Recognition for De Niro and Wallach

Shutterstock.com

Leading Method Actors Robert De Niro and Eli Wallach are to receive industry recognition this year for their lifetime contribution to cinema, and boy have they contributed! De Niro is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the golden globes. Kevin Spacey announced this by saying that  De Niro, 67, was ‘universally acknowledged as one…

Read More

Ready for lift-off?

Shutterstock.com

The other day I saw the film Flight starring Denzel Washington. I have a special connection to this film. Victoria Burrows, the US casting director who cast Flight, comes to our studio in LA to visit the students each year. For the last 18 months, she has been telling us about how great Flight is.…

Read More

Jeremy Piven of Entourage Comes To Town

I bumped into Jeremy Piven, who plays the hardnosed agent in the hit US TV series Entourage, at The Groucho Club in London. Very cool guy. As it happens, one of my Young Actors is working with him on his next project which is very different from Entourage. He is filming a rival series to…

Read More

De Niro and Weaver Show Their Skills

Shutterstock.com

It’s no secret that Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver are both acting heavyweights. They have proved themselves over and over and are now entering the mature end of their careers. They both appear in a new film called Red Lights. The film is okay, but their performances were excellent. It struck me that Sigourney…

Read More

Anyone remember Roseanne’s sister?

Shutterstock.com

If you are over 30 years of age, you may remember a programme called Roseanne. It was an American sitcom that was massive in the ’80s and ’90s. The programme centred on the life of Roseanne and her family. Roseanne’s sister was played by an actress called Laurie Metcalf. She played the role very well…

Read More

The Oscars and Method Acting

Shutterstock.com

Well the results of the 2011 Academy Awards are in and I guess there were no great surprises. Colin Firth won Best Actor. Although Colin puts in a great performance I would argue that method actor Javier Bardem’s performance in ‘Biutiful’ was far superior. His performance was in another league. He brought great emotional depth…

Read More

Slumdog Millionaire and Successful Actors

Shutterstock.com

On Wednesday I met with Dev Patel at The Groucho Club. In case you don’t know Dev, he played the young male Indian lead in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. It was interesting because very quickly it became apparent to me that he possessed many of the traits successful actors demonstrate. He was enthusiastic, positive, polite and a…

Read More

Black Swan and Method Acting

Shutterstock.com

This post raises a very important point within acting that you need to know, so I would recommend reading it the whole way through. At the weekend I went to see the critically acclaimed film ‘Black Swan’. It was a very interesting film and I recommend you see it. Not only is it a great…

Read More