David Marchese

There are no big deals.

We don't need to take anything so seriously.

You just got to do the best you can.

That's sort of a, in a way, a recurring theme in your book.

And I wonder if we believe that, you know, we shouldn't take anything too seriously.

What should we take seriously?

What does matter in life?

You won.

I won.

So when you were a kid and you would hear your father or teachers say you were a dummy, I'm sure that the voice, your voice in your own head when you were younger...

also said, I'm a dummy.

That's right.

And I think people are often in their lives, and certainly true for me, you know, we do battle with this voice in our head that tells us we can't do things or we're stupid or whatever it may be.

How did you quiet that voice or learn to control it?

You know, often when I've talked with actors, they've suggested that something about acting and something about their affinity for acting or gift for acting has to do with the way that acting fulfills something for them.

Is there anything that you find acting fulfills for you, some inner need?

What were you?

What is the thing you were trying to escape from?

You write about how you were influenced by older actors like Laurence Olivier or Catherine Hepburn sort of helped you understand about film acting.

But I was curious about whether any of the younger actors that you've worked with over the years, people like, you know, Nicole Kidman or Brad Pitt or Ryan Gosling, have they taught you anything about acting or shown you anything about the craft?