Product Description

“I call this book The Intent to Live because great actors don’t seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living.”
–Larry Moss, from the Introduction

When Oscar-winning actors Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards, each credited Larry Moss’s guidance as key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone–professionals and amateurs alike–can discover Moss’s passionate, in-depth teaching.

Inviting you to join him in the classroom and onstage, Moss shares the techniques he has developed over thirty years to help actors set their emotions, imagination, and behavior on fire, showing how the hard work of preparation pays off in performances that are spontaneous, fresh, and authentic.

From the foundations of script analysis to the nuances of physicalization and sensory work, here are the case studies, exercises, and insights that enable you to connect personally with a script, develop your character from the inside out, overcome fear and inhibition, and master the technical skills required for success in the theater, television, and movies.

Far more than a handbook, The Intent to Live is the personal credo of a master teacher. Moss’s respect for actors and love of the actor’s craft enliven every page, together with examples from a wealth of plays and films, both current and classic, and vivid appreciations of great performances. Whether you act for a living or simply want a deeper understanding of acting greatness, The Intent to Live will move, instruct, and inspire you.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132664 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-27
• Released on: 2005-12-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553381207
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
“I love the work I’ve gotten to do with Larry. He loves actors, he loves acting, and I love him.”
–Helen Hunt

“Larry Moss is probably the most knowledgeable, articulate, creative, compassionate teacher of acting in America today. He is solely responsible for transforming me from a talented person into an artist.”
–Jason Alexander

“Larry has an uncompromising dedication to the art and craft of acting. I wouldn’t take on another role without working with him.”
–Hilary Swank

“Larry is pure genius. He opened my heart and allowed me to feel again. I would not have been able to be John Coffey without him.”
–Michael Clarke Duncan


From the Hardcover edition.

Review
“I love the work I’ve gotten to do with Larry. He loves actors, he loves acting, and I love him.”
–Helen Hunt

“Larry Moss is probably the most knowledgeable, articulate, creative, compassionate teacher of acting in America today. He is solely responsible for transforming me from a talented person into an artist.”
–Jason Alexander

“Larry has an uncompromising dedication to the art and craft of acting. I wouldn’t take on another role without working with him.”
–Hilary Swank

“Larry is pure genius. He opened my heart and allowed me to feel again. I would not have been able to be John Coffey without him.”
–Michael Clarke Duncan


From the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap
When Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards they cited Larry Moss's unorthodox and demanding guidance as the key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year-long waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone--professionals and amateurs alike--can discover Moss's passionate, in-depth teaching.
"I call this book THE INTENT TO LIVE rather than The Intent to Act because great actors don't seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living," Moss writes in his introduction. When Larry coached Hilary Swank for her Oscar-winning role in "Boys Don't Cry," he had her live as a man for a month to prepare for the role. She bound her breasts and stuffed her crotch and had her husband introduce her as his younger brother, all so she could get inside her character's head and experience first hand the fear of being found out. He got Helen Hunt to pull all her energy down from her head into her feet, so she could play the waitress in "As Good As It Gets"--another Oscar performance. Right now, he is working with Leonardo di Caprio for his upcoming role as Howard Hughes and with Sally Fields in a Kennedy Center revival of The Glass Menagerie. All these stars--and many more, will be giving us quotes.
But THE INTENT TO LIVE is much more than wonderful theater stories. It's a meat and potatoes guide to the basic tools and techniques of acting, like how to come up with emotion-on-demand when you've been doing a stage show for months or they're filming your big final scene out-of-sequence on the first day of shooting. And even more important, it's a book about how to do the inner work required to become a true artist. In nearly 30 short, fascinating chapters he offers the case studies, exercises, and insights that enable actors to connect personally with a script, develop their character from the inside out, overcome fear and inhibition, hone their technical skills, and, above all, come alive in the moment on stage or on camera. Filled with a wealth of theater lore and appreciations of great performances, this is a delicious read for theater lovers, as well as a sure-to-be-classic text for actors.

Customer Reviews

A Feast for Lovers of Great Acting
At last an insightful appreciation of the art of acting by one of the profession's foremost practitioners and teachers, which can be enjoyed not only by actors but by lovers of great acting. If you've ever marvelled at a performance, Larry Moss tells you why. With wit and clarity, as good a writer as he is an actor, he takes you inside the actor's mind so you understand the choices that enter into the shaping of a memorable characterization. And his range of references is remarkably eclectic and star-studded -- Groucho Marx, Bette Davis, Dustin Hoffman, Clint Eastwood, Uta Hagen, Robert Preston just to mention a few of the hundreds of performers whose work he illuminates, on stage, screen, television, in musicals, tragedies, slapstick and sitcoms. Nothing escapes his discerning eye.

The epiphany I have been waiting for!
This book is excellent! Larry Moss makes clear the terms that are commonly used in acting class (Objectives, intentions, relationships). I have heard these terms used many times in acting class, but didn't realize how important they are until I read this book. Larry Moss describes them in simple and pratical terms and uses examples from classic and current films.

I broke down in tears after practicing the exercises taught in the "Emotional Trigger" chapter. I cannot wait to get new scripts in acting class so that I can utilize the skills that I learned in this book. I highly recommend this to any actor who wants to improve in their craft. This book was the Epiphany that I was waiting for!

A great tool for playwrights, too
As is obvious from the testimonials given by well-known actors -- on this Amazon screen (above), and on the back cover and introductory pages of the book -- Larry Moss has no shortage of fans. However, I think it's important to note that this book has value for anyone working in theater and film, not just actors.

As a playwright, I think it's critical that we writers seek to understand how actors and other professionals do their work. Theater (and film) is a collaborative medium, requiring the talents of many people in order to fully realize the potential of a story. By gaining a better knowledge of how directors, designers, actors and others use their skills to bring a play or film to life (on the "back end," if you will), I can write pieces (on the "front end") that interest, inspire and challenge them -- and, as a result, have a stronger effect on audiences. There's nothing worse for a writer than writing something, in isolation, that we think is the greatest thing since tuna casserole, only to have it completely incomprehensible -- or worse, uninteresting -- to actors, directors and, as a result, audiences.

In this search for information, Moss's book is one of the few that I've discovered that offers insights into the actor's process in clear, reasonable language, that makes the necessary connections between the actor's work and the writer's text. I have no doubt, after reading this book, that I will be that much more effective as a playwright, better able to create a solid foundation for those who choose to bring my work to life.