July 23, 2023 • 43 mins
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
OK, and we are live. Welcome to the fifth episode of
our series Authentic Conversations in English.
So today we're joined with a special guest as an actress all
the way from the United Kingdom of being Charlotte Kirk.
So Charlotte, why don't you introduce yourself to the
audience? Absolutely, Yeah.
Thank you for having me. I'm yes, Charlotte Kirk.
(00:25):
I actually lived in the States for 10 years.
I recently moved back to the UK two years ago obviously I I
moved for my career as an actress producer and recently
moved back to the UK and but theUS is all is my second home.
I I love the US and in fact I'llbe going there in a couple of
weeks. So I have, it's like my I don't
(00:48):
say I've officially moved back. It's it's it's difficult for me
to say that I'm like, no, I I'm,I had two homes.
I have the US and I have England.
I see. And then in the US, do you
typically hang out in Californiaor which state do you usually
spend your time? When I moved to the States, I
moved to LA. But actually initially I moved
(01:08):
to New York just for six months.And then I realized that
actually the film business is more, more Everything's really
in LA. So moved to LA and yeah, so when
I go there, usually LA, but I'm also gonna be going to Florida
as well. I love Florida.
So yeah, I had like half my family's in Florida, so it's
super nice. Especially Miami, I think it's
(01:31):
super nice. So it's for sure.
And then out of the places you've been, which place would
you say you prefer as of now? Florida.
Miami Yeah, Yeah, I could see that.
I could totally see that. It's a little bit closer sort of
that. What is it?
(01:54):
Journey It's 7-8, Not as bad, but it's just, I just, I just
love the East Coast. To be honest, I love New York as
well for sure. And then, do you also speak any
other languages or is it just English for you?
Unfortunately I just know English, but I want to Start
(02:17):
learning Spanish actually OK. My goal, One of my goals for
this year. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Yeah, especially in Miami, too. Like, half the population speaks
Spanish, so there you go. Well, isn't it like the second
most spoken language in the world, Spanish.
Yeah, it's up there. I think it's like top three.
(02:39):
I think Mandarin Chinese might be above it, but I think it's
like #3, yeah? Yeah.
And you say just being in Miami and, you know, even in Europe,
you know, yeah. All these places, yeah.
So that's the this year. Yeah, totally useful.
And nothing wrong with English. It's definitely the most
(03:01):
powerful and most important and influential language in the
world. So there we go.
And so for the guests who are new here, we haven't done this
concept in a little over a few months.
So basically, we're going to be simulating A realistic
conversation in English between two native English speakers.
So when you jump in and ask questions, if you have any
questions or comments, they can be general questions.
(03:23):
They don't necessarily have to pertain to tips to learn English
for this particular stream. So keep that in mind.
But if you're joining in from the chat for YouTube or
Facebook, feel free to leave anycomments, ask any question, and
occasionally we'll stop and we will address what you guys have
to say. Oriello watching from the
(03:44):
Philippines? OK, shout out to the
Philippines. Shout out to you guys.
OK, so the first question I havefor you is what led you to
wanting to be an actress? Charlotte, is this something
that you knew you wanted to do for a long time, or is this
something that you just tripped and fell into accidentally?
(04:07):
So I never had a defining momentof oh, I saw something.
I watched a show and I was blownaway and I wanted to become an
actress. No, I think it was like a
gradual thing. It's always kind of been in my
blood to perform and I love to. As a child I I always used to
love to create characters and play, make belief and and it was
(04:31):
just a gradual thing. And then in in in my school and
then. Primary school, secondary
school, I I just loved theater, drama classes.
And I just knew. I just, there's a gradual thing.
And I was like, no, I'm just, this is just what I love to do
the most. This is what I enjoy above
anything else. Like I need to pursue this.
(04:53):
And after I finished secondary school, I went to university, I
went to drama school, and that'swhen I knew.
This is what I need to do. So I just just pursued it.
And then when I was 19, that's when I went to the US, that went
very young. Someone said to me once if you
want to go to the go, if you want to pursue being an actress,
go to the States. So I was like, OK, absolutely,
(05:17):
why not? So just pick packed my bags and
left to LA OK6. So what would you say is how old
are you now? Are you in your 20s right now?
I'm 31, 31, OK, you look like you're in your 20s, but it's
gonna say, what would you say isor was your most memorable
(05:40):
moment over the span of your acting career, what you say was
the most memorable or some of the most memorable moments?
Yeah, I'd say some. I mean this is very difficult to
to choose, I mean. Is always the first time being
(06:00):
on set, but I wouldn't say that would be the most rememberable.
I would say it would be preparing for a role.
So my last movie, The Lair, I play a British fighter pilot, so
I had to learn how to become a soldier and I had to learn how
(06:25):
to fire AK-40 Seven's. Know how to kick ass.
Lots of fight sequences. So the training for that was
pretty hardcore so that was veryrememberable.
And then being on set, actually being on set and and just like
okay, I've got this gun in my hand and you know I've got to be
so focused here. I can't fuck up here.
(06:46):
I've got to be so switched on and that was that was really
rememberable. My other movie, The The
Reckoning, where I had to. Learn how to horse ride.
First day of filming, Got this beautiful horse.
First take, first day on action.My horse runs away.
(07:08):
Literally runaway horse which was pretty terrifying.
I was like, I don't know if I'm going to make this shoot alive,
but it it was OK. It went very well and but it's
like you know acting is kind of yourself like you you have
control over it but when it involves other.
Outsides of things like horses or other actors or always other
(07:30):
actors, but you know, things that are difficult.
Usually working with animals andworking with children is usually
the hardest because you can't quite, they can't quite predict
what they're going to do. Yeah, I could.
I could only imagine that's it'sactually pretty impressive when
you see movies and then you see like animals that are well
trained or dogs that are well trained to play the specific
(07:51):
role or kids or babies especially.
It's like, how the hell do you coordinate that and make that
work? So how many takes does that take
like? Yes.
Takes lots of time in. And I and I guess like
milestones. I think when I won one of my
first acting award, that was really rememberable for me
(08:12):
because that was kind of like one of my dreams is that I'd
love to be an award-winning actress.
That'd be awesome. And and then, you know, getting
that confirmation of that, that was really, really cool.
Yeah. So then I'd imagine you probably
picked up so many new perspectives basically because I
would imagine you, like you justsaid, you would have to actually
(08:34):
study the real role of the fake role that you're trying to act
okay. But also roles always evolving
like Okay. So first I'd love to just be an
award wing actress. How amazing would that be?
And then? I achieve that and then I'm like
okay. Then I'd love to just set it the
(08:55):
the, the, the goal, the IT always just keeps evolving.
It never stops. You know, I'm always on.
It's like being on a treadmill. You're always just on to the
next project, on to the next project, on to the next thing.
It's quite difficult, you know, Sometimes I have to sit back and
just go, wow, okay, I've, I've been blessed and I've worked
hard and I should, you know, patmyself from the back and yeah.
(09:19):
Stop. Done.
OK. And then keep going.
Again, it's it's so hard to do that.
And honestly that's part of the reason why successful people are
successful in the 1st place. It's because they go through a
pretty long span of time where they're never really satisfied
and they're always trying to better themselves year after
year. It's extremely difficult to be
(09:39):
content to, especially if you'vebeen grinding for like 5 years,
10 years, it's like, well, now I'm just gonna come to a 180 and
stop. It's like no.
And then, like my mom and my friends and found me.
You should be so proud. You've achieved so much.
I'm like, I don't. Yeah, I guess.
But I'm on to the next thing now.
(10:01):
Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely, definitely
understand. And then that kind of ties into
my next question, which is how do you prepare for roles that
are extremely dramatic? I have intense emotions.
Like for someone who knows nothing about being an actor or
an actress, how does one even prepare for a drama or something
(10:26):
like that? Well, it all boils down to the
script. So first and foremost, I get the
script, I break it down, I breakmy character down.
I'm just I have to try and understand who she is, create a
back story for her. And then of course you learn
(10:49):
your lines. But that's that's just that's
once you've learnt your lines, then the real work starts.
Because once you've learnt your lines, which is challenging in
itself, especially if you're carrying a whole movie, then
once you've learnt your lines you need to break every scene
down emotionally. Where you're at emotionally how
(11:09):
you're going to get there emotionally and connect to that
because that's the biggest thingis connecting with that and
bringing truth to that. Because if you can't bring truth
to the scene or if you can't connect to it like you know how
do I relate to someone that's had an experience I've never
experienced that's tough. So you have to find a
correlation that you've you've had an emotional connection that
(11:29):
you've had with this character and and and have that and bring
the most truthful emotion you can possible.
So that's that's that's. The key thing And then
everything else will come. Everything else is instincts.
It will come. Do you think that acting is a
skill that's pretty natural for certain people?
Because I'm just thinking like, there's absolutely no way, like,
(11:51):
I could pretend to be scared fora scene.
If you're like, if it's a scene where there's a lot of suspense
driven up or something like that, to just really act it out
and pretend or kind of fake, like you're feeling an emotion
that you don't really feel, do you think acting is a skill
that's natural? Do you think it's truly
something that anybody could practice enough to get good at
(12:13):
it? Well, Marlon Brando, who I
absolutely love, would say everyone's an actor, right?
He said that before they were all acting, they were all put on
this persona to just get throughlife and put on this mask and
which I'm acting. Which is true to a certain
degree. But then it does take skill, it
does take discipline, and it does take talent to to to become
(12:37):
a trained actor, to hit the mark, to learn your lines, to
connect, connect to the character to the most truthful
connection you know. Truthful emotion possible so.
But you know, there's some actors working today who are OK.
They're not great. I wouldn't say they're super
talented and there's some who are phenomenal.
So there's different levels of it.
(12:58):
So I think you do need to have that.
You do. Doesn't matter how hard you do.
You do need to train, but you do.
You do also need to be good. You need to have it.
Either have it or you don't. They say right gotcha.
So that when you are working on a project, what is the workload
(13:19):
like? So let's say you're starting a
new project. They want to cast you as a lead
for that film. Are they like 16 hour work days
for like months on end? Like what?
What is the schedule look like? What does that look like
typically? I lost my last four movies.
(13:40):
I've been the lead and it's beenso and it's pretty much the
same. You're working six weeks,
usually 6 to 8 weeks, 5 days, 5 days.
Working or six day weeks. So you have one day off or you
have two days off and it's usually 12 to 14 hour days.
Sometimes I've even done longer,which is but you're on it, but
(14:01):
it's okay because you're on. I think you're living a lot on
adrenaline and you're doing whatyou love and you're feeding your
soul and you know, I've just, you just keep at it.
You just keep. Day by day, you just you're in
this little movie bubble, I callit.
But the outside world doesn't exist anymore.
It's really, really strange. You create this little family of
all your fellow actors and the director and the crew, and then
(14:25):
after that 6 to 8 weeks is up, it's that's it.
And you're like, okay wow, okay back to the real world again.
It's really, it's really surrealto be honest with.
You see and then I could only imagine that things probably
don't always go perfect, right? You probably ran into a
situation where you had to do more takes than anticipated.
Maybe you guys didn't hit a deadline.
Maybe there's more pressure to perform and there's certain time
(14:47):
limits. Does that, is that pretty?
Does that happen pretty frequently in your experience
or? I would say the less the least
stressful thing is. To act for me it's it's to act
all the all the external things that are going around that's the
most stressful. The you know, something happens,
the cameras the camera doesn't work.
(15:08):
That's happened. That's been a complete
nightmare. One of the monster suits is
broke and you have to it's all the technical stuff that's that
that's terrifying. Of course you have to make sure
you're on it as an actor and be consistent and you're and you
know with your fellow actors as well, but.
It can be very stressful, but that's why you just have to like
(15:30):
stay in the zone. And if if it happens, I've
learned to just take myself offset.
This is, this is not my problem.I I just needed to focus and
when they are ready for me, hit it and do just be the best I
can. But yeah, there's lots of lots
of stressful elements of filmmaking, that's for sure.
And now I wanna pull up a clip Isaw on your Facebook page.
(15:54):
Actually, it was a it was a scene.
Oh, dear, yeah. Oh, dear is right.
Yeah. So let me see here, let me make
this a little bigger. OK?
(16:14):
I just want you to describe thisafter we play it.
So here we go. OK, so very special to share.
(17:21):
OK, so my question for you is how does one prepare for a scene
like that? Like what is the what's the
thought process? Like how do you even go into
something like that? Well, that executes that.
That whole film was the most emotionally challenging role for
(17:43):
me as of today. It was my first proper lead lead
role. And it was very, very dramatic,
but every scene had to be an emotional, I mean if the
storyline is, you know, a young woman being falsely accused,
accused of being a witch, she has a daughter taken away from
her. She she's in, it's it's just a
(18:04):
really dark, you know, sad story.
So and that that was the role that I mentioned about the
horse. I had to learn the horse ride.
I had to learn sword fights and in that scene in particular.
I was like, Oh my God, how am I going to do this?
I've never done this kind of action before.
It's my first proper action roleas well.
And we didn't have much time to rehearse it.
(18:26):
So that kind of scene, you wouldhave rehearsed a lot.
We didn't have much time to rehearse.
So but The thing is, with that, with this kind of scene, it's
like a dance you it's all kind of very.
OK left right. So it's all very mechanical to
be honest it's it's the oppositeto acting, right.
(18:47):
Acting is emotion and and and going with your instincts and
but this is very coordinated andyou have to hit the mark.
So that scene in particular was was was tough but you know we
did it a few times we we ran forit and what's interesting in
what in that scene that. You know, for example, I did
(19:10):
quite a lot of my stunts there, but me rolled the the which was
the thing. Oh well, she bangs my head on
the table. That was my stunt double for
example. So stuff like that.
But I try and do as much of my own stunts as possible.
But of course the stunt, the stunt team are amazing and they
save the day in sequences like that because they help structure
(19:32):
the sea and they help structure the fight sequence, something
you can't do. At the end of that, the other
character, Ursula, she jumps outthe window.
Well, that's her double actually.
She jumps out the window on fireand it's incredible.
I just, yeah, I couldn't do whatthey do.
That absolutely amazing stunt isreally, it's crazy.
(19:55):
So you would say it's comparableI guess to choreography I
suppose for a scene like that, right?
No, I haven't done any fight sequence that isn't
choreographed. No, I think it's too dangerous
to be honest. You have to choreograph it like
a dance and know exactly what you're doing, especially when
(20:15):
there's weapons involved in gunsand even if it's fake guns, even
blanks. You know, we all know from
what's happened that even blanksare very, very, you know, risky.
So yeah, you have to be so careful.
Yeah, I could only imagine so. But yeah, I know that's
interesting because. As people like me, I guess you
(20:36):
could call us like civilians, weonly see the end product.
We don't really see anything that goes behind the scenes.
So it's always good to get that perspective for sure.
And then you mentioned earlier when you just show up and act
kind of if you said you're kind of like in a bubble, you kind of
just don't see the outside world.
(20:58):
Everything's moving quickly. You're just pretty locked in on
doing your job, so. Once a project is finished and
you go about whatever else you choose to do with your life, how
do you handle criticism or how do you handle?
Because all I assume that you get a lot of media attention
(21:19):
after a project and there's probably lots of critics.
This movie was good, this movie was bad, etcetera.
Do you typically? Ignore all this or screen all
this out? Or do you actually try to take
criticism and try to make it constructive?
Do you try to get involved with reviews, I guess, on your
(21:42):
performance? Or do you just focus on the
performance and then separate your personal life from it?
Totally. But acting is it's all it's all
personal. It's all objective, right?
It's it's like a piece of art. Some one person would love what
you do and another person would hate it.
It's all very objective. I never read reviews, to be
(22:08):
honest. You know, for example, that
film, The Reckoning, it it did, it did OK.
It got mixed reviews. Some I won multiple awards for
it, but then some critics didn'tlike it.
So it's like, well, who do you listen to, right?
Some people say the film overallisn't good or whatever, and then
but then some people love it. It's so objective.
(22:31):
So I really try and block out. This is very easy for someone to
criticize when they don't understand or or can do what you
do. A lot of these critics have
never made a film in their life.So I I like constructive
criticism. If it's constructive, but
usually bad reviews or whatever,unconstructive, it's it's bad.
(22:51):
I didn't like this. I didn't like that.
OK, well, there's nothing I can really take away from that.
Even good reviews, this is of the same good reviews is great,
it's great, which is lovely to hear.
But I try not to focus too much on that because I think that can
be really dangerous, to be honest and then actually.
(23:11):
Yeah, because there are so many different trains of thought
about that particular subject. There's lots of different
philosophies about that subject.There's some people who want to
hear the criticism because it'llmotivate them to do better or
whatnot. So then there's some people who
like to totally block it out because they just want to stay
focused on their personal objective.
(23:33):
So yeah, I want to see where youstood on that spectrum, I guess
because so many different ways people handle criticism.
So like constructive criticism, if it's constructive and it's
from people that I trust, other film makers, my friends, my
family, people I know have no agenda.
You know, lots of critics have agendas or you know, they just
(23:55):
don't like it because they watched it and they were having
a bad day or whatever. As long as it's constructive and
it's from someone I trust, then I listen.
I love to get people's opinion on my films.
Tell me how what you what you think I'm myself.
You know, I think I'm my biggest.
That's the problem. I am my biggest critic, right?
So I'm. I don't need too many others.
(24:15):
I already have myself criticizing it just but always
for perfection, right? And that's never gonna exist
because that doesn't quite exist.
But that's great, because if youthink you've reached perfection
or you think you've done best you can be, then then where'd
you go from there? So I like the fact that I'm
never gonna be, oh, I never think I'm gonna be perfect or
(24:37):
great because there'll be no room for more.
Yeah, exactly. You're always growing or you're
always declining? I guess so.
And then also, I would say, yeah, I used to play basketball
too. And that is a really good point
that you had taking criticism from people that you trust, like
if I was playing basketball and then.
(24:58):
A hockey player told me how to run a certain play.
I wouldn't take their advice very seriously, or I wouldn't
take their criticism very seriously because it's like you
don't really know what you're talking about.
But then if Michael Jordan or someone like that, he's actually
giving me advice on basketball, I'd maybe just take their advice
(25:19):
and their criticism a lot more seriously.
So a lot of film critics isn't it in their life or their their
their film makers. They're failed film makers and
they kind of got a chip on theirshoulder.
I that's actually what my dad told me once.
I thought, oh dad, I got this bad review and I thought,
whatever. He said, who are these people?
Who are they? They Steven Spielberg.
Are they Who are they? I was like, well it's a OK, what
(25:40):
film has he made before? I'm like that's a good way of
looking at it. It's true.
And now I'm like, I'm only gonnatake criticism of people I trust
and who are fellow film makers and who've actually been in my
shoes and made a film and someone that I trust and value.
Yeah, I know that. That totally makes sense.
It's super questionable. And yeah, taking criticism from
(26:03):
people who are credible, that's very logical, right?
Like operative, like basketball I guess is slightly different
for you because it's more skill set.
But acting, I guess, yes, it's skill set, but it's objective.
It's like a piece of art. You might think this is the best
thing ever, and then I might look at this piece of art and
say I don't like it. Or you mean it's subjective?
(26:23):
Yeah, it's right. It's someone's opinion.
That's totally valid. So then it is I.
Don't know. Makes sense.
And then I was gonna say, when you're collaborating with other
people on set. How much chemistry needs to be
there with you guys? Like I'd imagine you'd need some
(26:45):
sort of chemistry in order to execute a scene successfully.
Has that ever been an issue? Do you ever see that as an
issue? 2 actors or actresses who just
really can't get on the same page?
One person feels this way about acting something out, one person
feels another way. Or do you guys have a a good
coach you can kind of make it come together?
(27:09):
Or director, I guess, yeah. No, I've never been in a
situation where an actor or we, we both disagree.
If that were to happen, I would probably say to the actor and
suggest to the director, let's try my way, let's try your way
and see what the director thinks.
But so far there's been tension on set before.
(27:32):
Well, maybe we've disagreed outside or something and then
you've got to you got to do thisscene.
It can be a little bit awkward, but as soon as the cameras go on
and they say the director says action, you have to leave all
that behind. So and then when that happens, I
(27:55):
just see their character, I don't see the actor anymore,
especially if they're good. And I've been lucky enough for
good, really good fellow actors.So, so far I haven't had that
problem, no. Got it.
Yeah, I would just imagine, yeah, like, if you're shooting a
scene that involves maybe like 10 people more or less than,
(28:19):
it's like, I would imagine you guys all better be on the same
page. You better come together, yeah.
The action stuff. I've worked with actors who are
a lot more trained to have done a lot more action than me.
My last previous, last couple ofprevious films actually, and
(28:39):
they've been very, very, very good.
And I've just kind of took theirlead like, OK, is this OK?
Is this how I hold the gun? What you suggest is and they're
just, you know, you have to be humble.
You know, I think on set, it doesn't matter how trained you
are, how much you've done. You just got to be humble to
your fellow actors and the director and you know, let them
take the lead. And again like I think you said
(29:00):
if I have, I had, I haven't really had much disagreement
with another actor but I have with a director before where he
would want something then I would say but I don't quite see
it that way then I would suggestbecause obviously he's the boss,
it's up to him. I would suggest is it possible
we could try both if we have time of course we'll do your way
1st and that that that's always been a but OK it's a
(29:21):
collaboration. It's a collaboration.
You've always just got to collaborate and work together
and so yeah, that that's happened before, but it was fine
if you have someone that if you,if you feel like you're a
collaborative team and you're working together, then it
usually goes OK. Yeah, that makes sense.
So then, when it comes to acting, what would you
(29:46):
personally define as success? What does it mean to be a good
actor versus an actor who's not good?
What does it mean to be an aboveact, above average actor as
opposed to an average actor? Well, that's very, very
difficult. Phenomenal actors from my
previous, like my drama class who are phenomenal, but I
(30:09):
haven't had a break. They haven't had, you know, been
in the film or anything like that.
And they're just outstanding. And it's really sad.
But is that success? No.
Is it talent? Yes.
But then I've worked with peoplewho aren't that great and
they're successful. So I think success and talent
are very two different things. Lots of talented people do not
(30:31):
succeed. A lot of successful people who
aren't very talented succeed. So it's it's, it's they're two
different things. Success is very difficult to
define, really difficult becauseis it just to do one movie, to
become a name, to become a bankable name, to become
awardwinning to to to win an Oscar, to what is the defined
(30:54):
success? It's it's it's very, very
difficult to be honest. Some people would say I'm
successful, but I'm, I'm like, well, no, I want to get here.
I want to get there, keep climbing, keep climbing, keep
climbing. And then you know people who are
way more successful than me would say they're not
successful. So it's it's again it's very
subjective. Yeah, it's that.
(31:15):
That'll definitely mean different things to different
people. I totally understand that.
So how about we go with you personally?
What do you personally? How do you see it yourself?
I think, I think I'm successful.I definitely want to be more
(31:37):
successful. You know, I've I'm putting my
destiny in my own hands. I have my own production company
and I'm making my own movies andthat's that's that's success in
itself. And I'm getting films made every
year and good movies that get seen and on Amazon and they're
winning awards. So yeah, if you look at it like
(31:59):
that, I guess I am successful, but I'm very, very ambitious and
I'm very, very hungry. So I'm my goal is at the very,
very tippety top. So I'm successful, but still a
long way to go. Successful, but you don't want
to get content, you don't want to ease up.
You want to keep putting your foot on the gas.
(32:19):
Got you, got you. Okay that.
So if you could give advice to your 18 year old self, give a
few pieces of advice that would you you would that you would
give to the younger you. And honestly, this can be
(32:46):
general as well. It doesn't necessarily just have
to pertain to becoming an actress.
If you could just point them in the right direction, get them on
the right path, what advice would you give to the 18 year
old? SO first I would say don't trust
anyone. I've always been very
trustworthy and I've trusted some of the wrong people and
(33:10):
I've been bitten along the way, I've been burnt along the way.
So that's the number one for my 1818 year old self.
Do not trust anyone, of course your family or very close
friends. But people that you know, you
think are your friends, who you've just met or whatever they
are not to your friends and you cannot trust them.
That would be my #1 ultimate advice.
(33:41):
Slow down as well. I was very much in a hurry.
Patience, longevity. Just have patience and believe
in yourself. Believe in yourself.
And because when I was 1819 I was in on in the state, so right
now I'm my priority, released mycraft.
(34:03):
Back then I wasn't sure what it was, what I need to do.
I was kind of like a headless chicken, a little bit, so acting
my craft patience. Don't trust anyone.
That would be my advice to myself.
Yeah, that's interesting. So patience for sure.
(34:24):
A lot of people get in a rush todo things, especially when
you're young, You're kind of overly anxious about everything.
So I could definitely agree withthat one.
Then when it comes to don't trust anyone, yeah, that's quite
important. I'm not sure if you read the
book. I think it was The 48 Laws of
Power, something by Robert. Favorite books of indeed.
(34:46):
My favorite book. Yeah, Which, Which, Which Law?
I'm not sure which law it is. I actually haven't read the
book. I just watched SparkNotes book
summary of it. But it sounds interesting.
And yeah, it's that kind of tiesinto some of the things that he
was saying in that book, though not to necessarily.
(35:08):
Trust everyone conscious. And they say keep writing these
closer. A very, very interesting book.
Very, very, yeah, you have to read it.
It's really, really, really good.
Say less. Anyway, I could go on and on and
on. Yeah, it's really interesting.
Exactly. And yeah, it's when he was going
through the rules like some of it was a little bit.
(35:31):
Dark or corrupt, but then you draw so many parallels it's just
so relatable to like so many different situations you'll find
yourself in in life. So I'm assuming, yeah, if you
read that book, you probably could draw so many parallels
throughout your career and they compare it back to history, you
know, like this, this isn't justa what he's comparing it to
(35:52):
hundreds of years back, You know, It's incredible.
Absolutely incredible. Yeah, have a read.
Yeah, definitely. Then other than that up, what
other books do you think you'd recommend or refer to?
People, particularly people who want to follow a similar path
(36:12):
that you took. They want to become an actress?
Maybe they want to just get intothe industry of show business
out 48 laws of power. Because you have to be, to be a
good actor. You have to, you have to be
switched on. You have to be smart.
You have to be quick. You have to be.
(36:33):
You have to know what's going onin the world.
So I'd say watch the news as well.
Know what the Hell's going, readthe newspaper, know what's going
on every day in the zeitgeist, what's going on.
Especially if you're creating and writing and producing.
You need to know what's going onin the world. 48 Laws of Power
Acting books. One of my favorite acting books
(36:53):
is called Truth by Susan Batson.She's my acting coach in New
York. Phenomenal.
She's Nicole Kidman's acting coach, Tom Cruise.
She's amazing. And her book is called Truth and
that's what it's all about. And she, again, she draws
parallels to Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando in her book and
(37:14):
how they how they work and her methods.
It's it's incredible. So for acting, I'll read that
book and and watch people, observe people, see what's going
on in the world, travel. If you can just just get out
there and do as much as you can,That's what I'd suggest.
(37:39):
Have you ever done method actingwhere you actually try to
portray your character in offset?
I guess not. In non professional
environments, yeah, not to the extent of some actors, you know,
some actors live it, breathe it and don't don't come out of
character, you know, for example, if I'm doing an accent,
(37:59):
I would, I would do that quite alot.
Yeah, like I would do that out out of, out of set, especially
when I'm preparing for the role and then when I'm when I'm in
the role and I'm filming then I feel comfortable then I'll kind
of drop it. But I do that inherently.
I think when I when I'm filming and especially when I'm
preparing for a role, I would just kind of have the
(38:24):
characters, persona and energy. I'll just inherently carry that
with me and always be thinking about her and what would she
wear, what situation would she be in there, How would she feel
like this? So I don't, yeah, but I won't
call that method. Acting method is when you are
full blown in the character, do not leave the character and but
(38:46):
I haven't done that no. I dabble but I haven't gone for.
I don't think it's necessary, not for me anyway.
I was gonna say that's actually an interesting thing that I
would like to talk about the accents.
So you did mention that you go back and forth from America to
the UK a lot, but you said you're originally from the UK.
(39:07):
So when you're picking up an American accent or something
along the lines of that. Do you feel like you need to
immerse yourself in American culture or surround yourself by
Americans to really pick up their rhythm of speech?
Because, at least for me, I found like the way that British
(39:28):
people speak versus the way thatAmericans and Canadians speak.
It's like night and day, especially when British people
use slang terminology like I don't understand like half.
Saying basically like it's just so foreign to me, like so I
think because I lived there for so long, I I, I and for me, I
(39:52):
don't need to do that for for me, learning an accent is very
phonetic. It's all very in the mouth.
And you know my, the role I justdid, I had to play Eastern
European. And that was very, very
phonetic. I didn't go to Eastern Europe or
try, and I just worked with my voice coach and just did the
(40:14):
drills and did the lines with that.
And that worked. But as an American, you know,
when I've played American before, I've just just learned
it as phonetically with my voicecoach.
Maybe because again, because I've lived there and I know the
culture very well, but I don't think I picked up an accent at
all. Like, you know, being there for
quite a long time. I haven't.
I haven't picked up an accent. Yeah, I guess.
(40:36):
I don't think so, no. I I guess, yeah, you you have a
bit of a British accent, but it's not extremely strong like
some of the people in Northern England or like some of the
people who speak a whole other dialect.
That's very, I guess, slang terminology.
Yes, you you're well spoken, so it's easy to understand
(41:00):
universally, I suppose. Yeah.
But there are definitely people in England, I would say that are
more difficult to understand than the way that you're
speaking right now, especially if you're up north.
That's a difficult, that's difficult to to and they speak
very fast. It's very different.
It's regional. It's like any country, very,
very regional. London SE, London, Yeah, even
(41:22):
different parts of London. It's all very different.
So to wrap up, are there any newprojects that you're working on
right now that you can talk about?
Of course, always. So I have two movies coming out
this year, Duchess, which we areliterally selling at the moment.
(41:45):
That's a female gangster movie which I'm super, super, super
excited about The the film I'm most excited about actually so
far my career and so that will be coming out this year but I
don't have dates for that yet. And then Compulsion, which I
just finished filming that is editing being edited right now
(42:06):
in post production that will be out sometime this year as well.
So and then I'm currently setting up and I have a few
scripts I'm reading at the moment so but right now to look
out for Duchess and Compulsion. OK, cool.
And when I googled your name, there's something floating
around on the page about you being involved with James Bond,
(42:30):
the James Bond series. Is that true?
Or can you say? I guess I don't wanna get you in
trouble, but OK, you can say, you can say no comment if you
don't have to, you know? OK, there we go.
Will be revealed. Okay got you all right.
(42:50):
And where can they find you on social media?
Finally, Yeah, so my Instagram is a Charlotte Kirk official
Kirk. I'm on Twitter as well.
But yeah, mainly Instagram and Facebook.
Okay, sweet. And we'll put that in the
description below so you guys can go check her out there and
(43:12):
stay tuned for the new projects and maybe James Bond, maybe,
maybe not. So we'll see.
All right. And until next time, guys.
OK, and we are live. Welcome to the fifth episode of
our series Authentic Conversations in English.
So today we're joined with a special guest as an actress all
the way from the United Kingdom of being Charlotte Kirk.
So Charlotte, why don't you introduce yourself to the
audience? Absolutely, Yeah.
Thank you for having me. I'm yes, Charlotte Kirk.
(00:25):
I actually lived in the States for 10 years.
I recently moved back to the UK two years ago obviously I I
moved for my career as an actress producer and recently
moved back to the UK and but theUS is all is my second home.
I I love the US and in fact I'llbe going there in a couple of
weeks. So I have, it's like my I don't
(00:48):
say I've officially moved back. It's it's it's difficult for me
to say that I'm like, no, I I'm,I had two homes.
I have the US and I have England.
I see. And then in the US, do you
typically hang out in Californiaor which state do you usually
spend your time? When I moved to the States, I
moved to LA. But actually initially I moved
(01:08):
to New York just for six months.And then I realized that
actually the film business is more, more Everything's really
in LA. So moved to LA and yeah, so when
I go there, usually LA, but I'm also gonna be going to Florida
as well. I love Florida.
So yeah, I had like half my family's in Florida, so it's
super nice. Especially Miami, I think it's
(01:31):
super nice. So it's for sure.
And then out of the places you've been, which place would
you say you prefer as of now? Florida.
Miami Yeah, Yeah, I could see that.
I could totally see that. It's a little bit closer sort of
that. What is it?
(01:54):
Journey It's 7-8, Not as bad, but it's just, I just, I just
love the East Coast. To be honest, I love New York as
well for sure. And then, do you also speak any
other languages or is it just English for you?
Unfortunately I just know English, but I want to Start
(02:17):
learning Spanish actually OK. My goal, One of my goals for
this year. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Yeah, especially in Miami, too. Like, half the population speaks
Spanish, so there you go. Well, isn't it like the second
most spoken language in the world, Spanish.
Yeah, it's up there. I think it's like top three.
(02:39):
I think Mandarin Chinese might be above it, but I think it's
like #3, yeah? Yeah.
And you say just being in Miami and, you know, even in Europe,
you know, yeah. All these places, yeah.
So that's the this year. Yeah, totally useful.
And nothing wrong with English. It's definitely the most
(03:01):
powerful and most important and influential language in the
world. So there we go.
And so for the guests who are new here, we haven't done this
concept in a little over a few months.
So basically, we're going to be simulating A realistic
conversation in English between two native English speakers.
So when you jump in and ask questions, if you have any
questions or comments, they can be general questions.
(03:23):
They don't necessarily have to pertain to tips to learn English
for this particular stream. So keep that in mind.
But if you're joining in from the chat for YouTube or
Facebook, feel free to leave anycomments, ask any question, and
occasionally we'll stop and we will address what you guys have
to say. Oriello watching from the
(03:44):
Philippines? OK, shout out to the
Philippines. Shout out to you guys.
OK, so the first question I havefor you is what led you to
wanting to be an actress? Charlotte, is this something
that you knew you wanted to do for a long time, or is this
something that you just tripped and fell into accidentally?
(04:07):
So I never had a defining momentof oh, I saw something.
I watched a show and I was blownaway and I wanted to become an
actress. No, I think it was like a
gradual thing. It's always kind of been in my
blood to perform and I love to. As a child I I always used to
love to create characters and play, make belief and and it was
(04:31):
just a gradual thing. And then in in in my school and
then. Primary school, secondary
school, I I just loved theater, drama classes.
And I just knew. I just, there's a gradual thing.
And I was like, no, I'm just, this is just what I love to do
the most. This is what I enjoy above
anything else. Like I need to pursue this.
(04:53):
And after I finished secondary school, I went to university, I
went to drama school, and that'swhen I knew.
This is what I need to do. So I just just pursued it.
And then when I was 19, that's when I went to the US, that went
very young. Someone said to me once if you
want to go to the go, if you want to pursue being an actress,
go to the States. So I was like, OK, absolutely,
(05:17):
why not? So just pick packed my bags and
left to LA OK6. So what would you say is how old
are you now? Are you in your 20s right now?
I'm 31, 31, OK, you look like you're in your 20s, but it's
gonna say, what would you say isor was your most memorable
(05:40):
moment over the span of your acting career, what you say was
the most memorable or some of the most memorable moments?
Yeah, I'd say some. I mean this is very difficult to
to choose, I mean. Is always the first time being
(06:00):
on set, but I wouldn't say that would be the most rememberable.
I would say it would be preparing for a role.
So my last movie, The Lair, I play a British fighter pilot, so
I had to learn how to become a soldier and I had to learn how
(06:25):
to fire AK-40 Seven's. Know how to kick ass.
Lots of fight sequences. So the training for that was
pretty hardcore so that was veryrememberable.
And then being on set, actually being on set and and just like
okay, I've got this gun in my hand and you know I've got to be
so focused here. I can't fuck up here.
(06:46):
I've got to be so switched on and that was that was really
rememberable. My other movie, The The
Reckoning, where I had to. Learn how to horse ride.
First day of filming, Got this beautiful horse.
First take, first day on action.My horse runs away.
(07:08):
Literally runaway horse which was pretty terrifying.
I was like, I don't know if I'm going to make this shoot alive,
but it it was OK. It went very well and but it's
like you know acting is kind of yourself like you you have
control over it but when it involves other.
Outsides of things like horses or other actors or always other
(07:30):
actors, but you know, things that are difficult.
Usually working with animals andworking with children is usually
the hardest because you can't quite, they can't quite predict
what they're going to do. Yeah, I could.
I could only imagine that's it'sactually pretty impressive when
you see movies and then you see like animals that are well
trained or dogs that are well trained to play the specific
(07:51):
role or kids or babies especially.
It's like, how the hell do you coordinate that and make that
work? So how many takes does that take
like? Yes.
Takes lots of time in. And I and I guess like
milestones. I think when I won one of my
first acting award, that was really rememberable for me
(08:12):
because that was kind of like one of my dreams is that I'd
love to be an award-winning actress.
That'd be awesome. And and then, you know, getting
that confirmation of that, that was really, really cool.
Yeah. So then I'd imagine you probably
picked up so many new perspectives basically because I
would imagine you, like you justsaid, you would have to actually
(08:34):
study the real role of the fake role that you're trying to act
okay. But also roles always evolving
like Okay. So first I'd love to just be an
award wing actress. How amazing would that be?
And then? I achieve that and then I'm like
okay. Then I'd love to just set it the
(08:55):
the, the, the goal, the IT always just keeps evolving.
It never stops. You know, I'm always on.
It's like being on a treadmill. You're always just on to the
next project, on to the next project, on to the next thing.
It's quite difficult, you know, Sometimes I have to sit back and
just go, wow, okay, I've, I've been blessed and I've worked
hard and I should, you know, patmyself from the back and yeah.
(09:19):
Stop. Done.
OK. And then keep going.
Again, it's it's so hard to do that.
And honestly that's part of the reason why successful people are
successful in the 1st place. It's because they go through a
pretty long span of time where they're never really satisfied
and they're always trying to better themselves year after
year. It's extremely difficult to be
(09:39):
content to, especially if you'vebeen grinding for like 5 years,
10 years, it's like, well, now I'm just gonna come to a 180 and
stop. It's like no.
And then, like my mom and my friends and found me.
You should be so proud. You've achieved so much.
I'm like, I don't. Yeah, I guess.
But I'm on to the next thing now.
(10:01):
Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely, definitely
understand. And then that kind of ties into
my next question, which is how do you prepare for roles that
are extremely dramatic? I have intense emotions.
Like for someone who knows nothing about being an actor or
an actress, how does one even prepare for a drama or something
(10:26):
like that? Well, it all boils down to the
script. So first and foremost, I get the
script, I break it down, I breakmy character down.
I'm just I have to try and understand who she is, create a
back story for her. And then of course you learn
(10:49):
your lines. But that's that's just that's
once you've learnt your lines, then the real work starts.
Because once you've learnt your lines, which is challenging in
itself, especially if you're carrying a whole movie, then
once you've learnt your lines you need to break every scene
down emotionally. Where you're at emotionally how
(11:09):
you're going to get there emotionally and connect to that
because that's the biggest thingis connecting with that and
bringing truth to that. Because if you can't bring truth
to the scene or if you can't connect to it like you know how
do I relate to someone that's had an experience I've never
experienced that's tough. So you have to find a
correlation that you've you've had an emotional connection that
(11:29):
you've had with this character and and and have that and bring
the most truthful emotion you can possible.
So that's that's that's. The key thing And then
everything else will come. Everything else is instincts.
It will come. Do you think that acting is a
skill that's pretty natural for certain people?
Because I'm just thinking like, there's absolutely no way, like,
(11:51):
I could pretend to be scared fora scene.
If you're like, if it's a scene where there's a lot of suspense
driven up or something like that, to just really act it out
and pretend or kind of fake, like you're feeling an emotion
that you don't really feel, do you think acting is a skill
that's natural? Do you think it's truly
something that anybody could practice enough to get good at
(12:13):
it? Well, Marlon Brando, who I
absolutely love, would say everyone's an actor, right?
He said that before they were all acting, they were all put on
this persona to just get throughlife and put on this mask and
which I'm acting. Which is true to a certain
degree. But then it does take skill, it
does take discipline, and it does take talent to to to become
(12:37):
a trained actor, to hit the mark, to learn your lines, to
connect, connect to the character to the most truthful
connection you know. Truthful emotion possible so.
But you know, there's some actors working today who are OK.
They're not great. I wouldn't say they're super
talented and there's some who are phenomenal.
So there's different levels of it.
(12:58):
So I think you do need to have that.
You do. Doesn't matter how hard you do.
You do need to train, but you do.
You do also need to be good. You need to have it.
Either have it or you don't. They say right gotcha.
So that when you are working on a project, what is the workload
(13:19):
like? So let's say you're starting a
new project. They want to cast you as a lead
for that film. Are they like 16 hour work days
for like months on end? Like what?
What is the schedule look like? What does that look like
typically? I lost my last four movies.
(13:40):
I've been the lead and it's beenso and it's pretty much the
same. You're working six weeks,
usually 6 to 8 weeks, 5 days, 5 days.
Working or six day weeks. So you have one day off or you
have two days off and it's usually 12 to 14 hour days.
Sometimes I've even done longer,which is but you're on it, but
(14:01):
it's okay because you're on. I think you're living a lot on
adrenaline and you're doing whatyou love and you're feeding your
soul and you know, I've just, you just keep at it.
You just keep. Day by day, you just you're in
this little movie bubble, I callit.
But the outside world doesn't exist anymore.
It's really, really strange. You create this little family of
all your fellow actors and the director and the crew, and then
(14:25):
after that 6 to 8 weeks is up, it's that's it.
And you're like, okay wow, okay back to the real world again.
It's really, it's really surrealto be honest with.
You see and then I could only imagine that things probably
don't always go perfect, right? You probably ran into a
situation where you had to do more takes than anticipated.
Maybe you guys didn't hit a deadline.
Maybe there's more pressure to perform and there's certain time
(14:47):
limits. Does that, is that pretty?
Does that happen pretty frequently in your experience
or? I would say the less the least
stressful thing is. To act for me it's it's to act
all the all the external things that are going around that's the
most stressful. The you know, something happens,
the cameras the camera doesn't work.
(15:08):
That's happened. That's been a complete
nightmare. One of the monster suits is
broke and you have to it's all the technical stuff that's that
that's terrifying. Of course you have to make sure
you're on it as an actor and be consistent and you're and you
know with your fellow actors as well, but.
It can be very stressful, but that's why you just have to like
(15:30):
stay in the zone. And if if it happens, I've
learned to just take myself offset.
This is, this is not my problem.I I just needed to focus and
when they are ready for me, hit it and do just be the best I
can. But yeah, there's lots of lots
of stressful elements of filmmaking, that's for sure.
And now I wanna pull up a clip Isaw on your Facebook page.
(15:54):
Actually, it was a it was a scene.
Oh, dear, yeah. Oh, dear is right.
Yeah. So let me see here, let me make
this a little bigger. OK?
(16:14):
I just want you to describe thisafter we play it.
So here we go. OK, so very special to share.
(17:21):
OK, so my question for you is how does one prepare for a scene
like that? Like what is the what's the
thought process? Like how do you even go into
something like that? Well, that executes that.
That whole film was the most emotionally challenging role for
(17:43):
me as of today. It was my first proper lead lead
role. And it was very, very dramatic,
but every scene had to be an emotional, I mean if the
storyline is, you know, a young woman being falsely accused,
accused of being a witch, she has a daughter taken away from
her. She she's in, it's it's just a
(18:04):
really dark, you know, sad story.
So and that that was the role that I mentioned about the
horse. I had to learn the horse ride.
I had to learn sword fights and in that scene in particular.
I was like, Oh my God, how am I going to do this?
I've never done this kind of action before.
It's my first proper action roleas well.
And we didn't have much time to rehearse it.
(18:26):
So that kind of scene, you wouldhave rehearsed a lot.
We didn't have much time to rehearse.
So but The thing is, with that, with this kind of scene, it's
like a dance you it's all kind of very.
OK left right. So it's all very mechanical to
be honest it's it's the oppositeto acting, right.
(18:47):
Acting is emotion and and and going with your instincts and
but this is very coordinated andyou have to hit the mark.
So that scene in particular was was was tough but you know we
did it a few times we we ran forit and what's interesting in
what in that scene that. You know, for example, I did
(19:10):
quite a lot of my stunts there, but me rolled the the which was
the thing. Oh well, she bangs my head on
the table. That was my stunt double for
example. So stuff like that.
But I try and do as much of my own stunts as possible.
But of course the stunt, the stunt team are amazing and they
save the day in sequences like that because they help structure
(19:32):
the sea and they help structure the fight sequence, something
you can't do. At the end of that, the other
character, Ursula, she jumps outthe window.
Well, that's her double actually.
She jumps out the window on fireand it's incredible.
I just, yeah, I couldn't do whatthey do.
That absolutely amazing stunt isreally, it's crazy.
(19:55):
So you would say it's comparableI guess to choreography I
suppose for a scene like that, right?
No, I haven't done any fight sequence that isn't
choreographed. No, I think it's too dangerous
to be honest. You have to choreograph it like
a dance and know exactly what you're doing, especially when
(20:15):
there's weapons involved in gunsand even if it's fake guns, even
blanks. You know, we all know from
what's happened that even blanksare very, very, you know, risky.
So yeah, you have to be so careful.
Yeah, I could only imagine so. But yeah, I know that's
interesting because. As people like me, I guess you
(20:36):
could call us like civilians, weonly see the end product.
We don't really see anything that goes behind the scenes.
So it's always good to get that perspective for sure.
And then you mentioned earlier when you just show up and act
kind of if you said you're kind of like in a bubble, you kind of
just don't see the outside world.
(20:58):
Everything's moving quickly. You're just pretty locked in on
doing your job, so. Once a project is finished and
you go about whatever else you choose to do with your life, how
do you handle criticism or how do you handle?
Because all I assume that you get a lot of media attention
(21:19):
after a project and there's probably lots of critics.
This movie was good, this movie was bad, etcetera.
Do you typically? Ignore all this or screen all
this out? Or do you actually try to take
criticism and try to make it constructive?
Do you try to get involved with reviews, I guess, on your
(21:42):
performance? Or do you just focus on the
performance and then separate your personal life from it?
Totally. But acting is it's all it's all
personal. It's all objective, right?
It's it's like a piece of art. Some one person would love what
you do and another person would hate it.
It's all very objective. I never read reviews, to be
(22:08):
honest. You know, for example, that
film, The Reckoning, it it did, it did OK.
It got mixed reviews. Some I won multiple awards for
it, but then some critics didn'tlike it.
So it's like, well, who do you listen to, right?
Some people say the film overallisn't good or whatever, and then
but then some people love it. It's so objective.
(22:31):
So I really try and block out. This is very easy for someone to
criticize when they don't understand or or can do what you
do. A lot of these critics have
never made a film in their life.So I I like constructive
criticism. If it's constructive, but
usually bad reviews or whatever,unconstructive, it's it's bad.
(22:51):
I didn't like this. I didn't like that.
OK, well, there's nothing I can really take away from that.
Even good reviews, this is of the same good reviews is great,
it's great, which is lovely to hear.
But I try not to focus too much on that because I think that can
be really dangerous, to be honest and then actually.
(23:11):
Yeah, because there are so many different trains of thought
about that particular subject. There's lots of different
philosophies about that subject.There's some people who want to
hear the criticism because it'llmotivate them to do better or
whatnot. So then there's some people who
like to totally block it out because they just want to stay
focused on their personal objective.
(23:33):
So yeah, I want to see where youstood on that spectrum, I guess
because so many different ways people handle criticism.
So like constructive criticism, if it's constructive and it's
from people that I trust, other film makers, my friends, my
family, people I know have no agenda.
You know, lots of critics have agendas or you know, they just
(23:55):
don't like it because they watched it and they were having
a bad day or whatever. As long as it's constructive and
it's from someone I trust, then I listen.
I love to get people's opinion on my films.
Tell me how what you what you think I'm myself.
You know, I think I'm my biggest.
That's the problem. I am my biggest critic, right?
So I'm. I don't need too many others.
(24:15):
I already have myself criticizing it just but always
for perfection, right? And that's never gonna exist
because that doesn't quite exist.
But that's great, because if youthink you've reached perfection
or you think you've done best you can be, then then where'd
you go from there? So I like the fact that I'm
never gonna be, oh, I never think I'm gonna be perfect or
(24:37):
great because there'll be no room for more.
Yeah, exactly. You're always growing or you're
always declining? I guess so.
And then also, I would say, yeah, I used to play basketball
too. And that is a really good point
that you had taking criticism from people that you trust, like
if I was playing basketball and then.
(24:58):
A hockey player told me how to run a certain play.
I wouldn't take their advice very seriously, or I wouldn't
take their criticism very seriously because it's like you
don't really know what you're talking about.
But then if Michael Jordan or someone like that, he's actually
giving me advice on basketball, I'd maybe just take their advice
(25:19):
and their criticism a lot more seriously.
So a lot of film critics isn't it in their life or their their
their film makers. They're failed film makers and
they kind of got a chip on theirshoulder.
I that's actually what my dad told me once.
I thought, oh dad, I got this bad review and I thought,
whatever. He said, who are these people?
Who are they? They Steven Spielberg.
Are they Who are they? I was like, well it's a OK, what
(25:40):
film has he made before? I'm like that's a good way of
looking at it. It's true.
And now I'm like, I'm only gonnatake criticism of people I trust
and who are fellow film makers and who've actually been in my
shoes and made a film and someone that I trust and value.
Yeah, I know that. That totally makes sense.
It's super questionable. And yeah, taking criticism from
(26:03):
people who are credible, that's very logical, right?
Like operative, like basketball I guess is slightly different
for you because it's more skill set.
But acting, I guess, yes, it's skill set, but it's objective.
It's like a piece of art. You might think this is the best
thing ever, and then I might look at this piece of art and
say I don't like it. Or you mean it's subjective?
(26:23):
Yeah, it's right. It's someone's opinion.
That's totally valid. So then it is I.
Don't know. Makes sense.
And then I was gonna say, when you're collaborating with other
people on set. How much chemistry needs to be
there with you guys? Like I'd imagine you'd need some
(26:45):
sort of chemistry in order to execute a scene successfully.
Has that ever been an issue? Do you ever see that as an
issue? 2 actors or actresses who just
really can't get on the same page?
One person feels this way about acting something out, one person
feels another way. Or do you guys have a a good
coach you can kind of make it come together?
(27:09):
Or director, I guess, yeah. No, I've never been in a
situation where an actor or we, we both disagree.
If that were to happen, I would probably say to the actor and
suggest to the director, let's try my way, let's try your way
and see what the director thinks.
But so far there's been tension on set before.
(27:32):
Well, maybe we've disagreed outside or something and then
you've got to you got to do thisscene.
It can be a little bit awkward, but as soon as the cameras go on
and they say the director says action, you have to leave all
that behind. So and then when that happens, I
(27:55):
just see their character, I don't see the actor anymore,
especially if they're good. And I've been lucky enough for
good, really good fellow actors.So, so far I haven't had that
problem, no. Got it.
Yeah, I would just imagine, yeah, like, if you're shooting a
scene that involves maybe like 10 people more or less than,
(28:19):
it's like, I would imagine you guys all better be on the same
page. You better come together, yeah.
The action stuff. I've worked with actors who are
a lot more trained to have done a lot more action than me.
My last previous, last couple ofprevious films actually, and
(28:39):
they've been very, very, very good.
And I've just kind of took theirlead like, OK, is this OK?
Is this how I hold the gun? What you suggest is and they're
just, you know, you have to be humble.
You know, I think on set, it doesn't matter how trained you
are, how much you've done. You just got to be humble to
your fellow actors and the director and you know, let them
take the lead. And again like I think you said
(29:00):
if I have, I had, I haven't really had much disagreement
with another actor but I have with a director before where he
would want something then I would say but I don't quite see
it that way then I would suggestbecause obviously he's the boss,
it's up to him. I would suggest is it possible
we could try both if we have time of course we'll do your way
1st and that that that's always been a but OK it's a
(29:21):
collaboration. It's a collaboration.
You've always just got to collaborate and work together
and so yeah, that that's happened before, but it was fine
if you have someone that if you,if you feel like you're a
collaborative team and you're working together, then it
usually goes OK. Yeah, that makes sense.
So then, when it comes to acting, what would you
(29:46):
personally define as success? What does it mean to be a good
actor versus an actor who's not good?
What does it mean to be an aboveact, above average actor as
opposed to an average actor? Well, that's very, very
difficult. Phenomenal actors from my
previous, like my drama class who are phenomenal, but I
(30:09):
haven't had a break. They haven't had, you know, been
in the film or anything like that.
And they're just outstanding. And it's really sad.
But is that success? No.
Is it talent? Yes.
But then I've worked with peoplewho aren't that great and
they're successful. So I think success and talent
are very two different things. Lots of talented people do not
(30:31):
succeed. A lot of successful people who
aren't very talented succeed. So it's it's, it's they're two
different things. Success is very difficult to
define, really difficult becauseis it just to do one movie, to
become a name, to become a bankable name, to become
awardwinning to to to win an Oscar, to what is the defined
(30:54):
success? It's it's it's very, very
difficult to be honest. Some people would say I'm
successful, but I'm, I'm like, well, no, I want to get here.
I want to get there, keep climbing, keep climbing, keep
climbing. And then you know people who are
way more successful than me would say they're not
successful. So it's it's again it's very
subjective. Yeah, it's that.
(31:15):
That'll definitely mean different things to different
people. I totally understand that.
So how about we go with you personally?
What do you personally? How do you see it yourself?
I think, I think I'm successful.I definitely want to be more
(31:37):
successful. You know, I've I'm putting my
destiny in my own hands. I have my own production company
and I'm making my own movies andthat's that's that's success in
itself. And I'm getting films made every
year and good movies that get seen and on Amazon and they're
winning awards. So yeah, if you look at it like
(31:59):
that, I guess I am successful, but I'm very, very ambitious and
I'm very, very hungry. So I'm my goal is at the very,
very tippety top. So I'm successful, but still a
long way to go. Successful, but you don't want
to get content, you don't want to ease up.
You want to keep putting your foot on the gas.
(32:19):
Got you, got you. Okay that.
So if you could give advice to your 18 year old self, give a
few pieces of advice that would you you would that you would
give to the younger you. And honestly, this can be
(32:46):
general as well. It doesn't necessarily just have
to pertain to becoming an actress.
If you could just point them in the right direction, get them on
the right path, what advice would you give to the 18 year
old? SO first I would say don't trust
anyone. I've always been very
trustworthy and I've trusted some of the wrong people and
(33:10):
I've been bitten along the way, I've been burnt along the way.
So that's the number one for my 1818 year old self.
Do not trust anyone, of course your family or very close
friends. But people that you know, you
think are your friends, who you've just met or whatever they
are not to your friends and you cannot trust them.
That would be my #1 ultimate advice.
(33:41):
Slow down as well. I was very much in a hurry.
Patience, longevity. Just have patience and believe
in yourself. Believe in yourself.
And because when I was 1819 I was in on in the state, so right
now I'm my priority, released mycraft.
(34:03):
Back then I wasn't sure what it was, what I need to do.
I was kind of like a headless chicken, a little bit, so acting
my craft patience. Don't trust anyone.
That would be my advice to myself.
Yeah, that's interesting. So patience for sure.
(34:24):
A lot of people get in a rush todo things, especially when
you're young, You're kind of overly anxious about everything.
So I could definitely agree withthat one.
Then when it comes to don't trust anyone, yeah, that's quite
important. I'm not sure if you read the
book. I think it was The 48 Laws of
Power, something by Robert. Favorite books of indeed.
(34:46):
My favorite book. Yeah, Which, Which, Which Law?
I'm not sure which law it is. I actually haven't read the
book. I just watched SparkNotes book
summary of it. But it sounds interesting.
And yeah, it's that kind of tiesinto some of the things that he
was saying in that book, though not to necessarily.
(35:08):
Trust everyone conscious. And they say keep writing these
closer. A very, very interesting book.
Very, very, yeah, you have to read it.
It's really, really, really good.
Say less. Anyway, I could go on and on and
on. Yeah, it's really interesting.
Exactly. And yeah, it's when he was going
through the rules like some of it was a little bit.
(35:31):
Dark or corrupt, but then you draw so many parallels it's just
so relatable to like so many different situations you'll find
yourself in in life. So I'm assuming, yeah, if you
read that book, you probably could draw so many parallels
throughout your career and they compare it back to history, you
know, like this, this isn't justa what he's comparing it to
(35:52):
hundreds of years back, You know, It's incredible.
Absolutely incredible. Yeah, have a read.
Yeah, definitely. Then other than that up, what
other books do you think you'd recommend or refer to?
People, particularly people who want to follow a similar path
(36:12):
that you took. They want to become an actress?
Maybe they want to just get intothe industry of show business
out 48 laws of power. Because you have to be, to be a
good actor. You have to, you have to be
switched on. You have to be smart.
You have to be quick. You have to be.
(36:33):
You have to know what's going onin the world.
So I'd say watch the news as well.
Know what the Hell's going, readthe newspaper, know what's going
on every day in the zeitgeist, what's going on.
Especially if you're creating and writing and producing.
You need to know what's going onin the world. 48 Laws of Power
Acting books. One of my favorite acting books
(36:53):
is called Truth by Susan Batson.She's my acting coach in New
York. Phenomenal.
She's Nicole Kidman's acting coach, Tom Cruise.
She's amazing. And her book is called Truth and
that's what it's all about. And she, again, she draws
parallels to Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando in her book and
(37:14):
how they how they work and her methods.
It's it's incredible. So for acting, I'll read that
book and and watch people, observe people, see what's going
on in the world, travel. If you can just just get out
there and do as much as you can,That's what I'd suggest.
(37:39):
Have you ever done method actingwhere you actually try to
portray your character in offset?
I guess not. In non professional
environments, yeah, not to the extent of some actors, you know,
some actors live it, breathe it and don't don't come out of
character, you know, for example, if I'm doing an accent,
(37:59):
I would, I would do that quite alot.
Yeah, like I would do that out out of, out of set, especially
when I'm preparing for the role and then when I'm when I'm in
the role and I'm filming then I feel comfortable then I'll kind
of drop it. But I do that inherently.
I think when I when I'm filming and especially when I'm
preparing for a role, I would just kind of have the
(38:24):
characters, persona and energy. I'll just inherently carry that
with me and always be thinking about her and what would she
wear, what situation would she be in there, How would she feel
like this? So I don't, yeah, but I won't
call that method. Acting method is when you are
full blown in the character, do not leave the character and but
(38:46):
I haven't done that no. I dabble but I haven't gone for.
I don't think it's necessary, not for me anyway.
I was gonna say that's actually an interesting thing that I
would like to talk about the accents.
So you did mention that you go back and forth from America to
the UK a lot, but you said you're originally from the UK.
(39:07):
So when you're picking up an American accent or something
along the lines of that. Do you feel like you need to
immerse yourself in American culture or surround yourself by
Americans to really pick up their rhythm of speech?
Because, at least for me, I found like the way that British
(39:28):
people speak versus the way thatAmericans and Canadians speak.
It's like night and day, especially when British people
use slang terminology like I don't understand like half.
Saying basically like it's just so foreign to me, like so I
think because I lived there for so long, I I, I and for me, I
(39:52):
don't need to do that for for me, learning an accent is very
phonetic. It's all very in the mouth.
And you know my, the role I justdid, I had to play Eastern
European. And that was very, very
phonetic. I didn't go to Eastern Europe or
try, and I just worked with my voice coach and just did the
(40:14):
drills and did the lines with that.
And that worked. But as an American, you know,
when I've played American before, I've just just learned
it as phonetically with my voicecoach.
Maybe because again, because I've lived there and I know the
culture very well, but I don't think I picked up an accent at
all. Like, you know, being there for
quite a long time. I haven't.
I haven't picked up an accent. Yeah, I guess.
(40:36):
I don't think so, no. I I guess, yeah, you you have a
bit of a British accent, but it's not extremely strong like
some of the people in Northern England or like some of the
people who speak a whole other dialect.
That's very, I guess, slang terminology.
Yes, you you're well spoken, so it's easy to understand
(41:00):
universally, I suppose. Yeah.
But there are definitely people in England, I would say that are
more difficult to understand than the way that you're
speaking right now, especially if you're up north.
That's a difficult, that's difficult to to and they speak
very fast. It's very different.
It's regional. It's like any country, very,
very regional. London SE, London, Yeah, even
(41:22):
different parts of London. It's all very different.
So to wrap up, are there any newprojects that you're working on
right now that you can talk about?
Of course, always. So I have two movies coming out
this year, Duchess, which we areliterally selling at the moment.
(41:45):
That's a female gangster movie which I'm super, super, super
excited about The the film I'm most excited about actually so
far my career and so that will be coming out this year but I
don't have dates for that yet. And then Compulsion, which I
just finished filming that is editing being edited right now
(42:06):
in post production that will be out sometime this year as well.
So and then I'm currently setting up and I have a few
scripts I'm reading at the moment so but right now to look
out for Duchess and Compulsion. OK, cool.
And when I googled your name, there's something floating
around on the page about you being involved with James Bond,
(42:30):
the James Bond series. Is that true?
Or can you say? I guess I don't wanna get you in
trouble, but OK, you can say, you can say no comment if you
don't have to, you know? OK, there we go.
Will be revealed. Okay got you all right.
(42:50):
And where can they find you on social media?
Finally, Yeah, so my Instagram is a Charlotte Kirk official
Kirk. I'm on Twitter as well.
But yeah, mainly Instagram and Facebook.
Okay, sweet. And we'll put that in the
description below so you guys can go check her out there and
(43:12):
stay tuned for the new projects and maybe James Bond, maybe,
maybe not. So we'll see.
All right. And until next time, guys.
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