Back To One

Since he was last on the podcast (Ep. 112), Tom Pelphrey has been nominated for an Emmy for his work on “Ozark,” he’s had juicy roles on "Outer Range” and David E. Kelly’s “Love and Death,” and now Kelly has given Pelphrey perhaps his most exciting role to date in the character of Raymond Peepgrass in Netflix’s “A Man In Full.” On this episode, Pelphrey takes us deep into his work on that limited series. He talks about why a good costumer designer is an actor’s best friend, what made him feel free to go “full weird” with Regina King, the importance of being an advocate for your character, and much more.

Back To One is the in-depth, no-nonsense, actors-on-acting podcast from Filmmaker Magazine. In each episode, host Peter Rinaldi invites one working actor to do a deep dive into their unique process, psychology, and approach to the craft.

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(Photo by: Skylar Reeves)

If Isabelle Huppert is not your favorite actor, she’s the favorite actor of someone you know. Guaranteed. There’s something about her that is unlike any other actor that has ever been on film. But it’s really hard to talk about what that “something” is. In each performance, in every film she’s made, she has such a command of the character, the text, the frame, that we place her in equal authorship with the directors she’s worked with, who happen to be some of most interesting and important in the last half-century—Jean Luc-Godard, Michael Haneke, Claude Chabrol, Michael Cimino, Claire Denis, Joachim Trier, Mia Hansen-Løve, Hong Sang-soo, to name a few. She always found a way to play complex, multi-dimensional, often morally questionable characters, even in a time when the female variety were in short supply. In this woefully short episode, she talks about some of the important, yet somewhat mysterious, aspects of her approach to the craft—curiosity, collaborating with the director, the present moment, listening to the language of the camera, and much more. A retrospective of 29 of Isabelle Huppert’s best films begins Friday October 7th at Film Forum in New York City.

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Back To One is the in-depth, no-nonsense, actors-on-acting podcast from Filmmaker Magazine. In each episode, host Peter Rinaldi invites one working actor to do a deep dive into their unique process, psychology, and approach to the craft. No small talk, no celebrity stories, no inane banter—just the work.

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. Taking this perhaps odd analogy a little further— when these fish people act for Mike Leigh, it is like working completely submerged in a safe, life-size aquarium with constant fresh water pumping in.

He starts without a script. The actors build their characters from scratch in collaboration with Leigh, using someone (or a composite of many people) in the actor’s life as a foundation. They then move and “be” that character privately in the presence of Leigh alone before getting together with the other cast members for long improvisations, durning which Leigh “distills” the story into what he wants to shoot. This goes on for many weeks before shooting begins. When it does, the actors have already not only built an entire backstory for their characters and lived as them, but they’ve also worked out creatively and practically everything they’ll be shooting. It is the most organic and actor-centric process in the history of filmmaking.

There are many reasons why movies are mostly not made like this. Firstly, the amount of money spent on non-shooting days makes no sense to producers and money people. Therefore it’s hard to put this kind of thing into a budget. But also, many actors who are not familiar with this approach have misconceptions about the process and are resistant to the idea of not having a script, which they take as lack of control. But I believe examining Mike Leigh’s process will shed light on what works best even for actors working on “normal” film projects. Then, at least some of these aspects, even truncated versions, can be applied to any director’s process to yield better results and happier actors. Even actors working without aid from a director can manifest the phantom guidance of Mike Leigh and benefit greatly in any project.

In this woefully brief half hour, Leigh talks about a few aspects of his work that should act as a starting point in understanding his unique process, and also points out certain procedures in the mainstream of the craft that might ring as counterproductive when seen through Leigh’s lens.

The proof is in the pudding as they say. When films like “Naked,” “Life is Sweet,” “Vera Drake,” “Meantime,” “Another Year,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Happy-Go-Lucky” (to names just a few) contain, consistently, the great performances of our time, it leads one to believe that maybe this guy might be onto something.

His work in series like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “13 Reasons Why,” and “This Is Us,” has established Brandon Scott as a captivatingly talented actor. His latest is the new MAX series “The Girls on the Bus,” where he plays the jilted ex-lover of Melissa Benoist’s journalist character, who now needs his help because he's the new press secretary to the leading Presidential candidate. He talks about the process of building connection between two people that are supposed to have a past, and how sometimes that can be done in simple ways. He describes the impact Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini had on developing his sense of play while shooting “Dead To Me,” explains why directors showing “collaborative curiosity” is so helpful, why his process starts with stress and fear, plus much more!

Back To One is the in-depth, no-nonsense, actors-on-acting podcast from Filmmaker Magazine. In each episode, host Peter Rinaldi invites one working actor to do a deep dive into their unique process, psychology, and approach to the craft.

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The Brooklyn-based actor Anastasia Olowin stars in Shaun Seneviratne’s “Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts,” which just had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. She has such a command of the screen and brings so much life to her character, it’s hard to believe this is her first feature film. On this episode, she takes us back to her training at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, her 8 years producing and acting in new work for the stage, and the 10 year journey to bring “Ben and Suzanne” to the screen. She talks about the collaborative process at the heart of the production, her fascination with various kinds of stories, what it means to be a “how” not “why” actor, and much more.

Back To One is the in-depth, no-nonsense, actors-on-acting podcast from Filmmaker Magazine. In each episode, host Peter Rinaldi invites one working actor to do a deep dive into their unique process, psychology, and approach to the craft.

Follow Back To One on Instagram