An interesting point was raised by Ron Van Lieu in class yesterday at The Actors Center. After offering some notes on a scene from “A Doll House,” the work started up again. After the second go around, Ron noted that the actress had taken his notes and veered straight into “character,” nearly forsaking the content of the “scene.” What she did was certainly entertaining, but it neglected something fundamental. Read more…
Actors are perennially in search of two things: affecting an audience, and feeling personally significant. We can debate the order another time. In either case, there’s something relational at play, a need for emotions to stimulate the brain, or heart, or groin. (Again, we can debate the particulars later.)
In the best of circumstances, you’re working, on something you like, and you’re well paid. In these times you walk the earth with a lighter step. Traffic snarls are merely chances to listen to more music, rain is refreshing, and the dim-witted cashier is a person worthy of compassion. Read more…
A short film by Poppy de Villeneuve for the fashion website nowness.com…
My friend and teacher Stephen Tobolowsky was fond of telling us, “If you’re going to steal, and by all means do, then steal good.” It’s a smart practice if done properly. Creative types are always “borrowing” ideas, often blurring the line of outright theft, but we should at least take something useful.
(Ultimately, my rationale is this: in the end, I’m either going to do it consciously or unconsciously, so I may as well fold it into my mindfulness practice and be aware of it.) Read more…
Many thanks to Rex for an invitation to Movie Beat this morning. You can listen to the archived interview here:
Rex Sikes Movie Beat – Edoardo Ballerini – 15 March 2010
I’ll be doing Part Two of the Interview on April 2nd. Until then, enjoy…
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…
I had the pleasure and privilege of being in a scripted piece for the New York Times. Directed by Poppy de Villeneuve, there are five shorts in total, all set in Central Park. They are set to begin “airing” on Febuary 1st one per week. Mine is the 5th of 5, so I’m guessing it will be available on March 1st.
Many thanks to Iain Alexander for his interview on FilmIndustryNetwork.biz. Besides being a fan of his beautifully maintained and informative site, I was particularly pleased he gave me a chance to talk about playing Italian-Americans, something that has always felt strange to me, despite my name.
Click here to read the full piece.
As a nice end-of-decade surprise, Richard Roeper of “Ebert & Roeper” fame has put “Dinner Rush” into his top 100 films of the decade, coming at #92, between “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Frozen River.”
I have always been enormously proud of this film, and my work in it. It never got the attention it deserved, thanks to a miserable release strategy, but it has developed a kind of cult status over the years, and it never ceases to amaze me how often people will ask me about, or how well it played around the world, particularly in Japan, Australia and England.
Thanks, Richard!
Click here for a link to the Roeper article…
And here for the DVD on Amazon.com…
Enjoy!
