Acting
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Back to One, Episode 99: Lesley Manville
The brilliant British actor Lesley Manville has given us two of the truly great cinematic performances of the last decade, Mary in Another Year and Cyril in Phantom Thread (which landed her an Oscar nomination). But those are just two in a long list of living, breathing characters she has inhabited with subtlety, nuance and depth, both on the stage and screen. In this episode, she talks about her latest–Joan in Ordinary Love, her formative years with Mike Leigh, the necessity of director input, why she doesn’t want to take her characters home, and much more! Back To One can be […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Mar 3, 2020 -
Back to One, Episode 98: Zora Howard
Zora Howard is a juggernaut. She stars in Premature and co-wrote the script with director Rashaad Ernesto Green. Her performance has an assured authenticity and a new brand of quiet desperation that is remarkable for a first feature. She’s been an award-winning creator for years though. Plays, poems, spoken word performances. Her play Stew just closed off-broadway to great acclaim. I gush about it and ask where her love of words began, and which of these various paths of creation she’s anxious to continue down. She talks about the necessary step of taking off the writer’s hat in order to […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 25, 2020 -
Back to One, Episode 97: Zoey Deutch
Acting wunderkind Zoey Deutch returns to the podcast on the occasion of the release of Buffaloed, the raucous indie she stars in (and produced) where she gets to flex her high octane comedy chops. We get into the weeds discussing comedy performance, she talks about striving to make her characters relatable, and about her love for auditioning (despite the hiccups). I delicately ask her what makes up the bulk of her now legendary script binder and she graciously explains. Plus much much more! Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 18, 2020 -
Back to One, Episode 93: Marsha Stephanie Blake
Marsha Stephanie Blake destroyed me. Not just once, a few times. Her devastating portrayal of Linda McCray in When They See Us was justifiably recognized with an Emmy nomination last year. She talks extensively about one line in particular that really got to me in that incredible limited series. She also “kills” with comedy too. Like in The Merchant Of Venice on Broadway. She talks about obsessively studying Al Pacino during that run, and relishing her time with Viola Davis on this season of How To Get Away With Murder. She was on her way toward a career in medicine when […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jan 22, 2020 -
Back to One, Episode 92: Adrian Martinez
He’s been called the “sidekick to the stars,” but a more apt, yet slightly less elegant description of Adrian Martinez is “scene-stealer from the stars.” Some recent thefts occur in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Focus, and Casa De Mi Padre. You can also see him in the hit ABC show Stumptown. Now he wrote, produced, directed and stars in the brilliant, timely, and deeply impacting new film iGilbert. On this episode, he talks about going “all in” to make that labor of love, how the psychological gesture plays a big part in his craft, the work ethic Philip […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jan 14, 2020 -
Back to One, Episode 88: Miles Robbins
When I first took notice of Miles Robbins he was a stand-out among stand-outs in the surprisingly satisfying teen comedy Blockers. Now he presents another level of his talent in the very thoughtful psychological horror film Daniel Isn’t Real. In this episode he talks about the intense, emotionally taxing experience he had creating that performance, how not being scared is a key ingredient in his work, and the importance of connecting with the duality within himself and the universe. Plus he generously shares his feelings and frustrations with this “weird” endeavor called acting and all the hoopla that surrounds it. Back […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 16, 2019 -
Back To One Episode 87: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
To say Aaron Taylor-Johnson puts 100% into every role is actually a bit of an understatement. He starts to live as the character months before filming begins. Then, when it’s over, it takes him months to “shed the layers” of the character before returning to himself. This might sound like a bunch of hooey, until you actually see the brilliance of the work and the fullness of transformation. He got his big break with Kick-Ass, spent some time in the Marvel universe, played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, then won a Golden Globe for playing a psychopath in Nocturnal Animals. […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 10, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 86: Emily Beecham
Emily Beecham won the best actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her brilliantly nuanced and tightly focused performance in Jessica Hausner’s art house science fiction film Little Joe. Recently she played The Widow in the AMC series Into The Badlands, starred in Daphne, and had a memorable supporting role in Hail Caesar. In this episode she talks about the importance of connection, avoiding “attractive acting,” Mike Leigh, the strenuousness of intense physical performance, her Little Joe hair, and much more! Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 3, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 85: Stephanie Kurtzuba
Stephanie Kurtzuba plays Irene, wife of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), in The Irishman. It’s her second film with Martin Scorsese. She played stockbroker Kimmie Belzer in The Wolf of Wall Street. She talks about working with the legendary filmmaker and what sets him apart as an actor’s director. She also explains her process of extracting preconceptions made in the audition, and she gushes about her first love–the rehearsal room, but tells us why, despite her heart being on the stage, she wouldn’t give up working for the camera if she could. Plus much more! Back To One can be […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 26, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 83: Devika Bhise
The Warrior Queen of Jhansi is the first Hollywood action film to have a female Indian lead. Devika Bhise not only stars in the film (opening Friday November 15th), she co-wrote it with her mother, Swati Bhise, who also directed it. In this episode, she talks about performing under stressful time restraints, how not having “the leisure to lose it” actually helped her play such a powerful leader, and the physical work required (including some “illegal” horseplay!), plus how her intense training in classical Indian dance helps her prepare for every role, and much more! Back To One can be […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 12, 2019
