An acting coach to the stars has revealed what it’s really like to work with Hollywood’s top stars.
From Suki Waterhouse to Lionel Richie, Bernard Hiller, 61, has an impressive portfolio, working with actors to secure their Oscars for some of the biggest blockbusters of the day.
His latest project is the highly anticipated Freaky Friday reboot, which sees him team up with his longtime clients Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
In March, Jamie, 65, re-shared a photo of Lindsay, 37, 21 years after the pair played the body-swapping mother-daughter duo in the 2003 film.
In an exclusive chat with MailOnline, Bernard said: ‘Right now I’m working on a film called Freaky Friday with Lindsay, who I’ve made a lot of films with – and Jamie. I am working on the next kind of film that will allow the actor to give the best possible performance.”
An acting coach to the stars has revealed what it’s really like to work with Hollywood’s top stars
His latest project is the highly anticipated Freaky Friday reboot, in which he teams up with his longtime clients Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis
In March, Jamie, 65, re-shared a photo of Lindsay, 37, 21 years after the pair played the body-swapping mother-daughter duo in the 2003 film.
‘Real actors are unstoppable. They don’t do it because they want to, they do it because they have to. If you think: ‘should I do it, shouldn’t I do it’, then that’s already a no for you.’
Recalling a meeting with Lady Gaga, Bernard revealed that the 38-year-old singer told him she always wanted to have an acting career, but had to turn to singing instead because “nobody wanted to give me a job.”
‘Lady Gaga did A Star Is Born and I was lucky enough to be invited to the premiere in Venice.
“I’m sitting and luckily she comes over, I say ‘hi, I’m an acting coach’, she takes my hand and says ‘all my life I wanted to be an actress but no one wanted to give me that.’ a job, so I started singing.” I said, “well, that’s not so bad, you did a good job there,” but because of singing, her acting exploded.
“Lady Gaga told me that singing gave her the opportunity to actually become the actress that she is, she loves acting.”
Bernard also referenced Carey Mulligan, who was rejected from three different acting schools but is now one of Hollywood’s leading actresses.
The Great Gatsby star has received several accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.
‘Carey Mulligan told me she went to an acting school to be an actress, the first acting school she did everything and they turned her down, so she went to a second acting school, they said nevermind, and she went to a third and final drama school and they said ‘no thank you’.’
Bernard has worked with Lindsay throughout her career
From Suki Waterhouse to Lionel Richie, Bernard Hiller, 61, has an impressive portfolio and works with actors (pictured with Lionel in 2014)
Lionel and Bernard pose with an Oscar
His latest project is the highly anticipated Freaky Friday reboot, in which he teams up with his longtime clients Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis
Bernard recalls meeting Lady Gaga and reveals the singer told him she always wanted an acting career (pictured with Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born
Bernard also references Carey Mulligan, who was rejected from three different acting schools but is now one of Hollywood’s leading actresses (pictured in The Great Gatsby)
Bernard said encouraging feedback is key to bringing out the best in people.
‘There’s no reason to be cruel – I have a daughter who sang when she was five, and she said, “How was that” and I said “great!” It wasn’t great, but I knew it would be even bigger in the future – and now she’s a singer. Children need encouragement….We must learn to be kind and gentle.”
“I ask my students: Do you love yourself enough to change, do you love yourself enough to grow?
Before Bernard became an acting coach to the stars, he arrived in the US at age 11, having emigrated from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then, by his own admission, “unable to speak English.”
Talking about how his career started, he said: ‘When I started teaching, I was fortunate and lucky to meet actors like Leo DiCaprio, Sam Jackson and Al Pacino, some of them came to my class – saw what I was doing and they guessed you, I was recommended to actors they knew. I never had the pleasure of working with them myself, but I knew what was going on – I was trying to do something new, and I was lucky to have so many people supporting me.
‘Do you love yourself enough to pursue your dream? And if you don’t pursue your dream, your life will turn into a nightmare. The hardest part is not pursuing the dream – the hardest part is not pursuing it – it kills you every day.”