Advisor Studio: Todd Louiso (HIGH FIDELITY, MACBETH) on Acting and Directing
About this Advisor Studio
In Advisor Studio sessions, Sundance Collab Advisors share field experiences and insights into their specific areas of craft, including writing, directing and producing for TV and film.
In this intimate conversation with Todd Louiso, we explore the complex relationship and dynamics between actors and directors. Louiso has experience in both roles; with over 50 acting credits in films including JERRY MAGUIRE and HIGH FIDELITY, Louiso made the successful transition from performing in front of the camera to directing feature films. Here, we get his perspective on building characters, prepping for a role and collaborating with your director. We then shift to his position in the Director's Chair and get his insights on how a director can best communicate with actors and build trust. We also get real on some of the fears that many directors and actors have in this key relationship and discuss why all directors should take acting classes before stepping onto the set.
Advisor StudioTeam
Todd Louiso
Advisor
A graduate of New York University’s film school, Todd held a wide variety of jobs from working for Academy Award winning writer and director Robert Benton (BONNIE & CLYDE, PLACES IN THE HEART, KRAMER VS. KRAMER) to interning on Saturday Night Live’s film unit, before landing a lead acting role on James L. Brooks’ short-lived television series, PHENOM, which brought him to Los Angeles.
Todd’s third directorial feature, HELLO I MUST BE GOING was in competition and selected as the Opening Night Film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film, released by Oscilloscope, was named one of the Top Ten Independent films of that year by the National Board of Review and also garnered a Best Screenplay award for screenwriter Sarah Koskoff at the Nantucket Film Festival.
This past year he and Koskoff teamed up again on her independent pilot called, THE SUMMER PEOPLE - centered on the prestigious (yet fictitious) Effing Massachusetts Summer Theatre Festival that has been forced to take on corporate sponsorship from Amazon, throwing its high-minded actors and directors into a tailspin.
Other directing and writing credits include: the Cannes Film Festival competition film, MACBETH starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, Sundance Grand Jury nominee and Waldo Salt Best Screenplay Award winning film LOVE, LIZA (Sony Classics) with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates, THE MARC PEASE EXPERIENCE (Paramount Vantage) with Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick and Ben Stiller and his short film adaptation of Tom Stoppard’s THE FIFTEEN MINUTE HAMLET starring Austin Pendleton, which screened at Sundance and won Best Short at The New York Comedy Film Festival. He is a recipient of an Annenberg Grant, as well as being a Sundance Fellow and Advisor.
As an actor, he has appeared in many films and television series including SCENT OF A WOMAN, JERRY MAGUIRE and HIGH FIDELITY.