Columns
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“Every Character We Play, Every Story We’re a Part Of, There’s a Beautiful Thing to Take From It”: Brandon Scott, Back To One, Episode 286
His work in series like Grey’s Anatomy, 13 Reasons Why, and This Is Us, has established Brandon Scott as a captivatingly talented actor. His latest is the new MAX series The Girls on the Bus, where he plays the jilted ex-lover of Melissa Benoist’s journalist character who now needs his help because he’s the new press secretary to the leading Presidential candidate. He talks about the process of building connection between two people that are supposed to have a past, and how sometimes that can be done in simple ways. He describes the impact Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini had […]
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“We Accidentally Did Everything Wrong, But It’s Starting to Work”: Dad & Step-Dad Stars Colin Burgess and Anthony Oberbeck, Back To One, Episode 285
Colin Burgess and Anthony Oberbeck star in Dad & Step-Dad, an independent comedy film they co-wrote with director Tynan DeLong. It follows Jim and Dave, a dad and a step-dad, as they struggle with bonding during a weekend upstate with Branson, the 13-year-old son they share. It’s about family, communication, insecurity and the fragility of the male ego. On this episode, Burgess and Oberbeck describe the development of their comedy tastes and take us back to the improvised shorts that preceded the feature, where they were able to hone their characters and comedic sensibility before growing the project to feature-length. […]
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Shooting in ILM’s New StageCraft Volume Virtual Production Facility: DP Pierre Gill on Percy Jackson and the Olympians
In the first season of Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the titular teenaged demigod and his compatriots travel across the country, with stops from St. Louis to Las Vegas, on a mission to prevent war among the Greek gods. However, cinematographer Pierre Gill and his crew never left the vicinity of Vancouver. Percy Jackson is the first show to use Industrial Light & Magic’s new 20,000-square-foot StageCraft Volume in the Canadian city. Gill estimates 30 percent of his episodes were shot in the virtual production environment on its 95-foot LED wall. With the show now streaming in its entirety […]
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“All You Can Do is Give Your Offering” George MacKay, Back To One, Episode 284
You know the gifted actor George MacKay from films like 1917 or True History of The Kelly Gang. Now he has given us two absolutely incredible performances in Femme (in select theaters now) and The Beast (out on April 5th). On this episode, he takes us into his process of inhabiting these two extremely different characters. He explains why context is becoming more and more important to him in his preparation, talks about the actor as storyteller, the secret to appearing truly menacing, those sex scenes in Femme, a lesson about respect that he learned from Eddie Marsan, and much […]
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“There Is an Acceptance that Is Happening with Me Right Now Where I Just Only Care About Doing the Work”: Lukas Gage, Back To One, Episode 283
Lukas Gage is on a roll. In shows like The White Lotus, Euphoria, You, and the latest season of Fargo, films like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Down Low (which he also co-wrote), and now the eagerly anticipated Road House reboot, he’s been able to display his immense talent and range. He’s even played himself in Gossip Girl and The Other Two. On this episode, he explains how sometimes doing the opposite of what’s described is beneficial in an audition, why over-directing doesn’t work for him, the importance of creativity for the actor, how he arrived at his current […]
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Back To One, Episode 282, Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts star Anastasia Olowin On the 10-Year Journey to Bring the SXSW Hit to the Screen
The Brooklyn-based actor Anastasia Olowin stars in Shaun Seneviratne’s Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts, which just had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. She has such a command of the screen and brings so much life to her character, it’s hard to believe this is her first feature film. On this episode, she takes us back to her training at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, her eight years producing and acting in new work for the stage, and the 10-year journey to bring Ben and Suzanne to the screen. She talks about the collaborative process at […]
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“A Frankenstein Set of Lenses”: DP Matthew Libatique on Maestro
25 years ago, Pi—a $70,000 indie about an obsessive mathematician shot on 16mm black and white reversal stock—put cinematographer Matthew Libatique on the map. In the intervening quarter century, Libatique has earned three Academy Award nominations and shot multiple films for Spike Lee, Jon Favreau, Joel Schumacher and Darren Aronofsky. He helped inaugurate the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man and dipped into the D.C. sandbox with Birds of Prey. He’s shot horror movies, westerns, sci-fi flicks, war dramas, biopics and whatever genre mother! falls into. But what Matthew Libatique hasn’t done since Pi is shoot a film in black […]
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“Feeling Vulnerable is a Good Thing”: Hugo De Sousa, Back To One, Episode 281
As an actor, Hugo De Sousa had breakout leading roles in We Used to Know Each Other, Mister Limbo, and Everything in The End. I was introduced to his work as an actor/filmmaker, with the celebrated shorts he made in collaboration with Frank Mosley—The Event and Good Condition. On this episode he talks extensively about the making of those films, and his latest, which might be of particular, cathartic interest to listeners of this podcast, the absurdist short Je Ne Suis Pas Une Star De Cinéma. Plus he discusses the importance of feeling “out of balance in front of the […]
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“I Feel Like I’m Still Young Enough To Be a Fairly Humble, Malleable Student, and Old Enough To Be a Badass Teacher.” Mario Van Peebles, Back To One, Episode 280
Heartbreak Ridge put him on the map as an actor, New Jack City as a director, and with Posse, the 1993 hit Western he directed and stars in, Mario Van Peebles secured his place as a celebrated actor/director with countless credits, over the next 30 years, on the big and small screen. His latest is another star-filled, super fun western called Outlaw Posse. On this episode, he talks about the importance of discovering the tone of the project, how his love of learning leads to his desire to make “edutainment,” ways his acting experience informs his work as a director, […]
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“My Endless Struggle is for Utter Honesty on Film”: John Magaro, Back To One, Episode 279
John Magaro has been delivering consistently stellar performances in films like Not Fade Away, The Big Short, Carol, First Cow, and Showing Up, to name a few. This past year he played Arthur, husband of Greta Lee’s character Nora, in Past Lives. On this episode he talks, spoiler-free, about the last scene of that film and why it makes people emotional. He explains how receiving books, music, photos from directors helps in his preparation. He makes the case for experience over academia, takes us back to a big breakthrough that came to him from the legendary acting teacher Howard Guskin, […]
