Rob and Steve have an amazing chat with actors Blair, Will and Mike about what it's really like being and living the actors life!
Hey Reality Hub fans! Please support the podcast by following Reality Hub
on Instagram, Facebook and on Youtube for future videos and visit our
website http://www.realityhub.love/ where you can also listen to the podcast online and read Rob's blog!
Time code and Topics
(some podcast players like Overcast allow you to tap the timecode to go straight to that moment in the podcast)
00:00 Intro to The Reality of Fame and Famine - Living as an actor. Why do we act?
02:25 Why are we attracted to acting?
03:00 Living in an imaginary world. Escapism and imagination.
04:02 Losing your imagination as you grow older.
04:44 Acting started to make sense.
05:05 A script helps to express our own inner meaning and feelings.
05:43 What is acting?
06:00 Telling a story truthfully and then comes the character.
06:30 Acting is truth.
07:01 Good acting is standing there in your truth and being honest.
07:40 Philip Seymour Hoffman and his truthful performance and vulnerability.
08:31 Vulnerability is a key universal emotion.
09:00 Being brave, it's like a mirror to our own self.
09:37 Acting is not about lying.
09:54 Believing your own lies and the capacity to lie.
10:40 Being aware and knowing who you really are.
11:08 Acting serving a deeper purpose?
11:45 Acting is not self-indulgent and shouldn't be seen as therapy.
12:12 Ultimately, it's about the audience.
12:37 Story about acting class.
13:10 Becoming a better person through the process of learning acting.
13:47 Empathy and understanding the emotions.
14:10 What's the motivation for acting? Is it to become famous?
14:49 I remember wanting to become famous and growing out of it.
15:31 Loving film and relating to others through film.
15:52 This job ain't gonna make you famous most of the time.
16:26 Wanting to be famous for the wrong reasons.
16:56 Digging deeper into wanting to be famous and why? Being validated and insecurity.
17:38 Every actor is insecure at some level. Actors on Actors series. Anthony Hopkins on being insecure.
18:26 Starting off with the love of acting.
19:01 Starting at Shortland St and the shift to being driven by ego. Facing rejection.
19:41 True Life Stories and looking back at the memories.
20:25 Watching yourself on TV is horrible the first time!
21:03 I thought I was fired from Shortland St!
21:10 Acting is important to humanity.
21:31 Going to the cinema is like the flicker of the campfire analogy.
22:05 Going back in time and learning from a past acting class.
22:43 Watch your performance to learn.
23:22 Being able to focus on your good points vs your negatives.
23:50 Kissing scene and practicing on myself with a mirror!
24:37 Shortland St is like the Olympics of acting.
25:22 Handling fame and the trouble it brings.
25:48 Being on TV in NZ. Being recognizable and buying into the hype.
26:25 Shortland St back in the 90's - it was a crazy time.
27:58 Getting older and changing the outlook of fame.
28:49 Fame is not them, but a by-product of the industry.
29:29 Awkward elevator conversations.
30:21 Endoscopy story and being recognized.
31:10 Handling recognition and dealing with it well.
32:51 Being a parent changed me and how I treated people.
33:13 Getting joy from meeting someone well known.
33:33 I wish everyone could experience a little bit of being a celebrity.
34:15 Hierarchy positions on set? Any assholes?
35:04 Good time on Ladies Night??
35:28 Americans were full on, on set. A cultural thing?
36:24 Kiwi vs American way of being.
36:46 Working with Tommy Lee Jones. Kiefer Sutherland.
37:41 Being on set in NZ is more of a flat hierarchy.
38:15 The casting process and tips or special things you do?
38:43 Changing your mindset on auditions. Enjoy it.
39:54 Auditions and two lessons. Realising the part was mine to lose. Taking your time.
41:35 Talking to actors who say this casting agent hates me! They want you to be the one!
42:37 Getting into the acting industry and failing to understand? Marathon vs Sprint.
43:17 Treating every job as though it was your last one. Enjoying the job you are on.
43:50 No single job is the one.
44:26 Giving wisdom back to your younger self.
44:52 I'd slap myself on the face and give him a check.
45:44 Caring about what people think and being someone I wasn't. Be authentic.
46:30 Prepare as though your life depends on it, then don't give a shit.
47:12 Handling rejection. Being turned down 9 times out of 10.
48:21 Taking it personal when you were younger.
48:39 Basing self worth on being employed as an actor.
49:00 The perception there is not enough work out there. More projects now?
49:52 Social media and networking. Missing out on work whilst on holiday.
51:11 Self tapes and getting work. Kirk Douglas story. Impressions.
52:00 The lure of LA? Cracking acting in the US. Working overseas. Hollywood aspirations.
53:29 Meeting in LA. Why haven't I seen you before?
54:20 Australia didn't appeal. Here's why…
56:26 NZ has done significant work spreading roles for a range of ethnicities.
57:00 The renaissance of female characters.
57:19 Networking? An NZ, or more of an LA thing?
58:00 It's more business than show in LA?
59:30 False agendas?? Keeping it real in LA as a kiwi. Stunty story from LA.
1:01:02 Everyone's trying to use everyone.
1:01:48 Money and survival as an actor. Not paying the bills?
1:02:41 Ladies Night back on???
1:03:16 It got really tough for a while living a cafe lifestyle.
1:04:05 You just can't live off acting alone here. Living in the real world helps.
1:04:44 Being in an actors bubble.
1:05:10 Having a work ethic and being motivated, staying busy.
1:05:55 We go through cycles and seasons.
1:06:09 I was un-castable for a while.
1:06:38 Realising I was an artist and creating my own work.
1:07:11 Harking back to old theatre companies. Going back to your roots.
1:07:31 MacBeth in Invercargill.
1:08:18 Looking back on your mistakes or failures.
1:09:00 Dealing with your flaws and taking responsibility.
1:10:00 Actors didn't want to work with me.
1:10:44 Being a good person and brave enough to show your real self.
1:11:21 I love playing assholes.
1:11:52 "Show the ugly".
1:12:24 Most important qualities as an actor? Authenticity and Imagination.
1:13:07 Acting processes.
1:13:35 Don't take it too seriously.
1:13:55 Actors doing things wrong with financial survival?
1:14:51 Being successful outside of acting.
1:15:20 There is one disaster I can recall…
1:15:57 Young actors coming through are on to it, and have so much confidence.
1:16:27 NZ culture has changed and theres more chance of being in front of camera.
1:17:06 Kiwi culture more accepted worldwide. Taiki Waititi. Flight of the Conchords.
1:17:40 Internet influence.
1:18:04 No fear from the younger generation now.
1:18:38 The incredible young men on the Head High tv series.
1:18:55 Looking back at our generation, was it really that different?
1:19:50 Having a sense of entitlement.
1:20:21 Having things handed to you and being exposed to the world. The Youtube generation.
1:21:31 Any genre you don't like? Musical theatre.
1:22:37 Appreciating the talent of acting, singing, dancing.
1:23:10 Genre you'd most like to do?
1:23:45 Loving The Soprano's.
1:24:19 Film CV reads like a low lights of peoples careers! Get a break in film.
1:25:00 Hardest genres are comedy and horror.
1:26:00 As a teacher of acting what are people doing wrong in auditions?
1:26:37 Getting back to your neutral.
1:27:16 Work out who you are and make choices specific to who you are.
1:28:10 Owning your own individuality.
1:28:54 Brad Pitt - look how he moves. Imagining his first audition.
1:29:54 Acting as being withdrawn or having no energy.
1:30:15 Introverted energy and your range of emotions.
1:31:15 Energy is a really big thing. It's not about lack of energy.
1:32:03 Think of it as dials.
1:32:38 Without doing anything and being interesting.
1:33:10 Energy needs to be 'up, forward and out' to be interesting.
1:33:38 The most interesting actors on Suits.
1:34:21 An inherent quality, or can it be taught?
1:35:05 Teaching good impulses and choices.
1:36:00 Our thanks to Blair Strang, Will Wallace and Mike Edwards for joining us on Reality Hub.
