The best thing to be on set is the least talented person. If that sounds horrible, try this angle: by being the least talented person, assuming you have some basic skills and awareness, you will be forced to raise your game to a new level. A challenge surely awaits, and nothing is better for creative growth than a stiff challenge. Nothing. Read more…
Let’s cut to the chase. The title of the above musical may be catchy, but it won’t work. There are some pretty staggering statistics about actors “making it,” or more to the point, “not making it.” It’s an industry that makes the restaurant business seem like a sound investment. And there’s a lot more than goes into an acting career than looking pretty and hoping for the best. The Lana Turner/Schwab’s Pharmacy approach is about as good a professional strategy as “shock and awe.” Read more…
This is a line from a Robert Frost poem, and I never understood it until yesterday. Well, I’ve given it some meaning in the hopes of barking forwards. Chew on that…
If you’re anything like me, a bad thing happening causes about ten times as much anxiety as a good thing happening causes pleasure. It’s evolutionary, I know. It is far more important that we guard against threats (“Hey, is that a brontosaurus in behind that rock?”) than we relish enjoyment (“Boy, the sun sure feels good outside my cave.”) You miss the threat, you die. You miss the bliss, you still live. ’Nuff said. Read more…
Last Saturday I saw a wonderful performance of “Measure for Measure.” I took special note of a gentleman playing a certain part as he seemed especially refined, the kind of man I’d like to be when I go gray. In the waiting area of a commercial casting office this morning, I saw him again. He was still refined, head held high, but if he was there for the same thing I was – there were multiple parts – he was about to do something very, very silly. It’s a fun spot, don’t get me wrong, but it’s silly. Read more…
Last summer I did a film in which I had to deliver speeches to crowds. And every time after filming, I nearly lost my voice, which caused me no end of embarrassment. How can a professional actor not know how to support his voice for two days? It was another reminder that I had gotten off-track in nearly every aspect of my life. Read more…
As I rode on my eleventh subway of the day last week, or perhaps it my third cab, it occurred to me that I had little comprehension of where I’d been or where I was going. My bag was strapped to my back, heavy with books, water, an umbrella, a mini dop kit, a shirt or two, maybe some socks, who knows, and I was going over some lines in my head for a rehearsal, or maybe I was humming a vocal exercise, no, I was making notes for a blog entry, anyway, I was hungry and couldn’t remember if I’d eaten, or how old that power bar in my bag was, or if the Q train stopped at 23rd St. This is typical.
I’m glad to be busy, but there’s a downside to all this activity, namely that you burn out quickly. I have never in my life wanted to do so much, and done so much, and I have never in my life been so tired to the bone. I’m going with the “sleep when you’re dead” philosophy, but it’s dawning on me that I could, in fact, be hastening my demise with too many 21 hour days and seven day weeks.
There’s a saying that in film you can choose two of the following three things: fast, cheap, and good, but you can’t have all three. That is, if it’s fast and cheap, it won’t be good, if it’s cheap and good, it won’t be fast, and if it’s good and fast, it won’t be cheap. In my experience, this has held up pretty well.
Now, perhaps it’s because of my newfound belief that anything is possible, but an idea for a film project came to me in the night that I thought might just be able to break this curse. But upon further reflection, it became clear that it wouldn’t be fast. Then upon further further reflection, it occurred to me that nothing in film is fast. An eternity can pass between the idea and the first viewing of even the fastest of the fast tracked projects. Read more…
How a room was assembled in which most people knew me is still a source of amazement, but the other night I went out and found just that. It reminded me of days past on the festival circuit when people went out of their way to flatter me and I got good at idle chatter, and holding my liquor.
But a few hours into the night I was drained. Perhaps I’m just out of practice, or perhaps it was the result of not having really stopped since January 1st, but my legs felt like lead, so I perched on a stool next to some aging chicken satay and looked around the room, catching my breath. Read more…
The snow was falling hard and fast, and by the time I reached the entrance to the Actors Studio I could have been mistaken for a snowman. I’ve been circling back to the places I first started, and no single place looms larger for me than the Studio. Years ago, I was an “observer,” exchanging volunteer hours cleaning up the place for the chance to watch sessions and soak up some knowledge. Read more…
I did something today I’d not done in over a decade: I presented a scene in a class. I expected to be nervous, but somehow a preternatural calm came over me, as if I belonged. Still, it wasn’t until after the critique that I understood the full impact of what I’d done. How can I put it? I resuscitated a shark. (This will make sense in a few sentences.) Read more…