I'll Be in My Trailer

The Creative Wars Between Directors and Actors

By: John Badham, Craig Modderno

Narrated by: John Badham

What do you do when actors won't do what you tell them to? Remembering his own awkwardness and terror as a beginning director working with actors who always had their own ideas, director John Badham has a bookload of knowledge to pass along in this inspired and insightful must-listen for cinema fans as well as actors and directors at all levels of their craft.

You'll learn how to use proven techniques to get actors to give their best performances—including the ten best and ten worst things to say—and what you can do when an actor won't or can't do what the director wants. Also included are no-holds-barred out-of-school tales culled from celebrated top directors and actors, including Sydney Pollack, Michael Mann, John Frankenheimer, Mel Gibson, James Woods, Anne Bancroft, Jenna Elfman, and Roger Corman.

©2006 John Badham and Craig Modderno (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Wonderful, personal

John Badham writes and reads with the kind of earnestness and passion we hope future filmmakers bring everywhere they go, whatever they make. He knows actors inside and out, and has pooled insights from actors and directors spanning decades and generations. From Sidney Lumet getting a reaction from Paul Newman to Penelope Ann Miller offering how actors work as people, this is the consummate handbook for every director and actor.

Excellent, wow

In depth instruction and tons of insightful anecdotes from John, and a slew of other major successes make this a must

Great Lessons on Working With Actors

While the examples Badham uses are significantly outdated (some to the point of total obscurity in 2023) — his theory is universally sound, empowering and enlightening. His old school approach to performance and direction is a foundation that is exceptionally lacking in the film industry today. If everyone took a page from this old guy’s book — we’d all be better filmmakers, and have much better movies out in the world.
Great companion piece to his incredibly well shaped book on directing —treat this as a sequel, and listen to both every few years while you’re on the way to rehearsals or set. You will find yourself a better director for it.
Thank you, sensei Badham!

Awesome lessons

John has clearly been through it all and shares it concisely in his lessons here. This book is a must-listen entry for any up and coming director