Conversations with Billy Bob Thornton of GOLIATH
ACTORS
Q&A With The Cast of Hamilton
Corey Hawkins on Using His Classical Training in Television and Film Roles
Hawkins explains how having a background as a trained classical actor helps when performing roles that are very different from the material commonly found in classical stage acting:
Doing action on television, you have to learn to take language that isn’t as complex sometimes and doesn’t have these long, flowery speeches that ebb and flow…you have to learn how to lift that language and take it and create full characters from these little blurbs, these little bits. It moves so fast that you have to be as full as possible. I think the training helps you do that and, for me, that’s kind of what I’ve been relying on. I think having a classical background in theatre definitely compliments that because you have those tools ready to go. At Juilliard we didn’t put names to techniques. We knew what it was, but we didn’t say,”We’re going to use this technique and that technique.” They were tools and we looked at them as a roadmap. If you know where you’re going, then you don’t need a map, but for the 90 percent of the time that you’re not feeling inspired as an actor and not having that magic moment where it all comes together, then that’s when you have to pull the techniques.
(via)
Ted Danson Doesn’t Need to Know His Characters Backstory
Danson admits that he hasn’t created an explanation as to why his character is so evil. He reveals, “Because this world is so complicated and comes from Mike’s imagination and the writers that it would be kind of pointless to go off on your own. Backstories are fun, but only matter if they can impact your performance. When you know the beginning, middle, and end, then a backstory can be helpful. But on this show, you’re constantly walking in with a new script with a new backstory and a new revelation on who you are. You’re constantly discovering.”
(via)
Marisa Tomei On Casting Issues
Though she plays a much-younger version of Aunt May in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tomei does recognize that actors often face casting issues as they age — but she points out that she makes an effort to diversify her projects. She says, “They get depressed. Morose. Bitter. [Laughs] No, we’re staying away from that. I did two plays this past year [The Rose Tattoo at the Williamstown Theater Festival and How to Transcend a Happy Marriage for Lincoln Center Theater], and Spider-Man. All of them were very rich experiences and very different. Of course, I’m always fighting whatever stereotypes one gets into and trying to change it up. Not because of some cerebral approach to it, but more from a soulful approach. As you can see in this, my big stretch is being from Brooklyn but playing from Queens.”
(via)
Naomi Watts On How She Says ‘Yes’ To A Role
As an Oscar-nominated actress who has been working steadily since the early 1990s, Watts has appeared in a wide variety of roles — and she says she still has a wide range of criteria when it comes to choosing roles. She reveals, “There are so many different things that make me say yes. Obviously, the right thing, the character and the filmmaker are a big part of it. And it’s a logistical thing, now that I’m a mom of kids in school. You can’t really move around too much, so who you’re going to work with and where it’s going to shoot are important… There’s a good change going on for female roles. It definitely seems like there’s a greater willingness to make female-driven stories, so there are better things available. We’re literally witnessing that change, as we speak, so that’s encouraging. I’m just always looking to change it up a bit. What did I do last? Did I get that out of my system? What is this going to lead me to next? It’s not that you’ve got a whole master plan, but you find yourself wanting to find different things, as much as possible.”
(via)
Corey Hawkins Acting On Television, In Film and On Broadway
Despite the fact that Hawkins’ career is taking off on television and film, he decided to return to Broadway because of the character he plays in Six Degrees of Separation and the opportunity to continue to grow as an actor. He explains, “I grew up a theater nerd — I actually grew up singing in the church first, that was my first love — and then in high school I was in musical theater and then, of course, they cut it due to funding, and then I ended up going into straight theater at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C. I just think there’s something about coming back to the stage, man, just sharpening that tool and keeping that muscle firing, you know what I mean? And this character is one of those that’s sort of like a gymnast or an acrobat or an athlete — like, he’s a different guy in every scene — and I just thought it would be fun to do that right after coming off of a TV show. Fun, or scary as hell, and why not do it if you know if it scares you? So I just wanted to challenge myself and see where it took me, and I feel like a lucky guy.”
(via)