Wed, Feb 12, 2014
Being a bona fide badass is the price of entry for a career in rock and roll; and if you ask Dave Grohl, it's the key ingredient for just about anything worth doing. His approach to life has fueled the Foo Fighters' 20 year,11 album career and garnered him a following of very stoked rock fans, many of who gathered at this year's SXSW music conference to hear Grohl's keynote address. The hipsters, rockers, start-uppers and next-big-thing developers packing the room were no doubt curious to hear how one goes about dropping out of high school, rising to fame as the drummer in Nirvana (a small Northwest act you may have heard of), and then go on to lead one today's few remaining true rock bands? For Grohl, the answer's pretty simple: figure out who you are and what inspires you and don't look back - develop that individuality by working as hard as you can at what you love. That clarity of approach drove not only his Nirvana/Foo Fighters trajectory, but numerous musical side projects like Queens of the Stone Age, and Them Crooked Vultures. And most recently, a new artistic title: documentarian. He didn't know anything about the film making process except what he needed to know most: Passion for your subject is sine qua non; and not one to do anything without it, Grohl didn't question himself. Nor apparently did Rick Springfield, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, and Tom Petty, all subjects of Sound City, his fascinating documentary about the people behind the studio that launched an amazing roster of legendary music acts. For a guy who admits to still feeling like a 13 year old and dressing like a 17 year old, Grohl has something to teach all of us...and shares it with Off Camera in one of our most inspiring interviews to date.
Wed, Mar 5, 2014
Drug dealer, football player, alcoholic, shooting victim. In his first decade of acting, Michael B. Jordan has found ways to humanize characters that, on the page, may seem stereotypically what he dubs "the black guy." In The Wire, a young and very sheltered Jordan asked fellow actors to help him understand how to simulate a cocaine high onscreen, and through that surreal experience discovered his unfettered love of acting. In Friday Night Lights, Jordan started journaling as an acting exercise, and amassed a detailed back story for quarterback Vince Howard that made the character seem shockingly real. With Fruitvale Station, Jordan dug even deeper. Playing a real person for the first time, he inserted himself deep into the family of the slain Oscar Grant, who was killed by a police officer on a train platform in Oakland in 2009. Jordan spent time with Oscar's former girlfriend, mother, daughter, and all of his friends. The result was an intensely real portrayal of an innocent young man in a film that exposes our ongoing race problem in this country, and Jordan's performance was nuanced, understated, and masterful. Perhaps his ability to play characters with the odds stacked against him comes from his own desire not to fall into that lifestyle. Jordan started working very young, doing modeling and acting in commercials, and saw an acting career as a way out of the tough urban environment of Newark, New Jersey. In his words, he saw "plenty of Wallaces, Bodies, and Avon Barksdales," and was determined to make a better life for himself. Not only does Jordan not want to just "play the black guy," he also doesn't want to compare himself too closely to actors that came before. He says he doesn't want to be the next Will Smith, or the next Tom Cruise-he just wants to be himself. When you are around Jordan, his optimism and ambition are infectious and endearing. He doesn't just want to star in films - he wants to produce them. He doesn't want to just be on television, he wants his own channel. And he doesn't just want to be the face of a studio, he wants to run a studio. At Off Camera, we wouldn't bet against him doing anything he sets his mind to.
Sat, Sep 20, 2014
When a kid tells you he wants to be an actor and starts holding regular meetings in the high school cafeteria with his "business partner", it's kind of cute. When they establish a joint bank account to fund New York audition trips and the occasional arcade game, well, call it naïve. Unless you're Matt Damon and said business partner is Ben Affleck. Then call it a no-plan-B, laser-like focus on a goal - one that spawned the Academy Award-winning script for Good Will Hunting. What started as an attempt to write themselves into acting jobs garnered Damon not only accolades, but also some early lessons about fame, career choices and the industry he was determined to be a part of. It also enrolled him in a 20-year, on-the-job-master class with the best filmmakers of our generation, including Martin Scorsese, the Coen brothers, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh Francis Ford Coppola and Gus Van Sant. He's used these opportunities, hard work, and his unflagging curiosity to develop a remarkably insightful approach to his craft. Along the way, he also developed an uncanny ability to disappear into any character and become someone believably different in every film. So what could possibly be next? Damon tells Off Camera why no matter what it is, it will be something that he absolutely loves.