Warner Loughlin has over 20 years of coaching experience and a list of clients that is equally impressive, but the women who stands behind the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Amy Adams, Zooey Deschanel, and George Lopez — among many, many others — has spent most of her time refining a new way to act.
The Warner Loughlin Technique is geared at stripping away old school methods that simply encourage the talent to try and pull emotions from their past experience and replaces it with a depth and range that the character could have based on its own, imaged life. Her technique allows for the actors to remain natural to the role versus having to constantly re-create past traumas to conjure emotional range.
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The technique is something unique to Loughlin and is something that needs to be received as an on-going tutorial, even between roles.
“A lot of people will go, ‘Why does anyone need to keep going to a coach and class,’” she said. “It is kind of like a tennis player wouldn’t only pick up a racquet when he or she has a tournament, it is kind of the same thing.
“Every role is different, but I was with Amy and Ryan for so many years before they were kind of who they are now. So every role they approach is going to be different.”
Reynolds, now a mega star thanks to Deadpool, scuffled to find his footing with roles in The Outer Limits before Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. He then scored big in Van Wilder and Just Friends — though many thought he would be type-cast as the handsome, though bumbling, comedic actor. A failed experiment with Green Lantern and R.I.P.D saw skeptics pile on before he broke out in Self/less and Deadpool.
Adams, likewise, has had an winding road to her now unquestioned success.
Like many in the industry she took roles that were otherwise forgettable in the early going before making an impressive rise to popularity. The Wedding Date, Talladega Nights, and Charlie Wilson’s War were introductory pieces before her massive success in Enchanted. Since then she has added credits for acclaimed films like Doubt, Julia & Julia, as well as Trouble With the Curve before — like Reynolds — going into superhero films as Lois Lane in Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League.
Loughlin said that in working with her clients — both in one of her studios as well as on-set — that making sure that the message is clear and that everyone is working to the same end goal is paramount.
“I’m always very careful about a director on-set,” she said. “You don’t — well, you’re not there to take over his job — and you are not there to ruffle the feathers. You want to be there for your actor and only your actor and whatever your actor needs is what you are there for.
“So, when I go on-set, I’ll just make sure to let (the director) know, ‘This is your set.’ I will walk up to them, ‘Hi, I’m Warner Loughlin, and I just want you to know I’m here to help facilitate your vision. Whatever you need from me please le me know.’ I get them comfortable so they let me work with my actor.”
Her list of clients that were nominees and/or winners of Oscar, Tony, and Emmy Awards speaks to the quality of training that Loughlin is pioneering. She is currently on a book tour in support of The Warner Loughlin Technique: An Acting Revolution, which is available on Amazon, and there is more to learn in the video above or by visiting her website by clicking here.
