Back To One

The brilliant British actor Lesley Manville has given us two of the truly great cinematic performances of the last decade, Mary in "Another Year" and Cyril in "Phantom Thread" (which landed her an Oscar Nomination). But those are just two in a long list of living, breathing characters she has inhabited with subtlety, nuance and depth, both on the stage and screen. In this episode, she talks about her latest--Joan in "Ordinary Love," her formative years with Mike Leigh, the necessity of director input, why she doesn't want to take her characters home, and much more!

Zora Howard is a juggernaut. She stars in "Premature" and co-wrote the script with director Rashaad Ernesto Green. Her performance has an assured authenticity and a new brand of quiet desperation that is remarkable for a first feature. She's been an award-winning creator for years though. Plays, poems, spoken word performances. Her play "Stew" just closed off-broadway to great acclaim. I gush about it and ask where her love of words began, and which of these various paths of creation she's anxious to continue down. She talks about the necessary step of taking off the writer's hat in order to perform in the present moment, and much more.

Acting wunderkind Zoey Deutch returns to the podcast on the occasion of the release of "Buffaloed," the raucous indie she stars in (and produced) where she gets to flex her high octane comedy chops. We get into the weeds discussing comedy performance, she talks about striving to make her characters relatable, and about her love for auditioning (despite the hiccups). I delicately ask her what makes up the bulk of her now legendary script binder and she graciously explains. Plus much much more! Follow Back To One on Instagram

Scottish actor Richard Rankin plays Roger Mackenzie Wakefield on the Starz hit series "Outlander" (Season 5 premieres on Sunday, February 16th). On this episode, he talks about the process of stepping back into playing Roger after being on hiatus. We have a very clinical discussion about sex scenes, chemistry, and the importance of genuine depth in on-screen romance. I ask if he's looking for roles where he can use his American accent. A listener question leads to a discussion about the effects of time travel. Plus he (very objectively) talks about why he's the reason season 5 of "Outlander" is the best yet.

Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, and Céline Sciamma discuss gazes, play, Noh, breathing, joy, and the collaboration process in 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire', exploring intensity in acting, learning from professional actresses, creating a new atmosphere in acting, and the influence of the movie on art and empowerment.

Deirdre O'Connell is a legend of the New York stage and brings true depth and authenticity to every moment she has in front of the camera, but make no mistake, she doesn't have this "down" yet. In this hour, she talks about why she likes to travel to the place her character resides and why it's important that she believes her character is smarter than her. I ask about her incredible performance in "Diane," one scene in particular, and how on earth she's able to lip sync every single line in the brand new production "Dana H" at the Vineyard theater in New York City. Plus she muses on the "real" reason why she pursued this whole acting endeavor in the first place, what happened when that reason went away, and what, if anything, replaces it. (Photo by Maria Baranova) Back To One on Instagram

Marsha Stephanie Blake destroyed me. Not just once, a few times. Her devastating portrayal of Linda McCray in "When They See Us" was justifiably recognized with an Emmy nomination last year. She talks extensively about one line in particular that really got to me in that incredible limited series. She also "kills" with comedy too. Like in "The Merchant Of Venice" on Broadway. She talks about obsessively studying Al Pacino during that run, and relishing her time with Viola Davis in this season of "How To Get Away With Murder." She was on her way toward a career in medicine when she got into acting, but she doesn't remember getting bitten by any bug. The world lost a doctor but we gained something more precious—a great actor.

He's been called the "sidekick to the stars," but a more apt, yet slightly less elegant description of Adrian Martinez is "scene-stealer from the stars." Some recent thefts occur in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "Focus," and "Casa De Mi Padre." You can also see him in the hit ABC show "Stumptown." Now he wrote, produced, directed and stars in the brilliant, timely, and deeply impacting new film "iGilbert." On this episode, he talks about going "all in" to make that labor of love, how the psychological gesture plays a big part in his craft, the work ethic Philip Seymore Hoffman instilled in him that he still thinks about when the curtain goes up, and he gives us a Sesame Street-like lesson in the importance of the letter 'R' in acting: Reveal, Relax, Remember, Rip, and Risk. Plus much more!

On this special episode, I spend a few days with the cast of "A City Of Refuge" as they rehearse this powerful new play by Evan Cuyler-Louison for Primitive Grace Theater Ensemble in New York City. Having had no experience with theatrical rehearsal, I pose lots of questions to Louison (who also directed the production) and his incredible actors, Ylfa Edelstein, Wilton Guzman, Miah Kane, Hailey Marmolejo, Gregg Prosser, and Luke Edward Smith. If, like me, your experience is limited to film production or you just have gaps in your knowledge regarding rehearsal in general, or you're just curious about specific approaches, I think you'll get a lot out of this fly-on-the-wall-style episode. New York theater legends Paul Calderon and David Zayas are the co-artistic directors of Primitive Grace. Check out their episodes of Back To One from last year, and go to primitivegrace.org for more info.

The incomparable Chris Eigeman is probably best known for the three films he made with Whit Stillman—"Metropolitan" (which was his very first film), "Barcelona," and "The Last Days of Disco." The singular style of performance he delivered in those films led to great work with filmmakers and showrunners such as Noah Baumbach, Amy Sherman-Palladino, and John Frankenheimer. Lately he's been writing and directing his own films. In this episode he talks about the importance of knowing your role in the story, the harmful effects of the disappearing table read, loving those monologues, the freedom of it NOT being game day, and much more. Recently he's put acting on the back burner to raise a family, but he talks about getting back in front of the camera soon. Oh and, no, he still won't play Robert Chambers.