Before Michael Keaton became the chameleonic screen star he is today, he intuited that the life of a performer is full of uncertainty. So taking risks, as first a stand-up comedian and then an actor, became a key part of his artistic mission. “I told myself, you’re never gonna know if you can do this until you just try to do it,” he remembers. “I certainly had many moments of going: Oh, boy. This is a nervous time. I’m not feeling too secure right now. But desperation will kill you.” In his podcast interview, Michael reveals the thinking behind his characters—big and small, brashly comedic and quietly dramatic—and explains why actors must pursue the truth, both in their performances and in life.

A Pennsylvania native, Michael has repeatedly reinvented himself in big-screen projects, from his breakout in “Night Shift” all the way to playing Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s “Batman,” a role he is reprising in the upcoming “The Flash” and “Batgirl” movies. His background in theater and as production assistant on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” led to iconic roles in “Mr. Mom,” “Beetlejuice,” and more, and he’s received accolades for “Spotlight,” his Academy Award–nominated “Birdman,” and last year’s SAG Award winner “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” This year he starred in the Netflix film “Worth” and on Hulu’s limited series about the opioid epidemic, “Dopesick,” as Dr. Samuel Finnix. Check out Backstage’s cover story with “Dopesick” co-star Rosario Dawson here: https://bit.ly/3mCvaia
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Backstage has been the #1 resource for actors and talent-seekers for 60 years. In the Envelope, Backstage’s podcast, features intimate, in-depth conversations with today’s most noteworthy film, television, and theater actors and creators. This is your guide to every aspect of acting, from voiceover and commercial work to casting directors, agents, and more. Full of both know-how and inspiration, In the Envelope airs weekly to cover everything from practical advice on navigating the industry, to how your favorite projects are made, to personal stories of success and failure alike. Join host Jack Smart, Awards Editor at Backstage, for this guide on how to live the creative life from those who are doing it every day: https://bit.ly/2OMryWQ

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Michael Keaton

I often look through my mother's old family albums, and it surprises me that some moments I recall vividly without having the photo trigger but still it is as the remembrance of a dream . Other times, it's like looking at someone else entirely, among strangers, and it baffles me that I could ever have really been there. 
This short poem, like a tiny black and white photograph, from my collection, WITHOUT MAKEUP.

Album By Diane Havens

Struck by the swift passage of time as I rode my bicycle through the neighborhood on a recent  late spring afternoon.

From my collection WITHOUT MAKEUP (Mary Celeste Press, 2014)

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Makeup-poems-Diane-Havens/dp/1497457831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407437640&sr=8-1&keywords=diane+havens+without+makeup

Downhill By Diane Havens

Sometimes it's very difficult for me to stop my summer watering regimen as my garden goes to seed. It set me thinking of so many things at this point in my life, and when it's better to stop and "trust the rain."

Late October By Diane Havens

Poems evoking the experience of parting from loved ones.

Parting At St Pancras Station - Recording 2 - 12 March 15

Poetry: Michael Daigle
Recitation: Diane Havens
(https://soundcloud.com/diane-havens)
Trackpicture: Steve Mehta
Music: flowermouth

Re Entry (feat. Diane Havens)

Download this track FreeGratis:
http://www.darlingside.com/whitehorses

Written, Arranged, and Performed by Darlingside (D. Mitchell-A. Mukharji-H. Paseltiner-D. Senft)

Produced by Darlingside and Dan Cardinal

Engineered and Mixed by Dan Cardinal
Assistant Engineer: Ariel Bernstein

Recorded and Mixed at Dimension Sound Studios (Jamaica Plain, Ma)
Additional recording by Darlingside at home (Watertown, Ma) and on a hill somewhere (Pownal, Vt)

Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering (Boston, Ma)
Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice

Artwork: "Downward" (detail) by Barbara Takenaga
(Adjusted to black and white)
2012, Acrylic on wood panel
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York

℗ & © 2015 Darlingside All Rights Reserved
Darlingside Music Publishing (ASCAP)

White Horses

A reading of Kipling's classic poem about  manhood. Reading and music by Rajiv Hasan

If - Poem by Rudyard Kipling - read by Rajiv Hasan

Today, it's been three months since the loss of a remarkable man gone to soon holding up a mirror to our frail society Wassyl #Slipak. I would like to honour his memory with the following words:

Taras Shevchenko, poem "Song" 
(Dumka "Teche voda v synje more")

The  waters  flow  down  to  the  sea
And  never  more  return;
A  Cossack  goes  to  seek  his  fortune,
—  Fortune  there  is  none.
The  Cossack  journeys  far  away
Where  dance  the  dark  blue  waves,  —
Like  them  the  Cossack’s  heart  is  dancing,
But thought  speaks  and  says:
“Where  do  you  journey,  without  asking?
To  whose  care  abandoned
Father,  and  your  dear  old  mother,
And  a  fair  young  maiden?
In  foreign  parts  the  folk  are  strange,
And  hard  to  live,  indeed,
Among them ;  — none  to  share  your  tears,
No  one  with  whom  to  speak”.
The  Cossack  sits  there  on  the further
Shore  —  the  blue  waves  dance.
He dreamed  that  he would find  good  fortune:
Sorrow  crossed  his  path.
And the cranes  fly  in  long  skeins
Towards  the  furtheh  shore.
The  Cossack  weeps  —  the  beaten  tracks
Are  overgrown  with  thorns.


Taras Shevchenko
"Dumka / "Teche voda v synje more""
(Думка/"Тече вода в синє море")
1838, S - Peterburg (С.- Петербург)

Translated by Vera Rich

Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko, “N. N. (Meni trynadtsiatyi mynalo…),”
Zibrannia tvoriv u 6 tomakh, Кyiv: Naukova dumka,
2003, p. 36–37.

Source:
Taras Shevchenko. Works. Volume 12. Shevchenko's poetry in translations.
Edited  by  Bolidan  Krawciw.  Printed by  Mykola Denysiuk Printing Company
Chicago,  Illinois  —  USA, 1963,  page 33

Image: Wassyl Slipak from the archive of Wassyl Slipak Foundation

Sonia Vilim recites the Poem Song "Teche voda v synje more" by Taras Shevchenko

For Independence Day. The opening and closing paragraphs of the document that started it all.

Excerpt from The Declaration of Independence 1776 (Diane Havens)

Diane Havens