The Intent to Live by Larry Moss Summary

The Intent to Live is Larry Moss's comprehensive acting textbook that teaches actors how to deliver authentic, emotionally compelling performances. The book explores foundational acting techniques including given circumstances, superobjectives, emotional triggers, and character analysis. Moss shares methods he developed over thirty years to help actors "set their emotions, imagination, and behavior on fire" by teaching them to truly live in their roles rather than simply perform.

Larry Moss is a renowned acting coach who has trained Academy Award winners and nominees including Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry), Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets), and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street). He studied under legendary teachers Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, and Warren Robertson, taught at Juilliard and Circle in the Square, and founded The Larry Moss Studio in Los Angeles. His expertise spans over thirty years of developing actors' craft.

The Intent to Live is essential for professional actors, aspiring performers, acting students, and anyone seeking deeper insight into the craft of acting. The book benefits stage, television, and film actors who want to create more authentic, emotionally truthful performances. Even non-actors interested in understanding acting greatness or character analysis will find the book instructive and inspiring, as it provides detailed examples from classic and contemporary plays and films.

The Intent to Live is considered a definitive acting textbook that has influenced Academy Award-winning performances and is widely respected in the industry. The book offers practical, actionable techniques rather than abstract theory, with detailed examples from productions like Hamlet, As Good as It Gets, and Chicago. Moss's personal credo and respect for the actor's craft make every page valuable for anyone serious about developing authentic, living performances rather than merely seeming to act.

Given circumstances are the irrefutable facts about a character and their situation provided by the writer, forming the foundation of any performance. Larry Moss emphasizes thoroughly reading the text to identify these circumstances, which include the character's background, relationships, setting, and specific situation in each scene. For example, in As Good as It Gets, Melvin's given circumstances include being obsessive-compulsive, middle-aged, needing a specific table and waitress, while Carol's include being a single mother with an asthmatic son.

The superobjective is the character's overarching goal or dream that drives all their actions throughout the entire play or film. According to Larry Moss in The Intent to Live, every scene objective should connect back to this central superobjective, representing what the character ultimately wants to achieve. Moss uses President Nixon as an example, explaining his superobjective was becoming the most revered president, with each scene reflecting this driving ambition.

The System of Wants exercise encourages actors to list their daily personal wants to better understand character motivations and desires. Larry Moss designed this technique to help actors draw parallels between their own wants and their characters' objectives, enabling more authentic embodiment of roles. This exercise promotes active engagement with the character's objectives, helping actors tap into genuine desire and motivation rather than indicating or pretending, thus enhancing their portrayal of wants on stage or screen.

The Intent to Live teaches that using emotional triggers and inner imagery can evoke genuine emotions, making performances more relatable and truthful. Larry Moss provides techniques for actors to access their own emotional experiences and memories, then channel them appropriately into their character's circumstances. This approach helps actors avoid superficial emotional indication and instead create performances that appear to be "actually living" rather than merely acting, which is the core philosophy behind the book's title.

The Intent to Live includes detailed scene analysis from classic and contemporary works including Hamlet, As Good as It Gets, Chicago, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and numerous Broadway productions. Moss breaks down Helen Hunt's preparation for As Good as It Gets and Renée Zellweger's work in Chicago, explaining how given circumstances shape character choices. These vivid appreciations of great performances across stage and film help actors understand how to apply theoretical concepts to actual roles.

The Intent to Live represents Larry Moss's personal credo developed from thirty years of coaching Academy Award-winning actors, offering proven techniques rather than purely academic theory. Unlike abstract acting texts, Moss provides detailed, practical scene breakdowns from real productions, showing exactly how concepts like given circumstances and superobjectives apply to actual performances. The book's emphasis on "living" rather than "acting" and its wealth of contemporary film and theater examples make it uniquely accessible and immediately applicable.

Larry Moss studied under legendary acting teachers Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, and Warren Robertson, whose influences permeate The Intent to Live. The book synthesizes elements from various American acting traditions, including Stanislavski-based methods, while developing Moss's own distinctive approach to character analysis and emotional authenticity. His teaching at prestigious institutions like Juilliard and Circle in the Square further refined these techniques before he codified them in The Intent to Live.

The Intent to Live provides a systematic approach to building characters from the ground up, starting with given circumstances, then identifying superobjectives and scene objectives. Larry Moss teaches actors to express their character's point of view by completing statements like "My name is... [character's perspective on the world]," helping actors fully inhabit their roles. The book emphasizes recognizing how given circumstances constantly change throughout a scene or play, requiring actors to remain diligent and responsive to evolving facts and situations.