MovieMaker Minute: Bitch’s Jason Ritter and Marianna Palka on Getting Acting Feedback

Our MovieMaker Minute series of videos are brief little nuggets of inspiration and advice from some of our favorite filmmakers.

At last week’s Sundance Film Festival, we spoke with director, writer and actress Marianna Palka and actor Jason Ritter from the film Bitch, which premiered in the festival’s Midnight program. Produced by the Company X banner of Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller (the team behind SpectreVision), the film marks Palka’s second trip to Park City as a feature director after 2008 hit Good Dick, which also saw her co-starring with then-boyfriend Ritter. In Bitch, Palka plays a beleaguered wife and mother of four who undergoes a psychotic break, after which she behaves like a dog. Ritter plays her hapless husband, who is forced by those circumstances to assume a more active role in parenting their children, and learn to be more empathetic toward his wife.

In this clip, Ritter talks about receiving feedback from directors: the need for a firm and honest appraisal of a performance, which allows actors to “know where the wall is so you don’t smash your face into it.” MM