You probably heard last week that the great Robert Duvall moved on.
What a master of the craft.
I had the honor to work with him on the film A Civil Action, directed by Steve Zaillian. It was one of the first studio movies I worked on.
As a young actor I wanted to learn as much as I could.
On a break, I somehow had the balls to ask Duvall about something I had been pondering: “How do you organically bring emotion to your roles?”
He was very generous in his response.
All he said was, “All I can do is invite it. Then I have to surrender to what emerges. It’ll either come or it won’t. Put out the invite, and play with whatever shows up.”
Sage wisdom.
So much of what we need to do as creators is step boldly into the unknown with a receptive body, an open heart and ultimately trust in the (magic of) the moment.
I don’t think this is anything we ever master – but it is something we must practice every moment we have the opportunity to offer our work. This is what our audience wants.
Along those lines…
I wanna take this opportunity to invite you to the Character Lab Weekend Intensive March 20-22 in New York City. 12 spots left.
Character Lab will offer you magnificent tools to step into the unknown – free you from your judgmental mind – and be ignited by your creative impulses.
The question is…
Are you ready to be so dialed into YOU that you’re gonna sail into your next creative endeavor with passion, truth and spontaneity?
Come play
Love
Josh
And in honor of the great Duvall – watch one of his mesmerizing performances this week. Godfather, Godfather Part Two, Apocalypse Now… the list goes on.
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