Riley Keough, Emily Blunt, Kathryn Hahn and more reveal their particular set of skills
LOS ANGELES — Acting is a skill that often requires performers to master several new skills before they're able to bring a story to life. "I had to learn to ride a horse," Emily Blunt says of her role as the aristocratic Lady Cornelia Locke in Prime Video's revisionist western, "The English." "But I'm wildly allergic to horses. There was a lot of antihistamine involved." Murray Bartlett never really thought of himself as a dancer ("I'm more of a mover," he joked), but he learned to gyrate like an 1980s burlesque star for his role as choreographer Nick De Noia in Hulu's "Welcome to Chippendales." And Riley Keough had to sing live, in front of casting agents, if she hoped to land the lead role in Prime's rock 'n' roll drama "Daisy Jones & the Six." "I had just learned to sing, like, a week before my audition process," she said. "It was the first time in my life I had ever taken a shot of whiskey before an audition."
Even more terrifying? Niecy Nash-Betts and Paul Walter Hauser studied the worst impulses of human nature to immerse themselves in the twisted world of serial killers Jeffery Dahmer and Larry Hall for their respective parts in Netflix's "Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" and Apple TV+'s "Black Bird." And Kathryn Hahn is currently practicing the dark arts for her upcoming Marvel series, "Agatha: Coven of Chaos," after having finished up the gripping Hulu drama "Tiny Beautiful Things."
These six well-respected actors gathered in late April for The Envelope Limited Series Roundtable to share stories about the new skills they've picked up on set, what it takes to recover from intense scenes and scaring yourself.
[These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.]
Q: What's the weirdest skill you've ever learned for a role?
Riley Keough: I had to paint cockroaches in a film … with nail polish.
Kathryn Hahn:
