What do Oscar Isaac, Kevin Kline, Anthony Mackie, Jessica Chastain and Michael Urie have in common?
In addition to being wonderful actors, they all studied at the Juilliard Drama School under the direction of Moni Yakim, a founding member of the university, who is the subject of the new documentary, Creating a Character: The Legacy of Moni Yakim, which will now be held for streaming in virtual cinemas. In honor of the documentary, produced through Kali Wilder, Alma Har’el and Boaz Yakin, EW organized a virtual school reunion.
We have accumulated Isaac, Kline, Mackie, Chastain, Urrie, Wilder and Moni Yakim himself in their time in combination at Juilliard, how the classes they learned from Yakim continue to shape their paintings day by day and why they still see it as an invaluable resource. looking for the best performances in everything from projects like Inside Llewyn Davis to Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I’ve had a very parasitic relationship with Moni since I left school, where I only have a few little problems, which are many, I call Moni,” Isaac joked. “One small thing can ignite Moni’s imagination, the eyes, what you see and that ignites your hobby and for me it’s incredibly important, especially in those bigger movies, because it’s so simple to lose interest in those conditions and take those things for granted and feel like there’s no place for that.”
Kline summarized why all the talents involved participated in the documentary and amassed for this roundtable. “I think instructors are sometimes poorly celebrated and poorly documented and concentrate a little from time to time, especially when they’ve encouraged a generation or two of artists,” he said. “What makes a talented instructor talented is the interest, is that it has the gift of inspiring and I don’t know if it’s more of a conscious effort than the comic for us.”
The assembly also serves to raise funds for the Black Arts Institute, to which the audience can donate here. Donations to the Billie Holiday Theatre for Black Arts Institute fellows across the country on partial or full scholarships to the program that, in partnership with Stella Adler Studio of Acting, rent young theater artists each year. The Billie and Stella Adler study have joined forces to fill the gaps that still remain in many university and school systems and classical educational systems: a curriculum and a theatrical canon, a group of peers, experiences of functionality, administration and tevery oneers that fully reflect the exquisite diversity of Afro-descendant scholars.
During the roundtable, Yakim spoke in particular about his relationship with the famous theatre instructor Stella Adler, while others reflected on how equity and diversity in theatrical training, a factor that is addressed in particular through the Black Arts Institute.
See the full Juilliard montage above or on EW’s Facebook and Instagram pages. And stay with EW on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to be the first to know who we’re going to assemble next!
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