LOVE LETTER TO THE ACTORS
Breaking the ice, remotely
For this Substack I am on location in the remote Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, back in New Zealand. It is startlingly beautiful and peaceful here. This is literally what I can see from my window.
A young actress I coach just flew across the globe to join a cast who have already been rehearsing and shooting for three weeks. So, in this Substack you will find the letter I wrote her to help her settle in. Names and places have been changed!
Of course the ideal situation would be for her to have been able to rehearse with the rest of the cast from the kick-off. But that is so often impossible, with other jobs and competing schedules.
Shooting THE CHANGEOVER (2017), the wonderful Melanie Lynskey was not able to get to our rehearsals with the young actress playing her teen daughter, Erana James. So, instead they connected over Zoom and asked each other the famous "36 Questions" of Drs Arthur and Elaine Aron. This was a direct pathway to creating a strong and coura…