i am alive
December 5th, 2011 | 
Author: This is indeed a living blog, though it has been hibernating for a while. I have been writing this book every spare second. But I will try now to write a little something more regularly. I have been teaching once a week at NYU, a course called Directing the Actor. My students are undergraduates. I am learning a lot, in fact. Each person reveals themselves when they direct. To become a better director is to become a more self aware person. The ones who stutter and over intellectualize, I have tried to help them find their center, their gravity–and their confidence. The link to the actor is intimate– it is something shared privately. Teaching them the importance of taking the actor aside. Of speaking less, waiting till they have the words. Finding the simplest way always. Sometimes it’s an image. To help them find their instincts. The class is more effective when everyone sits watching a scene in the round, as close as possible, almost on top of the actors. that’s what film is like. It’s not proscenium acting. To develop an ear for truth, and not to let fake moments get by. To prepare a scene, make sure it has hills and valleys, and yet always emphasize listening. If there is one secret, that’s it. Always bring the actors back to listening to each other and as a director always listen. the most important quality for a director of actors: empathy. To feel what the other feels. To achieve transparency.
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good to hear you are alive:)
It’s nice to hear you are writing about the fabulous EUdora Welty. Have you any plans for a new film in the future?