actor
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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, […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 27, 2024 -
“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, […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 20, 2024 -
“Once in a While You Go, ‘My Vision is Enough’”: Scrambled‘s Leah McKendrick, Back To One, Episode 278
Leah McKendrick wrote, directed, and stars in the hilarious, super smart, and intensely personal new film Scrambled. It’s about a perpetual bridesmaid who, realizing she isn’t quite willing or able to settle down, decides to freeze her eggs. McKendrick doesn’t shy away from depicting her character’s sex life, the frustrations involving family and friends, and the true loneliness that enveloped her when she decided to do the same procedure in real life. It’s that rare film that will have you belly laughing one minute and crying hard the next. On this episode, we find out what elements were at play […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 13, 2024 -
“You Want It To Be So Familiar That You’re Not Thinking”: Jack Huston, Back To One, Episode 275
Jack Huston has worked with Scorsese, Ridley Scott, David O’ Russell, The Coens, had meaty roles on series like Mayfair Witches, Fargo, and, maybe most notably, Boardwalk Empire, where he played Richard Harrow. His latest project is Lulu Wang’s Amazon series Expats. On this episode he talks about gaining 30 pounds for that part (which wasn’t as much fun as it sounds), why it all starts with the voice for him, writing and directing his passion project The Day of The Fight for Michael Pitt and Joe Pesci, and he reveals a common trait of all great directors he’s known. […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jan 23, 2024 -
“It’s a Gift When People Share with Me their Stories”: Michelle Monaghan, Back To One, Episode 273
Discovering Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was like finding evidence that the old-school Hollywood comedy actress gene, long thought extinct, was alive and well. She did more than hold her own opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer — she stole the movie. I’ve been rooting for her ever since. A few Mission Impossibles, Gone Baby Gone, True Detective followed, as well as some significant work in small indies like Trucker, Fort Bliss, and Nanny. She returns to comedy with her latest, The Family Plan, which is streaming now on Apple TV+. On this episode, she talks about […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 19, 2023 -
“Part of Being an Actor is Living All the Time with a Certain Sensitivity”: Robbie Tann, Back To One, Episode 271
You might know Robbie Tann from Preacher, The Deuce, or when he played Billy on Mare of Easttown, or Whitty in the “Mazey Day” episode of the latest season of Black Mirror. Currently he plays Shipley in this year’s most exciting and original sci-fi film, The Creator. On this episode, he tells how the run-and-gun style of shooting on that production, combined with the cast and crew’s infectious passion for the project, helped with all aspects of his work. He explains why he now bypasses a straightforward “roadmap” of preparation, focusing instead on letting the role seep into his unconscious. […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 5, 2023 -
“You Can’t Get to the Transcendent Stuff Without Risking That It All Might Go Off the Rails”: Olli Haaskivi, Back To One, Episode 270
You know Olli Haaskivi from his work in series such as Winning Time, Manifest, and The Sinner, and films like Motherless Brooklyn, Nancy and of course, this Summer’s blockbuster Oppenheimer, where he played scientist Edward Condon. On this episode he shares his experience of working with Christopher Nolan on that film (which he says seemed less sprawling than some student films he’s worked on!), why he felt the freedom to bring his ideas and “all of himself” (spoiler: Nolan is not afraid of actors!), and how all this affected the work in the moment. Plus he talks about his “this […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 28, 2023 -
“It’s Hard to Survive if You Don’t Also Have Your Entrepreneur Hat On”: Brit Marling, Back To One, Ep. 269
Brit Marling is an inspiration. The talented multi-hypenate became an indie darling in 2011 with Another Earth and Sound of My Voice—collaborations with Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij respectively. She avoided various vapid roles and unfulfilling career paths and instead went on to star in (and co-create with Batmanglii) the hit Netflix series The OA, which was bafflingly cancelled after two seasons, despite a rabid and large fan base. The two are back with another series, FX’s A Murder At The End of The World—a cool Zoomer detective whodunit set in a remote super-hotel in Iceland. On this episode, she […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 22, 2023 -
Back to One: “It’s Not About You,” The Sixth Annual Kevin Corrigan Episode
The SAG strike is over and Back To One returns in the most fitting way—with The Sixth Annual Kevin Corrigan Episode. The living patron saint of the indie actor fills us in on what’s been going on in his world over the past year, talks about playing off of Tim Blake Nelson in his latest film Bang Bang, takes us way back to his first time on a film set as an extra in 1987, describes a recent rewarding experience of performing his own ultra personal material, and ponders his strange case of involuntary lens spiking. Plus stories about “manhandling” […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 14, 2023 -
Aidan Gillen is Still “Fishing From The Ether”: Back To One, Episode 266
Aidan Gillen returns to the podcast (first time: Episode 40). You know him from some of the most beloved shows of the century: Game of Thrones, The Wire, Peaky Blinders, to name a few. Now he stars in the Irish neo-noir film Barber, where he plays a private investigator hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter. He talks about why he doesn’t look at the lines until the day before shooting, how his latest venture on the stage affected his work, why he still doesn’t like rehearsal for film, what bothers him about an “actor-centric” production, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Sep 19, 2023
