How Josh Lucas Landed His First L.A. Agent Thanks to Backstage

The following interview for Backstage’s on-camera series The Slate was compiled in part by Backstage readers just like you! Follow us on Twitter (@Backstage) and Instagram (@backstagecast) to stay in the loop on upcoming interviews and to submit your questions.

Josh Lucas’ 30 years onscreen has notched more than a few memorable film performances: “Ford v. Ferrari,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “American Psycho,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “J. Edgar,” “Glory Road,” and the list goes on. His latest, “Murderous Trance,” is one of his darkest yet (and one based on a true murder mystery!). But as he says with a smile: “We all know that it’s the most fun to play bad guys.” While he’s a stalwart of the screen and New York stage, what you might not have known is that Lucas credits Backstage with landing him the audition that earned him his first agent! So with our recent Instagram Live interview serving as a reunion of sorts, he took the time to chat about his early days in the industry, lessons learned along the way, and the struggles all actors (even him!) are facing through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Lucas credits Backstage with connecting him with his first agent.  
“When I first got to Los Angeles, I got my first copy of Backstage and it had all the cast listings and things like that—it was a newspaper back at the time. And they said, ‘Actors wanted of a certain age and blah, blah blah,’ and I drove my headshot over to the place, I had the address through your magazine at the time, and dropped it off, and the lady was like, ‘You’re not supposed to drop that off in person, you’re supposed to send it in.’ And, anyway, she took it and she was the assistant receptionist there, and gave it to the casting director, and the casting director was Janet Hirshenson. Janet Hirshensen was Steven Spielberg’s casting director, her and Jane Jenkins. And they brought me in, and I almost got that movie. Then they said, ‘Hey, look, who’s your agent?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t have an agent.’ They’re like, ‘Oh, well, let us make a few phone calls for you.’ And so, I owe you an agent! I owe you my first jobs.” 

He is often attracted to playing real people.  
“If you look back at my résumé, the things I’m drawn to most are true stories, because truth is always stranger than fiction. And so with that comes oftentimes an amazing amount of research; it becomes an amazing amount of responsibility. And when you can talk to people or really get into and read about someone’s life, I find that to be the most rewarding because you always end up, at least in my experience, having compassion or empathy for the person. This character [in ‘Murderous Trance’] was a little different ’cause he was so disturbing. But Charles Lindbergh, for example, when I did the Clint Eastwood movie with DiCaprio, going and reading the biographies and books about him, it’s just so rewarding.”

READ: The Definitive Guide the Meisner
Technique

He relies on his acting technique both on and off the clock.
“I use Meisner as much in my acting life as I do in my personal life. I mean, Meisner really is about listening and trying to be as present and truthful as possible as you listen to somebody and as you try and understand what they’re feeling and thinking. And I’ll tell ya, I probably use it in my personal relationships as much or more than my acting relationships.”

Actors: You don’t need to take yourself so seriously!
“The idea [is to] take the work super seriously and take yourself less seriously. I really think I found myself struggling as a young actor, like, ‘I’m serious, I’m serious,’ and it’s like, ‘Eh, that didn’t help me at all.’ But what did help me was taking the work seriously. I’ve done two movies with Christian Bale, who I think is easily one of the greatest actors on earth, and that guy—he’s a wonderful guy. He’s humble, and he’s incredibly serious about what he does as work and his process, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. And that’s it. And I’ve found the greatest actors I’ve worked with in my life can be a lot of fun and can be really good, gentle people.”

Find creativity wherever you can during this time.
“Look, we can’t act right now, per se. We can’t be onstage, we’re not making movies. So, it’s finding creativity through other outlets. I think people right now have the tools to write themselves something, you know, to just be brainstorming with friends. I think the idea of feeding yourself as much creativity that is going to be in the future, believing that there will be, is the thing that’s gonna shift things for all of us.”