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Back to One Podcast: Ashlie Atkinson Talks Using the “Substitution Tool” to Play Evil and Treating Auditions as Work Sessions
Ashlie Atkinson is getting kudos for playing Connie Kendrickson, the motherly yet evil KKK wife, in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. We talk about the unique prep work that went into inhabiting her and the tools she used to stay present inside such a sick character. We also chat about her approach to comedy, particularly in the Ingrid Jungermann web series F to 7th, and working with Craig Zobel in both Compliance (a favorite of mine, as may listeners know) and now the brand new CBS All Access show One Dollar. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, […]
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John Cho Talks About the Challenges of Acting in Searching, the Importance of Eye Contact, and Shooting from the Hip
John Cho is perhaps best known for playing Sulu in the Star Trek reboots and Harold in the Harold and Kumar films. His new movie Searching takes place entirely on computer screens. Cho’s performance is one of the reasons why it is a successful piece of true cinema and not a novelty. We discuss the unique challenges of performing alone in some scenes and trusting director Aneesh Chaganty to navigate him through the space. We also talk about one of my favorite recent indie films, Columbus, and the connection he felt with co-star Haley Lu Richardson that truly powers the […]
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We the Animals Star Raúl Castillo on Embodying Toxic Masculinity, His Theater Roots and Owning Your Space as an Actor
His portrayal of “Richie” on the HBO series Looking brought Raúl Castillo some serious recognition and started moving him into bigger and better parts. One such role is “Pops” in the astonishing queer coming-of-age film We The Animals (in theaters now) directed by Jeremiah Zagar from the Justin Torres best-seller. Castillo talks in depth about his process of bringing this complex character to life, and the importance of owning your space as an actor. Plus we do a deep-dive into the straight man’s approach to same-sex on-camera kissing. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including […]
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“It Was No Gang, It Was One Guy, and He Wasn’t Really a Killer”: Producer and Star Edward James Olmos on The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
One of the greatest and most criminally overlooked Westerns in the history of cinema arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week in the form of the Criterion Collection’s release of Robert M. Young’s The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. A landmark independent film that kicked off the Chicano cinema movement of the 1980s (a movement that would include movies as varied as El Norte, Stand and Deliver, and Born in East L.A.), it’s a genre piece without a shred of manipulation or sentimentality; director Young and producer Edward James Olmos, who also stars in the title role, tell their chase narrative […]
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Back to One Podcast: John Gallagher, Jr. on the Importance of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Sorkin, and the Success of Simply Surviving a Role
His performances in Spring Awakening and American Idiot are probably what John Gallagher Jr. is most known for at the moment (he won a Tony for the former), and are often what get him labeled a “musical theater guy,” but they were the only musicals he’s done in his 20-year career. I ask him about two recent play productions (Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Jerusalem) that I suspect were very formative for him, and his latest screen role in the important and moving indie The Miseducation of Cameron Post. And, of course, I couldn’t let him go without talking […]
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“I Had a 40-Year Career That Was Mostly Just Riven with Existential Panic”: Two and a Half Men Co-Creator Lee Aronsohn on his Debut Doc, 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie
Lee Aronsohn was a college student in the early 1970s when he discovered Magic Music, an acoustic band based in Boulder, Colorado that attracted a devoted following thanks to their beautiful harmonies, memorable lyrics and bohemian lifestyle. In spite of flirtations with a number of record labels, the group never took off — they never even released an album — and by 1975 they broke up. Forty years later, Aronsohn — now one of the most successful writer-producers in the history of sitcoms thanks to his work on Murphy Brown, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, […]
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Back to One Podcast: BlacKkKlansman Actor Topher Grace Talks Playing Evil People, Working with Great Directors, and the Epidemic of the Hollywood Earpiece
Seven seasons on the sitcom That ’70s Show led Topher Grace to roles in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, In Good Company, a not entirely successful turn as “Venom” in Spider Man 3, and lighter projects like Win A Date With Tad Hamilton and Valentine’s Day. He then decided to change the trajectory of his career. He told his agents he wanted to work exclusively with great film artists in environments that inspired him. Worthy projects like Interstellar, Truth and War Machine followed. And this year, Grace’s next chapter continues with David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake and the challenging role […]
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Back to One Podcast: Ann Dowd Talks Keeping it Simple, Staying Positive and her “Love Affair” with Aunt Lydia
The “stay positive and keep it simple” approach Ann Dowd has toward her work is truly inspiring. A go-to character actor extraordinaire for 30 years, she has now received wide acclaim (and an Emmy) for her portrayal of the terrifyingly devout Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale. And her pitch perfect performance in Craig Zobel’s Compliance is, in my opinion, a tour de force for the ages. In this half hour, she talks about the nuts and bolts of playing these roles and generously lets us peek “under the hood” at the inner workings of her craft. Inspiration is guaranteed. […]
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Back to One Podcast: Grace Rex on Making Comedic Choices, the “Bizarre” Endeavor of Auditioning, and Keeping Her Bunny Alive
Grace Rex has been a series regular on the British sitcom High and Dry, a recurring guest star on The Good Wife, and had roles in Master of None, Mindhunter and Boardwalk Empire, among many other TV shows and films. For me, her finespun and hilarious work in Ingrid Jungermann’s Women Who Kill solidified her place among the uniquely talented comedic actors to watch. We talk about one special moment in that film, the “bizarre” endeavor of auditioning, and NOT getting into a co-dependent relationship with acting. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes, […]
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“I Don’t Care If It Never Shows in a Theater”: Steven Soderbergh on sex, lies, and videotape, 4K HDR and the Studio System
Some films make a splash on their initial release and are largely forgotten just a few years later; others are ignored but rise in stature with the passage of time. Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 debut sex, lies, and videotape is one of those rare movies that was a phenomenon in its time and has only gotten better with age, a razor-sharp exploration of the ways in which we lie to each other and ourselves and an inquiry into what those lies say about our relationships, our desires, and our society as a whole. An extremely specific movie about a precise social […]
