Curated playlist

Method actors

Al PacinoAl Pacino's mother told him poor people don't do acting. He went on to earn nine Oscar nominations.
Anne HathawayAnne Hathaway is an American actress whose films have grossed over $6.8 billion worldwide. In 2015 she ranked among the highest-paid actresses in the world. Yet that same year she said, "I always assume that every film is my last, and I…
Matthew McConaugheyMatthew McConaughey, the American actor, won the part that launched his career by walking up to a stranger in a hotel bar. At the time he was a film student at the University of Texas in Austin. He had gone out with his girlfriend to the…
Marilyn MonroeAn unimpressed studio head signed Marilyn Monroe specifically to keep her away from a rival studio.
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando sold back his Godfather profit points for $100,000, a sum that cost him an estimated $11 million.
Michael CaineMichael Caine took his stage name from a cinema sign he saw while phoning from a Leicester Square telephone box.
Tom HardyTom Hardy put on 42 pounds to play the English prisoner Charles Bronson. Bronson sent him his shaved-off mustache.
Nicolas CageNicolas Cage was 15 years old when he told his uncle, the director Francis Ford Coppola, "I'll show you acting." He wanted a screen test. What he got was silence in the car. His uncle had already directed Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene…
Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
Robert PattinsonRobert Pattinson is a British actor whose films have earned more than $4.7 billion worldwide. A teacher once advised him to stay out of his school drama club. He was born in London on the 13th of May 1986 and later ranked among the world's…
Scarlett JohanssonAs a child, Scarlett Johansson practiced Judy Garland's emotions in a mirror until she cried.
Sean PennIn Kyiv in November 2022, Sean Penn handed an Oscar statuette to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing...When you win, bring it back to Malibu." That was the whole speech. Penn is an…
Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman was an American actor whose career the director Joel Schumacher summed up in 2000 with bad news and good news. Schumacher put it this way: "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is…
Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-Lewis collapsed sobbing during a 1989 Hamlet, in the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears.
James GandolfiniJames Gandolfini once stopped in the middle of an audition and walked out. David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, told the story to The Guardian in a 2013 interview. Gandolfini felt that he "didn't prepare right." Later that night he…
Joaquin PhoenixJoaquin Phoenix had just flipped his car on a winding canyon road in Hollywood when a voice at the window told him to relax. It was the 26th of January 2006. Gasoline was leaking into the cabin. A shaken Phoenix answered, "I'm fine. I am…
Paul NewmanAt the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, Paul Newman was 70 years and eight days old, and his team won its class. That made him the oldest driver to date on a winning team in a major sanctioned race. Newman was best known as a film star, and he…
Cillian MurphyCillian Murphy, the Irish actor and film producer born on the 25th of May 1976, once looked back on a single month as the hinge of his life. That month was August 1996. In 2023 he described the sort of domino effect that a handful of…
Jared LetoOn the 9th of November 2023, Jared Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building. He climbed it to promote a worldwide concert run called the Seasons Tour. Few actors would hang from a skyscraper to sell tickets,…
Heath LedgerHeath Ledger made twenty films in a career that ended while he was still a young man. His last great performance won him an Academy Award that he never had the chance to hold. How did a schoolboy from Australia become an actor whom many…
Val KilmerVal Kilmer spent decades being praised in a way that sounded almost like an apology. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it". By then…
Andy SerkisDoes an actor in a suit covered in tracking dots deserve an Oscar? Andy Serkis became that debate's living proof.
Gary OldmanGary Oldman needed 200 hours in a makeup chair to become Winston Churchill. The transformation also took 14 pounds of silicone rubber. Then came US$20,000 worth of Cuban cigars, which left the actor with nicotine poisoning. Oldman, an…
Shia LaBeoufShia LaBeouf, the American actor and filmmaker born in 1986, walked the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival on the 9th of February 2014 in a tuxedo with a brown paper bag over his head. Across the bag were written the words "I am not…