Back to One
A podcast about acting -- just the work. by Peter Rinaldi
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Back to One Episode 179: Alex Hassell
Shakespeare on the stage is his first love, but Alex Hassell loves the camera and it loves him back. Currently he plays Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, the live-action remake of the popular Japanese anime series. On this episode, he talks about being attracted to roles that are difficult, how years of stripped-down live theater work at The Factory formed him as an actor, why he’s more at ease when he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, his valuable contribution to Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, and how the particular challenges of acting on film excite him. Plus much… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 178: Jon Bernthal
From The Walking Dead and Punisher to The Wolf of Wall Street, Small Engine Repair, The Many Saints of Newark, and this month’s King Richard, Jon Bernthal has established himself as the hard-working, all-in, go-to, actor’s-actor of the moment. In this episode, he talks about some of the elements he uses—generosity, energy management, isolation, fear-as-fuel, group strength—to do his work, the one thing all great directors have in common, why he’d be just as grateful doing regional theater, plus much more! Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. And… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 177: Ruth Negga
Ruth Negga loves words. And even someone who doesn’t particularly love words falls in love with the ones spoken by Ruth Negga. It’s not just her Irish accent. She uses words like a master craftsman uses tools. A profound humbleness. No pretension. Just the right tool, used at the right time, to make you understand, to make you believe. Obviously this goes for her acting work too. But, in true master-craftsman-style, there’s no sign of craft. You just believe. Loving got her an Academy Award nomination, her Hamlet got raves on both sides of the pond, and now Passing, Rebecca… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 176: Jason Isaacs
After 30 years in the business, with credits ranging from Angels in America to the Harry Potter films and everything in between, Jason Isaacs has cultivated an approach to the craft of acting aimed at bringing himself fully into the moment. As he talks about in this episode, that approach involves not memorizing his lines, erasing all descriptors in the script, making no decisions before seeing what the other actors bring. “I try to do nothing. I try to be an empty vessel.” In Fran Kranz’s Mass—a real-time, one-room, four-hander where every actor shines—Isaacs plays a father of a child… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 175: Bertie Carvel
He already had an Olivier Award for his amazing performance as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda when Bertie Carvel made his Broadway debut in that unforgettable role. He went on to win a Tony the next time he stepped on the New York stage, playing a young Rupert Murdoch in Ink. Notable recent television credits include the BBC series Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Doctor Foster, and in November he stars in Dalgliesh on Acorn TV. In this hour, I get him to reflect objectively about his process and philosophically about acting in general. He talks about why collaboration (or even… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 174: Vicky Krieps
Phantom Thread solidified Vicky Krieps as an acting force to be reckoned with. Her incredible performance in that film felt new, like a beginning of sorts. Her latest is Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island. She talks about figuring out ways to turn the difficulties of that production into opportunities to create something magical. Plus she gives us a glimpse inside her process-less process, made up of deconstruction, openness, acceptance, listening, embracing chaos, exploding the method, living with failure, holding space for the unknown, and letting intuition lead the way. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 173: Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace returns to the podcast (first time: Ep. 43) to talk about her new film, the atmospheric, slow-burn thriller Lamb. Set in Iceland, which Noomi knows well from her childhood, the film’s landscapes feel almost like supporting characters. She talks about using the emotions they brought up in her, and the delicate way she entered grief into the performance. After I share my embarrassing animal parenting story, Noomi matches it, and illustrates why it was not hard at all to make her motherly love for the lamb baby believable. She schools us on the importance of not sticking to… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 172 (A Titane Special Episode): Agathe Russell and Vincent Lindon
Julia Ducournau’s new film Titane is, on many levels, an overwhelming cinematic experience. If you’re like me, it might take a second viewing to begin to fully appreciate the astounding work Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon deliver (no pun intended) to us in this film. Lindon is a seasoned actor with decades of accolades and experience in French cinema, and Rousselle is a wet-behind-the-ears newcomer making her feature film debut. But, serendipitously, as you’ll gather from this discussion, that is precisely what each of them needed in the other to energize their own performances. They talk about facing fears, letting… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 171: Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt is the very definition of a veteran actor. MASH, Alien, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun, A River Runs Through It, and countless other supporting credits in films and television grace his esteemed resume, plus an Emmy for Picket Fences. But never a lead role in a feature film! Until now. East Of The Mountains just might be 88-year-old Tom Skerritt’s best work on the screen. It’s an assured, vulnerable, simple yet extremely powerful performance, utilizing, as he describes in this episode, his “less is more” approach to acting. He talks about what he learned mentoring with Robert Altman and… Read more
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Back to One, Episode 170: Alessandro Nivola
The last time Alessandro Nivola was on Back To One (Ep. 37), he had just landed the role of Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark, the feature film prequel to The Sopranos, and had nearly six months to prepare for the role. On this episode, he takes us from there, detailing the extensive research, geographical immersion, voice and body work that went into the preparation process for the biggest role of his career. He talks about the importance of authenticity in every aspect of the character, how Raging Bull played a big part in keeping him on track,… Read more
