“Acting kind of insulates you from the world. Ironically you go into this job that you think is going to allow you to be expressive to people and to connect to the world.”
Liev Schreiber continued, “And the more successful you are in a strange way, the less emotionally connected you are and the less often people emotionally connect to you.” [From the page: Acting 3.]
Ellen Muth says one of the reasons she didn’t move to L.A. was “I wanted to stay out of the whole twenty four hour party scene, the whole atmosphere..
“I mean Hollywood is just this industry, and if you don’t live outside of that world, you never have anything to learn from, to use as real characters.
“TV and film is not based on actors, it’s based on real people, and living in Connecticut, I meet people who are not in this industry. Living in L.A. I would never have had that chance to see and experience and create new characters.”
[From Just Push Play audio interview [part 1], Jan 2008.]
[The photo is probably from the set of the new Dead Like Me Movie (a direct to DVD movie based on her hit TV series), due for release in July.]
No Comments » | 02.20.08
In an interview about “Tristan and Isolde,” James Franco commented about how acting relates to being someone who is more comfortable being alone.
Question: You talked about being a loner when you were at school. How hard is it going from being a loner to putting that aside an being an actor cause it seems that acting is not a profession for someone who likes to be alone I mean there is so much of yourself that you have to give.
James Franco: Yeah well I think there are a lot of examples of people like that. I think it was Duval who said he wasn’t use to talking to a lot of people but you know became an actor anyway and De Niro seemed very much the same way.
For me it was…by acting and inhabiting a different part and pretending to be in a different world there is something about it that frees up whatever isn’t free in the real world. So it is not such a contradiction really.
Question: Is it why you became an actor?
James Franco: I guess so. When I first did it, it was kind of a relief it was a voice that I didn’t have before and then you know I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an actor or a painter or a writer or something else…
[From darkhorizons.com interview by Paul Fischer, January 10 2006.]
In another interview, speaking of his role in the television series ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ Franco said it echoed his own high school experience. “I was a little freak, a little geek. High school was a big party the first couple of years, but that gets old, so I broke away and just was a loner. I did a lot of painting, and I was a member of a local art league.” [cyberteens.com interview]
Being a loner - or shy / introverted, ‘not good at small talk’ etc - is something many actors share, including Mischa Barton, Kristin Kreuk, Kim Basinger, Taye Diggs, Nicole Kidman, Sigourney Weaver and others. See the pages on Introversion / shyness.
For many people, this may be based on being highly sensitive, which can help fuel excellence as an actor or other artist.
1 Comment » | 02.15.08
“I’ve always felt more comfortable [with comedy] because I was scared of drama. I didn’t really know how to access my emotional side without wounding my own person.
“Once I learned how to do that it opened up all these doors to me and I realized, You know what? Real life contains moments of laughter followed by uncontrollable sobbing.”
“I think tackling certain characters has definitely helped me in my life because I can’t come to the truth about a character when I’m lying to myself. As a result it forces you to look at things and sometimes it is painful and you don’t want to deal with it.”
[Interview mag., Feb 2008; photo from 'Enchanted']
Some related Talent Development Resources pages:
Comedy
Nurturing mental health
Nurturing mental health : acting
No Comments » | 02.13.08
“It’s so obvious that this is a population that has a huge appetite for drugs.” Drew Pinsky, MD
The death of Heath Ledger - considered an accidental overdose of prescription medications - is another indication of how much drug use there is in the entertainment community. He also reportedly had a long history of drug use and misuse.
Actor Megan Fox ["Transformers"] said in a Maxim magazine interview last summer that she knows only five other people in Hollywood, other than herself, who do not routinely use drugs.
Dr. Drew Pinsky, of the VH1 show “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” affirms in a recent article that Hollywood drug abuse is widespread - much higher than it is in the general population, because, the article says, “those attracted to acting and fame tend to be narcissists who often struggle with various mental health issues, and then have the means to procure a constant drug supply and keep it quiet when they lose control.”
Continue reading »
No Comments » | 02.09.08
Jurnee Smollett plays Samantha Booke in the film “The Great Debaters” (set at Wiley College in Texas during the Great Depression), who becomes the first woman selected by debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (played by Denzel Washington) to compete on the debate team, which defeats the University of Southern California’s team (changed to Harvard in the movie).
Jurnee Smollett gives credit for much of her success and powerful performance to her mother, Janet, who “had a very socially active life.”
“She marched and she did the sit-ins and she did voter organizing,” Smollett said. “It built that whole warrior spirit inside of all of us.
“She told me, ‘You’ve been given this talent for a reason. It’s not for you to gloat in the fame, because there are always people around who will pat you on the back, but you have to know at the end of the day, you are to use this talent for a bigger purpose.’ ”
[Los Angeles Times, Dec 24, 2007.]
Related Talent Development Resources pages:
Fame / celebrity
Perspectives on talent
Perspectives on talent : teen/young adult.
Social activism
Social activism : teen/young adult
No Comments » | 12.25.07
Ellen Page, to “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody: You have to take risks and go against conventional wisdom and structure. What was that like.
Diablo Cody: I guess I didn’t see the point of adding another conventional story to the pile; there are so many. I guess I would rather fail doing something off the wall, than succeed at something pedestrian. That’s my whole philosophy in life.
Ellen Page: If I don’t take a risk, I get really, really bored. And being challenged stems from taking a risk. …
Diablo Cody: Was there ever a time in your life when you were tempted to follow the traditional starlet route?
Ellen Page: No, not in the slightest. I’d rather be shot in the foot.
Continue reading »
No Comments » | 12.06.07
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