Welcome back to Late Boomers! We’re your hosts, Cathy Worthington and Merry Elkins, and this week we are thrilled to welcome an extraordinary guest who truly embodies the power of reinvention—Michelle Danner. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to start something new, get ready to challenge that belief.

In this uplifting conversation, we sit down with acclaimed acting teacher, director, and creative powerhouse Michelle Danner. Michelle has coached Hollywood stars, founded Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, and seamlessly transitioned from performer and teacher to entrepreneur and filmmaker—with films like Miranda’s Victim, The Italians, and Under the Stars streaming now. She joins us to share her wisdom about creativity, discipline, and finding the courage to pursue new passions at any stage.

We dive deep into Michelle’s unique approach to teaching through her “Golden Box” method, her journey through multiple genres and careers, and her personal experiences growing up surrounded by visionary mentors (including her father, president of the William Morris Agency in Paris!). Michelle’s stories will inspire you to rewrite your next chapter with confidence.

Key Takeaways:

1. It’s Never Too Late to Reinvent: Michelle is living proof that there’s no expiration date on growth. Whether it’s stepping behind the camera for the first time or learning a new craft, her philosophy is to stay open to possibilities and never give in to fear or limiting beliefs.
2. Lessons from the Greats: Discover the priceless techniques Michelle learned from icons like Stella Adler and Uta Hagen—and how she customizes her approach to empower every individual.
3. The Power of Passion & Work Ethic: Michelle reveals the qualities successful actors (and all high achievers) share: relentless work ethic and true passion. She encourages us all to keep moving forward, even (and especially) when it feels hard.
4. Balancing a Dynamic Life: From parenthood to professional juggling, Michelle shares her real-life strategies for organization, including her love of making (very long!) lists and her recent tech upgrades for staying on top of her creative chaos.
5. Living with Heart & Integrity: Michelle’s family stories: Growing up with a risk-taking, people-first father and watching her parents’ unique approaches to aging taught her the value of adventure, kindness, and not worrying about what others think.
6. Practical Self-Care for Energy: Listen in as she shares how swimming, stretching, and even the latest in cellular wellness keep her energized for all her endeavors.

If today’s episode inspires you to embrace your next chapter, we would love to hear from you! Follow the Late Boomers podcast on your favorite platform and leave us a review—your feedback fuels our mission to bring you stories of reinvention and hope. Share this episode with a friend who needs that nudge to try something new or step boldly into their “third act.”

Remember, it’s never too late to boom. We can’t wait for you to join us as we continue showcasing remarkable stories each week. For more episodes and resources, visit our website at LateBoomers.us or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major podcast sites.

— Cathy & Merry

Welcome to Late Boomers, our podcast guide to creating your third act with style, power and impact. Hi, I'm Kathy Worthington.

And I'm Elkins. Join us as we bring you conversations with successful entrepreneurs, entertainers and people with vision who are making a difference in the world.

Everyone has a story and we'll take you along for the ride on each interview, recounting the journey our guests have taken taken to get where they are, inspiring you to create your own path to success. Let's get started. Welcome to the Late Boomers podcast where we bring you inspiring stories of people creating powerful new chapters in life. I'm Kathy Worthington.

And I'm Elkins. And today we're talking about something every Late Boomer can relate to, reinvention and also creativity and the courage to keep building a meaningful life, no matter how many chapters we've already written.

Exactly. Our guest this week, Michelle Danner, is a shining example of that. She's someone who hasn't had just one successful career. She's had several performer, teacher, director, entrepreneur. She's constantly evolving, and that's what's so exciting.

Late Boomers are at a stage in life where we've collected wisdom, experience, and very important humor and maybe a bit of fear, too, about making big changes. Michelle's journey reminds us that it's never too late to master new skills or launch into a new passion.

Yes. And she teaches actors to use every tool they have. That's a form of empowerment. Imagine if we applied that to our own lives, using everything we've learned to create something new and instead of telling ourselves we're too old for anything.

And her filmmaking career is another great reminder. She's built an academy, trained amazing talent, raised children, and then stepped behind the camera to direct films with top tier actors. That's the kind of energy we want to bring to our listeners.

Absolutely. Reinvention isn't just possible, it's exhilarating. And Michelle shows it can be done with creativity, discipline, humor and heart.

You're going to love this conversation.

Yes. Our guest today is an extraordinary, multi hyphenate, acclaimed acting teacher, founder of the Creative center for the Arts and the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, director of multiple feature films and longtime coach to some of Hollywood's most recognizable stars.

And her newest romantic comedy, or one of her newest, is called the Italians and. And it's currently streaming on Amazon Prime. And she's just wrapped under the Stars with Toni Collette and Andy Garcia, which is streaming as well. And she's also the director of Miranda's Victim, starring Abigail Breslin and an incredible ensemble cast.

As someone trained by legends like Stella Adler and UTA Hagen, she's crafted her own technique, the golden box, while while continuing to teach and mentor the next generation of actors.

She's a true force in the entertainment industry and a brilliant example of continued growth and creative expansion. Michelle Danner, welcome to Late Boomers.

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

It's great to have you.

Yes. Michelle, to start out, you've built such a multi layered career. What drives you to keep reinventing yourself creatively?

Well, I think a certain passion for telling stories that are meaningful to me and hopefully to others in different genres. I'm always very fascinated by mysteries, real life mysteries. So when they approach me to direct Miranda's Victim, I was like, well, they must know that I watch all the datelines and the 48 hours, all those shows which ironically enough, my whole entire life I got so much, you know, my family was like, oh, you're watching one of those shows again? And then, you know, sure enough, this big, you know, crime, true biotic biopic, crime story was offered to me in Miranda's Victim. But I also love comedies and I love romance and, and so, you know, I love different genres. There is not a genre that I don't like. Maybe I'll never direct a western. That's probably possible, but you never know. You never know.

Have you even done horror films?

You know, I directed a psychological thriller that had a little horror in it, bad impulse. But I think the criticism was that I didn't use enough blood. So I don't know.

Gross.

My son is my son. I will produce a horror movie, his first movie that he's wrapping the screenplay on. We're gonna get it done. And so although I don't know that I'll direct it, I'll certainly champion it in my. In my son, future filmmaker.

And that's a horror film.

Yeah, well, that's a horror film. People are gonna die in a gruesome way.

Oh, lots of blood in that one, huh?

Yeah, I don't think. But I always have a thing about blood, though, when I watch it. I always like the shade of blood. You know, what's real.

That's a good point.

I always go, that looks like tomato blood. That does not look real. This one's a little too. This color, you know, that's really the real blood. Really gets you, I think.

Oh, I hope you're not stabbing your actors for it.

Well, definitely not.

So you learned from icons like Stella Adler and UTA Hagen. What were the most powerful lessons you learned from them that you still use today?

Well, from Stella was, you know, wonderful teacher and she. Her script analysis. I took a class called Script Interpretation. It was in the 50s off Lexington Avenue. It was a theater, and she sat on the throne and all these actors showed up. I think it was on a Monday at 5 o'. Clock. And she broke down Ibsen and Strindberg and Eugene o' Neill and Tennessee Williams.

And it was fascinating. I learned so much about going in depth and really doing the analysis of a script and the research that it takes. Utah Hagen was, you know, all these exercises, these entrance, exit exercises, the nuts and bolts of technique. That's what I learned from her. But along the way, I also met some other wonderful teachers that have passed away, such as Steven Strompel, who used to teach at HB Studios. I did also study with Herbert Bergdorf and I studied with Bill Esper. And I was always very fascinated with. With the craft of acting.

And so I took a lot of classes when I was a teenager. I was sitting there taking copious notes. I still have those notebooks, and they've aged, of course, those notebooks. But actually, now that I'm saying this, I should probably make copies of them. But it was extraordinary information. And I just had a fascination with the craft of acting, the different philosophies of acting, what it took to bring to life a character that would, you know, be absolutely just fascinating to its core.

Do you use those lessons on the set when you're. When you're directing?

You can't. The skills that you have as an acting teacher are different than when you're on set. I'm sure it helps. Every actor that comes on set knows that I'm also an acting teacher. And so some of them are grateful for that, and some of them get a little intimidated because maybe they feel I X ray them with a certain eye, which I probably do. But there's no time on set to be teaching acting. You better cast it well so you can offer some insights, some notes that can hopefully, you know, bring the next take to another level.

Yeah, I get that. I'm an actor too, and I took gazillion classes with all different types of teachers. So I really relate to what you're saying. And you developed a method called Golden Box, which apparently gives actors a very wide toolkit. So what inspired you to develop that?

It was, I think, my inner belief that not one method was, you know, by itself the only one. So when I was Sitting in star Adler's class, doing work in her class. And she always, obviously encouraged actors to use their imagination and not their personal life. I would defy and use my personal life, and it worked really well. And when I was in an acting class where, you know, Stanislavski class, where we talked about the method and only using your personal life, I would. I was rebellious and used my imagination, and that worked really well, too. So agreed to the conclusion that you had to embrace every methodology and you had to stay open to finding ways, you know, to make choices depending on what the character is and depending what the medium is, if you're in front of the camera or if you're on stage or, you know, you make those choices. I think that the more knowledge the actor today has to read every technique and try things and see what works best for them, I don't think there's a cookie cutter thing.

Everybody come to the middle and be the same. This is what we teach in our school. We very much customize a program designed for the individual. Every actor has their own uniqueness, and we have to see what. What works for them.

Can you give us an example of that? Because if every actor has his or her own uniqueness, how would you tailor your golden box method to them?

Well, for instance, you know, if somebody comes and says, you know, I don't really. I've had a tough childhood, and I don't want to use that. I don't want to use my personal triggers. Well, then, you know, maybe Meisner is a. We have a, you know, program where we have Meisner classes. That could be a good class. You know, there's a teacher that teaches very much, you know, the Stella Adler method. So that could be a good class.

We would think, shy away from them working on the Stanislavski method, on the Lee Strasberg method, where you use, you know, effective memories that have to do with your personal life. Or maybe you just needed a little improvisation to get out of their head and realize that, you know, when you get out of your head and use your imagination, you don't have to go, I gotta find something in my personal life that works. You can go.

Right, right.

Flow of what you know, the moment is.

That is so interesting. Thank you for that.

Yeah.

Just to pivot a bit. Many late boomers feel like it's too late to start something new. And for you, you continue to start new things. What would you say to someone who wants to reinvent but feels stuck or even afraid?

Well, I think. I mean, I've watched this in my parents, you know, my father never felt that it was too late. He would just try anything until the very end. I thought that was a great way to age, to not give yourself limitations, especially. The great thing about aging is really stopping to care about what other people think.

Oh, I love that.

Just really don't really care. Even now, you know, I have a movie that's out and there's good reviews. Great. And there's bad reviews. Fine. I don't care. I really don't care. You know, that I think that that's one of the great.

And my mother never wanted to try anything. My father would go everywhere until the very last moment. He would just go anywhere, travel, even at the last moment. We're going to take a road trip and go to Santa Barbara. And she never wanted to try anything new. But, you know, it worked for her. I mean, she lived until 87. She preserved herself and she took care of herself in a different way, but she felt that there were limitations.

So I really watched my two parents age with two complete different philosophies of life. And looking at both of them, I certainly thought it would be more fun to embrace the first one.

Sounds like it to me, too. For sure.

I'm curious, though. Did you first emulate your mom and then your dad, or were you always just like your dad?

I think I was always like my dad. We're four girls. My dad always said I was the one that was the most like him. To give you a little context, my dad became the president of the William Morris agency in the 60s, and he opened the very first offices in Paris, France. And so we moved to Paris. We ended up in this beautiful castle in the outskirts of Paris. Paris. Oh.

And every weekend, it seemed like we took visitors to Versailles, to the Palais of Versailles. And my dad would take me to work all the time. I play under his desk. I was privy to huge stars coming in into the office, talking about their careers and their vision boards. And when I became a teenager, I started to work with my dad. Very much what my son is doing now, so it's being passed down from generation to generation. And so I worked with my dad and I traveled with my dad. And, you know, it was great time.

I'll always cherish that. I learned so much from him and the way he was. He was a very liked person. People really respected him and liked him, and he was very human. Even though he did a lot of business, humanity was the most important thing to him. And I've watched business partners, you know, screw him over. But he never, never did. He always had a code of conduct that had an incredible integrity.

So, yeah, and he really was a people's person. He really helped people. He was connected to people. He would talk to strangers and help them. And he was honest to a fault. Once he found a suitcase in a taxi cab in New York City with $10,000 in it. And they were like unmarked bills, like smaller bills. He could have kept it, but he turned, he turned it in.

And at the time, remember, it was the 60s, so $10,000, I don't know, is what, maybe $100,000.

Wow, that was a lot of money then.

Yeah, he was kind of a person, but also he was.

What was his full name?

Alexander Valdez. He changed his name because during the war his family fled to Lima, Peru. So his real name was Keller. His father and his brother died in concentration camps. He and his other brother took the ship and went to Lima, Peru and had their childhood there. But my father left fairly young and he traveled and he didn't do the mail room at the William Morris. He was so talented and full of ideas and entrepreneurial that they immediately asked him to open the office and be the president of the.

From the mail room. That's a big step.

No, but he didn't.

No, he didn't do the mail room.

Oh, he didn't.

He was a great dad. He would pick me up, you know, once in the eighth grade he came especially. He was in Tokyo, closing of deal. But it was my first day of school and he came especially to take me for my first day of school and then turned around and went right back to the airport to go finish the deal. And I remember he traveled a lot during my childhood and he always called me and he always remembered about that test and that was, you know, birthday party I went to. He was a very hands on dad, even though he traveled a lot.

Very special. Well, tell us about your film. The Italians with such a joyful, romantic vibe. What drew you to that story?

Well, you know, spoiler alert at the end, the last card of the movie, it says, from my mother, Loredana. So my mother was born in Milano, Italy. And you know, she inspired this story. Lisa Visca wrote the play and then I inspired her to write the screenplay in turn. And it's a beautiful story about a family that holds grudges. They, you know, fight. I always say in my family, when you sat down for dinner, you never knew exactly when the spaghetti was going to fly. But, you know, at a certain point there was going to and it's the same in the Italians.

But ultimately, even with all that craziness and that, you know, dysfunction and that fighting, love is always at the core of it. And when there's love, there's the ability to forgive. And those themes drew me to the story of the Italians. I think it's important. Life is short, so you have to find a way to reconcile and to forgive and to let you know, bygones be bygones. And so I really liked the story, and I like working a lot of times with the same actors. So me and Rob Estes had done a play 20 years back in LA called the Rose Tattoo by Teneci Williams. And that play had not been produced in 18 years.

And him and I, you know, carved out a wonderful relationship on stage. We had great chemistry. And so he was the first person that I thought of to play Vincenza. So when I called him and he said, yes, it was very thrilling to reprise that chemistry that we had on stage 20 years back. I mean, nobody knew we were going to have it or not have it in front of the camera. But it did work out for us. We were both very happy to play tennis and have fun.

And you were in it. So how did you direct yourself?

I was in it. And I have a great village around me. I have my sisters, they work with me, and so they were behind the camera. My son, my best friend, who I've produced with for 30 years, Brian Drillinger. I have a great team. My editor, Teferi Seyfou. My director of photography, Federico Verardi, who I'd worked with before my first ad, Marco. My production designer, Alessandra Manias.

My costume designer, Larray Wilson. I mean, I have people that I've worked with. I just wrapped a film here in LA a week ago, Starstruck, a romantic comedy about astrology. Rob is in it. Rob Estes. Matthew Daddario, who also plays the sun in the Italians, is in it. And a lot of my same crew is there, working right down to my wonderful second ad, Wesley. So.

So I love. Or my script supervisor, Kennedy. I love working with the same people. You find a shorthand to connect each other.

Yeah, you and Steven Spielberg, same crew all the time. And I was going to ask you. That leads right into the next question. I was thinking about asking you about the ensemble that you work with. And obviously you work with an ensemble crew, but what about your actors? How do you approach guiding actors who already have big careers and strong identities?

Well, it's interesting, you know, Miranda's victim It was actually Donald Sutherland. It was his last movie. And he wanted me, for me to talk and give him feedback. I was like, what am I going to tell Donald Sutherland? Are you kidding? There's nothing that I'm ever going to tell him. What will I say? I just finished working with Billy Zane and, you know, he looked at me and goes, notes. And he's worked a ton, and he's a wonderful actor. Andy Garcia. You know, I just did a movie that's out actually this week.

Toni Collette and Andy Garcia in Italy, in Puglia. And, you know, it was great to have a front seat watching them work, but I. I think that every wonderful actor needs a third eye, so they welcome feedback. You just have to know what to say, when to say it, how to say it.

Well, we know that Miranda's Victim deals with an intense true story. You referred to that a little earlier and apparently kind of changed the justice system. So what compelled you to take on a film with such emotional weight?

I was absolutely fascinated by the story. It had never been told. The movie that I had done prior to that, the Runner, the first scene in the movie, this teenager gets arrested for drugs. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. And I never questioned, where did that come from, ever. And of course, it came from that Miranda ruling in 19. I think 65, 7.

And what year? Well, the crime occurred in 1963, but then the Supreme Court reversed it. And now it's not fresh in my mind if it's 65 or 67.

Yeah.

But the story, the movie Miranda's Victim, which you can see everywhere, including hulu, spans from 1963, when the crime occurred, to 1973, which is when Miranda dies. It's an interesting period piece, true story, and something that changed completely how people got arrested not only in the United States, but all over the world as well. They had their own variation of the Miranda rights. And it's interesting because the Miranda rights, you think you don't know who Miranda is. You think maybe that's the victim, but it's not the victim. They should rename it, you know.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, That's.

I think that very few people are aware of it. We just take it for granted now. That is a huge.

But I have heard in British crime stories, a different version. They have a different version of the same version. Yeah. So I guess other countries have that.

They have their own version of it. Yes.

Yeah.

This was what gave birth to it. People being read their rights and letting them know they have the right to an attorney. They have the right to remain silent. So I was happy to tell the story. I mean, what were the chances of finding a story that had never been told? But that's because who had happened to Patricia Weir she hadn't wanted in 60 years. She remained silent. So finally she decided it's time to tell the story. And she gave the rights to George Colber, who really discovered the story.

He had the idea of telling it, to tell the story. And he is the one that spearheaded everything and wrote it, wrote the story, and was the producer of it.

Fantastic.

Yeah, thanks. Pivoting again here. Balancing teaching and directing and parenting is. It's superhuman. How do you do it? What's your secret to managing such a dynamic life?

Well, it's interesting. You should just ask that every time people ask me that. I've always said I make very good lists. But a week ago, I got very frustrated because I have a lot of lists and I have to go back on my list. And I said, I have to have a better system. I don't have a good system with my lists. So I tried doing it on the iPad, but that didn't work very well. So I just got an electronic notebook.

So I started to put my lists on this electronic notebook. I think it's going to work really well. I'm actually really excited about it. You know, you just write it and it saves. And there's like a lot of them. I. I try to wake up every morning and stay very organized in my thoughts and make sure that I get done what needs to get done. I don't like to talk too much about doing things.

I only like to do them. I'm not long winded in terms of.

You know, so it's a lot of compartmentalization. You think? Think.

Yeah, I have a. You know, people are helping me. I just. To this person, I sit down with them, I regroup. I said, you work on this, this, and this, and you work on this, this and that, and.

Yeah, he must have very long lists.

I have very long lists and I have long relationships. Just now, my assistant just crossed, and she's been with me for a decade. And that's also unheard of. Who hangs on to an assistant for over 10 years? I mean, some people do, obviously, but in Hollywood, it's really hard.

Yeah.

Because people move on all the time.

For sure. For sure. Well, you've coached stars like Salma Hayek, Gerard Butler, Chris Rock and Penelope Cruz. What qualities do you see in successful actors that everyone, at any age can Learn from.

That's a great question. Incredible work ethic. Incredible.

Ah, yeah, there's a.

There's a very strong work ethic. You do it when you don't want to do it. And I always say, I never want to do anything but push myself to do it all. I mean, the last three weeks have been particularly, you know, busy because I did two weeks of filming and then I went into the American film market here in LA to do meetings. And those are exhausting. I mean, one after the other. But, you know, you do it because you have some sort of a vision for something that you want to accomplish. And if you have the energy, which I do, knock wood, you know, to put one foot in front of the other and get it done.

So that's something you see in all those people. Is the work ethic the main thing I do well?

The work ethic and the passion. Passion. True passion.

Yeah, that's true. Do you have any recipe that you can give our listeners on your energy and how you maintain it?

I do a lot of different things. I really do. I throw the kitchen sink at it and more. So, you know, obviously I tried to work out, although I've always had. I've always battled the weight problem my whole life, so. But it's better today than ever. I try to work out. I do Pilates, I do.

I swim every day. That's a huge life savior for me. Wherever I travel in the world, I make sure there's a pool where I can swim in the morning. I like to swim at some point in the afternoon, and I like to swim in the evening before going to sleep.

That's kind of a meditation, isn't it?

Yeah, that really helps me. And I stretch, I do a lot of stretching because I don't want to age in a stiff way. So I. I do the infrared sauna, I do the oxygen. And now, as of lately, these last few years, I've been doing this nad, you know, iv, which people talk about. And I mean, do I notice a visible, like change? I don't know. But I do have energy, so I, I must say. And also I don't get sick as I used to because I.

What does the NAD stand for?

It's something that replenishes your cells. I had my sisters look into it. They say it's really good. It comes also in form of pills and shots and, you know, liquid. So. But they say it replenishes your cells and it's really good for aging. So, you know, I do that. I mean, I'm lucky I have obviously good skin, but it's a combination of things.

But I'm constantly trying to do things that will give me energy.

I want to talk a little bit about under the Stars, because I watched it and it was such fun and a real. I'm going to use the word pivot again, but a pivot from Miranda's, you know, your movie about Miranda, the Miranda rights. And what was that experience like? And filming in Italy certainly had to have been wonderful. It was such a beautiful backdrop. So what was that experience like? And what would you want viewers new and returning to pay attention to as they watch it?

Well, it's a nice, easy romance story to watch. They had me at Puglia again. This was offered to me and I got a call saying, how would you like to shoot a movie in Italy in Puglia? Now you have to know. My whole childhood, I've always heard Puglia, Puglia, Puglia ad nauseam. And I was like, I had never gone. I'd never gone to Puglia. So I was like, oh, that's kind.

Of a miracle in itself then.

Yeah, that's right. It was historical city, the city of Leche in Puglia. So I was like, okay. And then so I got the script. The. The storyline of Toni Collette and Andy Garcia was non existent in the script. Right. But I had just finished watching the Golden Bachelor season one, which you have to know that I've never watched the reality show.

It's the only reality show I've ever watched.

That was my same story. I watched that, and I had never watched any of those shows before. We share that in common. And I don't want to watch any more now.

I. I don't.

I'm done.

I thought, oh, well, you know, be nice to not just tell the love story of a young couple. Let's also juxtapose and tell the story of a more mature couple. So I created that whole thing and then called Andy and said, andy, read this and do you know, is this interesting? He said, yes. Then we get Toni Collette, Alex Pettifer, Iva di Domenici, a lot of Italian actors. Of course, you know, I'm shooting, I'm in Puglia, shooting, and all of a sudden I look at my phone and the news is, the Golden Bachelor couple gets divorced. As I've created this whole hopeful relationship in your middle age. I was like, oh, irony of life. But, you know, it's just a beautiful setting and it's.

And it's a love story. Now I also a movie that Inspired me for that movie was Before Sunrise, Julie Dalton and Nathan Hawke. And so I'm on a school trip with my child a few months ago, and it's pitch dark, and there's a campfire and people are playing music. And all of a sudden I hear a woman with a French accent behind me speaking. And I turn around and it's Julie Delphi. And I said to her, well, you're not going to believe this. I said, I'm doing the editing on this movie, under the Stars. But your movie, Before Sunrise, about two people falling in love, inspired me for under the Stars.

And so, you know, she. We had a nice conversation. But, yeah, that was.

That was a beautiful film.

I love that film. Yeah. Before Sun. I love, Love.

Amazing.

Yes. That whole trilogy. Absolutely. So, anyway, so, you know, I hope people like under the Stars. It's just hitting the platforms this week, so I. I hope people like it and.

Yeah, that's good. What platforms is it on?

We need romances these days.

Yeah. Easy stuff to watch. There's so much heavy stuff. I did go to the DGA yesterday and saw a movie that won the Palme d', or, the Festival de Cannes. An accident. Something Iranian filmmaker that is making the movie. Hiding from the Government. Very important, you know, good film, but heavy.

You walked out. I had nightmares all night. So I think we have to balance it with the lighter stuff, you know?

Yes. You're absolutely so right in doing that and bringing that to the public. And you've mentored so many aspiring artists. So what advice do you give young and not so young filmmakers about starting in the industry today?

Take the time to learn the craft and don't want it to be patient. Don't feel like you have to get on the fast lane. It's okay. I always do this analogy, you know, when I'm driving and somebody passes me because I'm going too slow, and I may very well be going too slow, but they muscularize and they honk and they pass me and we both end up at the light. That's same time.

Yeah.

So then, you know, why did you muscularize and get all upset when you could have gotten there? Anyway, I remember it was a documentary when I was raising my kids that I watched called the Race to Nowhere, which was, you know, you don't have to, you know, you take it easy. That's something. That's a message that my dad, I think, instilled in me as well.

Beautiful. I love that.

That's a great point. You inspire me of so many creative projects and Passions. So what's next, Michelle, for you? And also, how are you navigating your current stage of life as you keep expanding into new chapters?

Well, I tried to stay open to every possibility. I. My family's in New York, so during the holidays I go to New York. But this, of course, is also the time where it brings up having lost your parents, which is always a hard time when you realize you're an orphan and you've lost both of them. But I have two wonderful kids. I have a great family. I go to New York and I see tons of theater. And we all go and do things, go to museums, we go to the movies, we play games.

We're very strong family life around me, lots of love. So that brings me a lot of joy. And, yeah, just try and navigate everything in the moment as much as possible. And then, of course, I have a movie that I'm in the editing room for, Starstruck, a rom com about astrology, super fun, like, really funny. And then I'm prepping for a movie that I'm going to shoot next year called Helios, which is a sci fi thriller. And people are calling me and offering things and I'm reading scripts and I'm, you know, preparing. And there's. I think there's a song that my sister played when we drove down to Laguna beach, which is one of my very favorite places in the world.

And the song is the Best is Yet to Come. And so I really believe that. I believe that as good as it's been, the best is yet to come.

Oh, I play that song a lot. I love it. Sounds like you're very comfortable in your stage of life now, but looking forward constantly still. And thank you so much for joining us today. Your passion and your creativity and your constant reinvention are so inspiring.

Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for inspiring us, too. And to our listeners. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us on the Late Boomers podcast and leave us a review and share it with someone who needs a little motivation to start their next chapter. Thank you, Michelle.

We bring you new.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

We bring you new conversations every week with people proving there's no expiration date on reinvention.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for tuning in. And remember, it's never too late to boom.

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