearsals for Noirish Project have begun. The film itself is a slice neo-realism masquerading as a film noir: Billy robs some precious pearls from his own family, and gives them to local scheister, Jimmy, to off-load to the local fence. The troub...

The Great Acting Blog: “Robert De Niro Notes”

02.01.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

De Niro offers practical advice here, which means alot coming from an actor of his stature, and especially him I suppose, because so much theoretical voodoo has grown up around his work, in order to explain away his performances - the truth is, ac...

The Great Acting Blog: “The Acting In Fassbinder’s Fear Of Fear”

27.12.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 2 Comments

Fassbinder's Fear Of Fear is a quite brilliant tale about Margot, whose harmonious family life with husband Kurt and daughter Bibi, unravels as she begins to suffer from anxiety attacks leading to alcoholism, an illicit affair, and a spell in a me...

The Great Acting Blog: “My 5 Favourite Performances Of 2012”

19.12.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

Irene Jacob in The Dust Of Time (Theo Angelopoulos) An epic performance by Jacob, in a film which spans decades. She not only manages the shift in age without fuss, but she also delivers a performance of astonishing sensitivity but which is neithe...

Kati Outinen On Aki Kaurismaki – Actors’ Creativity | The Great Acting Blog

12.12.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 4 Comments

Kati Outinen is probably best known for her work with Finnish filmmaker, Aki Kaurismaki, having appeared in many, many of his films, including Match Factory Girl, Take Care Of Your Scarf Tatiana, and most recently, Le Havre. For those unfamiliar w...

The Great Acting Blog: “Thomas Doret In The Kid With The Bike”

05.12.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 20 Comments

Doret plays Cyril, a 12 year old who has been dumped into foster care by his father, who, unbeknownst to the boy, doesn't give a damn about him, and just wants rid of him. Doret runs away from the foster home to his dad's apartment....

The Great Acting Blog: “Poetic Acting”

28.11.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 31 Comments

Poetic acting is expressive but not expository, it is intense but with a sense of ease, it's minimal, but most importantly, it seeks to express something in-the-moment, but which cannot always be explained away. On a practical level, the actor com...

The Great Acting Blog: “Non-Actors, Employee-Actors, & Artist-Actors”

14.11.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

“with professional actors they have an imaginary in between you and them. In other words they have some model in their minds about how to act, or how someone did it before, or some techniques, visual or physical, they can use...

The Great Acting Blog: “There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind”

07.11.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

This week, I journeyed to Cork City, to attend a screening of HE (the new feature film by Rouzbeh Rashidi, and where I play the lead role), which was wonderfully hosted by The Guesthouse. Rouzbeh and I participated in a Q & A session after...

The Great Acting Blog: “Directing Actors”

31.10.2012 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

Noirish Project continues apace, and I will very soon begin rehearsals with the actors. I've not directed actors within a rehearsal context for awhile, although, as an actor myself, I like to think I have an idea about what is useful direction for...