Something on My Bucket List

I don't usually read this magazine that comes to my house every month, but this time the cover sucked me in.  I have become a big fan of Jeff Daniels over the past few years and wanted to see what he had to say.  Turns out, it was a lot.

My interest in Jeff Daniels has grown from recently watching the HBO series on Netflix called Newsroom.  It was written by Aaron Sorkin, another person I am a big fan of ever since watching his TV series West Wing and movie The American President.  Newsroom shows the behind-the-scenes working of a network news service.  It is riveting and smart.  Jeff Daniels won an Emmy for his portrayal of Will McAvoy, the network anchor man.  Phil and I just finished watching all three seasons, and it provided us with many topics to think about and discuss. 

But getting back to Daniels,  he's such a talented guy, and I admire him for his art, but the article let's you know that he's a very thoughtful guy as well.  He and his wife have been married for forty years and have three children.  During their parenting days, they moved back to their hometown, Chelsey, Michigan, to give their kids a more normal upbringing than they would have in Hollywood or New York.  This is all pretty remarkable for those in the acting profession.

Daniels is in the news because he is currently in the Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird.  After being able to see a production of Hamilton in San Francisco, seeing Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch, with the script written by Aaron Sorkin, is the next thing on my bucket list.  

In the article, Daniels makes a couple of statements that I found very remarkable.  I thought I might pass them along here.

Daniels spent a summer memorizing the script for Mockingbird.  Actors don't usually arrive at first rehearsals with the script memorized, but Daniels did, because "the profile of this thing was so big that I wanted to be prepared."  Whatever anxiety he felt about appearing in Peck's shadow, he overcame by doing what his upbringing had trained him to do.  "If you want to combat nerves, be more prepared," he said.  "It's the Midwestern work ethic."

"Here's the other thing about all of this," he said next.  "I'm working harder than in any decade of my life, which is not how they draw it up in star school.  Acting is craft, and when you get roles like I've had lately, you need everything you've ever learned to pull them off.  I find myself using things I learned years ago.  I tell drama kids, 'Find out what you want to do and spend the rest of your life getting better at it,' and that is still the case, I find, at 64."

Words of wisdom from a talented man.

I'll let you know if my bucket list dream comes true.

Yes, he is the Dumb and Dumber guy, too.