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Back to One, Episode 124: Rosalind Chao
When one has the opportunity to listen to an actor with the amount of experience as Rosalind Chao has, one must seize it. From the legendary final episode of M.A.S.H to Black-ish, from The Joy Luck Club to Disney’s eagerly anticipated live action Mulan, Chao has seen it all! On this episode, the once “professional guest star” opens up about how she’s happier when working and happiest on a happy set. She talks about why it’s important to get to the fitting early in her process, adding years to her age to get her first job, learning from Peggy Feury, […]
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Back to One, Episode 123: Ramy Youssef
Ramy Youssef won the Golden Globe for lead actor in a comedy series for his work in Ramy, the Hulu series he co-created. The second season came out in May, and the struggles of being a devout young Muslim man in America that fueled the first season, deepen, grow and expand out to peripheral characters in the second, highlighted by the addition of Mahershala Ali as Ramy’s wise and loving sheikh. Youssef directed more episodes this season (he’s nominated for an Emmy for directing as well as acting). We talk about that and the overall collaborative effort at work behind […]
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Back to One, Episode 122: Niamh Algar
Irish actor Niamh Algar has been making her mark in the UK of late portraying women dealing with their intense pasts, like Dinah in Shane Meadows’ The Virtues and Ursula in Calm With Horses (which just opened in the States as The Shadow of Violence). The intensity continues with her latest project, Raised By Wolves, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series for HBO MAX (which drops on September 3th). In this episode, she talks about following her gut, why she asks questions early, adapting to the director, the importance of not taking yourself too seriously, and much more. Back To One can […]
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“I Never Do a Oner Just Because I Can”: Mimi Leder on The Morning Show
In the mid-1990s, director Mimi Leder revolutionized network television with her kinetic, elaborately choreographed long takes on the medical series ER. A master of complicated blocking and the use of camera movement to plunge the audience into viscerally charged suspense, Leder also knew when to pull the visual pyrotechnics back and generate power through restraint. Leder’s command of the medium has only become more impressive in the 25 years since; her most recent feature, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, is a master class in composition and color, and her work on the Apple+ series The […]
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“Filmmaking is Not a Job, It’s a State of Mind”: Directors John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies on Unearth
Fifteen years ago I was touring the regional horror film festival circuit with my first feature when I discovered the work of John C. Lyons, a filmmaker based in Erie, Pennsylvania whose short Hunting Camp was one of the more inventive and compelling movies I encountered that year. It was also one of the most interestingly photographed, by cinematographer Dorota Swies, who formed Lyons Den Productions with Lyons in 2004; the two of them have been working together ever since. Their latest collaboration and first feature together is the environmental horror movie Unearth, set to premiere on August 25 at this year’s virtual […]
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Back to One, Episode 121: Kevin Alejandro
Kevin Alejandro is finishing his fifth season playing Detective Dan Espinoza on Netflix’s Lucifer. He’s also graced your small screen in such series as The Returned, Southland, and True Blood. In 2017 he graduated from the Warner Brothers television director’s workshop and directed an episode of Lucifer. Since then he started his own production company and has turned into a multi-hyphenate, churning out award winning shorts, including the absolutely hilarious Adult Night. He’s back in the director’s chair on Lucifer’s fifth season (part 1), which drops August 21st on Netflix. On this episode, he talks about how the need to […]
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Back to One, Episode 120: Paapa Essiedu
The brilliant young British actor Paapa Essiedu speaks about the work with wisdom that belies his years. He plays Kwame on Michaela Coel’s groundbreaking new HBO series I May Destroy You. In 2016, his Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company received great acclaim. In this episode he compares those two characters, who are each facing defining moments in their lives, and talks about the “conscious unconsciousness” necessary to embody them. He discusses the various ways curiosity is useful, and why it’s so important to immerse yourself in the world of the story. Plus lots more! Back To One can be […]
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“You Get to Be Your Own Editor as You’re Watching It”: Catherine Hardwicke on Quibi Series Don’t Look Deeper
Ever since she made her directorial debut in 2003 with Thirteen, Catherine Hardwicke has been one of the American cinema’s great chroniclers of young people navigating the transition to adulthood. In films as diverse as Lords of Dogtown, Twilight, Red Riding Hood and The Nativity Story, Hardwicke has explored teenage crises and discoveries with serious intent and the sharp attention to visual detail that she developed as a production designer on movies like Three Kings and Vanilla Sky. Her work on those films and other often demonstrated a bold and original approach to color, and this is true of her […]
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“The Key Word on Set was ‘Darker'”: DP Jeremy Osbern on The Big Ugly, The First Feature to Shoot on a RED Gemini
Writer-director Scott Wiper’s The Big Ugly is the best kind of genre film, a crime movie aware of the traditions in which it’s working but not beholden to them; combining elements of ’40s and ’50s crime fiction (Jim Thompson seems to be a particular touchstone) with the flavor of ’70s Sam Peckinpah and Walter Hill filtered through the visual grammar of ’90s Tony Scott, The Big Ugly synthesizes its influences into a unique and compelling western noir. Its emotional power comes largely from Wiper’s richly textured script and the performances by his consistently riveting ensemble, which includes Vinnie Jones, Malcolm […]
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Back to One, Episode 119: Stacy Martin
Part of Stacy Martin’s performance, in her wonderful new film Archive, involves essentially playing robots at various stages of development. She talks about the challenge that posed for her as an actor, and how director Gavin Rothery’s complete command of his vision helped her process. She takes me back to her days at the Actors’ Temple in London, and how an intensive workshop there changed her life and prepared her for the remarkable experience of her first film, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. She shares an important bit of direction that Lars gave her that blows my mind. We swap stories […]
