November 26, 2024 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and
(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel
(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now I know. I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remodmember by
a casting director that is powerful. Meditation of the day
(01:06):
life has two rules. Number one never quit. Number two
always remember Rule Number one Duke Ellington, no matter how
challenging it gets, never give up. You should always keep
the vision of your dreams clearly embedded in your mind.
When things do appear bleak, know that it's just a moment.
(01:28):
You can get through it, and you will survive. I
have had my share of chaos, but looking back, I
can honestly say I made it. It's over, but at
least I know that somehow I will continue to persevere,
and so will you. Today I will promise to value
(01:49):
my strength. Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast. I'm
your host, Tracy Moore, and I'm really excited today to
introduce to you a phenomenal director as well as a
spirited being. I'm so honored and proud to know her
(02:09):
work and to know her, and I want to share
her with you today. I want you, guys, to make
sure that you have your You're taking your notes on
your phone, you're writing things down, because every show, every
guest you leave with pearls, you leave with Jules, and
I want you to have those. And it's very rare
(02:32):
that you get an opportunity to have like this, one
on one with a director been specifically talking to you actors,
you know, letting her letting you guys know how she
directs what she's looking for in an audition, things that
and questions that you don't get this opportunity and you
(02:55):
don't get a chance to really engage with directors like
this unless you know, you watch the director's cut at
the end and then you hear feedback and things like that.
But this is special. So ladies and gentlemen, I want
you all to put your hands together for Darnell Martin. Yay, Darnell.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I am so blessed to know you. You know, you are
one of the most incredible acting coaches. And I go
to you a lot and you know that. Yes, so
it's fun working with you, and you know it's great
because you know, I can you know one thing you
(03:39):
never talk about is how a director works with an
acting coach, right, Oh, one thing that you know, the
way that I work with an acting coach is you know, I,
let's say, but let's really get into this world and
what you know, specifically I'm looking for about the character
(04:00):
and this actor and where I see their need of
saying hm hmm, let's can can we spend some time
on on a certain on being a certain character from
a certain place that maybe this character isn't from. So
(04:23):
that's something that that I wouldn't work work on as
a director. That's some some of the homework that they
would do for themselves, like Okay, let's find out the
place where this character is from the history. You know,
everything that I do as a as I'm a writer
director as well. So the work that I do as
(04:45):
a writer director, I expect the actor to do a
more detailed version of that. So you know, many times,
you know, it's interesting because a lot of my directing
is in my writing. Well, like I'll obsess over the
fact of how many people in nineteen oh seven had
(05:10):
telephones and what kind of people were those people? And
you know, I'll research that for like two days and
maybe not even use it in the screenplay. I just
need to know because they don't want to put a
telephone in their house, right, I have to know who
they are. Right, People go, well, why do you do
all that? And if the actor asked me, I need
(05:32):
to know, no good after going to ask you, and really,
phenomenal actors should do their homework. Do you ask me?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So do you find that most actors do their homework?
Because I struggle in my classes to get homework for actors,
and one of my first homework assignments is a character
breakdown of yourself. And I say to them, in order
for you to know someone else, you need to know
your self. So I need you to write a character breakdown.
(06:03):
And I got a fifteen page character breakdown one time.
But I find it challenging to get actors to really
commit to the homework outside of the class.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yes, it's challenging to see actors when they, you know,
who actually do their homework, but it's a big difference.
I've rarely seen an actress who has done their homework
who doesn't come with the goods.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You know, look at Sarah Flaucett majors okay, career. A
lot of people don't know who she is. She was
a horrendous actress, horrendous, it was like shocking, you know,
and she became a good actor.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Wow, burn this right, Yeah, it got It's.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Worked, you know. And people think people think that writing
that you're born a writer. I disagree. People think you're
born a director. I disagree. I think that And Faulkner,
William Faulkner will tell you that as well. You know,
if there's writers, you know that he thought writers were
born if you put in the work. There are some
(07:10):
people who are just naturally very talented or have things
that are very natural, like transtance, they can very easily
let go of themselves, right, and you know they're not shy,
let's say, but there are some breeding actors who are
terribly shy. Way they can get out of their shyness
(07:33):
is when they're putting on the clothes of someone else.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Right, Oh, I love that the clothes of someone else.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Okay, Yeah, And a lot of actors actually can't pull
it together until they signed out what's this character wearing.
So that's another thing is a lot of you know,
wonderful actors spend a lot of time in wardrobe and
play with their clothes, like you know. I had a
kid who was an actor who was playing with his
clothes period piece, and he kept, you know, messing his
(08:03):
clothes up as he was playing with it, and the
wardrobe personal wasn't very experienced, came over and said, you know,
he's really got to stop that. And I said, are
you crazy? No, right, this is now he's you know,
this kid is acting. You know, he's playing with it
in a you know, he's in the moment, you know,
(08:24):
like being in a scene and having a splinter in
your finger and sucking it out the scene's going on.
You know, another thing this kid did and people were like,
you want to stop. They're like, oh, this is great,
this is what would happen. The kid just had a fight.
He should be sucking a splinter out of his finger,
you know. So these are the things to be in
(08:44):
the moment. That's a natural thing. That's not the work.
There are just some people who are oddly naturally in
the moment and aware of and also aware of their behavior.
The same kid, same kid was beaten by their father
in a scene and later on had a bloody lip
and a scar across the sided. So while they were
(09:07):
in the scene, the kid was playing with the edge
of his lips with his tongue touching it, you know,
where the wound would be. Now there's no wound there.
There was no woman there. And later on, you know,
the kid's aunt said why were you doing that with
your tongue and he said, you know, and she thought
it was wrong. I said, no, that's great, and he said,
(09:31):
because if it was cut, I don't want to touch
it with my tongue.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Wow for him.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So now that's just behavior, right, and so that is
a really special thing to have that Max just like
not you know, to allow your behavior to be on
camera and that's to you, that's something that you don't
really need in there. It's a real cinematic thing. Wow,
(10:00):
you know, like uh, and you know, we do this
exercise about touching, you know, and that whole country exercise
you know where you have uh you imagine a piece
of fabric on your lap, right, you know. I think
that's a very powerful exercise to just go places. Time
(10:24):
travel too, and this is pretty for the dinner actors
who you're finding this problem with homework. So there's this
you know kind of time travel exercises. I learned very
young with a theater acting coach called James Jennings many
(10:47):
many years ago, like decades ago. And I found it
at the American Theater of Actors. But when I was,
you know, very young, and I first started in this,
I was a teenager and I got into this you know,
adult program. But the interesting thing about it was he
(11:08):
did this exercise that I thought it was pretty wonderful
and I and I sometimes use it where you know,
you have this piece of fabric, you imagine it, okay,
and you imagine what it feels like. It could be silk,
it could be corduroy, we don't know, but really trying
to focus on what that fabric feels like. And then
(11:29):
from there after you really understand it and you ask
them questions. Your datas are not allowed to answer. They're
just allowed to be there and feel the fabric and
touch it and how heavy it is in their hands,
you know, to really because that then you start to
get into play right and meditation, and then after that
getting into okay, I want you to go back to
a time where you know, maybe you really laugh and
(11:52):
something was so funny, you know, and put your hands
on your lap and remember what you will wearing, you know,
with their pants that you were wearing. So we go
back into that fabric, right, and then we start to
talk about, you know, smell what it smelled like. Remember
who was there? How many people to see it? You know,
(12:14):
really going back time, traveling back to that space. Remember
what was said? What was You're not forcing anything, it
was so funny, and to really what does it smell like?
Using every sense very slowly, and this exercise can go
on from anywhere to half an hour to an hour
could take you could have two people and have it
(12:36):
take a whole class.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Wow. You know it's a brilliant exercise.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And it's amazing because also when you get to the emotion,
people really go to a place and it takes a
while to let go. That's why you can go from
an hour to an hour because and this is also
where I have learned that I don't believe something. So
I'll be in a scene with somebody who I wish
(13:00):
shooting right right, and they'll do something and I'll go
take your time. I have time. I can cut it.
I always say I have said this, I got this time.
Just be there. The action doesn't mean you start, just
means I said it right. Don't go intol you're ready,
don't utter a word until you're ready. And then they'll
(13:22):
go through it and go stop. I don't believe it, find.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
It, find it and do it again.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Take the time, take the time. You have a lot
of rush actors who don't take their time. And again,
I love that exercise. And you know it's tough because
people will sit in your classroom for half an hour
and then they'll get really excited when it's their turn,
and they'll get scared as hell, you know, And you
could also give them the opportunity of what moment they
(13:49):
want to remember. Okay, if you have a moment, is
it a sad moment? Is a happy moment? Well, it
has to be a moment that has an emotion because ultimately,
with you even to see in the entire class, we'll
see you will see their face change and you will
see an amazing scene, an incredible scene that they could
(14:10):
never reach with words, right because all words are alive.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Oh well, at this moment, right now, dar now, there
are actors out there who are holding on to every
single one of your words. And we have a call
right now for you that just came in, So we're
going to patch them in.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Hey are you doing? Hi?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
What's your name?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Oh? My name is Rob Muriol.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Hey? Are you doing? I just want to ask a question.
You know, I heard a lot of actors talking about
working from outsider and inside out. What do you mean
by that? What does that mean? Okay? So, Sean Penn,
I believe from from what I've heard from him, is
an actor who works outside in and he he uses
(15:00):
a mask, right. He once he finds the mask, he
finds the character. I know that that Karen Howard, I
worked on the there. I was watch a guy with
him and he works. I mean, I believe that he
found that character from the outside end, maybe our mom,
(15:25):
because he spent so much time in the wardrobe really
picking together and really designing and finding who he was
and the specificity in his wardrobe. Now he might he
might work with the inside out too, but that but
work is from the outside in is basically getting the
(15:47):
clothes first and letting the clothes affect you. You know,
maybe you put the clothes and you know, like maybe
maybe I've heard another thing about this, and I can't
remember which actor it was, but this is the very
famous actor who had to find the shoes and once
he found that this character, he put them on and
(16:07):
he walked in this very specific way, very famous action.
It's a very famous character. And I wish to god
I could remember he found Oh you know what was
it was quite tamper.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh wow, Stanford.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And yes, he could not figure out who that character
was until he put the shoes on. And put the
shoes on, he had the walk, he had everything. Yeah,
because you know Red Fox was snazzy, right, yeah, yeah,
shoes like that. So he puts those shoes on and
all of a sudden, you know, it came to him.
(16:46):
But all for instance, Ed O'Neill from Married with Children,
people don't realize that O'Neill is amazing. Yeah, people think
he's a comedian, but he just fell into his laugh
is because he was a big theater actor like Eugene
O'Neil and all this stuff. And what happened was is
(17:06):
he came in for that audition he said, you know what,
this guy is like my uncle, And so then he
started working on that character from the inside out because
he knew who his uncle uncle was. So it's like
and also working from the inside out, and we talk
a little bit more is actually doing that character work.
(17:29):
I just talked about like, well, see it's funny because
I feel very much like I do the actor work
with writing. Again, I go into what was happening at
that time, What did they wear at that time? What
was this person's family like, like what moved them? What
was this thing? What was their fatal flaw? What was
(17:51):
this thing that hurts him so much? You know what?
Here it is every character is working out something that
they've been working out since they were five years old.
Something happened between the ages of one and six that
kind of defined them and they've been wanting that thing
that they never got from that prime And so if
(18:15):
you can find that in your research, that's great. Sometimes
you have to make it up and make a decision.
Sometimes you're playing with different types of sadness, right, and
you can say, I don't know the sadness of losing
a child. I have no clue of what that means.
(18:36):
So you can make h a transfer? What is it
not a transfer?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
The word you know what your substitution is.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You make a substitution. So maybe you had a friend
who was very close to you and died, right, I
got your mother or your father. I was. I was
in a very horrible film when I was young, and
I hated it because I know I did not want
to be an actor, but I was acting in order
to get behind the camera. And it was one of
(19:11):
those thriller films where you like run and cry and
or tortured through the whole thing and try to get
away from the killer, and then at the end she
killed the killer. So it was very hard to sustain
every day, six days a week, you know, thirty days shoot,
this period of hysteria and tears and and fear grief
and you know, dig to this and and I was young.
(19:35):
I was young, wow, And I remembered, you know, going
to my father's grave and just being exhausted and just
laying on his grave and not wanting to be an actor,
but not also knowing how to how to how to
get there every day like that, because it was like
(19:56):
it took me. And that's one of the one of
the things that I found very hard about being actor,
of of letting it go afterwards, you know, yeah, yeah,
that was I couldn't do that well.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And then that young you didn't have the mechanisms to
you know what I mean, to know how exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And so when I was lying on my father's grave,
I took a watch call a leaf it was fall
and and I put it in my pocket. And then
I realized when I went to work the shoot, I
had it in my pocket, so I just transferred it
into my my costume. And it was really weird. I
(20:36):
had to live there and I touched it and boom,
I was there boom right away.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, And to discover that, right, like, wow, I I
held on to that.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
That leaf throughout the whole production. No one knew I
had it. It was in my pocket. It was my secret.
And so here's the deal is that when you have
a secret and you have like a very emotional moment,
and that has happened with me many times where actors
have really gone places and just broken down, and everyone
(21:14):
feels like, Okay, maybe when need to stop, you need
a medic because this is really you know, and it's
like no, and I just walk away with them. And
sometimes people want to say it. Many times people want
to say what happened? I'm like, no, you cannot tell me.
This is yours and this is your private thing. It's
(21:35):
not my place to hear it. Even if you feel
like this is something you need to tell me, it's
not my place to say because it's no one's place
to know. You know. If that kind of pain, that
kind of that's for a very close friend, that's for therapist,
that's for priests, whatever it is, you know what I mean? Right,
(21:59):
also one to release it into that working world, it
no longer has a power. Well, well, you're a private thing,
and you you know, and your director is not your
therapist and they're not your friend. They came very very
close to you. But I feel like that's a breach
(22:19):
of trust also for me to hear that, because you're
in the actors in a very vulnerable place there, and
later on they might feel like, oh my god, I
don't know why. You know, they might be embarrassment, it
might be all kinds of stuff that gets in the
way of your relationship with the director.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, I'm gonna have to thank.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You right right. That's that was also Fred so much.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thank you so much. And I hope you recorded it
or wrote it down something, because oh, well, yeah, you
just come back and you just visit, you know, visit
our website and that's where everything is. So but thank
you so much for Colin and Darnelle. We are at
the end and I didn't even get a chance to
(23:11):
laundry list your credits from Law and Order franchise to
Grim Blindspide New Amsterdam. The list, you guys goes Gray's anatomy. Well,
I was going to say, in terms of a writer director,
Cadillac Records, and wow, to work with those greats and
that's why you know what We're just gonna have We're
(23:33):
just gonna have you come back on. There's so many
guests that you know, we're going to do a part
two two and we need a part two to you
for the committed actor and we need to just get
some more nuggets and insights from you. So I'm gonna
say so long, not by because you're coming back to
the Spirited After podcast, but you were awesome actors. You
(23:55):
need to be applauding standing ovation wherever you are right now.
To miss Darnell Martin, writer director Darnell Martin, thank you, Darnell,
thank you, thank you so much, and now the give love.
You are phenomenal. I have this theory that most people
(24:16):
are not afraid of not making it, they are afraid
of making it. One of my favorite poems was written
by Mary Anne Williamson and Nelson Mandela read this when
he was released from prison. It's called Our greatest Fear
by Mary Anne Williamson. It is our light, not our darkness,
that frightens us the most. Our deepest fear is not
(24:40):
that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I
to be? Brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are
you not to be? You are a child of God.
You're playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing
(25:03):
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We were born to make manifest the glory
of God that is within us. It's not just in
some of us, it's in all of us. And as
we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same. As we liberate from
(25:28):
our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Fear is
an illusion, don't believe it. Thank you for joining us
on the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I
look forward to our next Spirited podcast. Thank you.
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and
(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel
(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now I know. I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remodmember by
a casting director that is powerful. Meditation of the day
(01:06):
life has two rules. Number one never quit. Number two
always remember Rule Number one Duke Ellington, no matter how
challenging it gets, never give up. You should always keep
the vision of your dreams clearly embedded in your mind.
When things do appear bleak, know that it's just a moment.
(01:28):
You can get through it, and you will survive. I
have had my share of chaos, but looking back, I
can honestly say I made it. It's over, but at
least I know that somehow I will continue to persevere,
and so will you. Today I will promise to value
(01:49):
my strength. Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast. I'm
your host, Tracy Moore, and I'm really excited today to
introduce to you a phenomenal director as well as a
spirited being. I'm so honored and proud to know her
(02:09):
work and to know her, and I want to share
her with you today. I want you, guys, to make
sure that you have your You're taking your notes on
your phone, you're writing things down, because every show, every
guest you leave with pearls, you leave with Jules, and
I want you to have those. And it's very rare
(02:32):
that you get an opportunity to have like this, one
on one with a director been specifically talking to you actors,
you know, letting her letting you guys know how she
directs what she's looking for in an audition, things that
and questions that you don't get this opportunity and you
(02:55):
don't get a chance to really engage with directors like
this unless you know, you watch the director's cut at
the end and then you hear feedback and things like that.
But this is special. So ladies and gentlemen, I want
you all to put your hands together for Darnell Martin. Yay, Darnell.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I am so blessed to know you. You know, you are
one of the most incredible acting coaches. And I go
to you a lot and you know that. Yes, so
it's fun working with you, and you know it's great
because you know, I can you know one thing you
(03:39):
never talk about is how a director works with an
acting coach, right, Oh, one thing that you know, the
way that I work with an acting coach is you know, I,
let's say, but let's really get into this world and
what you know, specifically I'm looking for about the character
(04:00):
and this actor and where I see their need of
saying hm hmm, let's can can we spend some time
on on a certain on being a certain character from
a certain place that maybe this character isn't from. So
(04:23):
that's something that that I wouldn't work work on as
a director. That's some some of the homework that they
would do for themselves, like Okay, let's find out the
place where this character is from the history. You know,
everything that I do as a as I'm a writer
director as well. So the work that I do as
(04:45):
a writer director, I expect the actor to do a
more detailed version of that. So you know, many times,
you know, it's interesting because a lot of my directing
is in my writing. Well, like I'll obsess over the
fact of how many people in nineteen oh seven had
(05:10):
telephones and what kind of people were those people? And
you know, I'll research that for like two days and
maybe not even use it in the screenplay. I just
need to know because they don't want to put a
telephone in their house, right, I have to know who
they are. Right, People go, well, why do you do
all that? And if the actor asked me, I need
(05:32):
to know, no good after going to ask you, and really,
phenomenal actors should do their homework. Do you ask me?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So do you find that most actors do their homework?
Because I struggle in my classes to get homework for actors,
and one of my first homework assignments is a character
breakdown of yourself. And I say to them, in order
for you to know someone else, you need to know
your self. So I need you to write a character breakdown.
(06:03):
And I got a fifteen page character breakdown one time.
But I find it challenging to get actors to really
commit to the homework outside of the class.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yes, it's challenging to see actors when they, you know,
who actually do their homework, but it's a big difference.
I've rarely seen an actress who has done their homework
who doesn't come with the goods.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You know, look at Sarah Flaucett majors okay, career. A
lot of people don't know who she is. She was
a horrendous actress, horrendous, it was like shocking, you know,
and she became a good actor.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Wow, burn this right, Yeah, it got It's.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Worked, you know. And people think people think that writing
that you're born a writer. I disagree. People think you're
born a director. I disagree. I think that And Faulkner,
William Faulkner will tell you that as well. You know,
if there's writers, you know that he thought writers were
born if you put in the work. There are some
(07:10):
people who are just naturally very talented or have things
that are very natural, like transtance, they can very easily
let go of themselves, right, and you know they're not shy,
let's say, but there are some breeding actors who are
terribly shy. Way they can get out of their shyness
(07:33):
is when they're putting on the clothes of someone else.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Right, Oh, I love that the clothes of someone else.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Okay, Yeah, And a lot of actors actually can't pull
it together until they signed out what's this character wearing.
So that's another thing is a lot of you know,
wonderful actors spend a lot of time in wardrobe and
play with their clothes, like you know. I had a
kid who was an actor who was playing with his
clothes period piece, and he kept, you know, messing his
(08:03):
clothes up as he was playing with it, and the
wardrobe personal wasn't very experienced, came over and said, you know,
he's really got to stop that. And I said, are
you crazy? No, right, this is now he's you know,
this kid is acting. You know, he's playing with it
in a you know, he's in the moment, you know,
(08:24):
like being in a scene and having a splinter in
your finger and sucking it out the scene's going on.
You know, another thing this kid did and people were like,
you want to stop. They're like, oh, this is great,
this is what would happen. The kid just had a fight.
He should be sucking a splinter out of his finger,
you know. So these are the things to be in
(08:44):
the moment. That's a natural thing. That's not the work.
There are just some people who are oddly naturally in
the moment and aware of and also aware of their behavior.
The same kid, same kid was beaten by their father
in a scene and later on had a bloody lip
and a scar across the sided. So while they were
(09:07):
in the scene, the kid was playing with the edge
of his lips with his tongue touching it, you know,
where the wound would be. Now there's no wound there.
There was no woman there. And later on, you know,
the kid's aunt said why were you doing that with
your tongue and he said, you know, and she thought
it was wrong. I said, no, that's great, and he said,
(09:31):
because if it was cut, I don't want to touch
it with my tongue.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Wow for him.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So now that's just behavior, right, and so that is
a really special thing to have that Max just like
not you know, to allow your behavior to be on
camera and that's to you, that's something that you don't
really need in there. It's a real cinematic thing. Wow,
(10:00):
you know, like uh, and you know, we do this
exercise about touching, you know, and that whole country exercise
you know where you have uh you imagine a piece
of fabric on your lap, right, you know. I think
that's a very powerful exercise to just go places. Time
(10:24):
travel too, and this is pretty for the dinner actors
who you're finding this problem with homework. So there's this
you know kind of time travel exercises. I learned very
young with a theater acting coach called James Jennings many
(10:47):
many years ago, like decades ago. And I found it
at the American Theater of Actors. But when I was,
you know, very young, and I first started in this,
I was a teenager and I got into this you know,
adult program. But the interesting thing about it was he
(11:08):
did this exercise that I thought it was pretty wonderful
and I and I sometimes use it where you know,
you have this piece of fabric, you imagine it, okay,
and you imagine what it feels like. It could be silk,
it could be corduroy, we don't know, but really trying
to focus on what that fabric feels like. And then
(11:29):
from there after you really understand it and you ask
them questions. Your datas are not allowed to answer. They're
just allowed to be there and feel the fabric and
touch it and how heavy it is in their hands,
you know, to really because that then you start to
get into play right and meditation, and then after that
getting into okay, I want you to go back to
a time where you know, maybe you really laugh and
(11:52):
something was so funny, you know, and put your hands
on your lap and remember what you will wearing, you know,
with their pants that you were wearing. So we go
back into that fabric, right, and then we start to
talk about, you know, smell what it smelled like. Remember
who was there? How many people to see it? You know,
(12:14):
really going back time, traveling back to that space. Remember
what was said? What was You're not forcing anything, it
was so funny, and to really what does it smell like?
Using every sense very slowly, and this exercise can go
on from anywhere to half an hour to an hour
could take you could have two people and have it
(12:36):
take a whole class.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Wow. You know it's a brilliant exercise.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And it's amazing because also when you get to the emotion,
people really go to a place and it takes a
while to let go. That's why you can go from
an hour to an hour because and this is also
where I have learned that I don't believe something. So
I'll be in a scene with somebody who I wish
(13:00):
shooting right right, and they'll do something and I'll go
take your time. I have time. I can cut it.
I always say I have said this, I got this time.
Just be there. The action doesn't mean you start, just
means I said it right. Don't go intol you're ready,
don't utter a word until you're ready. And then they'll
(13:22):
go through it and go stop. I don't believe it, find.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
It, find it and do it again.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Take the time, take the time. You have a lot
of rush actors who don't take their time. And again,
I love that exercise. And you know it's tough because
people will sit in your classroom for half an hour
and then they'll get really excited when it's their turn,
and they'll get scared as hell, you know, And you
could also give them the opportunity of what moment they
(13:49):
want to remember. Okay, if you have a moment, is
it a sad moment? Is a happy moment? Well, it
has to be a moment that has an emotion because ultimately,
with you even to see in the entire class, we'll
see you will see their face change and you will
see an amazing scene, an incredible scene that they could
(14:10):
never reach with words, right because all words are alive.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Oh well, at this moment, right now, dar now, there
are actors out there who are holding on to every
single one of your words. And we have a call
right now for you that just came in, So we're
going to patch them in.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Hey are you doing? Hi?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
What's your name?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Oh? My name is Rob Muriol.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Hey? Are you doing? I just want to ask a question.
You know, I heard a lot of actors talking about
working from outsider and inside out. What do you mean
by that? What does that mean? Okay? So, Sean Penn,
I believe from from what I've heard from him, is
an actor who works outside in and he he uses
(15:00):
a mask, right. He once he finds the mask, he
finds the character. I know that that Karen Howard, I
worked on the there. I was watch a guy with
him and he works. I mean, I believe that he
found that character from the outside end, maybe our mom,
(15:25):
because he spent so much time in the wardrobe really
picking together and really designing and finding who he was
and the specificity in his wardrobe. Now he might he
might work with the inside out too, but that but
work is from the outside in is basically getting the
(15:47):
clothes first and letting the clothes affect you. You know,
maybe you put the clothes and you know, like maybe
maybe I've heard another thing about this, and I can't
remember which actor it was, but this is the very
famous actor who had to find the shoes and once
he found that this character, he put them on and
(16:07):
he walked in this very specific way, very famous action.
It's a very famous character. And I wish to god
I could remember he found Oh you know what was
it was quite tamper.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh wow, Stanford.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And yes, he could not figure out who that character
was until he put the shoes on. And put the
shoes on, he had the walk, he had everything. Yeah,
because you know Red Fox was snazzy, right, yeah, yeah,
shoes like that. So he puts those shoes on and
all of a sudden, you know, it came to him.
(16:46):
But all for instance, Ed O'Neill from Married with Children,
people don't realize that O'Neill is amazing. Yeah, people think
he's a comedian, but he just fell into his laugh
is because he was a big theater actor like Eugene
O'Neil and all this stuff. And what happened was is
(17:06):
he came in for that audition he said, you know what,
this guy is like my uncle, And so then he
started working on that character from the inside out because
he knew who his uncle uncle was. So it's like
and also working from the inside out, and we talk
a little bit more is actually doing that character work.
(17:29):
I just talked about like, well, see it's funny because
I feel very much like I do the actor work
with writing. Again, I go into what was happening at
that time, What did they wear at that time? What
was this person's family like, like what moved them? What
was this thing? What was their fatal flaw? What was
(17:51):
this thing that hurts him so much? You know what?
Here it is every character is working out something that
they've been working out since they were five years old.
Something happened between the ages of one and six that
kind of defined them and they've been wanting that thing
that they never got from that prime And so if
(18:15):
you can find that in your research, that's great. Sometimes
you have to make it up and make a decision.
Sometimes you're playing with different types of sadness, right, and
you can say, I don't know the sadness of losing
a child. I have no clue of what that means.
(18:36):
So you can make h a transfer? What is it
not a transfer?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
The word you know what your substitution is.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You make a substitution. So maybe you had a friend
who was very close to you and died, right, I
got your mother or your father. I was. I was
in a very horrible film when I was young, and
I hated it because I know I did not want
to be an actor, but I was acting in order
to get behind the camera. And it was one of
(19:11):
those thriller films where you like run and cry and
or tortured through the whole thing and try to get
away from the killer, and then at the end she
killed the killer. So it was very hard to sustain
every day, six days a week, you know, thirty days shoot,
this period of hysteria and tears and and fear grief
and you know, dig to this and and I was young.
(19:35):
I was young, wow, And I remembered, you know, going
to my father's grave and just being exhausted and just
laying on his grave and not wanting to be an actor,
but not also knowing how to how to how to
get there every day like that, because it was like
(19:56):
it took me. And that's one of the one of
the things that I found very hard about being actor,
of of letting it go afterwards, you know, yeah, yeah,
that was I couldn't do that well.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And then that young you didn't have the mechanisms to
you know what I mean, to know how exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And so when I was lying on my father's grave,
I took a watch call a leaf it was fall
and and I put it in my pocket. And then
I realized when I went to work the shoot, I
had it in my pocket, so I just transferred it
into my my costume. And it was really weird. I
(20:36):
had to live there and I touched it and boom,
I was there boom right away.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, And to discover that, right, like, wow, I I
held on to that.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
That leaf throughout the whole production. No one knew I
had it. It was in my pocket. It was my secret.
And so here's the deal is that when you have
a secret and you have like a very emotional moment,
and that has happened with me many times where actors
have really gone places and just broken down, and everyone
(21:14):
feels like, Okay, maybe when need to stop, you need
a medic because this is really you know, and it's
like no, and I just walk away with them. And
sometimes people want to say it. Many times people want
to say what happened? I'm like, no, you cannot tell me.
This is yours and this is your private thing. It's
(21:35):
not my place to hear it. Even if you feel
like this is something you need to tell me, it's
not my place to say because it's no one's place
to know. You know. If that kind of pain, that
kind of that's for a very close friend, that's for therapist,
that's for priests, whatever it is, you know what I mean? Right,
(21:59):
also one to release it into that working world, it
no longer has a power. Well, well, you're a private thing,
and you you know, and your director is not your
therapist and they're not your friend. They came very very
close to you. But I feel like that's a breach
(22:19):
of trust also for me to hear that, because you're
in the actors in a very vulnerable place there, and
later on they might feel like, oh my god, I
don't know why. You know, they might be embarrassment, it
might be all kinds of stuff that gets in the
way of your relationship with the director.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, I'm gonna have to thank.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You right right. That's that was also Fred so much.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thank you so much. And I hope you recorded it
or wrote it down something, because oh, well, yeah, you
just come back and you just visit, you know, visit
our website and that's where everything is. So but thank
you so much for Colin and Darnelle. We are at
the end and I didn't even get a chance to
(23:11):
laundry list your credits from Law and Order franchise to
Grim Blindspide New Amsterdam. The list, you guys goes Gray's anatomy. Well,
I was going to say, in terms of a writer director,
Cadillac Records, and wow, to work with those greats and
that's why you know what We're just gonna have We're
(23:33):
just gonna have you come back on. There's so many
guests that you know, we're going to do a part
two two and we need a part two to you
for the committed actor and we need to just get
some more nuggets and insights from you. So I'm gonna
say so long, not by because you're coming back to
the Spirited After podcast, but you were awesome actors. You
(23:55):
need to be applauding standing ovation wherever you are right now.
To miss Darnell Martin, writer director Darnell Martin, thank you, Darnell,
thank you, thank you so much, and now the give love.
You are phenomenal. I have this theory that most people
(24:16):
are not afraid of not making it, they are afraid
of making it. One of my favorite poems was written
by Mary Anne Williamson and Nelson Mandela read this when
he was released from prison. It's called Our greatest Fear
by Mary Anne Williamson. It is our light, not our darkness,
that frightens us the most. Our deepest fear is not
(24:40):
that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I
to be? Brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are
you not to be? You are a child of God.
You're playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing
(25:03):
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We were born to make manifest the glory
of God that is within us. It's not just in
some of us, it's in all of us. And as
we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same. As we liberate from
(25:28):
our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Fear is
an illusion, don't believe it. Thank you for joining us
on the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I
look forward to our next Spirited podcast. Thank you.
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