Interview: Ann Dowd on 'Mass' and 'The Handmaid's Tale' and staying humble when the offers come.

by Nathaniel R

As Ann Dowd and I sat down to talk about Mass, we talked briefly about some work she'd been doing with acting students (not as much as she'd like) and reminisced briefly about the time she guest blogged for The Film Experience seven years ago. In one piece she wrote for the site she doled out advice for young actors about "attending to your life" as she puts it and seeking help if it's needed rather than purposefully 'Suffering for Art'. I reminded her of her own words:

You need an understanding of suffering and pain but you do not need to spend your life doing that to make the work good! 

This advice seems especially relevant today given the heavy themes of her current drama Mass which is about two married couples meeting for the first time years after a tragic school shooting has permanently altered their lives. [This interview has been edited for length and clarity]...

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The Many Faces of Ann Dowd ~ 25 Years in Film & TV

As this new week begins, I need to take a moment to express gratitude for what made last week special. Ann Dowd was gracious with her time and thoughts for a special guest blog day. In case any of you missed it, it was neat to get an insight into her work on The Leftovers, hear about her teenage reaction to Romeo & Juliet, and more. I particularly enjoyed her comments on falling in love with acting and advice for young actors. Regarding the latter, I'm not an actor but it resonated with me strongly and I think it's great advice for any career that requires risk, heart, soul, and the ability to handle considerable peaks and valleys.

Which is quite a few careers if you stop to think about it.

Ann Dowd's film and television career began in earnest 25 years ago in 1990 with a role in the Golden Globe Comedy winner Green Card and guest appearances on two different TV series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Baby-Sitter's Club.

this is just scratching the surface

Her gallery of characters has been growing ever since but with critical raves and a few prizes for her riveting film-carrying work as a duped fast food manager in Compliance (2012) audiences finally starting putting a name to the face. Ever since we've been blessed with more and more of her. The Leftovers was arguably her greatest showcase yet. If Emmy voters don't notice what casting directors already have, it'll be their loss. 

What's your favorite Ann Dowd character and did her Guest Blog Day make you long for more peeks into your favorite character actors? (I'll take suggestions)

Missi Arrives - Advice Dispenser

- by Missi Pyle

So Hello and Welcome to The Film E -- The Missi Experience! I'll be guest-blogging for the next 24 hours.

First of all. I always feel a bit like a con artist or something when I am interviewed. I read other actors interviews and I always think. Oh thats how you do it. Thats how you say it. I feel often like a charlatan. Other actors - they seem to be super picky. Or somehow more artistic. But me, I will pretty much do anything. I say yes to literally 90 percent of jobs that come to me. I am so happy and truly shocked to be a working actor.

WITH MEKHI PHIFER ON SET

I was on a set yesterday with Mekhi Phifer. We are doing this crazy low budget Virus movie and we have to wear hazmat suits and helmets and tape or gloves on and we were doing this scene where we are leaving the safe compound and going on a mission to find uninfecteds and we go through this tunnel and we are on this shitty bus whacking stunt people with rubber bats and crow bars and I was just laughing because its like -what the fuck are we doing? We are grown ups who leave their home and go to work and play dress up and make believe. And its awesome.

And then after like 11 hours you get so tired. And you get pissy and want to go home but then its like: 

I am getting paid for this. 

God. I don't know how anybody makes it as an actor. Really. I look back at my journey. And I think about how much LUCK had to happen. But you know what they say about luck. 'When hard work meets opportunity...'

I went to North Carolina School of the Arts and it was an incredible school.  But before that I ended up in a small town in Tennessee called Germantown. This was after my parents divorce. My mom married a German dude and we moved there. Totally unrelated. He was probably the only German in all of Germantown. Anyway, This school randomly had this magical Drama program led by this man Frank Bluestein. He was this gothic southern Jewish man. He is truly one of the most incredible humans I have ever met. I wouldn't be where I am without him. He just never would accept the words "I can't". So they left my vocabulary.

And I guess that would be my advice to young actors:

AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997) at the very beginning...Take the words "I can't" out of your vocabulary.

And work hard. Harder than you think you need to. And try not to compare yourself to other people in the room when you are auditioning or, really, ever. You are uniquely you and that is what everyone is looking for. Someone who is genuinely just themselves. I think.

Anyway. thats it for advice. Oh and move to Atlanta. You will get mountains of work there. 

previous Missi...
Gone Girl & Nancy Grace

Back to School. Tips from "Matilda"

Hello all, Margaret here celebrating another day of "back to school" week. I'm sure there are plenty mourning the end of their summer, but I know I can't be the only one who feels a thrill of excitement every time September rolls around. Even if you're past your school years, doesn't the arrival of autumn get you itching to pick up some clean blank notebooks and a fresh set of pencils? Perhaps that attitude is why Matilda (both of the 1996 Danny DeVito film and the classic Roald Dahl novel on which it's based) has always been a personal hero.

Matilda Wormwood was a girl genius, and even though she had execrable crooks for parents and was subject to outrageous familial neglect, she didn't let that get her down. In or out of school, there is a lot we can learn from Matilda.

• Keep yourself sharp. Left to her own devices from a tender age, Matilda didn't take that as an excuse to let her mind idle. She charged on down to the local library, and had read every book in the place by her sixth birthday.

• Negotiate creatively. When her parents denied her requests to enroll in school because they'd rather have her at home to sign for UPS packages, Matilda was undeterred. She mixed in a little bleach in with their hair tonic and engaged in a little telekinetic TV exploding, and she was in kindergarten in no time.

• Don't be afraid to be smart So what if her class was only on the two times tables? If you can multiply 13 by 379 in your head, sing out!

• Develop a signature look. When Matilda decided somewhere around age four that the hair ribbon worked for her, she stuck with it.

• Stay away from school principals who favor military jackets and knee shorts. This one should speak for itself.

Keep these tips in mind and you should be able to navigate back-to-school season (or the post-Labor Day work week) with style.

Now, who else out there was a school-loving Matilda type? Reveal yourselves!

Sage Advice From the Movies

Always reward correct answers with chocolate!
The next time anybody tells you what you want to hear, give them a candy bar. (Unless that somebody is a dog or an unfortunate human with allergies) Positive reinforcement, baby!

"The Great Lesson: Chocolate, the Ultimate Reward" -Nathaniel Rogers

This worked for Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds. Let that be a lesson to us all!

Any teachers reading? Have you tried this or do you do boring things like give them good grades when they answer well?

I did this drawing for Illustration Friday since the week's theme is "lesson" and the very first thing that came to mind was the ridiculous Dangerous Minds (1995) which I love, don't you? I love chocolate more than just about anything and if "White Bread" Michelle Pfeiffer was tossing it to me for being a good boy I'd probably love it even more.

Next up in the ridiculous teacher genre:
BAD TEACHER with Cameron Diaz. We didn't do a yes no maybe so on that trailer but are you excited for it?