John Amplas on the Waterfront

Movie Meltdown - Episode 443

This week we return to our coverage of WonderFest as we sit down with actor John Amplas and discuss this week's Sofa Theater feature On the Waterfront. John is not only an actor (and part of many of George Romero’s early productions including Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow and Day of the Dead) but he has also spent the majority of his life teaching acting. So who better to delve into the acting style of Marlon Brando and the complex director that was Elia Kazan.

And while we try to decide which order to place Eva, Marie and Saint we also mention… Daphne & Velma, a Lake Placid marathon, Rule 34, it’s ok to pretend, that alluring mystique, Betty White, working-class people, faux geeks, where American realism became the path for a lot of actors, Karl Malden, Bill Pullman wins, Stanislavski, completely therapeutic, vintage cereal, a lot of those folks came out of what then became the Actor’s Studio… which I’m not sure I’ve ever bought into… as a process, Lee J. Cobb, Martin works… because it was me, Colin Ferguson, it’s about… how do I approach this… how do I best recreate what needs to be created, street justice, young Paul Newman, an opportunity to live a bit of a simpler life, leap across the table and throat punch her immediately, John Schneider, worked in the steel mills in Pittsburgh, primary emotions, a new era of the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Rod Steiger, extraordinary people… regardless of what their profession is… come with eccentricity, Corin Nemec, there’s still some scars from the blacklisting that took place during that time, Cloris Leachman, boxing in the basement,  the mob union, going to see a psychoanalyst, the dramatic dynamics of the business, that sugary sludge, did you know science fiction was invented in the 1980’s Sylvester Stallone and Godzilla in a business suit.

Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for On the Waterfront... but I mean, you need to see that movie.

“That’s what good movies are about… they’re about us.”

For more on John, follow him on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Jamplas

And for more on WonderFest, go to: https://wonderfest.com/