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Crispin Glover Returns To Do a Deep Dive Into “No! You’re Wrong or Spooky Action at a Distance,” Back To One, Episode 362
This is the second part of my interview with Crispin Glover where we dive deep into his latest film No! You’re Wrong or Spooky Action At A Distance, which he spent the better part of the last 18 years making, completely independently. He touches on many of the technical aspects of the film, such as shooting ratio, color correction, music scores, film vs. digital, why he’s bad at sound mixing, what “spooky action at a distance” actually means, and much much more. Go to CrispinGlover.com to find out where you can catch him on tour. Back To One can be […]
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“Problem-Solving Is Different as an Actor Than It Is as a Filmmaker” Crispin Glover, Back To One Episode 361
Back To The Future, but for the past three decades he’s been very thoughtful, patient, and selective about his acting roles and even more thoughtful and patient as a true independent filmmaker, self-financing and self-distributing three films — What is it?, It is Fine! Everything is Fine, and his latest, No! You’re Wrong Or: Spooky Action at a Distance. On this episode, which is the first part of a two-part conversation, he talks about a characteristic in certain directors that usually spells trouble for him as an actor, the importance of surrealism in his work, why he became obsessed with […]
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“If You Really Want to Ground Something in Reality, You Have to Somehow Find a Way in Through Your Own Lens”: Catherine LeFrere, Back To One, Episode 360
Catherine LeFrere plays Isabella Blow in the inventive Off-Broadway production House of McQueen at The Mansion At Hudson Yards in New York City. The play depicts the life of the brilliant fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who was discovered by Blow. On this episode, LeFrere takes us on a deep dive into the creation of her version of Isabella. She talks about starting with the voice, why she doesn’t want to be off-book in first rehearsals, the importance of playing off the audience, and much more. House of McQueen has been extending into November. Back To One can be found wherever […]
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“The Movie is Set 100% Outside”: DP Jo Willems on Shooting “The Long Walk” Completely in Sequence
Though 1974’s Carrie marked Stephen King’s first published novel, The Long Walks holds the distinction of being the earliest opus penned by the horror author. The story of a contest in which 100 teenagers march until only one is left alive, King began The Long Walk as a college freshman at the University of Maine in the late 1960s amid the Vietnam War and the looming threat of its televised draft. He submitted the story to a Random House contest for new novelists, but received only a form letter in response and The Long Walk went into a drawer. Following […]
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“Breathe To Feel”: Josh Pais Returns To Discuss His Book, “Lose Your Mind: The Path to Creative Invincibility”
Josh Pais returns to the podcast (first time was Ep. 77). Aside from being one of the most respected actors in the game, with over 150 credits in film and TV, Pais is the founder of Committed Impulse, a groundbreaking training born from his own acting process that has since become a “secret weapon” for thousands of top entrepreneurs, artists, doctors, lawyers, public speakers, and creators of all kinds. His work helps people break free from the tyranny of overthinking and drop into a state of embodied, spontaneous brilliance. And now—he has written a book! In Lose Your Mind: The […]
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“I Don’t Covet Shots, I Covet the Film”: DP Matthew Libatique on Highest 2 Lowest
In November of 2023, always-busy cinematographer Matthew Libatique embarked on a particularly prolific period that saw the three-time Oscar nominee lens a trio of films nearly back-to back. That grueling feat was predicated on the fact that a triumvirate of Libatique’s most frequent collaborators came calling: Spike Lee with Highest 2 Lowest (briefly in theaters, now on Apple TV+), Darren Aronofsky with Caught Stealing (now in theaters) and Bradley Cooper with Is This Thing On? (scheduled for release at the end of the year, premiering shortly at NYFF). “It wasn’t lost on me how rare of an opportunity it was […]
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“Acceptance Is What It’s About”: Ruby Cruz, Back To One, Episode 358
Watching Ruby Cruz’s remarkable and seemingly effortless performance in her latest film, The Threesome, I got a hunch that she was engaging with the work on some kind of intuitive level where connection was paramount. I also sensed that this might not be easy to talk about. In one sense I was right, the gifted young actor, who’s credits include Bottoms, Willow, Mare of Easttown and The Sex Lives of College Girls, approaches the work in an elusive way, but, lucky for us, she still manages to speak about the intangible and slippery aspects with an eloquence that is inspiring. […]
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“The More I Ingest the More Latitude I Have in What I Put Out Creatively”: Tim Blake Nelson, Back To One, Episode 357
Tim Blake Nelson is a celebrated actor, writer, and director. His nearly 100 screen credits include The Thin Red Line, Lincoln, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Watchmen, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? For his latest, the independent film Bang Bang, he plays an aging boxer whose glory days are long past. On this episode, he details how his process has changed by comparing the patience he has now to his approach for O Brother, Where Art Thou? where “fear inspired hubris” fueled him. He explains why it’s the actor’s job to retranslate poor direction, how his thirst for knowledge […]
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“Stunt-Vis was Never a Restriction”: DP Callan Green on Nobody 2
In Nobody, a government assassin turned middle-aged family man (Bob Odenkirk) breaks out of his humdrum suburban existence by instigating an escalating feud with the Russian mob. In the film’s sequel, out in theaters, a burnt-out Odenkirk now needs a break from his return to espionage. So, he packs up the family and heads to Plummerville, a run-down water park where he spent one of his happiest childhood summers. Action maestro Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us) takes the directorial reigns for the follow-up, with New Zealand cinematographer Callan Green behind the camera. Green spoke to Filmmaker about the […]
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“The Entire Process is About Discovery and Surprise and Not About a Theory or a Thesis”: John Carroll Lynch, Back To One, Episode 356
John Carroll Lynch has delivered so many performances, on so many sets, for both the big and small screen, that it is almost ridiculous. Just a few highlights of his hundreds of credits include: The Drew Carey Show, Fargo, Zodiac, Big Sky, American Horror Story, The Trial of The Chicago 7, and his latest, Sorry Baby. On this episode, he gives us a deep dive into his approach to the work, and how it has evolved over the years. He explains the benefits of highlighting the text based on lexical categories, how directing his first feature Lucky (with Harry Dean […]
