Back To One

Aidan Gillen returns to the podcast (first time: Episode 40 ). You know him from some of the most beloved shows of the century: "Game of Thrones," "The Wire," "Peaky Blinders," to name a few. Now he stars in the Irish Neo-noir film "Barber," where he plays a private investigator hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter. He talks about why he doesn't look at the lines until the da...

Onur Tukel is a boldly independent writer-director-actor who, for more than a decade, has been making cutting edge comedies in New York City that sometimes land in the horror category, sometimes social satire, are often absurd, mostly hilarious, and always thoughtful—"Catfight," "Applesauce," "Summer of Blood," "The Misogynists," "Scenes From An Empty Church," to name just a few. His latest, "Poun...

The great actor of the stage and screen, Ron Cephas Jones died on August 19, 2023, at the age of 66. On this episode from 2020, he details the value of a true collaborative relationship with the director, why the script never leaves his side in preproduction, talks about what it was like to slowly build "William" on "This Is Us" through many seasons of that show, and takes us back to his early day...

Please Note: These interviews were recorded prior to the SAG/AFTRA strike, in June 2023, as part of the Tribeca Festival. On this special episode of Back To One, actors Sophia Lillis, Hannah Gross, and Michael Cera talk about their work in writer/director Dustin Guy Defa's wonderful new film "The Adults." We get a glimpse into each of their general preparation processes before doing a deep dive in...

On this very special episode, I visit the picket line at each of the four SAG/AFTRA strike sites in New York City, in one continuous, unbroken audio "take." Actors Michael Gaston, Clarissa Thibeaux, and others talk to me about what's at stake, and en route to each location I share my own thoughts on the issues at hand, make some predictions, voice concerns, and offer up my total and complete solid...

(This episode was recorded prior to the SAG/AFTRA strike) Dierdre Friel always finds a way to ground her characters in such a deep reality that you feel like they aren't written at all, just simply among the living. Two examples of this can be found in "Ella" on the NBC show "New Amsterdam," and "Greta" on "Physical," the Apple TV+ hit that enters its third season on August   2nd. On this episode,...

Chris Messina is that rare character actor leading man who is the go-to supporting actor in seemingly everything. From "The Mindy Project" and "Newsroom," to "She Dies Tomorrow" and "I Care A Lot," he handles ultra-serious roles (like in "Blame," which I loved) or uproarious ones (such as this year's hit "Air") with what seems like effortlessness, and now he's starring in the new series "Based on...

Dave Burd, known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is a multi-platinum rapper, comedian and actor. For three seasons now, he has been the co-creator, executive producer, writer and star of the critically acclaimed comedy series, "Dave." In this hour, he takes us from the beginning, being the laugh machine for his friends, through the discovery of his musical talent and the viral comedy video years, and...

Few television show characters are more iconic than "Mad Men's" Don Draper. Jon Hamm played him for 7 seasons and just might have changed television forever. Since then Hamm has ventured into film and exercised his funny muscles. Last year's "Confess, Fletch" was a wonderful example of what Hamm can do with good material, and so is his latest, "Maggie Moore(s)," directed by his friend (and "Mad Me...

Mark Duplass is the living patron saint of the indie filmmaker. Honest, simple, modest, positive, affirming about the work, Duplass, first with his brother Jay and now on his own, has become a household name in the film world for producing projects in a DIY style foregrounding authenticity, improvisational humor, and human connection. As an actor, both in his own productions and also series like "...

In recent movies like "Air" and "Funny Pages," television series like "Our Flag Means Death," and plays like Annie Baker's "The Flick," Matthew Maher has made a name for himself as someone who can bring an oddball or weirdo to life with enough charm, charisma, and genuine gusto to make us love him unconditionally. On this episode, he talks about his acting foundations, the tools formative teachers...

It is extremely hard not to love Jeff Hiller's character Joel, opposite Bridget Everett's Sam, on the hit HBO series "Somebody Somewhere." Their friendship is sweet, revelatory, and concerningly codependent, all at the same time. On this episode, he talks about how he got good at auditioning while wondering if he'd ever play someone with an inner life, "or a name." He tells the story of landing "J...

Owen Teague is only 24, but he's already had an opportunity to show his range as an exceptional young actor in shows like "Bloodline," "Black Mirror," and "The Stand" and films like "To Lesley," "Montana Story," and the new Nicole Holofcener film, "You Hurt My Feelings" (which opens Friday, May 26th). On this episode, he talks about gleaning "a lot" from the great actors he's worked with, knowing...

With incredible performances in films like "Midnight Cowboy," "Coming Home," "Deliverance," and "Runaway Train," Jon Voight has earned himself a spot in the acting Pantheon. At 84, he has never stopped working. Seven seasons of "Ray Donovan" being a recent highlight. On this episode, he talks about how he "starts slow" when developing an approach to a character, letting "things drop into my psyche...

You've seen his work in such films as "Interstellar" and "Cloud Atlas," and television series like "Containment" and "Carnival Row," now David Gyasi plays Austin Dennison in Debora Cahn's new hit Netflix limited series "The Diplomat." On this episode, he talks about the rare collaboration he had with Cahn in developing Dennison, the part of the job he finds "sacred," loving re-HEARsal, the real re...

The 4K restoration and re-release of the comedy "Party Girl" brings Parker Posey to Back To One . Shortly after the success of that movie in 1995, she went on to star in so many independent films, like "The Daytrippers," "Clockwatchers," "The House of Yes" (not to mention a bunch of Hal Hartley and Christopher Guest classics), that she was dubbed "Queen of the Indies." On this episode, she explain...

My first encounter with the work of actor, writer, director Betsey Brown was her captivating and shocking performance in "The Scary of Sixty-First." Then, in her first feature film "Actors," she and her brother Peter Vack play over-the-top versions of themselves in a wildly fictional, yet super-personal exploration of their relationship that boldly pulls out all the cinematic stops. It's the kind...

Emily Meade is best known for her roles in the HBO shows "The Deuce," "The Leftovers," and "Boardwalk Empire." Her latest project, the Amazon series `Dead Ringers," premieres on April 21st. She became an advocate for intimacy coordinators on set following a lack thereof on "The Deuce," where she portrayed a sex worker. After urging HBO to hire an intimacy coordinator, her advocation ignited the us...

For three decades, Julio César Cedillo has been delivering authentic, nuanced, fully realized performances in films and television series such as "Sicario," "Cowboys and Aliens," "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," "Narcos Mexico," and the new Netflix film "Chupa," to name just a few. In this hour, he generously shares what he's learned from being a "lunchbox actor," doing this work he love...

On this special episode, we're talking all about voice! Neda Lahidji is an actor, singer, vocal health coach, voice teacher and a certified vocal health first aider. She specializes in the voices and vocal health of actors, VO actors, and singers, including any vocal athletes in the film industry as well as directors who use their voice tremendously throughout production. She talks about the diffe...

Edwin Lee Gibson's stage career spans 40 years and over 100 U.S. and international theater productions. On television he is currently reprising his role as series regular "Ebraheim" in season 2 of FX's hit series "The Bear."  On this episode, he talks about the importance of listening, "letting the character find me," working with the late Peter Brook, cultivating a relationship with fear, how his...

Jeremy Jordan is probably best known for his Tony and Grammy-nominated portrayal of Jack Kelly in "Newsies" on Broadway, as well as his many roles on television including series regulars on CW's "Supergirl", NBC's "Smash" and Disney Channel's "Tangled." And now he leads a star-studded cast as the tenacious record industry giant Neil Bogart in the epic new feature film "Spinning Gold." On this epis...

Sophie von Haselberg stars as Sissy St. Claire in Amanda Kramer's psychedelic fever dream musical "Give Me Pity!" It's part mock 70's television special, part monologue film, and requires the creation of a bigger-than-life persona on screen, and von Haselberg carries it all and delivers a virtuoso performance. On this episode, she takes us from Kramer "pulling me from the ether," through extensive...

Spanish-American actor Marta Milans reprises her role as Mama Rosa in the second installment of the "Shazam" saga, which hits theaters March 17th. If you binged "White Lines" during the pandemic, you appreciated her work in that Netflix hit series. On this episode, we go way back to when she played Goneril in "King Lear"…at age 8! She takes us on a journey of her life as an actor, a job she says y...

Mia Wasikowska's first project in The States was the HBO series "In Treatment." She was just 16 years old, but if you watched it then, you were probably in awe, like me, marveling at this seemingly fully formed acting artist, performing, with nuance and subtlety, well beyond her years. She continued to wow us with stellar work in "Jane Eyre," "Madame Bovary," "Alice In Wonderland," "Stoker," "The...