actor
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Back To One Episode 195: Kelly AuCoin
You know him as Pastor Tim on The Americans, or “Dollar” Bill Stearn on Billions, or maybe Kelly AuCoin has wowed you as a regular on the New York stage for many years. In this episode he lifts the hood and lets us peek in on what keeps his acting engine running, or (because he prefers sports metaphors) what keeps him in the game. He talks about how his wife made him realize he actually does have a preparation process, the differences between his hours leading up to “action” as apposed to “curtain up,” the importance of the often overlooked […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Mar 29, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 194: Ani Mesa and Alessandra Mesa
Alessandra Mesa and Ani Mesa are the stars of Erin Vassilopoulos’ debut feature Superior, a fascinating, fun, and suspenseful genre-blending exploration of identity. The three collaborated on a short of the same name six years earlier, and the feature functions almost like a sequel. In this episode they talk about the benefits of having the “real memories” of the short as a kind of backstory to use in the feature, how they made the anxiety of shooting on film work to their advantage, the interesting way Ani helped Alessandra (who co-wrote the script) take off the writer’s hat and put […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Mar 22, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 188: Alan Ritchson
He played Aquaman on Smallville and Hawk on Titans, and now Alan Ritchson is taking on the role of Reacher in the new Amazon series based on the Lee Child books. Child highlighted the “blend of menace and goodwill” that Ritchson brings to the role as something that attracted him to the actor. Ritchson talks about how the super long audition process functioned almost like a workshop for him to experiment with different approaches to the character, which paid off when he landed the part and finally got in front of the camera. He tells another story of a very […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Feb 1, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 187: Renate Reinsve
Norwegian actor Renate Reinsve’s performance in her first leading role, in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World, earned her the best actress award at Cannes and is slowly taking the world by storm. She embodies Julie with a levity and depth that is both grounded in a relatable reality and poetically expresses the beauty and heartbreak of life at the same time. To say it’s the kind of work that changes people’s lives is not an exaggeration. In this half hour, we take the microscope to her performance and lay out the factors at play in its creation. […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jan 25, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 186: Eric Roberts
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Eric Roberts will soon have more credits as an actor than anyone else who has ever lived anywhere in the world. An intensity matched only by raw talent on display in films like Star 80, The Pope of Greenwich Village, and Runaway Train established him as a respectable actor’s actor in Hollywood. And, as he talks about in this episode, once video replaced film, and more people began shooting, they wanted Eric Roberts in their movies. And once he became privy to how many offers were coming in, he started saying yes. Work begot work fairly […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jan 18, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 185: Kevin Corrigan
This is Kevin Corrigan’s fourth time on the podcast (his previous episodes are #1, #67, #133). It’s a yearly tradition to visit with the wise sage of indie film acting. We’re catching him right after returning from his latest job in Vancouver. He highlights a few moments from that shoot that stand out for him, shares what’s behind his incredible drawings of moments he loves from various performances, fails at “Kevin Corrigan Trivia” (which leads to some memories of Walking And Talking), talks about what makes it all “worth it,” and much more. Plus we chat way too much about […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 28, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 184: Chris Diamantopoulos
Chris Diamantopoulos was always an actor. Never held another job. He was working on the stage at an early age—touring companies, Broadway—then transitioned to television, film, and eventually voice overs. Never stopped. Some highlights: Russ Hanneman on Silicon Valley, Reinhold on Community, Moe in The Three Stooges, the official voice of Mickey Mouse, and right now you can see him playing bad guys in Netflix’s Red Notice and True Story. We recorded this interview hours before he started a new job and he takes us through what’s on his mind on the night before day one. He talks about how […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 21, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 183: Riley Keough
The Girlfriend Experience put Riley Keough on the radar, and she’s been giving us multi-layered, deeply rooted, captivating performances ever since, mostly in indie films like American Honey, Under The Silver Lake, The House That Jack Built, and now this year’s Zola, where she brilliantly walks the line of authentic nuance and absurdity in the role of Stefani. In this episode, she talks about the touchy endeavor of building the right approach for that character with director Janicza Bravo, the importance of knowing when to tighten up on prep or leave it loose, why she hates auditioning, how her spirituality […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 14, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 182: Léa Seydoux
Léa Seydoux was a talented young French actor when she reached planet-wide stardom with her incredible performance in Blue Is The Warmest Color (she even shared the Palme d’Or at Cannes, which had never been awarded to actors before). Since then she has invaded Hollywood, starring in James Bond movies and Wes Anderson films, but also continuing to turn in exceptional performances for international directors like Yorgos Lanthimos, Arnaud Desplechin, Ildikó Enyedi, and, for her latest film, France, Bruno Dumont. In this episode, she talks about the “sweet craziness” of working with Dumont, the importance of learning the “language” of […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 10, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 181: Scott Speedman
Looking back at Scott Speedman’s work in the early days of Felicity is a bit surprising. His acting had a wonderfully nuanced authenticity even then. Two decades later, that natural artistry has grown into a charismatic intensity and assuredness. It’s on display this year in the third season of You, the eighteenth season of Grey’s Anatomy, and the charming indie film Best Sellers. When we spoke he had just wrapped films with David Cronenberg and Lena Dunham. He talks about working with those two very different directors, the secret to good onscreen chemistry, how fatherhood might deepen his work, and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Dec 7, 2021
