[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: How do you teach human connection?
Acting Coach and Specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique Jean-Louis Rodrigue: First of all I don’t think I teach it but rather I’m sort of like a conjurer. I create a space that is safe and energized and then I help them in their bodies so their bodies are breathing and open to each other.
When you have two actors then they can connect to each other in a powerful way. You have to remember that it’s all about revealing the story and what lies inside.
There is a story that in a movie that I worked on it was called Passion Fish [1992] by John Sayles. I was employed by Mary McDonnell, an amazing amazing actress that I learned so much from her because her character was paraplegic and with a lot of anger. She was drinking a lot and in a wheelchair. She was to communicate with her care keeper and they were fighting a lot. It was so much fighting, literally violently so. I thought:
How is this going to work if they’re fighting so much?
She was so brave to get The Alexander Technique in her body, in her head and her spine. That’s all she had. She didn’t have the use of her legs at all or her lower body. It was beautiful to see her open up throughout the film and it was such an unforgettable experience. Not easy to do but we actually had some time (I have time) so we were able to practice it and get it in there.
So I’m answering to you that even at the highest level of conflict you can get two people to communicate.
Film Courage: That is such a beautiful movie! I’ve loved [Passion Fish] for years. Her relationship with Alfre Woodard who’s the caregiver and the arc of that relationship is…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Jean-Louis Rodrigue is an internationally recognized acting coach, movement director, and specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique to film, theater and television. In film, he coached actors and collaborated with directors in Passion Fish, Vice, J. Edgar, Life of Pi, W., I, Tonya, and many more. In theater, he collaborated with director Larry Moss and former NFL player Bo Eason in his play Runt of the Litter and playwright Pamela Gien in her Obie– and Drama Desk– award-winning one-person play, The Syringa Tree, both in New York and internationally. Jean-Louis has worked on- and off-Broadway and at major performing arts institutions such as Berlin International Film Festival, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Getty Villa, Geffen Playhouse, Royal National Theatre, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Verbier Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company. For the past 34 years, Jean-Louis has taught at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Jean-Louis lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Kristof Konrad.
BUY THE BOOK – BACK TO THE BODY: Infusing Physical Life into Characters in Theatre and Film
STUDY WITH JEAN-LOUIS RODRIGUE
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