Mike and Josh from Creative Risk really got us talking. About acting process, and building a community at AF, and so many other things we dont necessarily get to talk about when its just us. This is a good one.

We commemorate the legendary Dame Maggie Smith.  Ryan draws a wild artistic parallel between Maggie Smith and Carrie Coon.  Honestly, he’s got something.  We talk acting styles, outlooks on life, and the 4 year period they both took of playing great roles in great plays without any possibility of acclaim or exposure.  Also.  Ryan saw Carrie Coon at Steppenwolf in ‘The March’ and ‘Three Sisters’ long before he knew who she was.  And now she’s his favorite contemporary actress.  Ryan...

We present the testiest episode in the AF Pod’s history! W/ our friend Cynthia Robinson. Hear David get very defensive while proclaiming his lack of defensiveness! Is he afraid of his own sensitivity? Is his accent shtick a layer of defensiveness? Hear Ryan defend his strong opinions, intensity of his texting style, and gnawing need for validation. Who’s at fault for the pods inconsistency? Why doesn’t David ever bring guests onto the pod? We discuss the Kim...

We had a surreal conversation with the legendary Austin Pendleton. Austin’s credits would never fit in a caption. He’s been in over 250 movies and worked with Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Elia Kazan. His recent Broadway credits include acting in Choir Boy in 2016 and The Minutes in 2022, and directing Between Riverside and Crazy, also in 2022. We talked Williamstown, receiving reviews bad enough to make you quit acting, mic dropping acting advice, and stories from the short...

We got a little drunk, and discussed two of the most iconic actors to have ever walked this earth. 😔 Gena Rowlands was Ryan’s greatest acting inspiration. What’s made her work mean so much to him? And what’s he learned from watching her that he’s worked to integrate into his own work. We discuss ‘Opening Night’ and the rawness of it. As well as the evolution of independent film as a result of her working relationship with her husband John Cassavetes. We wonder out loud if Gena...

We’re talking all things Faye Dunaway.  The ‘Faye’ documentary just came out on HBO MAX and boy is it a crazy one. We get into her iconic performances in ‘Chinatown’, ‘Network’, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and the context around them.  And also her widely perceived misfire of ‘Mommie Dearest’.   Was it her performance, or the script, or what?  We get into it.   Why are there so many Faye Dunaway memes, and is this deserved?  Is she severe and cruel, or just one of the best actresses of all...

We breakdown the Brian De Palma classic... 'Scarface' and then a whole lot of acting process talk. Is Al Pacino's performance as Tony Montana a masterclass in transformational acting or... demonic? Who's to say? Us. thats who. We break down this iconic movie-film and many of the performances. Ryan just took Lindy Davies workshop. We get into lessons learned, Ryan's take aways as an actor and as a director. We discuss moving slowly, and building the capacity to understand what we're...

Warning: High drama very personal big stakes episode!!Great week for us seeing theater…We both saw PRE-EXISTING CONDITION Now up at The Connelly, directed by Maria Dizzia and written by Marin Ireland.  It’s a wild play.  We Discuss.Ryan saw Joey Merlo’s MIDNIGHT COLESLAW running at The Tank till June 23rd, and David saw INVASIVE SPECIES at The Vineyard.  We get into it baby.Then…David works through a big insecure, kinda resentful acting related breakdown :(Ryan and David debate what playing a...

Ross Shenker!!  Ross is an incredible New York Casting director, Chekhov teacher, scholar, writer and big friend of AF.  And he’s definitely gonna get mad at me for calling him a scholar.  But it’s true! We discuss Joanna Arrow’s ‘The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something has Passed’.  It’s a f*****g wild ride.  See it while it’s still in theaters.  Ross and David have both scene Adult Film’s production of the Seagull.  We give thoughts (very honest). We talk about success.  What...

We had a very open, VERY AF conversation with the incredible Tina Satter.   Tina’s an Obie and Drama desk winning playwright and director, and (sometimes) teacher at Adult Film. Her Broadway produced play ‘Is This a Room’, was adapted into the critically acclaimed feature film ‘Reality’ with Sydney Sweeney.   We go in depth on Tina’s writing, and directing process.   Finding a personal connection to Chekhov, and how the hell she gets her students to leave a 2 day workshop with close to...

Will he or wont he???? Have a panic attack as we’re recording that is ;)  It’s a fun, slutty lil episode.  You’ll see.   Small business ownership is hard and some people are mean.  What do we do about it? Adult Film was featured in the @gothamist… but not everyone’s happy about it. Alotta psychology talk.  About our responses to people talking shit, and where those responses were formed.  Ryan just shot a movie in ATL. We get into this experience.  We talk in depth about...

“Hollywood Contraction: Actors Struggle To Find Jobs As TV Castings Dry Up” declares deadline.  We get into it.    Are we all f****d? Should we find another profession?  Or is everyone playing a different game? We talk the TV revolution, Pilot Season’s last sighting, and who exactly is to blame for the near extinction of 22 episode seasons? Also.  Acting in NY vs LA, investing time/energy into things that don’t exist without us, and building a home at AF.  Then we break down Mike...

Cynthia Robinson came on the pod and completely shifted Ryan and David's dynamic. This is good. Very unhinged episode. I think this is excellent for us. We broke down Jonathan Glazer's "Sexy Beast", and our slutty reasoning behind picking it to review. Ryan tells us his biggest acting/career related regret of his 20's, and we talk about the roots of our deepest egoic desires and whether they're worth following. ALSO. Our experience being in our mid 30's at Adult Film, and in this...

Happy New Year!!  Wanna hear us say stuff we might regret?  Great. We talk some of the new movies of the year, Ryan’s experience on Ariana Grande’s video for ‘Yes, And?’.  AND the original ‘Rocky’, which turns out is 95% incredible indie drama and 5% boxing movie.   There are some spicy takes, cringy confessions and a day of Intermittent Fasting broken with 4 glasses of red wine.   Oh.  And we discover a major plot hole in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.  Why does no-one talk about...

We sat down with Maria Dizzia!!  Maria is a Tony and Drama Desk nominated actor/Ryan’s acting teacher and mentor.  Her film and TV work includes ‘Martha Mary May Marlene’, ‘While We’re Young’, ‘Christine’, and ’13 Reasons Why’. We talk acting process in detail, feeling numb on stage and working through blocks, using imagination vs drawing from your own life, “giving it all up” in performances, and seeing Liev Schreiber in ‘View From the Bridge” Also learning from Maria’s journey in...

Our very first guest! Sheila O’Malley is an incredible actor-focused film critic (Roger Ebert, film comment) and cultural essayist.  Her work has had a huge impact on Ryan.  If you love film, if you love acting… this episode will make you happy.We talk Gena Rowlands, Bette Davis, and our favorite modern actors. We discuss John Cassavetes’ ‘Opening Night’, Streetcar named Desire at Williamstown, and the ever changing pipeline of how directors discover actors.  Oh, and also a whole lot of actor...

This week we discuss Christian Petzold’s ‘Afire’. The performances of the incredible leads, unlikeable main characters, and the German version of a “Summer Blockbuster”.   We make a quick detour to psychoanalyze Franz Rogowski and to debate happiness vs. meaning.     Then we get into all things career related. Development as an actor, when to focus on getting an agent, how to actually get good at auditioning when you have no idea what other people’s auditions look like, and our...

Wild one for you today!!! Apologies for the reverb. Maybe listen on 1.3/1.5 speed if it bothers you. Ryan goes on a retreat with Adult Film, David finishes the run of his play and reads the reviews. The guys both auditioned for Danny and The Deep Blue Sea, and then watched each other's tapes. Oh! And Ryan just did a reading at New York Theater Workshop. We've got acting lessons and even a touch of working through shadow elements. Time codes: 1:40The Seagull retreat10:15How...

We break down Isabelle Huppert's and Robert De Niro's performances in 'The Piano Teacher' and 'Taxi Driver.' We discuss themes, and similarities/differences in character drives. Ryan gets Jungian. Then we discuss our own trajectories in the industry and in NY, and our lowest points. We get nice and personal :) And we also briefly debate whether or not everyone under the age of 30 is bisexual. 🤷‍♀️ Time Codes: 3:05  Isabelle huppert 5:30 Actors not having/or not talking about their...

The guys debate America's fascination with character acting. We respond to Ira Sach's comment on our last pod! Oh, and we discuss Phantom Thread in depth, and the differences in acting style between Daniel Day Lewis and Vicky Krieps. Also... The stylistic differences in what Ryan and David look for in performances. And the most revealing topic of discussion...how would we each go about playing a medieval queen who believes she's ordained by god for the throne? We debate. Then we get...

We discuss the new film 'Passages' by Ira Sachs. We geek out a little/a lot about Franz Rogowski and all the performances, the differences between European and American movies. Then we do a little analysis of Ingmar Bergmans 'After the Rehearsal'. Then we get into the real meat of the episode... Do actors play the role of societies designated bisexuals? And do all leading men need a little heir of bisexuality to succeed? 🤷‍♀️ We talk about transformational acting/minimalism/playing...

Ryan Czerwonko tells us about his juvenile delinquency and his intro to theater. David Garelik asks a lot of questions. what a curious guy. The guys discuss what they would do if they moved to NYC in their mid 20's with no credits and no reps. Then they talk about auditioning, and recovering from rejections that hurt particularly badly. Somewhere in there they discuss and disagree on audition technique. Give it a listen. It's our first episode. It has it's moments. Much love.