Podcast
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Back to One, Episode 72: Lee Pace
Lee Pace has one of those dream acting careers where he gets to be painted blue or dons elf ears to play Ronan (Guardians of the Galaxy) or Thranduil (The Hobbit films), sparking the imagination of countless fans around the world, and then he hits the Broadway stage and knocks ‘em dead as Joe Pitt in Angels in America. I ask him if he takes stock of that aspect of his career, and we talk about a curious note Barry Sonnenfeld gave him while making Pushing Daisies that he still uses to this day. Plus why he’s not bothered by […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Aug 27, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 68: Damon Herriman
It’s rare for one actor to be cast as the same real-life character in two different productions almost simultaneously. When that real life character is Charles Manson, that makes some news. Australian actor Damon Herriman has taken on this challenging role in both Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and the second season of David Fincher’s Netflix series Mindhunter. Herriman is perhaps best know for playing Dewey Crowe in the series Justified and currently plays Paul Allen Brown in Perpetual Grace LTD. We talk about the character of Manson, how good writing makes for good acting, and why […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 30, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode 66: Jesse Eisenberg
While he might be best known for his Oscar-nominated performance as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg’s preternatural ability for making unique characterization choices has won him roles in wildly original films, both indie and studio, such as The End of the Tour, Adventureland, Holy Rollers, American Ultra, Zombieland, and two of my favorites, The Squid and the Whale and The Double. Now he continues that trend with Riley Stearns’ The Art of Self Defense. In this half hour he talks about the effort he put into finding the right tone to play the absurdity in that film, […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 16, 2019 -
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 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, Episode 31: At Eternity’s Gate Actor Willem Dafoe
With over 100 films in his legendary career filled with versatile, bold, and iconic performances, Willem Dafoe is one of the most respected actors of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, giant Hollywood movies as well as small independent films. In this episode he talks about inhabiting Vincent van Gogh through the act of painting for his latest film, At Eternity’s Gate, and how being part of a strong director’s vision is actually freeing. Plus I try to get him to talk a bit about the nuts and […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 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: Back to the Future Actor and The Year of Spectacular Men Director Lea Thompson on How Actors Need to be “Director-Proof”
Lea Thompson has a lot of wisdom to share. Her work as an actor spans three decades with hit films like the Back To The Future trilogy and Some Kind of Wonderful to successful television shows like Caroline in the City and Switched at Birth. She recently started a second chapter as a director. Her first feature film The Year of Spectacular Men (opening Friday June 15th) stars her daughters, Madelyn and Zoey Deutch, and was written by Madelyn. We talk about how this true family affair was stitched together with nothing but love, and how actors need to be […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jun 12, 2018 -
Back to One, Episode Four: Sheila Vand Talks Knowing a Character, Dark and Light Roles, and Operating in Tandem with One’s Spiritual Journey
In this hour, Sheila Vand gifts us with a glimpse into the inner life of an incredibly talented young actor who, role after role, is harnessing her art and reaching new heights. She first captured our attention in Ana Lily Amirpour’s noir vampire western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and in the small but pivotal role of Sahar, the Iranian housekeeper, in Argo. Co-starring stints on NBC’s State of Affairs and FOX’s 24 Legacy followed, and by the end of this episode she’ll make you anxious to see two of her upcoming projects, Jeremiah Zagar’s festival hit We […]
by Peter Rinaldi on May 8, 2018 -
The Return of the Cassette: Prisons, “Analog Time” and a Forthcoming Feature
Filmmaker and Filmmaker contributor Alix Lambert is a guest producer on this week’s Theory of Everything, where she learns that it’s not just hipsters causing a revival in the audio cassette format but prisoners. Indeed, for most prisoners, cassettes are the only music delivery device they’re allowed. Listen to her episode, “Analog Time,” embedded here, as Lambert talks to some incarcerated men for whom cassette tapes are an escape, a salve, and even a medium of exchange. Meanwhile, Zach Taylor and Georg Petzold are finishing Cassette, “a feature-length documentary that celebrates the past, present, and future of an endearing musical […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 30, 2016
