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Actor Interviews

12/12/2014

I'm very much an actor at heart and have been recently binging on some really great interviews with some of my favorite actors. I feel like I've learned so much from their generous thoughts on acting and on life and feel so grateful that these are available for free on the web. If you're looking for some fascinating and downright fun conversations with creative folks, look no further!

Here's a few of my favorite interviews:

Alan Rickman has some great advice for artists: "Forget about acting. Go to art galleries, listen to music, learn about what's happening in the world." I love it. I felt so in tune with everything he was saying, I was literally shouting "I know, I completely agree!" at the computer screen.

I adore Jenna Fischer of "The Office" and her Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross is so wonderful. She may be a famous actress, but honest to God sounds like a friend I could chat about acting with over coffee. And boy, does she have some pretty crazy stories about getting started acting in L.A. Find the podcast interview HERE.

Steve Carell cracks me up and has so many great stories about his performance process. His Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross is really worth listening to as well. Find it HERE.

Ok, so it's not a full interview, but Ben Kingsley's clip from Inside the Actors Studio is good as a stand alone nugget of wisdom. "Actors are hunters, hunting the truth of the scene, the truth of the story, the integrity of what we're trying to do, the necessity, the urgency, the connection." Well said.

Julie Delpy is a gorgeous and talented French actress and director best known in the States for her lead role opposite Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy. If you haven't seen these films, you can find them here. I own them and have watched them a million times. Delpy is feminist, anti-Hollywood, and even writes and records the music for her films. I admire her bold, don't-give-a-damn style. She is a woman who doesn't ask for permission to make things and I love that.

Oh, and if you liked this interview, you can find more 92nd Street Y interviews for free (!) on their Youtube Channel. They do hour long interviews with everyone from Juliette Lewis to Malcolm Gladwell to Nora Ephron. It's so addicting! And did I mention they are free?

Wishing you a Happy Friday!

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Savor the Small Moments

12/8/2014

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"It will be hard to explain your first milestones to friends and family back home. They are waiting to see you on TV or on the big screen. It is hard to explain how a 2nd callback for a job you didn’t land was the highlight of your month and a very valid reason to celebrate. I didn’t get the job. I didn’t get a callback. But I conquered my rambling, fear-driven brain and went balls out on the audition anyway. That was a huge milestone for me – but hard to explain at Christmas."
~Jenna Fischer of "The Office"

Difficult as it may be to believe, I am just now watching my way through the American series "The Office". The show has made me giggle so much during this cold and dark December, and as much as the dialogue delights me, the stories of the actors themselves are just as addicting. And I must admit that Pam and Jim are adorable.

Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam, is so authentic when it comes to speaking the truth to what it means to be an actor in Los Angeles. I love her quote above, where she talks about how difficult it is to define success on your own terms, not to mention terms that your well-meaning loved ones will understand and appreciate. The example she uses has happened to me quite often: I go to an audition I feel like I don't have the guts to do, I muster the courage to give it my best, and walk away feeling a deep sense of joy. This joy stays with me for awhile, but later when I'm telling someone about my victory, hoping that they recognize it and celebrate alongside me, all they can ask is "But did you get the part?" It can be really disheartening.

In my Christmas cards this year, I've been writing "I hope you savor the small moments of the season". Well, creative friends, this post is a year-round card to all of you, wishing that you savor the small moments of whatever it is that you do. An audition that made you want to run away that you went to anyway, writing a few hundred words of a short story when you felt stuck, or taking a chance on a song at karaoke night.

Please, please, please stop in the moment and enjoy the victory, however small it might seem. Don't shrug something you did off just because someone else can't see the worth in it. It's important to get in this habit. If we don't establish this practice for ourselves, we will find ourselves relying endlessly on the approval of others. Nothing will ever be enough. And going down that road where "nothing is enough" only leads to frustration and desperation. Let's stop hustling and start savoring.

Find the full article of Jenna Fischer's advice to actors here!

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Is Art Failing Us?

12/1/2014

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"I want to know more about the political economy of art at the present moment, to think about how artists are affected by changes in the distribution of wealth and the definition of work, and about how their work addresses these changes."

-A.O. Scott, New York Times

I read the article "Is Our Art Equal to the Challenges of Our Times?" by A.O. Scott in the New York Times just this morning and found it really thought provoking. Scott asks artists, writers, filmmakers, and other cultural figures to speak about the ability of art to address social issues in the United States at this very moment in history.

Scott's collection of answers from these various cultural figures springs from his essay on the same subject, in which he expresses his belief that "we are in the midst of hard times now, and it feels as if art is failing us." He goes on to say "Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, I’ve been waiting for “The Grapes of Wrath.” Or maybe “A Raisin in the Sun,” or “Death of a Salesman,” a Zola novel or a Woody Guthrie ballad — something that would sum up the injustices and worries of the times, and put a human face on the impersonal movements of history."

While the article has so many great thoughts from prominent cultural figures, I find that I respectfully disagree with Scott. Don't misunderstand me, I find many things about art frustrating. I find the lack of financial security discouraging and the hours exhausting. I find the lack of support for arts in education disheartening and funding for arts pretty grim. But I also find that art remains the best way I know to express myself and my views about the world.

I am honored to know so many incredible artistic friends all over the country that are currently digging their heels in, in the midst of a rough economy, to try to write, perform, direct, teach, and create as best they can. I have seen and heard a wealth of artistic responses to the recession, Ferguson protests, continued gay marriage debates, immigration issues, and so much more. The artists I know are fighting using the tools they have. I am proud to know these determined people and find that even in the midst of these challenging times, there are so many artists willing to stand up for what they believe in. When I look at these human beings creating right in front of me, how can I say that art is failing?

These artists I know aren't necessarily the same ones having work produced on Broadway or displayed at the Met, but their work is just as meaningful. Instead of asking if art is failing us, perhaps the question we should be asking is if the current artistic climate in this country is failing the hard working artists themselves. I know so many of these incredibly stubborn and hardworking souls, and one of the biggest issues we face is finding a platform to share our pieces of art with a wider audience, where they can have the potential to affect social change. I have a sneaking suspicion that this powerful work that Mr. Scott longs for is indeed already out there, but we're just not being given an opportunity to hear or see it. That's a whole different issue.

What do you think? Do you see art as having failed to live up to its duty to address vital issues? Is it possible that the art being mass produced and widely distributed is failing to appropriately grapple with the issues we are now facing? Or do you see artists on a local level succeeding in taking on these issues?

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Actor Interviews

Savor the Small Moments

Is Art Failing Us?

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