Celebrity Interview | Entertainment & Film Industry - From Coach to Director: Michelle Danner's Path Through Hollywood

Greg Staffa 0:01

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, greg Staffa. I guess this episode is talented actor, director and acting coach Michelle Danner, and she joins us today. Thank you, michelle.

Michelle Danner 0:23

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Greg Staffa 0:26

So an acting coach. Tell us a little bit about what's that like to become an acting coach and how did you get started.

Michelle Danner 0:32

Well, it started with my love of working with actors and actors calling me up and asking me to coach them, and so I moved to L, you know, wanting to act decades ago, and there was one pivotal afternoon when I was faced with three auditions that I had to drive to in LA with traffic, and all these actors calling me and, like you know, I have an audition tomorrow, can you coach me? And I had to make a decision and I said you know what? I'm just going to coach all these actors that are asking me for help. And so my acting took a backseat and I started to coach. And then I started to teach classes and I found out that I really liked it. I liked giving back in that way and I had a lot of experience in terms of having studied with Stella Adler, with Uta Hagen, with, you know, Herbert Bergdorf. A lot of wonderful teachers impacted me and I wanted to give back.

Greg Staffa 1:39

Was there any resentment? Because you had wanted to make it as an actress yourself, and now you're training these people to get roles

Path to Becoming an Acting Coach

Greg Staffa 1:46

that you may have considered previously trying out for.

Michelle Danner 1:50

I know, because when I have my hat of acting coach on completely, it's not about me, right, it's completely about the person that's sitting in front of me, or the class that I'm teaching to and what I'm trying to give to them front of me, or the class that I'm teaching to and what I'm trying to give to them. So I'm not. That's why I think teaching became a wonderful thing to do, because it really got me off of me and onto something else which, in a way, had greater purpose.

Greg Staffa 2:17

You've done a lot of theater work and a lot of film work. Is acting and training an actor similar between the two things, or is there a different approach if you're acting on stage versus acting on film?

Michelle Danner 2:32

Well, I mean, it is a little different if you're preparing for a stage role or if you're preparing to work in front of the camera. It's really understanding energy projection, the work in terms of the map that the actor has to do. The blueprint is very similar. You know, when you break down a script, you create the character. You, you know, find the moments to play. There's similarities in that, whether you're doing it on stage or you're doing it in front of the camera. But you know, there are certainly tools that you know you have to know and understand and practice if you're doing film, acting, or if you're, you know, on a Broadway stage and you're projecting and sending it out there, because there's 2000 people in the audience watching you.

Greg Staffa 3:17

Now you've directed several feature films. When you're directing, do you have just the director's hat on? Do you have the acting coach on how much of it is? At this point they need to know their craft. If you're doing like a Paul Sorvino on your cast, are you doing much coaching of him, or is this the director hat?

Acting Techniques: Stage vs. Film

Greg Staffa 3:39

Michelle Danner 3:39

on. No, there's no time to coach when you're doing a film, because you're trying to make your day, you're trying to get the scenes in that you have to shoot and not play catch up, so there will know what to say in any given moment. I feel to help an actor to you know, be free in the moment and give their best performance.

Greg Staffa 4:17

Now, how do you I mean, you wear several different hats and you're able to take off each hat and put one on and and focus on whatever hat you're wearing how do you choose between taking on a role, directing a role or being an acting coach?

Michelle Danner 4:33

The story has to speak to you, right? You want to get excited about what the movie's about, what the themes of the movie are, what it's trying to say, how it moves me of the movie are what it's trying to say, how it moves me. I always say, you know, when I go to watch, you know whether it's a movie or a TV show or a play, I want to be moved, you know. Yes, I can definitely look at the chandelier falling or the wonderful special effects or visual effects, but ultimately the core of it it's if I'm moved by the story and that's what drives me.

Greg Staffa 5:05

Now, in the last several years, we've seen an increase in the YouTube star, the TikTok star, where someone with a TikTok platform becomes an actor or an actress. What shifts or changes have you seen or had to make as an acting coach, as we see kind of a different breed, or is it a different breed that you're seeing talent come up these days versus more of the classically trained actors and actresses?

Michelle Danner 5:34

you know, I think that everybody is so valuable in terms of making a contribution to the world of storytelling. You know, know. Now, for instance, when you're casting a movie, everybody's looking at. You know who do you cast that has a huge internet following. You know, a TikTok following. But if it's, you know, I just find that so many performers have talent, whether they're classically trained or whether or not. You know, it's funny. You should say that I recently, you know, met with someone who never had training but enormously talented. So everybody comes to this. You know business of storytelling from different walks of life, but I think all of it can be incredibly valuable.

Greg Staffa 6:20

Is there always room to grow as an actor or as someone like Tom Hanks? Is there something that you could sit down with Tom Hanks as an acting coach and still have room to train him?

Michelle Danner 6:32

I think there's always room to explore something that you haven't done, even if you're a wonderful Tom Hanks. I studied with Stella Adler and Stella said every actor has 200 characters inside of them that they could play. Well, that's certainly a lot of characters. So until you haven't reached those 200 characters, there's still something that you can find that you can play that you

Different Acting Methodologies Explained

Michelle Danner 6:53

haven't done.

Greg Staffa 6:54

And you mentioned them a couple of different times. Can you tell just the general audience that may not know or understand, when you talk about specializing in Meisner, Adler, Hagen, Chekhov, can you tell us a little bit about what that means and the differences?

Michelle Danner 7:10

Yes, of course. Well, you know, stanislavski was Russian, the grandfather of acting teachers, and he's the first one that really presented to the world what good acting, what great acting looked like, and acting teachers, you know, all stemmed from him. Like I said, he was the father, the grandfather of acting teachers. And Stella Adler, Sandy Meisner, lee Strasberg, bobby Lewis I'm forgetting some Herbert Bergdorf, uta Hagen all were acting teachers that came after that. Some of them were part of the group theater in New York in the 40s and everybody created different methods, mythologies, techniques for actors to learn from in terms of how they could create the roles that they're playing.

Michelle Danner 8:04

Some believed in using personal life, some of them used, you know, believed, like Stella Adler, in the imagination of the actor or a combination of both. So an actor today that decides, oh, I want to act, I want to study acting, you know, it certainly behooves them to learn all of the different techniques. So they'll hear the Meisner technique or they'll hear the Stella Adler technique or the Lee Strasberg technique, and those are all techniques to learn, to educate yourself. It's a craft, acting is a craft. So people go to college to learn to be doctors, to learn to be lawyers, to learn to be accountants. Well, you go to school to learn to act and I, of course, being an acting teacher, you can only imagine that I believe in that. I believe nurturing a foundation of actor for each actor and learning about all these different techniques.

Greg Staffa 9:03

You say, when you're an acting coach, you cover all these different groups and entities. Is it kind of like dating, where you have to look at the person, the actor themselves, and see what kind of person they match up with, if they're a Hagen or an Adler, and focus on that kind of technique. Or is everyone of kind of you know, uh uh, a mold that's waiting to be formed by you that you can kind of go into any direction?

Michelle Danner 9:32

well, you know, it's so funny you should say this. I have to tell you, in all the interviews that I've done throughout the years, nobody has quite said it like that, but I love the way that you just said it. Uh, you know how you you date different techniques. I I love that Absolutely. You have to find out what's the right fit for you. What is your sensitivity, sensibility your instrument responds to. You know, Some people go. I'll never touch my personal life. Some people go. I have such a vast imagination. That's all I'm going to use is my imagination. Some people go. You know I'll do both. So yes, that's right. You

Teaching the Craft of Acting

Michelle Danner 10:07

find the best fit for who you are as a performer.

Greg Staffa 10:11

As a performer. Does that evolve? Then, as you become, do they take on more roles? So there's always kind of a fine-tuning.

Michelle Danner 10:20

Yes, I mean as an actress, for instance. You know, I used to use my personal life all the time and then I ended up doing this play and there was a monologue about my child drowning in a pool and at that time I had a two-year-old child and I was like you know what? I'm not using my personal life, I'm not putting the face of my two-year-old child in that pool drowning. So it does evolve. It evolves based on you know how you change in life, absolutely.

Greg Staffa 10:44

Now, before talking to you, there's an element of myself that felt that acting, or at least good acting, was an inherent skill. Now, talking to an acting coach, is acting that? Is that something that can be taught to almost anyone, or is there an inherent skill to it?

Michelle Danner 11:02

I mean, yes, you have to have talent, but I'll tell you what I have learned throughout the years A lot of people have talent. Again, I've mentioned Stella Adler a lot in this, because I studied with Stella. She used to say that actors have to have talent for their talent, which means a work ethic. A lot of people have talent, but then you have to have the desire and the work ethic to learn, to practice, to do so. I think a lot of people can be taught. I mean, obviously there is a talent that you have to have to begin with, right, but somebody I've seen people that have incredible talent and they don't have the talent for the talent, which means they're not willing to work really hard enough, and so that doesn't work so well compared to somebody, maybe, that is willing to work and maybe has a little less talent, but is willing to work really hard, in which case they soar.

Greg Staffa 11:53

Has the director hat and the acting coach hat ever conflicted with each other? Have you ever had someone that you were considering for a role as the director? But the acting coach in you said I just don't know if they have what it takes, and I don't have time to work with them as I should, and so I'm going to pass on them.

Michelle Danner 12:12

Nope, that's never happened. It has never happened. I usually have a way of working with actors where I can get there, even if they don't have as much experience yet, because everybody has, you know, has to start somewhere.

Greg Staffa 12:27

Now, acting and coaching. Acting is one element of being an actor. There's the business side of things. There's a networking side of things. There's the auditioning side of things. As a director, having seen what you've seen from acting and actors, if you were to go and teach a class that wasn't about being an acting coach but about the industry, what is some subject that you would want to cover?

Michelle Danner 12:51

I think you know I teach that class. I teach the class called the business of acting breaking into hollywood. As a matter of fact, I'm teaching it this weekend, this sunday, on, online to a group of actors. So I believe that's an important class. It's not a very long class, so it's a conversation that you can have with an actor that takes a couple of hours. The real conversation, the long conversation, is the one about learning how to be a good actor, learning the craft. That conversation takes a much longer time, but the conversation about the business of acting takes a few hours.

Greg Staffa 13:27

Now, you've done a lot of different plays. You've also done a lot of film. If two opportunities came up both film and theater they both paid the same. Is there one more passion that you're passionate more than the other? Or is it just the art?

Michelle Danner 13:42

No, I would find a way to schedule both. I would find a way it both. I would find a way. So funny, you say that because I'm up to directing a Broadway show and that has to be scheduled, and I have a couple of movies that I'm signed up to do and that has to be scheduled, I would try. I'm ambitious, I would try a way to do it all. I would find a way to do it all. If in fact they conflicted like that, saying there's no way to change the schedule, and they all happened at the same time and I had to choose, I would choose the one that I would be the most passionate about. We're assuming I'm passionate about both because I've signed on for both. Right, so I probably at that point would be heartbroken.

Greg Staffa 14:20

Is there a different approach as a

Working with Actors Repeatedly

Greg Staffa 14:22

director between film and theater? In theater you have the immediate reaction from the audience. Directing, you know it's months before you get a reaction.

Michelle Danner 14:30

Yeah, Well, yes, there's definitely a different approach if you're directing film and theater, but I think both are so rewarding. I love both mediums. I couldn't tell you that I loved one more than the other.

Greg Staffa 14:43

And is there anyone in particular that you've worked with that just simply blew you away? That you may not have heard of or known of, but the raw talent was there that you just surprised you more than just the casual actor.

Michelle Danner 14:58

So many people. I have those experiences all the time when I'm on set and actors hit certain notes and they're not well-known actors, but they just let go and they take risks, and I've had so many experiences like that that have moved me.

Greg Staffa 15:12

And it looks like Paul Servino has been in a couple of your films. Was that intentional? Is that something that you've built, a relationship that you enjoy having him on the set? What's that like?

Michelle Danner 15:24

I love Paul Servino. I am actually the director that works with actors several times, so Paul Servino is an example of that. I loved working with him and I worked with him on two movies. I've worked with Andy Garcia on two movies. One of them is doing the post right now. It'll be released this year called Under the Stars.

Michelle Danner 15:46

I worked with Abigail Breslin on two movies. She was the star, the lead, in Miranda's Victim, and she was one of the leads in this movie, the Italians, that people can watch on Amazon. Let me see who else. Rob Estes is somebody that I've worked with on, I think, as victim, and she was one of the leads in this movie, the italians that people can watch on amazon. Let me see who else. Rob estes is somebody that I've worked with on, I think, four features and named in countless stage productions, and now I'm about to work again with matthew daddario, who was the lead in the italians. I'm working with him on a feature called starstruck, so I love to work with the same actors. I believe in a theater company on. So I love to work with the same actors. I believe in a theater company on film, and I love to cast actors that you know in different characters, so I love doing that.

Greg Staffa 16:23

Is it because, as an acting coach, you like their style? Is it a relationship that's been built? What is it that that keeps that energy going towards them?

Michelle Danner 16:33

All of it. I mean, it's basically, you know, I love watching actors lose themselves in characters and find a way to tell the story in a very powerful way.

Greg Staffa 16:44

And what would you tell new actors? What's the biggest mistake that you see among new actors and actresses that if you could correct just with a snap of a finger, you would do?

Michelle Danner 16:55

Well, I mean, it would be hard to generalize it because I don't see that I always see so much talent and I'm always wowed by, you know, people taking risks. And if sometimes I see a performance that you know, in my opinion because it's only an opinion is not up to par, yes, I certainly in my head think, oh, they could have done this, they could

Michelle's Creative Upbringing

Michelle Danner 17:19

have done that, they could have understood this in a deeper way. So those are some thoughts that come to mind.

Greg Staffa 17:24

When you're casting for a role, do you have a mindset of I'm looking for someone that leans more Meisner or someone that leans more Adler? Is it that fine-tuned for you, no, or are you just looking for someone in general?

Michelle Danner 17:40

No, somebody that just I feel you know, has talent, knows how to do the work. That's what I'm looking for and really is right for the part.

Greg Staffa 17:47

And what kind of things are you, I mean, when you're looking for right for the part, you have this vision. The actor's going to bring their own kind of character to that. What are kind of some of the key things that you're looking for in an audition?

Michelle Danner 17:59

You know the flexibility if an actor is really willing to play and try things and have fun with a character in the event.

Greg Staffa 18:08

And we're seeing a lot of sequels these days and a lot of characters brought or stories brought back that you know Top Gun, maverick or the Star Wars, where they bring the older characters back. Is there anything that you've done that you'd love to see a sequel to?

Michelle Danner 18:25

Oh, that I have done, yeah, oh no, not yet. No, I think that you know I have projects in development that are, like you know, three parts movies, movies that have sequels, but nothing that I have done yet.

Greg Staffa 18:42

And you've worked with some amazing talent, from Paul Sorvino to Donald Sutherland, to Luke Wilson who else out? There is something that you've always wanted to work with but haven't yet.

Michelle Danner 18:52

Oh well, I have a long list no-transcript.

Greg Staffa 19:19

Meryl Streep would be a fun one. I never will, but I'd love to have her on the podcast.

Michelle Danner 19:27

Oh, yeah, yeah, if she can get her, that would be great.

Greg Staffa 19:31

I was an extra on a film that she did and it was a very small set, and so we got to hang out with the extras, got to hang out and she was in the cast and so in between takes she would hang out with us, and so that was just a surreal experience to me.

Michelle Danner 19:49

Well, I know, I heard, not only is she an incredible actress, but an incredible human being.

Greg Staffa 19:53

Yep, and so we would be sitting there, you know, know, 10 of us, and up comes Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and they would talk to us. And she was an amazing woman, has a little bit of a potty mouth, which was fun and shocking, but, uh, just a great woman, and so I'd love to be able to actually talk to her and about this more than than just being an extra hanging out, but she was a wonderful woman.

Greg Staffa 20:17

Yeah, no, that's great so tell us a little bit about your upbringing and when you got started in being involved in acting and wanting to be an actress.

Michelle Danner 20:30

Well, I started acting at a very young age. My father became the president of the William Arons Agency in the 60s, so he opened the very first offices off the Champs-Élysées and he, you know I was daddy's girl and he'd take me to the office and I'd play on his desk and it was pretty, to all these actors and these you know entertainers come and talk about their dreams.

Michelle Danner 21:00

It was an incredible upbringing that I had in Europe. I loved every second of it. I had really great parents that would let me do what I wanted to do. They let me go to museums, they introduced me to theater. I had a very creative, artistic childhood and when I was 15, we moved back. So I was raised in Europe and when I was 15, we moved back to the States where I got to study, like I said, with all these great icons, and I got to do a lot of theater and I was working in a theater company and then I moved to LA and I started to teach and make movies. So I had, you know, a wonderful, creative childhood.

Greg Staffa 21:46

You're a founder and artistic director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts and the Theater Group. Tell us a little bit about what that started and a little bit about it.

Michelle Danner 21:56

Well, that came out of my love of the theater. Now it's called the Creative Theater Group. You hear my little dog barking in the background. It's the Creative Theater Group. And it really came out of my love of theater. And we had to leave our theaters at Shemar during COVID but we reopened them in Culver City. You know, little by little, I think you know we're starting to do theater again, which I've always loved. It's always been a passion of mine.

Greg Staffa 22:24

And what is it? Do you hope to continue to grow on that, expand on that? Is that something that's the lasting legacy that you hope to achieve?

Michelle Danner 22:33

Of course I hope to always do

Current and Future Projects

Michelle Danner 22:35

theater.

Greg Staffa 22:35

Tell us a little bit about I hope to achieve. Of course, I hope to always do theater Tell us a little bit about.

Michelle Danner 22:37

I hope to always do theater that's my passion and to keep doing movies, you know.

Greg Staffa 22:44

Tell us a little bit about the stuff that you're working on now, without giving any spoilers or anything that you can't say. Tell us a little bit about what fans can look forward to.

Michelle Danner 22:52

I'm working on a movie called Starstruck, which is a romantic comedy with a unique angle on astrology, and I'm working on Helios, which is a sci-fi thriller. So I have some great projects and others as well. I'm attached to other movies. I always say it's like all the planes are on the runway and whichever one is ready to take off takes off.

Greg Staffa 23:14

And finally, I ask those of all my guests when you get up in the morning, I mean because so much of what you've done is, you know, we recite that you know Michelle Danner, she's an acting coach, she's an actor, a director. But when you get up in the morning and look in the mirror, who is it that you see?

Michelle Danner 23:32

I see a mother that has two kids that wants to do right by them. That's who I see.

Greg Staffa 23:40

And are your kids following in your footsteps? Are they involved in acting?

Michelle Danner 23:43

Well, one of them is. One of them is an artist and he's an aspiring filmmaker and incredible writer and he's helped me with all my projects. He's the one that graduated from USC and he's helped me with all my projects. He's the one that graduated from USC who's working with me. My other kid is more into business and sports, but he does come on set and he helps me because he's a great kid.

Greg Staffa 24:07

Nice Well, Michelle Danner, it was wonderful to talk to you. I look forward to seeing some of your upcoming projects and wish you the best of luck.

Michelle Danner 24:16

I thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much for having me.