Actors on Actors and 'Call My Agent!'

Emma Stone and Timothee Chalamet in conversation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lj1Cx4pNUw&list=TLPQMjUxMjIwMjGhXqsuDg8G5Q&index=1

Well this really had me thinking about 'Call My Agent'

"At Paris talent firm, A.S.K, agents scramble to keep their star clients happy and their business afloat. Three agents, Mathias, Gabriel and Andréa, juggle one situation to another in circumstances that blend their personal and professional lives."

And watching the aforementioned show really has me marveling at the world of acting. 

It's not as simple as the interviews, not as grueling as the press junkets, it's really...it's really uh...wow.

And further watching this roundtable with these male powerhouses of American cinema: (lol at my use of the world MALE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kkag-jVdt8&list=TLPQMjUxMjIwMjGhXqsuDg8G5Q&index=2

"Acting is 10% between action and cut"

"It's not the SuperBowl, it's the practices, it's the 163 baseball games."

I mean and the nature of actors abroad and here, in America? 

I was reading up on Lea Seydoux and she seems to be the Parisienne darling in that she grew up on the Left Bank, knew Nan Goldin and Christian Louboutin, Mick Jagger and so on. 

And then you have Emma Stone who was on a reality TV star search when she was 15 before exploding to The Favorite importance. 

I'm not saying it's unfair, that's not the point I want to make. 

I really would rather ask, "who the fuck are these people?" 

I swear they're the magistocrats of the day. They are magicians of a storied nobility risen from a prostitute class to that of first- family importance (see Amala and George). 

I wonder if it's a hard craft to own in that the talent is evidenced in such esoteric ways before becoming the facade of the filmography. 

So curious to think about where these people come from. Contrasting Lea Seydoux as the 'Call My Agent' "model" with Emma Stone and Timothee Chalamet as the 'plucky American' "model" it's just so wild. 

The show ('Call My Agent') elaborates on the cultural importance of French stars-- akin to a Rimbaud or a Foucault it seems, whereas we (the U.S.) have a titillating relationship to our stars that seems to mirror our own pedestrian, plucky aspirations. 

Actors are just so fascinating. They're like royals with the skill sets they have to possess and the composure they have to maintain. The precocity and poise. Marveling at this troupe of people we know so well but I wonder if we can truly appreciate their craft without ever trying it ourselves. The distraction of the cult of personality the press junket offers might obscure the scholarly nature of these people. Mahershala Ali noted that 10% of the craft is acting and the rest is preparation, I mean take that 90% seriously. What does that mean for these people?  The questions they think to ask each other has me thinking, Oh my god they're such acting nerds. Experts. 

I'm new to this. Appreciating actors. And I'm getting into it by thinking of the 'workman' quality of their craft, and the juxtaposition of international cinema and the domestic. How we as Americans get to the stage and what we do with it, and how the French model seems to have more of an aristocratic air. Both have grounded me in the fact that: Oh god...these people are artists...possibly of the most generous and misunderstood variety. I almost wish they were immune to celebrity so we could see them as scarily stunning scholars, weird princesses with the memorization acumen of a litigator, the agility of a fencing pro and the poise of a diplomat. I mean 

Wow.