Acting
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Back to One, Episode 56: Dominic West
Dominic West is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty on The Wire, Noah Solloway on The Affair, and gay activist Jonathan Blake in the film Pride. Now he’s taken on the classic role of Jean Valjean in the new 6-episode BBC version of Les Misèrables, currently on PBS. He also happens to be British, which seems to continually surprise people, probably because he’s mastered his American accents. He talks about that and many other nuts and bolts in his impressive approach to the craft. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes, Google Play, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Apr 30, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 55: Lake Bell
She’s wonderful in comedies like Man Up and dramas like No Escape, but Lake Bell shines brightest in material she writes and directs herself, like her indie hit In A World. Now the mega-talented multi-hyphenate has joined forces with Liz Meriwether (New Girl) on the ABC sit-com Bless This Mess. We talk about the benefits and challenges of writing, directing and starring in a network show; knowing when to land the joke slightly off the landing pad; and doing it all as a mom. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including iTunes, Google Play, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Apr 23, 2019 -
Back to One Special Episode: Mike Leigh
For one year now on this podcast, I have talked to dozens and dozens of actors about their approach to the craft of acting. There are few living non-actor directors whose thoughts on this subject I feel would be worthy for this archive. Mike Leigh is on the top of that list. Listening to actors talk about their working experiences has made me think of an analogy. They are like fish people, showing up on a set expecting some water to work in but mostly finding dry land everywhere, and, for the most part, having to supply the water themselves. […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Apr 16, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 45: Josh Hamilton
If I ever need to cry on cue, I can just picture the expression on Josh Hamilton’s face, in Eighth Grade, when Elsie Fisher hugs him. It’s a beautiful, wordless culmination of his incredible performance, which landed him a Spirit Award nomination this year. We discuss that scene, and he shares some of what he’s learned from jumping from the New York stage to the big and small screens and back again over the past 25 years. He talks about the importance of syncing with the director’s vision, being off-book before rehearsals, and why he’s a self described “take whore.” […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 12, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 37: Disobedience Actor Alessandro Nivola
We’re catching Alessandro Nivola at a very interesting moment in his career. A day before our talk, he was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for his incredible performance in Disobedience, and a few days before that it was announced that he will star in David Chase’s Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark. He talks about the benefits of having time to prepare for the role of Rabbi Dovid Kuperman and facing the challenge of delivering that important climatic speech. And how, for him, inhabiting a character often starts with the voice. Plus he confesses […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 11, 2018 -
Back to One, Episode 32: Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo has acquired a lot of acting wisdom. On this episode, she graciously shares some. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her incredible performance in Frozen River, and won one for playing Alice Ward in The Fighter. Recent notable performances can be found in Francine, The Most Hated Woman In America, and her latest, Unlovable, where she plays opposite Charlene deGuzman, who co-wrote the script based on her real-life experiences in a program for sex and love addiction. Leo talks lovingly about that production, and about how she sometimes gleans more substantial info from a dolly grip […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 22, 2018 -
Back to One Podcast: Actor Theodore Bouloukos Talks “Sleuthing” Out a Character, Diving Into Roles and Childhood Fascinations
We really get to know the brilliant actor Theodore Bouloukos in this hour. He lets us peek in on him as a child fascinated, perhaps to a peculiar degree, with design, typography, and channel logos. And then what led him to performance art with Brock Enright and others, and the “self training” of student film parts that led to feature roles and works exhibited and staged the world over. We learn the components that now make him a unique talent in the New York film world. I am thrilled and privileged that we get to take a journey inside the […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 20, 2018 -
Back to One Podcast: Keith Poulson on Developing as an Actor in the NY Indie Film Scene.
There is, perhaps, no actor at the moment more synonymous with New York indie filmmaking than Keith Poulson. His uncanny comedic sensibilities first caught my attention in Bob Byington’s Somebody Up There Likes Me. He’s since honed his mastery of the low-key “throwaway” in dozens of low budget gems and appeared in nearly everything made recently by the prolific Brooklyn filmmakers Alex Ross Perry and Nathan Silver. He got to stretch his wings a bit in Zach Clark’s Little Sister, where he played a severely disfigured Iraq War veteran. We talk about the incestuous world of independent film acting in […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 3, 2018 -
Back to One Podcast: Set it Up Star Zoey Deutch on “Process, not Outcome” and the Miracle of the Pizza Scene
Not every ingénue is deserving of the attention Zoey Deutch is about to get. But this 23 year old already has the miraculous and mysterious skill of a veteran actor. Since her brilliantly nuanced performance in Flower, I have wanted to find out the secret to her magic. Her natural talent shines equally bright in heart-wrenching dramas such as Before I Fall and wild comedies like The Year of Spectacular Men. And now she has delivered a rom-com-pantheon-worthy performance opposite Glen Powell in the Netflix film Set It Up. We talk about “process and not outcome,” being “right for a […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jun 26, 2018 -
Ten Episodes In, A Short Introduction to the Back to One Podcast
Back to One is not a normal interview podcast. There is no greeting, no elaborate guest introduction, no banter, no small talk, no inane humor, no plugs, no closing. Just one actor every episode discussing their own approach to the craft, and one big (perhaps foolish) attempt at something pure. I love actors. As a filmmaker, I believe it is of the upmost importance to love them. But I am ashamed to admit that, at the same time, the filmmaker in me is kind of afraid of actors. Specifically, I am terrified that I am going to give an actor […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jun 25, 2018
