A (Micro) Interview with Michael Sheen

Stephen Fry’s 2003 film, “Bright Young Things” is a good movie, but the absolute BEST thing about it for me is the character Miles, played by the amazing Michael Sheen. Miles is seriously one of my favorite characters I have ever come across, & the way Sheen plays Miles couldn’t be more perfect.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know how sad Miles’ final scene in the film is. Miles’ facade of confidence is shattered when (spoilers) he learns the police have a warrant out to arrest him for being gay & he is forced to leave the country before they can.
The emotions in that scene are so palpably genuine, vulnerable, & honest. And poor Miles just looks so perfectly sad, with his very red eyes, his mannerisms, the way his voice cracks & he looks away, unable to make eye contact. I’m filing this scene in my “amazing textbook examples of sadness & vulnerability” category, so I can study the scene & acting, & use what I learn from studying it to improve my own acting.
Which brings me to my second point. As an actor, I really wanted to know whether Sheen was “actually crying” in the scene, or whether anything like a tear stick or tear blower had been used to assist this effect.
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with actors using things like tear sticks to help their characters cry, if they really need to. I understand that having to reshoot a scene, or working a long day & being emotionally exhausted, etc might make it hard for an actor to cry naturally.
But what I wanted to know was, as an actor, if I were trying to portray a scene in a similar way, would it be fair to hold myself up to the standard of actually crying that much, or whether the way a scene like that was done DID rely on a sort of incidental “special effect” of a tear stick. A lot of things in films are simulated or rely on even a small amount of “stage magic” to work properly, & I wanted to know whether a scene like this was one of those things, or whether it was real vulnerability worth striving for.
I went on Twitter & the following discussion happened:
Q: “The actor in me would love to know whether in this beautifully-acted scene, your eyes were that red & sad from crying naturally (perhaps from multiple takes), whether a tear stick/makeup/etc was involved, or a combination?”
A: “Just crying a lot.”
Knowing that about this scene makes me want to hold myself to a higher standard of acting, & makes me want to get a lot better about learning how to get into my characters better so I can, when the time calls for it, bring about genuine emotions in the mindset realm of the character. It also makes me love this scene even more than I already did & is a true testament to Sheen’s talent in bringing his characters & their emotions to life. I just think it’s so lovely how genuine this scene is.
A huge thank you to Michael Sheen for giving me permission to publish this as an interview on my blog!

 

NEW JUVENILE NON-FICTION BOOK: MOLES (Wonderful Wildlife, #9)

Moles are narrow tube-shaped, furry insectivores (insect-eating animals) that are perfectly adapted to living in tunnels underground. Moles have silky fur. Most people think of mole fur as being black, but moles can also have white, cream, orange, gray, or piebald fur. Moles belong to the family “Talpidae”. Moles spend most of their day digging & hunting for food. There are a total of 42 species of moles!Learn all about moles in this fun, comprehensive book!

PUBLICATION DATE: February 21, 2019
PAPERBACK: 37 Pages
GENRE: Juvenile Non-Fiction
SERIES: Wonderful Wildlife

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NEW POETRY BOOK: Between the Crevice & the Meadow

Dedicated to the beautiful, painful, crazy, dark, light, pitiful, glorious, desolate, depressing, frustrating, hope-filled, stunning, confusing, joyful, lovely, uncomfortable, & radiant space between where you are were & where you want to be, & for those who are facing towards their own meadows & not towards their prior crevices. Keep heading towards the meadow.

Between the Crevice & the Meadow is a collection of 136 poems about triumph, mental health, depression, hope, & finally beginning to heal & step into the amazing future that’s available to you.

PUBLICATION DATE: October 30, 2018
PAPERBACK 218 Pages
GENRE: Poetry

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NEW POETRY BOOK: Alive & Thriving

Alive & Thriving is a collection of 57 poems by Ashlee Craft.

//

some morning light

I want to stand where I can
see outside into the
bright morning day that is
blooming out there not that
I’m not happy inside the cement fluorescence;
it’s better now, the light is also inside
but I still long to drop what I am doing & run out the doors into the bright fresh morning
& sit under a tree reading a book, lying on a blanket in the grass
& changing the direction of the tracks
so that I am happy right now,
not just at some undetermined point in the future

PUBLICATION DATE: April 28, 2019
PAPERBACK 80 Pages
GENRE: Poetry

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NEW PHOTO BOOK: EPIC FLORIDA ROAD TRIP: THE PHOTO ALBUMS – DAY 1: Myakka River State Park, Sanibel Island, & Naples

In May of 2017, I went on a road trip that changed my life. I later dubbed it my “Epic Florida Road Trip”. It was my first vacation ever – a life-changing solo trip that took me from my home in Tampa south to the Everglades, down through the Florida Keys, Miami, & north again to St. Augustine. It lasted a week, & when I returned from it, I wasn’t the same person I’d been when I’d left. I returned with a lot of amazing, magical memories, a lot of no-see-um-bites, & a lot of stories to tell. But the biggest thing I brought back with me was a quiet, bold confidence in the knowledge that I knew how to take care of myself, knew what I needed to do to fix the problems in my life, & deep down, knew how to be happy again.These are the photos from that time.–This is book one of seven photo albums from my road trip – there is one book for each day of the trip spanning the highlight photos of the day & showing the things I did. I hope that these books feel like the kind of photo album your friend would share with you if they had gone on a vacation – honest & beautiful & joyous.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 20, 2019
PAPERBACK 126 Pages
GENRE: Photo Books – Florida

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