Tracy Letts
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Back to One, Episode 84: Tracy Letts
Tracy Letts has parallel successful careers as an actor and a playwright. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the Steppenwolf revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and a Pulitzer Prize for his play August: Osage County. His screen credits include Lady Bird, The Lovers, and the new movie Ford v Ferrari, in which he plays Henry Ford II. In this episode, he talks about “pretending with authority,” making friends with the camera, the “responsibility” of the leading role, and how he’s preparing to do something he’s never done–act in a play he wrote (The Minutes) on Broadway. Plus […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Nov 19, 2019 -
Parting Shot: Tracy Letts
Contemporary, middle-aged masculinity, in all its shadings, has become the métier of Tracy Letts, the Chicago-based playwright (Killer Joe, Bug, August: Osage County) whose commanding presence and nuanced performances have sparked television drama and independent film alike. He won a Tony Award for playing one of modern theater’s iconic husbands, George, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, adding what The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood called “a coiled ferocity” to the character’s often beaten-down stylings. On Homeland, he created unexpected empathy for the Cheney-esque bureaucrat Andrew Lockhart. And, of course, his balance of aggression and concern as Dean Cauldwell made […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 13, 2017 -
Killer Joe — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Killer Joe world premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. It is being distributed by LD Entertainment and opens theatrically on July 27, 2012. Be forewarned, gentle viewer: this one has an NC-17 rating! Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) As I get older with each passing year, I’ve begun to process the world—and, by extension, cinema—in a different light. While I’m not turning into an outright prude, I am becoming much less tolerant of art and entertainment that takes a condescending and contemptible attitude towards humanity. On an ethical, theoretical level, there’s no denying that the way […]
by Michael Tully on Jul 26, 2012
