Amazon.com: The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor (9780553802078): Larry Moss: Books
The Intent to Live and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Kindle Edition
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $1.62 Gift Card
Trade in
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor
 
 
Start reading The Intent to Live on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor [Hardcover]

Larry Moss (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback $10.88  

Book Description

December 28, 2004
“I call this book The Intent to Live because great actors don’t seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living.”
–Larry Moss, from the Introduction

When Oscar-winning actors Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards, each credited Larry Moss’s guidance as key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone–professionals and amateurs alike–can discover Moss’s passionate, in-depth teaching.

Inviting you to join him in the classroom and onstage, Moss shares the techniques he has developed over thirty years to help actors set their emotions, imagination, and behavior on fire, showing how the hard work of preparation pays off in performances that are spontaneous, fresh, and authentic.

From the foundations of script analysis to the nuances of physicalization and sensory work, here are the case studies, exercises, and insights that enable you to connect personally with a script, develop your character from the inside out, overcome fear and inhibition, and master the technical skills required for success in the theater, television, and movies.

Far more than a handbook, The Intent to Live is the personal credo of a master teacher. Moss’s respect for actors and love of the actor’s craft enliven every page, together with examples from a wealth of plays and films, both current and classic, and vivid appreciations of great performances. Whether you act for a living or simply want a deeper understanding of acting greatness, The Intent to Live will move, instruct, and inspire you.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

Review

“I love the work I’ve gotten to do with Larry. He loves actors, he loves acting, and I love him.”
–Helen Hunt

“Larry Moss is probably the most knowledgeable, articulate, creative, compassionate teacher of acting in America today. He is solely responsible for transforming me from a talented person into an artist.”
–Jason Alexander

“Larry has an uncompromising dedication to the art and craft of acting. I wouldn’t take on another role without working with him.”
–Hilary Swank

“Larry is pure genius. He opened my heart and allowed me to feel again. I would not have been able to be John Coffey without him.”
–Michael Clarke Duncan

From the Inside Flap

When Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards they cited Larry Moss's unorthodox and demanding guidance as the key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year-long waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone--professionals and amateurs alike--can discover Moss's passionate, in-depth teaching.
"I call this book THE INTENT TO LIVE rather than The Intent to Act because great actors don't seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living," Moss writes in his introduction. When Larry coached Hilary Swank for her Oscar-winning role in "Boys Don't Cry," he had her live as a man for a month to prepare for the role. She bound her breasts and stuffed her crotch and had her husband introduce her as his younger brother, all so she could get inside her character's head and experience first hand the fear of being found out. He got Helen Hunt to pull all her energy down from her head into her feet, so she could play the waitress in "As Good As It Gets"--another Oscar performance. Right now, he is working with Leonardo di Caprio for his upcoming role as Howard Hughes and with Sally Fields in a Kennedy Center revival of The Glass Menagerie. All these stars--and many more, will be giving us quotes.
But THE INTENT TO LIVE is much more than wonderful theater stories. It's a meat and potatoes guide to the basic tools and techniques of acting, like how to come up with emotion-on-demand when you've been doing a stage show for months or they're filming your big final scene out-of-sequence on the first day of shooting. And even more important, it's a book about how to do the inner work required to become a true artist. In nearly 30 short, fascinating chapters he offers the case studies, exercises, and insights that enable actors to connect personally with a script, develop their character from the inside out, overcome fear and inhibition, hone their technical skills, and, above all, come alive in the moment on stage or on camera. Filled with a wealth of theater lore and appreciations of great performances, this is a delicious read for theater lovers, as well as a sure-to-be-classic text for actors.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam (December 28, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553802070
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553802078
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Feast for Lovers of Great Acting, March 31, 2005
This review is from: The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor (Hardcover)
At last an insightful appreciation of the art of acting by one of the profession's foremost practitioners and teachers, which can be enjoyed not only by actors but by lovers of great acting. If you've ever marvelled at a performance, Larry Moss tells you why. With wit and clarity, as good a writer as he is an actor, he takes you inside the actor's mind so you understand the choices that enter into the shaping of a memorable characterization. And his range of references is remarkably eclectic and star-studded -- Groucho Marx, Bette Davis, Dustin Hoffman, Clint Eastwood, Uta Hagen, Robert Preston just to mention a few of the hundreds of performers whose work he illuminates, on stage, screen, television, in musicals, tragedies, slapstick and sitcoms. Nothing escapes his discerning eye.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great tool for playwrights, too, February 11, 2005
This review is from: The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor (Hardcover)
As is obvious from the testimonials given by well-known actors -- on this Amazon screen (above), and on the back cover and introductory pages of the book -- Larry Moss has no shortage of fans. However, I think it's important to note that this book has value for anyone working in theater and film, not just actors.

As a playwright, I think it's critical that we writers seek to understand how actors and other professionals do their work. Theater (and film) is a collaborative medium, requiring the talents of many people in order to fully realize the potential of a story. By gaining a better knowledge of how directors, designers, actors and others use their skills to bring a play or film to life (on the "back end," if you will), I can write pieces (on the "front end") that interest, inspire and challenge them -- and, as a result, have a stronger effect on audiences. There's nothing worse for a writer than writing something, in isolation, that we think is the greatest thing since tuna casserole, only to have it completely incomprehensible -- or worse, uninteresting -- to actors, directors and, as a result, audiences.

In this search for information, Moss's book is one of the few that I've discovered that offers insights into the actor's process in clear, reasonable language, that makes the necessary connections between the actor's work and the writer's text. I have no doubt, after reading this book, that I will be that much more effective as a playwright, better able to create a solid foundation for those who choose to bring my work to life.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The epiphany I have been waiting for!, May 21, 2006
By 
DQ (Concord, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This book is excellent! Larry Moss makes clear the terms that are commonly used in acting class (Objectives, intentions, relationships). I have heard these terms used many times in acting class, but didn't realize how important they are until I read this book. Larry Moss describes them in simple and pratical terms and uses examples from classic and current films.

I broke down in tears after practicing the exercises taught in the "Emotional Trigger" chapter. I cannot wait to get new scripts in acting class so that I can utilize the skills that I learned in this book. I highly recommend this to any actor who wants to improve in their craft. This book was the Epiphany that I was waiting for!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...

Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:








i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...