Sunday, July 13, 2014

WSJ: Liev Schreiber on 'Ray Donovan' and Going to Dark Places

"Even before I was acting, I was always that kid in English class who wanted to read out loud," the actor said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he films the Showtime drama " Ray Donovan."
But as the title character in "Ray Donovan," which returns for its second season on Sunday, Mr. Schreiber is a man of few words.

Ray Donovan, a Hollywood "fixer" for scandal-prone celebrities and elite athletes, relies on intimidation and the occasional baseball bat to keep his clients out of trouble.

"He averages about 10 lines an episode," the actor said of the character, with a laugh.

Initially, Mr. Schreiber underestimated the role but has since discovered the complexities of channeling the character's "level of conflict and existential nausea," he said.

"It's tricky to go to that place every week in a new and interesting way. You don't have the lines. You don't have the language to hide behind. You only have a state of being and reactive behavior."

"There are only so many hours in the day, and Ray owns them," he said. "The most difficult aspect of the show is how dark it is and then the places you go. It's one thing to go to those places for a week or two, but to stay there for six months is brutal."
Liev Schreiber played Orson Wells in the movie RKO 281 (1999). A movie about the making of Citizen Kane, long listed as the best movie of all time by the American Film Institute. My memorable performance by Liev Schreiber in the movie RKO 281 after the jump.

The performance I'm interested in showing starts at 1:08.25.

7 comments:

Guildofcannonballs said...

Vid not playing for me. I like the speech about how just words, speeches, have changed the world dramatically and will again. He rips on accountants too, but in melodramatic and somewhat leftist terminology, as if all works of Art are meant to be paid for by the great cash machine in the sky.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Yay, I got the partial video embed code to work right.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's never wrong for an actor to model himself after William Shatner.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Speaking of which, William Shatner claimed in his autobiography that he's a classically trained Shakespearean actor.

Fine. I have no reason to disbelieve him.

Sometimes, when I'm watching reruns of Star Trek TOS, you can tell that William Shatner is doing his level best to imitate Marlon Brando.

Adds another level of meaning.

deborah said...

" discovered the complexities of channeling the character's "level of conflict and existential nausea," he said"

Oh, that poor, sensitive bat-wielding soul. Oh, the aaaaaagony.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Hey, I was just in the basement doing some pushups and listening to the radio.

Did you know that the little kid immigration crisis has nothing to do with federal policy and everything to do with the Latin American gangs that are murdering or enslaving young children?

That's me, Eric the Fruit Bat, listening to NPR so you don't have to!!!!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Oh, another thing.

The American media have finally become congruent with the rest of the world in reporting that Israel is evil and that Palestinian violence is the readily foreseeable and inevitable resistance to a military occupation.

NPR said so, baby!!!!