tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12695354256646500352024-03-13T23:09:20.477+09:00MONEY INTO LIGHTFILM INTERVIEWS, ESSAYS AND ARTICLES BY PAUL ROWLANDSPaul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-66568094816536467652023-10-05T12:25:00.003+09:002023-10-05T12:30:24.663+09:00DWAYNE EPSTEIN ON 'KILLIN' GENERALS: THE MAKING OF 'THE DIRTY DOZEN' <p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DK2q3vzSZrEsmQtvulPbhPnBcirz3auwHTnECLJQcHkpONwH9z-jMUPTKku5tE5V6l55og05aV5aWZ5T_c9tsUtmJPYwMkwFLCopS-RUW4rViA8aNNO_cuE9pRqHoesg2-dAtl_WNe_2lPYB2m5FZEdbfnWPI00rBKgQJ-i0LWjbjMHAe6KXwu0MVGnP/s363/Dwayne%20Epstein.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DK2q3vzSZrEsmQtvulPbhPnBcirz3auwHTnECLJQcHkpONwH9z-jMUPTKku5tE5V6l55og05aV5aWZ5T_c9tsUtmJPYwMkwFLCopS-RUW4rViA8aNNO_cuE9pRqHoesg2-dAtl_WNe_2lPYB2m5FZEdbfnWPI00rBKgQJ-i0LWjbjMHAe6KXwu0MVGnP/s320/Dwayne%20Epstein.jpg" width="199" /></a></i></span></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Dwayne Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography, Lee Marvin: Point Blank (2013), and his latest book is Killin' Generals: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen, the Most Iconic World War II Film of All Time', a wonderfully entertaining, educational and extensive read. Prior to writing biographies, Epstein contributed to film chronicles on a regular basis, writing for Filmfax Magazine and also about American films chosen for rediscovery for Cahiers Du Cinema's 'Serious Pleasures', which had a high profile in Europe. I spoke to Epstein about all things DIRTY DOZEN. </i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i> <br />Your last book was an extensive biography of Lee Marvin. When did the idea
of writing a book about the making of THE DIRTY DOZEN start
percolating? What was it about this movie, out of all the Marvin
movies, made you <span>want</span> to commit to
writing a book about it?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">The
short answer is it's always been a favorite film of mine. A more
involved answer has to do with the suggestion of my agent, Lee Sobel.
Once I signed with him we bandied about ideas for a subject and THE DIRTY DOZEN was like the second title to come up and we went with it.
A cobbled together a proposal and in a surprising record time, it was
sold to Kensington Press!</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>What
is your strongest memory of seeing the film for the first time? What
effect did the movie have on you?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">My earliest memory was seeing it on TV when I was a kid and they'd
show it in two parts over two successive nights. I vividly remember
exactly where they'd cut it, which was just before the war games
sequences. Could not wait until the next night to see the rest and
that happened every time it was aired.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAnnPl6HIgeuvvPzWJAsxppA-eiKvzWiSQs1koBEHVebbuG7bZ4_Wjx_yP_-Pl0znZV0kxHJJiWr6mDiGpbIDpqIbALnJe8lvL38mwTUKLOq3nY2bmOHwlLUeCgE3Twy0Mc4ORlKx1PFnl5Mnuwz3_w3f3H49avCZJ1_HI8VOtwsH4SMLbMBkgyMnosi4/s637/KIllin'%20Generals.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="453" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAnnPl6HIgeuvvPzWJAsxppA-eiKvzWiSQs1koBEHVebbuG7bZ4_Wjx_yP_-Pl0znZV0kxHJJiWr6mDiGpbIDpqIbALnJe8lvL38mwTUKLOq3nY2bmOHwlLUeCgE3Twy0Mc4ORlKx1PFnl5Mnuwz3_w3f3H49avCZJ1_HI8VOtwsH4SMLbMBkgyMnosi4/s320/KIllin'%20Generals.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><br />Upon
researching the book, what was the first bit of information that you
unearthed that made you feel like you had a bona fide interesting
book?</i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Ahh, there were many! Mostly I went by the amount of misinformation
that existed about the film that I could correct. Fans think it was
based on a true story (it wasn't); a story on social media says Lee
Marvin hated the film (he didn't); the belief that director Aldrich
lost out on an Oscar nomination because he wouldn't change the finale
(not true), and a whole lot more of similar misinformation that I was
able to disprove.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Entering
the project you must have had a general idea of what the making of
the film encompassed. To what extent did your preconceptions change
as your research furthered?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Much of what I already stated, for one thing. The changes from the
novel to the script to the finished film were also quite revelational
which I detail in the book. I was also surprised to find some of the
people involved in the film were still alive and available to be
interviewed, such as producer Ken Hyman, actors Colin Maitland, Dora
Reisser, and others. Their remembrances, which are plentiful, are all
in the book.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Which
piece of information or interview in general was the most revelatory
for you?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Without question it would have to be finding and interviewing the
talented people I got to find (not an easy task in some instances)
and appreciating their work. I always say the best part of my job is
talking to people whose work I admire, about the work I admire. It's
also the hardest as transcribing those interviews is a genuine pain.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvk4iMuaCxr3ttyyXVXq0OJxO-5arTguhbzFkQfHWTeGmJOKH3YwOjaGchNZBhOjIOp9RreU6L93aTDzMJu4Nt6n-pLw3CD4inMutMUzZUSu4VmAQLRMMGUQAbWPCUWup9cxbPrhuqtH6wTyhrcEdXtaIo6O9U8mCfVA3VhL9v4fjUyEAtJgFTvzJmLB1/s475/Dirty%20Dozen%20book.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="283" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvk4iMuaCxr3ttyyXVXq0OJxO-5arTguhbzFkQfHWTeGmJOKH3YwOjaGchNZBhOjIOp9RreU6L93aTDzMJu4Nt6n-pLw3CD4inMutMUzZUSu4VmAQLRMMGUQAbWPCUWup9cxbPrhuqtH6wTyhrcEdXtaIo6O9U8mCfVA3VhL9v4fjUyEAtJgFTvzJmLB1/s320/Dirty%20Dozen%20book.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>What
attracted Marvin the most to his role and the movie do you think?
Where do you think it fits in his rogues gallery of characters, and
his oeuvre in general?</i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">I would make the educated guess that it was probably the maverick
character of Major Reisman that attracted Marvin. It certainly wasn't
the premise of violent convicts being trained to kill Nazis. Also,
his nightmarish experiences in WWII had a lot to do with his choices.
His late son Christopher had told me that when I was working on </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Lee
Marvin: Point Blank</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">.
As to where it fits in his oeuvre I would put it at the very top.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Why
do you think he and Aldrich were such a perfect fit for this movie,
and for their future collaborations?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">They were both very much mavericks in their own way and it showed in
the work. They also got along very well and were friends outside of
work. Matter of fact, when Aldrich was in the hospital and knew he
was dying, Marvin visited him and asked if he needed anything.
Aldrich reportedly said, "Yeah, a better script."</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><br />How
do you think the film affected the careers of Marvin, Bronson,
Cassavetes and Aldrich afterwards?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">The effect for almost all involved was tremendous! Marvin was named
the number one male film star in the country. Bronson stayed in
Europe and starred in some of the best action thrillers of his
career. Aldrich made enough money to buy his own studio. Producer Ken
Hyman took over Warner Brothers/Seven Arts. In other words, THE DIRTY DOZEN's success was specifically responsible for the rocket launch of
their careers into the stratosphere.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHRFvNbbAJCsUDiPbbEpkarThUh7VJRKfeSdibCM70W4YQ1ctGUtIZjw6MeUwM6nIXb8fsIP-YZvsYJfN6GDSWcypnyKJ8MFW-6PiPXtUV1q19IgTa1Zm2io8XScbW_EoprHEL-jXps5rPcJ4K1YyyaqbE_KmS-nekipt-fkSLJ92qrEF3BJK-N5yhUw-/s1082/Dirty%20Dozen%20BTS.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHRFvNbbAJCsUDiPbbEpkarThUh7VJRKfeSdibCM70W4YQ1ctGUtIZjw6MeUwM6nIXb8fsIP-YZvsYJfN6GDSWcypnyKJ8MFW-6PiPXtUV1q19IgTa1Zm2io8XScbW_EoprHEL-jXps5rPcJ4K1YyyaqbE_KmS-nekipt-fkSLJ92qrEF3BJK-N5yhUw-/s320/Dirty%20Dozen%20BTS.jpg" width="319" /></a></i></span></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Why
do you think, in a film of many great performances, that Cassavetes
was picked out for awards attention?</i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">While I agree all the performances were great, I personally feel
Cassavetes' performance was THE standout. Actually, Jim Brown was
touted for a Best Supporting Oscar in the trades but it was
Cassavetes who nabbed the nomination, only to lose, ironically, to
his </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">DIRTY DOZEN</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"> costar,
George Kennedy, for </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">COOL HAND LUKE</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">.
By the way, THE DIRTY DOZEN had the same effect on Cassavetes' career
as it did on everybody else even though he didn't want to make the
movie at first. Once he did, it set the pattern for the rest of his
career: Make a popular film for the money and then use that money to
finance his own independent project. It resulted in his becoming the
father of American Independent Cinema.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><br />The
movie was a smash hit across the demographics. Why do you think young
audiences responded to it? Older audiences?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">I think it had a lot to do with the themes running throughout the
film that younger audiences appreciated. It was anti-social and
anti-establishment at a time when the Vietnam War was falling out of
favor. Civil unrest against the war as well as racial tensions
running high was something subtly addressed in the film. As for older
audiences, many of whom had experienced WWII, they identified with
many of the characters and the action. I've had many female
acquaintances also tell me their appreciation for the macho, all-male
cast. Seriously.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Why
do you think the movie has such a great legacy?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Q6zw_8hxuaP-hM5sBta8iHt-vLu2jeVG6tR2vSEn_-439v9XsUhsG-UR_et-x-FeClmBPF5SkZHhrer5WSITWj-GlET_SvZkTPNBHDrO-tOvsDqMTdUzpIGzi47KBY9-h1myY15Mei8eQE1feVDJBVgBoh-BQYjiMNCmR-jVy-tDMdqHe3rB9Z7CSwsy/s3000/Devil's%20Brigade.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="1900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Q6zw_8hxuaP-hM5sBta8iHt-vLu2jeVG6tR2vSEn_-439v9XsUhsG-UR_et-x-FeClmBPF5SkZHhrer5WSITWj-GlET_SvZkTPNBHDrO-tOvsDqMTdUzpIGzi47KBY9-h1myY15Mei8eQE1feVDJBVgBoh-BQYjiMNCmR-jVy-tDMdqHe3rB9Z7CSwsy/s320/Devil's%20Brigade.jpg" width="203" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Well, like all great films, it has stood the test of time while
seemingly not being dated at all in the way it tells its tale. Proof
is in the AFI listing it as 1 of the 100 Greatest War Films of
All-Time. It's just gotten better with age, which all the best do
when it comes to a lasting legacy.</span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br />What
are some of your fave DIRTY DOZEN rip-offs or films influenced by it?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;">Funny you should ask that, as I devote an entire chapter
in</span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Killin'</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"> </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Generals</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"> to
that very subject. I may have given it short shrift when I wrote
about it in that chapter based on the reviews I quoted, but I
actually liked </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"> which
came out a year after </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE DIRTY DOZEN</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;">.
Also enjoyed the original version of </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">INGLORIOUS BASTARDS</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"> (1978)
with Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson. I think that's about it.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>What
does the film mean to you personally? What kind of joy do you get
each time from revisiting it?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Personally, it's just a terrific movie in the way movies are supposed
to be terrific and don't seem to be anymore. Fascinating characters
to root for or despise, being taken into another time and place that
sucks you in from the get-go, which makes you wish you were part of
the adventure is all missing from contemporary action films. I always
thought the mistake many of the TV movie sequels made was emphasizing
the outlandish plots instead of the in-depth character development of
the original. Well, at least we'll always have the original.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Is
there anything you don't like about the movie? Could it have been
improved?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Interesting question. Maybe just a few things left unexplained that I
did discover and then explained in the book. For example, during the
war game scene, it used to drive me crazy not knowing what the dozen
were passing to each other that Borgnine sees, laughs, and then
decides to leave. At first, I thought they were thermometers or
something. Well, I did find out and it was just bad editing on
Aldrich's part not to explain it, and does make sense once I found
out. Once again, gotta read the book.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKV07r9ahAAu9C2L-jnumFexXnRwuktvEm_DjF2fjYkWEw-GVEuRjuN3RotbhXRgar-3oAQ_D6zbngPo-eSe4YwgXB5K1U48Dlm3fhJP_7DrjJcUHd_Vyps7c2iddvGuMRZoivP9B4fE8VQi0dYgeuTjaHunN2KVtU-5B4Q3zn1BhND-dWj_VXS4My_W_/s2560/Dirty%20Dozen%20Japanese.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1807" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKV07r9ahAAu9C2L-jnumFexXnRwuktvEm_DjF2fjYkWEw-GVEuRjuN3RotbhXRgar-3oAQ_D6zbngPo-eSe4YwgXB5K1U48Dlm3fhJP_7DrjJcUHd_Vyps7c2iddvGuMRZoivP9B4fE8VQi0dYgeuTjaHunN2KVtU-5B4Q3zn1BhND-dWj_VXS4My_W_/s320/Dirty%20Dozen%20Japanese.jpeg" width="226" /></a></i></span></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Do
you think the film has been misunderstood over the years? Are there
still themes and nuances you feel people miss?</i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">I think so. When it came out some critics debated the worthiness of a
film that they thought glorified violence and brutality, which I
believe is still debated to this day. As to themes and nuances that
are often missed, I would say it's in the way the dozen slowly and
believably bond as a group over the course of the film. Of course,
not all do, specifically Maggot (Telly Savalas). I just think it's an
overlooked theme in the film that works really well.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><br />A
number of the cast and crew have already passed on. Had you had the
chance to ask the likes of Marvin, Aldrich, Cassavetes, and Bronson
any questions at all about the film at all, what would you have asked
them?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Interesting hypothetical. Naturally, I would ask
any or all of them what they remember about making the film and
specific anecdotes in particular. Also, any follow-up questions
would be based on what they would want to tell me.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>A
very childish question. Who do you think would have won in a brawl?
Marvin or Bronson?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Oh, you mean like, "My dad can beat up your dad!" It's
funny because it actually almost happened once during filming, on the
last day, no less. Marvin did something that really pissed off
Bronson which producer Ken Hyman told me about as he had to play
referee. It's in the book and is actually a pretty funny story.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Do
you think Marvin and Bronson recognized a lot in each other?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Oh, I'm pretty sure they did, which is why they worked together so
often and hung out on occasion. I once saw them interviewed together
on YouTube after </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">DEATH HUNT</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"> (1981)
came out and they were very comfortable with each other and very
funny.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWSmKPjdkoeHHIQgAXqhyRNhUVGbm9LHDpV1PvCjLfoD6dRg_3ZRRcZ6EOWYP5VUTcezvzR5YN0Ys6onLAUinxAnH3FogfOxZfaMOznTPNHOpSXEwtSNy5kzhk0FOuKcJukXh4x1kwVCf9uoxMqSOIDNcViEz93a27trB6O7aOkm7IT-HVB3KMaxEr1me/s1080/Dirty%20Dozen%20Marvin%20Bronson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1080" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWSmKPjdkoeHHIQgAXqhyRNhUVGbm9LHDpV1PvCjLfoD6dRg_3ZRRcZ6EOWYP5VUTcezvzR5YN0Ys6onLAUinxAnH3FogfOxZfaMOznTPNHOpSXEwtSNy5kzhk0FOuKcJukXh4x1kwVCf9uoxMqSOIDNcViEz93a27trB6O7aOkm7IT-HVB3KMaxEr1me/s320/Dirty%20Dozen%20Marvin%20Bronson.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i><br />Which
movie (Marvin film or not) would make the perfect double bill with
The Dirty Dozen? Feel free to make a triple!</i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Probably </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE GREAT ESCAPE </span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">(1963), since it has a lot in common with </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE DIRTY DOZEN </span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">in
many ways, but seeing them together would be a real test of the
bladder as they are both almost 3 hours long each. If it's a triple,
I'd throw in </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN </span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">(1960).
Yeah, it's a western but it also has a great ensemble cast of future
superstars. Besides, when you have bad guys doing good things in a
movie, it's always worth watching.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>Do
you think a similarly inspired cast could be put together for a DIRTY DOZEN remake, or are we living in different times? Are you hopeful
for the David Ayer remake?</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">I'm not sure the
remake is ever going to happen as it's been talked about for quite a
while now but I do hope it does. What I had read was that Ayer wanted to update it to contemporary urban America. In which case it
may have an all-black cast. Might be cool to see Denzel Washington as
Reisman and some other black actors in key roles.</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>If
you were to write another making of book on a Marvin movie, which one
would it be, and why? (Please say POINT BLANK!)</i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">I hate to disappoint you but my agent suggested </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">POINT BLANK</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"> (1967)
first and I passed. Actually, I'd write about one of his westerns
which are quite deserving of reappraisal,
like </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">THE PROFESSIONALS (</span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">1966)
or </span><em style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-style: normal;">MONTE WALSH </span></span></em><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">(1970).
Great films but there are market considerations that would make it
hard to sell to a publisher. Then again, it took me 20 years to get
Lee Marvin Point Blank to find an interested publisher but when I did
it went to #4 on the NY Times Bestseller List so you never know!</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i>My <a href="interview" target="_blank">interview</a> with Epstein on Point Blank: Lee Marvin. </i></span></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Killin' Generals: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen, the Most Iconic World War II Film of All Time' by Dwayne Epstein is available from Citadel Press at all good retailers. Point Blank: Lee Marvin is available from Schnaffner Press. </i></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Copyright </i><i style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><i style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">© </i></span></span></span></span></i></i><i style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;">Paul Rowlands 2023. All rights reserved.</i></p><p></p>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-86805736245886503932022-06-26T11:55:00.003+09:002023-04-21T22:18:58.993+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH DAN HEDAYA <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oNbTPwJ7-578lx5eStbCLaA3INme9XbS-pMP0wt7nMcs0AJctqX0IFH2kNnyoNgBRsAHAnNej0LEUEsVWn1GdPb0JZCnkSeT96yvghqXzOZG5fa6AzDbnL0kV0nQoDJS6FNwRB3uifisn9etz-IT8hJpPyW8_ThV51qsmtuEHqxLJrMqf204WO2SsQ/s1811/Dan%20Hedaya%20A.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1811" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oNbTPwJ7-578lx5eStbCLaA3INme9XbS-pMP0wt7nMcs0AJctqX0IFH2kNnyoNgBRsAHAnNej0LEUEsVWn1GdPb0JZCnkSeT96yvghqXzOZG5fa6AzDbnL0kV0nQoDJS6FNwRB3uifisn9etz-IT8hJpPyW8_ThV51qsmtuEHqxLJrMqf204WO2SsQ/s320/Dan%20Hedaya%20A.jpg" width="212" /></a></span></i></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span>Dan
Hedaya is one of Hollywood's most versatile, accomplished and loved
character actors. He is also one of the most prolific. Since first
making his mark as the sleazy, murderous bar owner in the Coen
Brothers classic BLOOD SIMPLE in 1984, he has never looked back, and
his many, many credits include COMMANDO (1985), THE USUAL SUSPECTS
(1995), CLUELESS (1995), NIXON (1995), MARVIN'S ROOM(1996), ALIEN:
RESURRECTION (1997), DICK (1998, as Nixon), THE HURRICANE (1999),
MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001) … the list goes on. Now 82 years old,
Hedaya has no plans to retire,
and in his latest film, Jeremiah Kipp's haunting, disturbing indie
horror film SLAPFACE (2021), he gives a distinctive performance as a
sympathetic Sheriff. I spoke to Hedaya about the film, and his
incredible career. </span></i><span>
</span><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">What
attracted you to the SLAPFACE project?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nice
people, actually. It also fit into my schedule. And I like working!</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">What
was it like working with the writer-director Jeremiah Kipp?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It
was one of the most pleasant experiences I've ever had making a film.
I never saw one millisecond of unpleasantness with the whole crew.
Everybody was so cooperative and kind and friendly. It was really was
one of the nicest bunch of people I've ever worked with.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Your
performances are always so rich, nuanced and interesting. How do you
first approach each new character you take on? Do you have any
strategies set in place?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">No,
I'm a gambler. When I read something, it either resonates with me and
I respond favorably, or not. If it resonates, it somehow creates an
image for me. I'm not a so-called Method actor. I just like to start
and see what happens.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn02baw7MdziB0ABSHF8M_jF6mTm_LzVlXIz0rA3osZSDgMh55Phen0D2LLKTOeZtp3kttXiUrHBljXwmUykLjzSEhWrMITzHPPeFRIj-7FJpJSUSYunbF7XpvCmnMKCQ6N8kXM4lhFO7V_oykHawTddJuQn2EUlMMM684JT_oelYXMzpvQIYw5-GZIg/s755/Slapface.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="511" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn02baw7MdziB0ABSHF8M_jF6mTm_LzVlXIz0rA3osZSDgMh55Phen0D2LLKTOeZtp3kttXiUrHBljXwmUykLjzSEhWrMITzHPPeFRIj-7FJpJSUSYunbF7XpvCmnMKCQ6N8kXM4lhFO7V_oykHawTddJuQn2EUlMMM684JT_oelYXMzpvQIYw5-GZIg/s320/Slapface.jpg" width="217" /></a></i></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I've
noticed that you always tend to find the humor in the characters you
portray. Is that important to you?</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
don't specifically have a goal. It sometimes just comes out of the
situation or circumstance. I didn't see anything funny about being
buried alive in BLOOD SIMPLE!</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>How
was the experience of making that film? Did you realize it was going
to be a special movie?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">No,
it was a joyful, very laid-back experience, but it was such a tiny
budgeted film. I almost didn't go to the callback. I never ever
envisaged it becoming what it became.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Do
you really enjoy working with first time directors? You also worked
with people like Tony Scott (THE HUNGER) and Bryan Singer (THE USUAL SUSPECTS).</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They're
all different. Joel Coen, it was his first time, he was very good.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Did
you immediately feel an upswing in your career after BLOOD SIMPLE?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's
hard to pinpoint what impact things have. It definitely helped when
it became so successful. Everything contributes.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">When
you first studied acting at the HB Studio in New York, what do you
think were some of the most important lessons you learned?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">To
listen well, that comes to mind. That's basically it. I didn't go
there that long. It was fun doing scenes and I had a very nice
teacher. It was the doing of it that was the lesson, really.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQwkFGDrlsVHRP45sv9cn6Rs2wi6CZYEbSegJf6csJ8nIFUl3vJ5oUaH-RfHzOrfU3Yg4vj7wXMsLtWvLS317GaMCOBtrvDigIOMwuOCT_0NnDRM2KATEFylUSNCkhzxLe060niC6hZDGOwlkpfC6RDcMN6jxp_lwa9SSOGpiXY0amEf-liarDmxb1w/s1548/Blood%20Simple%20poster.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1036" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQwkFGDrlsVHRP45sv9cn6Rs2wi6CZYEbSegJf6csJ8nIFUl3vJ5oUaH-RfHzOrfU3Yg4vj7wXMsLtWvLS317GaMCOBtrvDigIOMwuOCT_0NnDRM2KATEFylUSNCkhzxLe060niC6hZDGOwlkpfC6RDcMN6jxp_lwa9SSOGpiXY0amEf-liarDmxb1w/s320/Blood%20Simple%20poster.jpg" width="214" /></a></i></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>You've
done a lot of theater work. Is it a different discipline to you? Does
it exercise a different part of your brain?</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's
exactly the same. You just have to speak more forcefully. I never had
a special approach to theater, versus film. Even in film, you have an
audience. You have a crew of fifty people.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Of
all the characters you've played, which ones would you say are the
closest to you?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's
hard to say. I guess they're all a part of me, you know. I enjoyed
many of them. I enjoyed 'Cheers' (1984-93) a lot, CLUELESS, BLOOD SIMPLE. Each
one has it's own pleasures.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
was surprised to learn that you're not Italian-American. You've
played so many Italian-American characters so vividly.</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">No,
I'm Jewish, from Brooklyn. My mother and father came here from
Aleppo, Syria, and we lived in a Syrian-Jewish community in Brooklyn.
I think some of the Italian-American actors are annoyed with me, but
I can't help it! It's not my problem!</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Do
you consider yourself a character actor?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes,
definitely.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Would
you have liked to have had more lead roles?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm
very grateful for how my career has been, very grateful. I have no
complaints.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_i4r2hX9UjKwjihFkN77dzcgY_zpWufnwiegJjWnvdWKXyqZ_lbmTlQJo49lZQMxtL8kg25xaLzVqsMSrwyduknGxIPgm0Cn064K-XQT91wja1E2P4tMdrd8fUop2SxcbrqkMwerH_YgLrkYy1HNaXkbhlptzNa5ePHiRIM7-THNZaPwZBMJ2eYx1g/s483/Norman%20Jewison.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_i4r2hX9UjKwjihFkN77dzcgY_zpWufnwiegJjWnvdWKXyqZ_lbmTlQJo49lZQMxtL8kg25xaLzVqsMSrwyduknGxIPgm0Cn064K-XQT91wja1E2P4tMdrd8fUop2SxcbrqkMwerH_YgLrkYy1HNaXkbhlptzNa5ePHiRIM7-THNZaPwZBMJ2eYx1g/w258-h320/Norman%20Jewison.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norman Jewison<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Of
all the filmmakers you have worked with, who would you like to work
with again the most?</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i> </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'd
say Norman Jewison, who directed me in THE HURRICANE with Denzel
Washington. He was kind and was good. It's a great combination.</span></span></p><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Did
you enjoy working with David Lynch on MULHOLLAND DRIVE?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh,
that was very special. A great experience. He's a wonderful director,
and one of the nicest. They were very generous to me. Even though I
only played a small part, they invited me to go to the Cannes Film
Festival.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">How
was the experience of playing Nixon in the movie DICK?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh,
I loved it. Thank you for asking me about that one.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>You
are now in your eighties. Do you have any plans to retire?</i> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">No,
but I'm also a painter now. If you go on Instagram there are thousands of my paintings on there. I spend a great deal of time painting.
But I'm not retiring. If something comes around, I'll consider it. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">SLAPFACE can currently be viewed on AMC and <a href="https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/slapface/5c9da4c647252821?fbclid=IwAR3EqzHx8e-53TlNcNSCCXBUuWMzxzO4SpB2eiZzn3-ZtHlDGkKICJcKFG0" target="_blank">Shudder</a>. It can be purchased on DVD from July 26th at <a href="https://www.target.com/p/slapface-dvd-2022/-/A-86731739?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012510700&CPNG=PLA_Entertainment%2BShopping%7CEntertainment_Ecomm_Hardlines&adgroup=SC_Entertainment&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=m&location=9067609&targetid=aud-1601604867572%3Apla-311244274998&ds_rl=1248099&gclid=CjwKCAjw5NqVBhAjEiwAeCa97YttF224feixOoWPhowUoQuscRCIZVzxOb-mbhgo3d0sOdgX5wNMzRoCM28QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&fbclid=IwAR3DXStycXxw1DGfjNGwKNWZKyTsn3YDuJBCcD02OFbEpV4Q2I7k8tj2wCo" target="_blank">Target</a> and other retailers. </span></i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many thanks to Mr. Hedaya for sparing his time. </span></i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2022. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></span></span></i></span></p>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-53861939455465424322021-10-27T13:29:00.005+09:002021-10-28T09:29:09.899+09:00NO TIME TO DIE (Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2021) - A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3mSiJb70htX3rW4hEY96oRpMs2ef_Yf4wzKLCknuD3fWr-dH18aNvNOugoM7-5fGhTrgVv53OVn7dcaWMa5dAn57VzYEjUkKdmmgl_cWItZFJ08F6kNtrNRmbeY9DY8CQlUEd-cSQQ_2_OEs1ijvL2nsE3d4QWIZXlyNBl4tyHKOfICTvI50Eceoe4A=s921" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="622" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3mSiJb70htX3rW4hEY96oRpMs2ef_Yf4wzKLCknuD3fWr-dH18aNvNOugoM7-5fGhTrgVv53OVn7dcaWMa5dAn57VzYEjUkKdmmgl_cWItZFJ08F6kNtrNRmbeY9DY8CQlUEd-cSQQ_2_OEs1ijvL2nsE3d4QWIZXlyNBl4tyHKOfICTvI50Eceoe4A=s320" width="216" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Daniel
Craig, Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes,
Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Ana De Armas, Ben Whishaw, Naomie
Harris, Rory Kinnear, Billy Magnussen, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah,
Lisa-Dorah Sonnet. 163 minutes. </span></span></i>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>The
previous James Bond film SPECTRE (2015) ended on an upbeat note that
would have made a fitting end to Daniel Craig's arc as the character.
However, fans of course wanted more, in part because, despite the
film's great commercial success and strong reviews, it came to be
regarded as a lesser entry in the franchise.
After a long break, and discussions with producers Barbara Broccoli
and Michael G. Wilson, Craig became excited at the possibilities of
ending the arc of his Bond in an epic and emotionally satisfying way.
A script was developed with Bond veterans Neal Purvis and Robert
Wade, but when TRAINSPOTTING director Danny Boyle came on board as
director, he preferred to craft his own story with regular scribe
John Hodge. Unfortunately, after developing a new script together, creative disagreements between them and the producers led to the pair exiting the project. The Bond team returned to the original Purvis
and Wade script, and BEASTS OF NO NATION director Cary Joji Fukunaga, a
huge fan of the franchise, became the new director. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Boyle's
departure necessitated a delay to the film's projected release, and
then of course as Fukunaga's film was ready to open, the Covid
pandemic led to more delays that totalled a whopping eighteen months. Well, here it is finally - Daniel Craig's last ever Bond film; the
twenty-fifth official entry in the franchise. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTPtet_E5zSi-_OREZ52N_IkQOLJTWjvTgw8j0uc9c4cqtMFz8hJ8sB1FlIwKCyJD9EhV4Jv8Jm8WMVp2sH8yaNkV6efJ5HvN5F7koyiGuCq2j99w6kBGXMN78vwrk6J7zMSlCuwTPOFACNghwE3ZCTJ0JMegKii4BtDebIkDjLQraIfUt8-MBZJSr0g=s1185" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1185" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTPtet_E5zSi-_OREZ52N_IkQOLJTWjvTgw8j0uc9c4cqtMFz8hJ8sB1FlIwKCyJD9EhV4Jv8Jm8WMVp2sH8yaNkV6efJ5HvN5F7koyiGuCq2j99w6kBGXMN78vwrk6J7zMSlCuwTPOFACNghwE3ZCTJ0JMegKii4BtDebIkDjLQraIfUt8-MBZJSr0g=s320" width="216" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>NO
TIME TO DIE manages to not only be a satisfying sequel to SPECTRE,
but also a satisfying wrap up to the saga and emotional journey that has
been CASINO ROYALE (2006), QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008), SKYFALL (2012)
and SPECTRE. It partly continues the more traditional,
humorous, 'Bondian' approach of much of SPECTRE. It even surprisingly
homages the grandiose Ken Adam sets of the more epic 007 adventures,
and has a more bombastic, fantastical villain (in Rami Malek's
Safin) whose nefarious plans rival the world-threatening ones of
characters like the 60s Blofeld or Goldfinger. </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>The film is also the most emotional and moving film in the series since 1969's ON
HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. Daniel Craig gives his best performance as 007 here – rounded, highly nuanced, emotionally present, and very
alive. This is arguably as much Lea Seydoux's Madeleine's story
as it is Bond's, if not more so. Her role is much more expanded and
developed here than in SPECTRE, and the way her story and her
relationship with Bond is handled has the effect of turning SPECTRE
into a retrospectively stronger film. As good as Seydoux was in that
film, she's given the opportunity to truly show her incredible range
and emotionality as an actress here. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4WEbW1BJLs-EC-vqKlv_CNFwcHV2ZTeJ7c0bO1D50VQjziem6aMtIXJ0tibYCKlFQLjeMl0k6PysVa3Fd1w4icgZ0nH4hT70xiQJ8BmUjtVcpK0iM-8BCIlupDq9aN21mHWIrbvWr6hGM0P-g0RydrQ2MsJwAVhuFRtTufkwGA4LbqFwZLgiJ7KlUZw=s1200" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="774" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4WEbW1BJLs-EC-vqKlv_CNFwcHV2ZTeJ7c0bO1D50VQjziem6aMtIXJ0tibYCKlFQLjeMl0k6PysVa3Fd1w4icgZ0nH4hT70xiQJ8BmUjtVcpK0iM-8BCIlupDq9aN21mHWIrbvWr6hGM0P-g0RydrQ2MsJwAVhuFRtTufkwGA4LbqFwZLgiJ7KlUZw=s320" width="206" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>The
film boasts a litany of interesting supporting characters, with the
more important ones coming off as real human beings with their own
journeys. The other female characters are as witty, well-developed
and strong as the male characters, and have agency. Lashana Lynch's
Nomi is a fun character, a 00 agent who has taken the 007 code number
whilst Bond has been in retirement in Jamaica. She has a rivalry with Bond, and a disdain for his methods, and whilst she lacks Bond's experience in the field, she is more than capable of holding her own. Lynch and Craig's scenes
together have a crackling quality to them. Ana De
Armas is a complete joy as Paloma, a CIA contact in Cuba who makes up
for in smarts, instinct and fighting prowess what she lacks in field
experience. Armas brings exuberance, sex appeal and elegance to the picture that is a huge asset. </span></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Ralph
Fiennes finally has a chance to put his own stamp on the role of 'M',
and steps out of Judi Dench's shadow. He gives a formidable
performance. Although Naomie Harris's Moneypenny doesn't have much
chance to shine unfortunately, Ben Whishaw is given chance to do so,
and his 'Q' is as delightful as ever. Rory Kinnear returns as
Tanner, the Chief of Staff, and he has a more brittle relationship
with Bond in this movie.</span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggE4cOjOYKtDuau9s6edeokeiePJVWhoqLXLwvbfecyRxzsYZoeFjjuAU8p_bPAeLeUCFl6JngXKrHNrSJiD_9eB6K_FVjZSNIMz18Bfr4sWSF49CTfgfYWKzpzBnrmnVWLZbx0X_DtJLLr1o5C35VI2IXjayhCve_jpiVUcbwJaRbnmuwlvtMbMJscQ=s755" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="510" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggE4cOjOYKtDuau9s6edeokeiePJVWhoqLXLwvbfecyRxzsYZoeFjjuAU8p_bPAeLeUCFl6JngXKrHNrSJiD_9eB6K_FVjZSNIMz18Bfr4sWSF49CTfgfYWKzpzBnrmnVWLZbx0X_DtJLLr1o5C35VI2IXjayhCve_jpiVUcbwJaRbnmuwlvtMbMJscQ=s320" width="216" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Jeffey
Wright returns as Felix Leiter for the first time since 2008's
QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Felix and Bond must have spent a lot of time
'bonding' offscreen since that movie, as they appear very close in NO
TIME TO DIE. Craig and Wright have great chemistry together, and the
result of Wright's increased screen time in this picture is that it
finally proves he is the definitive Leiter. He inhabits
Leiter with soul, dignity, good humor and great charisma. </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Billy
Magnussen brings a lot of energy and personality to his minor role as Leiter's State Department cohort Logan Ash.</span></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Rami
Malek may not have a lot of screen time as the film's villain, but
his Safin is an unforgettable creation: multi-faceted, pitiful, truly
creepy, and irredeemably evil. He has a particular scene with Craig
that is wonderfully written, acted and shot, and is one of the most
outstanding outstanding verbal confrontations between Bond and a
villain in the series. The scene is a battle of philosophies, and
whilst Safin is truly twisted, he does have a viewpoint that isn't entirely
without value. Cristoph Waltz brings more menace and intensity to his
scenes as Blofeld than he did in SPECTRE, and he also has an
impressive scene opposite Craig. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirE8tsz5RCy_wmJq2BwHl8LzYxA960W3aHqiHPX00Fl6uoyJKNgItCJw3sIBndm_8HT4zoernLuhUb0SneoA4t6SlBIQTGhVDcPgtWn1efrkULxeKpVvxEJQMzZW3Y9Stc_gzRxfwfeU8i0qXBc79VDiWDAL31q53KrGgeV5a5m0lQB0yJWN1vAZgOLg=s755" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="604" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirE8tsz5RCy_wmJq2BwHl8LzYxA960W3aHqiHPX00Fl6uoyJKNgItCJw3sIBndm_8HT4zoernLuhUb0SneoA4t6SlBIQTGhVDcPgtWn1efrkULxeKpVvxEJQMzZW3Y9Stc_gzRxfwfeU8i0qXBc79VDiWDAL31q53KrGgeV5a5m0lQB0yJWN1vAZgOLg=s320" width="256" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>The
minor villains have their own unique flavor and leave their mark.
David Dencik's Russian scientist Valdo Obruchev is both corrupt in
his loyalties and in his morality. He's a funny character for his
eccentricities but he is as evil as Safin in his own way. Dali Benssalah's one-eyed henchman Primo, who Bond
christens 'Cyclops', doesn't have a lot of screen time, but he has a
lot of presence, and is a fun and memorable addition to the more
fantastical rogues gallery of Bond henchmen. </span></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Director
Cary Joji Fukunaga brings an inordinate amount to this movie. Whereas
a Bond film like 2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY faltered in its balancing of
tones, and its ambition to be more than one kind of Bond picture, NO
TIME TO DIE is much, much more successful. Fukunaga has delivered an
exciting, beautiful-looking action rollercoaster ride. The action is
cleanly performed and edited, and the use of CGI is mostly well done
and not over-used. He brings in more gadgets than ever before seen in
a Craig picture, but he uses them in a smart and fun way. In one
particular sequence, their use delivers an euphoric, fan-pleasing
moment that also serves the purpose of relieving the tension of an
incredibly tense and exciting scene. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Whereas
the nods to previous films in DIE ANOTHER DAY often felt forced and
distracting, the nods in NO TIME TO DIE are subtler and sometimes add
poignancy to Craig's Bond's emotional journey that began with CASINO
ROYALE. The score has nods to previous Bond composers John Barry, David Arnold and Thomas Newman. There's also quite a bit of a Fleming in the picture, most
interestingly from the You Only Live Twice novel.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIYl2PgGm1ltImJOZdmWBQ6eFtm3HB9ZTh_EWhtd0ivxcWGht_wcrsE6zrh_NRM0pXRt-qsnraktuQkSsqiqx1CHV82MmGTP--BbVK3e-1qgEhXmNM9CsrtgJ-ZT_NMAMJXdXBz7a8ALrhqDMx9L1FFRPHy9-C4sNxS04sgeeXRflgpA7-HA639LqRaQ=s755" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="510" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIYl2PgGm1ltImJOZdmWBQ6eFtm3HB9ZTh_EWhtd0ivxcWGht_wcrsE6zrh_NRM0pXRt-qsnraktuQkSsqiqx1CHV82MmGTP--BbVK3e-1qgEhXmNM9CsrtgJ-ZT_NMAMJXdXBz7a8ALrhqDMx9L1FFRPHy9-C4sNxS04sgeeXRflgpA7-HA639LqRaQ=s320" width="216" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Fukunaga
gets great work from his whole cast, bringing out nuances and
strengths in the likes of Craig, Seydoux and Fiennes that we didn't
see in their earlier Bond films. With LA LA LAND DP Linus Sandgren's
saturated, vivid cinematography, the film extracts the organic
beauty and unique textures of the movie's various environments
(Matera in Italy, London, Jamaica, Cuba, Norway, the Faroe Islands).
</span></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>NO
TIME TO DIE really does go to some dark places, but there is also
time for moments of good humor, Bondian style and a sense of
jauntiness, best exhibited in the Cuban section of the movie involving Ana De Armas's Paloma.
Fukunaga also brings to the forefront moods and feelings that have
been there only momentarily in previous Bond films. From the outset,
there's dread, melancholy, horror and trauma, elevated by
Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazarro's emotionally varied, often beautiful
and haunting score, and Billie Eilish's superb title song and the
Daniel Kleinman visuals that accompany the main titles. There's real
depth to the film as well. For example, there is a real empathy in
the film for what the trauma of violence, and being orphaned, can do
to children. It can make them into adults like Bond and Madeleine,
who have closed themselves up emotionally, and cannot trust others or
have healthy, loving relationships. It can also create truly twisted
people. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6a9iMvXyYV1N3LzbLp1XjhFZu7AZXOUOv2hvfiWeYY7wnXuPOzsMl2AqsUl4ublUoD-f9sm-11bgcyAHX6XyubApgZvJ-fbVLC6y3XbZDNy2GRzKictiCCP-UML3ePKemgYiO7ulxuhrCJSiUXEoQpTqSml61eWwIyxQaq5MWv8kxLomHVFQ94XJodQ=s755" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="510" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6a9iMvXyYV1N3LzbLp1XjhFZu7AZXOUOv2hvfiWeYY7wnXuPOzsMl2AqsUl4ublUoD-f9sm-11bgcyAHX6XyubApgZvJ-fbVLC6y3XbZDNy2GRzKictiCCP-UML3ePKemgYiO7ulxuhrCJSiUXEoQpTqSml61eWwIyxQaq5MWv8kxLomHVFQ94XJodQ=s320" width="216" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>At
163 minutes, the film is the longest of the franchise but it moves
well, and even has time to breathe. There's a brief lull in the
middle of the film, but after that, we are off to the races. The
script, which is credited to Purvis and Wade, Fukunaga and Fleabag's
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is witty, human and articulate, and if the film
has a major flaw it's that sometimes the intentions of characters are
not perhaps clear enough. Safin is a fascinating, enigmatic
character, but it's not easy to completely understand his endgame. </span></span>
<p></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Fukunaga
has pulled off an incredible feat. He's made a bona fide James Bond
film. He's also made a film that reflects his own voice and style, and
balances darker, serious elements with jauntier, more fantastical
elements. It references the legacy of the series, updates and
improves quite a few elements (particularly the female roles), and is
a film that closes out Craig's Bond arc in a bold, moving, beautiful
and exciting way. NO TIME TO DIE is no less than a triumph. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2021. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></span></span></i></span>
</p>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-60574404459708517632021-06-09T12:52:00.002+09:002021-06-09T20:23:41.764+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH CRISTINA MARSILLACH (PART 2 of 2)<p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KToQAYflJzk/YMA3a_TFSeI/AAAAAAAAFKc/7Gf_ygig4M4CBltkoQvxKAWWmOclzVSmwCNcBGAsYHQ/s600/Marsillach%2BSimple%2BLike%2BSilver%2B-%2BCopy.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KToQAYflJzk/YMA3a_TFSeI/AAAAAAAAFKc/7Gf_ygig4M4CBltkoQvxKAWWmOclzVSmwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BSimple%2BLike%2BSilver%2B-%2BCopy.webp" width="320" /></a></span></span></i></div><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cristina
Marsillach is a Spanish actress best known for her roles in Dario
Argento's OPERA (1987) and the romantic drama EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE
(1986), opposite Tom Hanks. The daughter of renowned theatre director
and actor Adolfo Marsillach, she has had a long and varied career in
both Italy and Spain, working with some of the most talented European
filmmakers and actors in the business. Her new film, Damian Lahey's
beautiful, impressionistic SIMPLE LIKE SILVER (2021), is her first film
in nearly 25 years. In the second part of our two-part interview, we talked about making her Hollywood debut with EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, the differences between working on European and Hollywood productions, working with the likes of Giancarlo Giannini, Ugo Tognazzi, Andrea De Carlo, Sergio Corbucci, Gabriele Salvatores, why she walked away from acting for a few decades, and her new short film. </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/2021/06/an-interview-with-cristina-marsillach.html">Part one</a> of the interview. <br /></span></span></i></p><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Were you nervous about
making your first English-speaking Hollywood film with EVERY TIME WE
SAY GOODBYE?</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, I was nervous. I
brought a language coach from Spain with me, who was also a very good
acting teacher. She helped me a lot. Any time that I can, I bring
people with me who can help me be better in any way. In fact, on
SIMPLE LIKE SILVER, I brought my own teacher and makeup person, and
it was a nice experience.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n7FH1E1Ko8w/YMA4PHkzuUI/AAAAAAAAFKk/8SNKJD3dTsgm1ZUUTk403O7hu7tHQSN9ACNcBGAsYHQ/s574/Marsillach%2Band%2BHanks.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n7FH1E1Ko8w/YMA4PHkzuUI/AAAAAAAAFKk/8SNKJD3dTsgm1ZUUTk403O7hu7tHQSN9ACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2Band%2BHanks.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">What was it like filming in
Israel for EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was very interesting
because Israel is a wonderful place. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel.
It was very fun working with Tom Hanks. He was very friendly. He
knows how to treat people and we would chat and laugh a lot. One day
we went to the Dead Sea, and he ran ahead and jumped into the sea,
and all I could see was this long, tall guy floating along in his red
bathing trunks. I would say ''I''m not going into the sea'', and he
would try to get me to come in. He was a great guy and a great
co-star.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Was your experience making a
Hollywood film any different an experience from making a European film?</span></span></i></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">No, they were more or less
the same. I've always been lucky to work with a small team, which
gives you a lot of intimacy, something I really appreciate as an
actress. I haven't worked on a super big production with a large
crew. I didn't notice a significant difference between working on an
American and a European production in my case.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">After EVERY TIME WE SAY
GOODBYE, did you have an idea to pursue more Hollywood projects or
were you happier making films in Italy and Spain?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">No, after I finished the
film I continued my acting career in Italy and Spain. I haven't
really moved from those countries. I did work with a lot of different directors –
people like Dario Argento, Gabriele Salvatores, Andrea De Carlo, and
Sergio Corbucci.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sxJvwv-yhZI/YMA5CKhiksI/AAAAAAAAFKs/1ZhQdG2y_ggk52BEcJWIkmqrl0EEZ27CgCNcBGAsYHQ/s700/Marsillach%2BMarrakech%2BExpress.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="490" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sxJvwv-yhZI/YMA5CKhiksI/AAAAAAAAFKs/1ZhQdG2y_ggk52BEcJWIkmqrl0EEZ27CgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BMarrakech%2BExpress.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">MARRAKECH EXPRESS with
director Gabriele Salvatores is one of your most acclaimed films.
What was Salvatores like as a director?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">I felt very comfortable with
him. He didn't speak much, but he smiled a lot. He was close, but
distant – a very curious personality.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">How was working with the
acclaimed novelist and filmmaker Andrea De Carlo on his film
adaptation of his book TRENO DI PANNA (1988)?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andrea De Carlo was a writer
before he directed TRENO DI PANNA, and this is reflected, I think, in the film, which has a precise quality and very fluid dialogue.
Curiously, I might have had the opportunity to work with him years
before. He was the assistant director on AND THE
SHIP SAILS ON (1983), and I had auditioned for Fellini on that film.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">What was it like working
with Sergio Corbucci on DAYS OF INSPECTOR AMBROSIO (1988) and WOMEN
IN ARMS (1991)?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">He was a wonderful person
and one of the most sensitive directors I ever worked with. He was
like a father to me. He was like a teddy bear. I also worked with Ugo
Tognazzi on DAYS OF INSPECTOR AMBROSIO, and he was exceptionally fun.
He would tell many anecdotes from his career working with so many
talented people. He was very human.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Having made so many movies
in Italy, do you think of the country as a second home?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, absolutely. Spanish and
Italian cultures are very similar, so I feel like I'm in Spain when
I'm in Italy!</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KokOyriOESI/YMA50cAETuI/AAAAAAAAFK0/B9mwUDfuY60MX-E_-O1hfRPaUb7GJuZ7gCNcBGAsYHQ/s498/Marsillach%2BO%2527re.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="352" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KokOyriOESI/YMA50cAETuI/AAAAAAAAFK0/B9mwUDfuY60MX-E_-O1hfRPaUb7GJuZ7gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BO%2527re.jpg" /></a></span>You worked with Giancarlo
Giannini on 'O RE (1989). What was that experience like?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">We got along well making
the movie, and we had fun, even though he was very sad at the time,
having recently lost a son. He is equally adept at comedy and drama,
which is a rare thing. He's a very real actor, and
was a very good friend to me on the movie.</span></span><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">You've worked with so many great actors. Who would you say you learned the most
from?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Giancarlo definitely helped
me a lot. With Tom Hanks, I learned to play a lot. He would stop and
talk about the scenes with the director or the other
actors, but he would also be making jokes without stopping what he was
doing. He was very focused. It's very important for an actor to know
how to relax, because you cannot be spontaneous or be real in a scene
otherwise. It's fundamental. In
fact, an actress like Meryl Streep touches her body a lot in order to
relax, and that was something Ingrid Bergman used to do as well. She
would do these head movements, because she understood that relaxation
was the basis of acting, and the more relaxed an actor is, the better
the performance.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">You were, for a time, the Artistic
Director of the Marsillach Acting School in Madrid. What did you
enjoy the most about running the school?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">I think the most interesting
thing was synthesizing the classic works of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee
Williams and Strindberg, and cutting down what might have been a two
hour play into a half hour. For the students, I had to take what was
most important from each play and create kind of a mini-play. It was
an interesting challenge.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EJ-1EvjcyDM/YMA6IN1ibGI/AAAAAAAAFK8/zLU22d0YCEgSspW-eHmXjf5GQtSLbderwCNcBGAsYHQ/s600/Marsillach%2Band%2BLahey%2B-%2BCopy.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EJ-1EvjcyDM/YMA6IN1ibGI/AAAAAAAAFK8/zLU22d0YCEgSspW-eHmXjf5GQtSLbderwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2Band%2BLahey%2B-%2BCopy.webp" width="320" /></a></span><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Until SIMPLE LIKE SILVER,
you had not acted onscreen for nearly 25 years. Why did you decide to
step away?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, I was doing other
things. I got married, and I gave a lot of importance to my
sentimental life. I dedicated my life to other things related to art,
but not as an actress, such as fashion and antiques. I needed a
break. I think an actor needs to recharge between projects, if they
can afford to financially. I'm not the same person through a whole
year, and I need to fill my life with many different things. After
the film with Damian I directed a short film and did some writing,
but I've done other creative things too. I never stop creating. I've
grown a lot and I have learned, and I am able to bring that to my
next projects. I'm multi-disciplined in life. I'm not just an
actress, I like to do many things.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">What can you reveal about
the short film?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's inspired by the French
term 'flaneur', which was made famous by the philosopher Walter
Benjamin. A 'flaneur' is a man who wanders around, observing events,
reflecting upon them and getting involved at his discretion. This is
what happens in my film. It's a film dedicated to the aging and
decline of people, in this case my mother, who has Alzheimer's. The
film is very short, but was a very satisfying endeavor. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">
</p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">
</p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many thanks to Alicia Lopez for her help with translating the interview. </span></span></i></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">SIMPLE LIKE SILVER can be rented on Amazon Prime.</span></span></i></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2021. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></span></span></i><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-53421825807639091142021-06-09T12:37:00.006+09:002021-06-09T20:24:23.673+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH CRISTINA MARSILLACH (PART 1 OF 2)<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsKjf2BJd74/YL7T5w_WG9I/AAAAAAAAFJY/jJn_kNboT_kxgtNmONtkE0s4YMWbB85owCNcBGAsYHQ/s600/Marsillach%2BSimple%2BLike%2BSilver%2B-%2BCopy.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsKjf2BJd74/YL7T5w_WG9I/AAAAAAAAFJY/jJn_kNboT_kxgtNmONtkE0s4YMWbB85owCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BSimple%2BLike%2BSilver%2B-%2BCopy.webp" width="320" /></a></i></div><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cristina Marsillach is a Spanish actress best known for her roles in Dario Argento's OPERA (1987) and the romantic drama EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE (1986), opposite Tom Hanks. The daughter of renowned theatre director and actor Adolfo Marsillach, she has had a long and varied career in both Italy and Spain, working with some of the most talented European filmmakers and actors in the business. Her new film, Damian Lahey's beautiful, impressionistic SIMPLE LIKE SILVER (2021), is her first film in nearly 25 years. In the first part of a two-part interview, I spoke with Marsillach about the latter film, growing up in an acting family, the beginning of her acting career, her experiences working with Argento on OPERA, and working with Martin Scorsese on a 1987 Armani TV commercial. </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></i></p><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What
attracted you to your new film SIMPLE LIKE SILVER, directed by Damian
Lahey? I found it very beautiful, moving and inspirational.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Damian's
personality. He's a very kind person. His script was very clean, and
I liked the sensitive and simple way in which he confronted the theme
of fear in the story.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the film, the camera
mainly observes you and you are required to give a non-verbal
performance. How did you approach this particular challenge?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was an interesting
challenge because silence is extremely hard for an actor. You have to
listen and have things happen to you without being able to speak, so
you need to convey a presence and an inner monologue, so that your
face is able to express what is happening to you.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tt_j8T8Cn3w/YL7UoTPsc7I/AAAAAAAAFJs/n2TgwViEDcQLcd8zQ5kPH-TUDE4s3HiewCNcBGAsYHQ/s898/Marsillach%2BPortrait%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tt_j8T8Cn3w/YL7UoTPsc7I/AAAAAAAAFJs/n2TgwViEDcQLcd8zQ5kPH-TUDE4s3HiewCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BPortrait%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Your
father Adolfo Marsillach was a renowned actor, playwright and theatre
director. What was it like growing up in such an environment?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It
was complicated but fun. I would do my homework backstage, and
sometimes the actors would ask me to come onstage with them, but my
father told me at an early age that even if the building was on fire
I was never to go onstage no matter how many times I was asked to. I
saw a lot of theatres growing up!</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When
did you decide that you wanted to become an actress?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
decided I wanted to become an actress after I watched Peter Brook's
production of The Mahabharata. It was only ever performed once in
Spain, in Madrid, and I went with my father. The whole performance
lasted twelve hours, without a single interruption, and I spent the
whole day there. I loved the experience. I would watch the play
intently, but I would sometimes fall asleep, or go to the restaurant
and eat pizza, or go and grab a Coke. I realized that if I could get
through the twelve hours of the epic poetry of The Mahabharata, that
I could be an actor myself. Watching the play I realized that acting
was a serious craft and profession, and that actors have a lot of
courage. Peter Brook was a great man of the theatre, and it took him
ten years to put on this production.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Your
acting debut came at the age of thirteen in the Spanish TV miniseries
Mrs. Garcia Confesses (1976), opposite your father, who also wrote
and directed the series. What are your strongest memories of making
it?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
played the younger Lucia Bose, who was a famous actress who recently
passed away. I was very scared making the series because I was
working with a very disciplined person who also happened to be my
father. On one hand I knew that I was going to have a very pleasant
and satisfying experience because I got to work with him, but on the
other hand, I knew that he was going to ask a lot of me. I did have a
lot of fun, but I also got scolded in the process!</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GSoeTu57eeQ/YL7U8sLvifI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/vdRTPQqzSMIi_903ErCL-sj-WvqIKWCigCNcBGAsYHQ/s554/Marsillach%2BAdolescence.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="390" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GSoeTu57eeQ/YL7U8sLvifI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/vdRTPQqzSMIi_903ErCL-sj-WvqIKWCigCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BAdolescence.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Did your father encourage
you to become an actress?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My parents encouraged me,
but they did make it a little difficult for me at first. They
insisted I had to be very professional and that I had to take it very
seriously. Even though I kind of carried acting in my blood, having
grown up around acting, I did a couple of courses in interpretation.
My father told me that you should never stop in the middle of a
scene, because it is important not to lose that rhythm and mistakes
are okay. He also taught me the importance of always being alert as
an actor.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you gained more
experience as an actor did you start to form any particular goals or
aspirations for your career? Were there any particular kinds of roles
or films you gravitated towards?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've always been interested
in all kinds of roles or films. I find it amazing that people still
offer me acting roles. I'm not drawn to any specific kinds of roles.
The most important thing to me is that I have fun and that I enjoy
working with the people I'm working with, no matter who they are or
how tragic or dramatic the story is. I don't want to be stressed. I
want to be able to perform my work properly.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What was the experience
like of having your first lead role in ADOLESCENCE (1982)?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was a huge responsiblity,
also because I was very young. I was always very conscious and aware
that being the lead in a movie required one to have multiple
strategies to face the other actors in our scenes together.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygx9GehT90Y/YL7VSN58rSI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/agj3SuOUg9k_Wanpng5UMHOjKfUtY5qOgCNcBGAsYHQ/s639/Marsillach%2BOpera%2BArgento.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="567" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygx9GehT90Y/YL7VSN58rSI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/agj3SuOUg9k_Wanpng5UMHOjKfUtY5qOgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BOpera%2BArgento.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Did acting in a horror film
like Dario Argento's OPERA require a different approach to acting? I
imagine on many days during shooting you would have to be in a
heightened emotional state for a sustained period of time.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It certainly does. Making
horror films is stressful, because the fear always has to be on a
psychological plane. You have to keep working with that fear
continuously. You have to feel it in your emotions. It's not
important to show it in a physical way. It just has to be a
psychological fear that you're portraying. You have to work on the
character more, and focus on not losing yourself, so that it looks
natural.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How was the experience of
making OPERA?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dario was a big fan of Edgar
Allan Poe, and ravens were a very important element of the film for
him. When we were shooting a particular scene in the film, he threw
actual live ravens at me. I shouted ''Stop! Stop!'' and he said ''I
have to do this because you need to experience this fear and
sensation. '' We would fight with each other, but it was a fun time
for me. Stressful, but fun. It was a difficult film to make. I
remember we had to re-shoot the ending three to six months later
because we had some problems. They had to put this special tape on my
eyes for one particular scene, and I had to get to the set two hours
early to get the makeup done. I enjoyed working with the other
actors.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Did you feel the final film
was worth all the difficulties you endured?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Absolutely. It was wonderful
working with Dario. He was a filmmaker who knew exactly what he
wanted technically. It was the first time I had worked with a
Steadicam, which was very interesting for me. It's a great movie –
it talks about the opera, and it talks about Macbeth. Macbeth, for
all actors, is seen as something that brings bad luck. It's like
wearing green clothing on stage, which is something actors never do
because of the death of Moliere. OPERA did have bad luck. The film
wasn't a success or liked much internationally when it was first
released, and cost a lot of money to make, but over the years it has
gained more recognition, and I'm soon being interviewed for a new
Italian documentary about the film. Ultimately, making OPERA was a
gratifying experience.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tGkwnESn5gU/YL7VqJTuBXI/AAAAAAAAFKE/wHHSwxT_AGYBVSQTLsDCTVFSKcnR_t59wCNcBGAsYHQ/s900/Marsillach%2BOpera%2BBlindfold.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="900" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tGkwnESn5gU/YL7VqJTuBXI/AAAAAAAAFKE/wHHSwxT_AGYBVSQTLsDCTVFSKcnR_t59wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Marsillach%2BOpera%2BBlindfold.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>How true are the stories
that you and Dario did not get along well making the film?</i> </span></span><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, they are true. He put
me through a lot of things, but we were very fond of each other.
Between him throwing ravens at me and laughing saying 'Ha ha! You
have to do two hours of make-up every day!'', we fought a lot, but
there was mutual respect between us. He respected me as an actress
and I respected him as a director. He was very focused on technical
things, whereas I wanted to ask him a lot of questions about the
psychological aspects of my character and the story. But he would
just say ''No, no, no that's all fine'' and then just talk about what
he was going to do technically. I would say to him ''I need to
understand what's going on psychologically'', and again, he would say
''No, no, no, it's fine. '' This would go on all day!</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A few years before OPERA,
you worked with Martin Scorsese on an Armani commercial. How did you
get that job?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I had returned to Italy
after filming EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE in Israel with Tom Hanks. I
was in a relationship with an Italian man at the time. The Taviani
brothers, who had made GOOD MORNING, BABYLON (1987), recommended an
agent to me, and Martin Scorsese was looking for a girl for an Armani
commercial he was directing. I went to Milan for the audition, and I
was surrounded by a lot of tall, thin, beautiful models, who were
going up for the part. The competition was brutal. Suddenly this
small man came up to me, carrying a stack of papers and he gave me a
piece of paper. Once I saw that it had dialogue written on it, I
thought to myself ''Okay, now I have a chance. '' I did the audition
and Martin came up to me afterwards and said ''You got it! You got
it! You are the girl!'' After the spot came out, which was shot in
black and white, Dario Argento saw it and cast me in OPERA because of
it. In the commercial, I sit on a bed and talk to a young man. Dario
kind of re-enacted it in OPERA. </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/2021/06/an-interview-with-cristina-marsillach_9.html">Part two</a> of the interview. </i> <br /></span></span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many thanks to Alicia Lopez for her help with translating the interview. </span></span></i></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">SIMPLE LIKE SILVER can be rented on Amazon Prime.</span></span></i></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2021. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></span></span></i><br /></p>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-50435106970499863382021-03-21T17:11:00.001+09:002021-06-09T12:54:25.731+09:00DEREK CIANFRANCE ON ' I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE' AND HIS CAREER (PART 2 OF 4) <p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLCLn_inxLE/YFFtyLsoVTI/AAAAAAAAFHc/rq_SW_Nsi38YgG-ki8n6ByPVpgfDnbv9wCNcBGAsYHQ/s317/Derek%2BCianfrance.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLCLn_inxLE/YFFtyLsoVTI/AAAAAAAAFHc/rq_SW_Nsi38YgG-ki8n6ByPVpgfDnbv9wCNcBGAsYHQ/s0/Derek%2BCianfrance.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Derek
Cianfrance is the filmmaker behind such intimate, psychologically
gruelling and soulful dramas as BLUE VALENTINE (2010), THE PLACE BEYOND
THE PINES (2012), and THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS (2016). His works have a
naturalistic, lived-in quality, and are concerned with families,
relationships and legacies. They have a fearless, stare-into-the abyss
approach, and his latest project, the six-part HBO miniseries I KNOW
THIS MUCH IS TRUE (2020), is no exception and might be the summation of
his ouevre so far. It centers on identical twin brothers (both played by
Mark Ruffalo), and the aftermath of one of the brothers (Thomas), who
is a paranoid schizophrenic, cutting off one of his hands to try and
stop the Gulf War. The other brother (Dominick) has to wrestle with
Thomas's decision to not have the hand reattached and come to terms with
his own demons whilst trying to keep Thomas somewhat balanced. I KNOW
THIS MUCH IS TRUE is hugely affecting, beautifully made, epic
storytelling, and in the second part of a four-part interview with Cianfrance
about the series and his career, I spoke with him about his interest in male loner characters with urges to start families, what his goal is with his extensive pre-production periods on his films, how far in advance he begins considering the editing and sound design of his movies, and whether he would consider releasing extended cuts of his films.</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/search/label/Interview%3A%20DEREK%20CIANFRANCE%20%28PART%201%20OF%204%29">Part one </a>of the interview. <br /></span></span></i></p><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In
your works, you present these loners who are almost drifters, who
nonetheless have this romantic and paternal urge to start families.
Where does this interest in such characters come from?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm
interested in re-exploring paternity and masculinity and the idea of
being a father. All of my films have come from a time in my life
where I've been a father. I have two boys at home. One of the things
that I have always loved about Cassavetes is that he was always
telling stories about where he was in life. His movies reflected his
life. Older filmmakers sometimes still have this fascination with
youth, but there's something amazing about a filmmaker who always
goes with where he's at. You watch SHADOWS (1959) and it's all
improvisational jazz, and a freewheeling, kind of youthful life, then
you go to the later films like A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974) where young
people are trying to navigate this world and deal with the domestic
world and the domestic - kids enter the equation and
you're drinking beer in the back of a truck. You eventually get to
OPENING NIGHT (1977) and LOVE STREAMS (1984) and you get older people dealing with
different problems.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pySNR1gwd0Q/YFFwURY1quI/AAAAAAAAFHk/zTnvlUUBIy0kQiCPLwZEsvvtAXqUh5_HQCNcBGAsYHQ/s840/Cianfrance%2BCassavetes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="840" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pySNR1gwd0Q/YFFwURY1quI/AAAAAAAAFHk/zTnvlUUBIy0kQiCPLwZEsvvtAXqUh5_HQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BCassavetes.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm
interested in the journey of being a husband and a father because it
has been one of the most profound experiences of my life, and
continues to be. It felt right to tell stories about this, as it is
something that I am trying to navigate at every moment. My kids
really brought to me the consciousness of this idea of legacy because
I started to think about the things that were passed on through
generations. I started to think a lot about my father and my
grandfather. I have two boys and I started to think about this legacy
of masculinity and how it's run through my family and changed my
family. That's where some of that comes from. About seven years ago I
met Ryan Coogler and was talking to him, and he said ''Hey D, how
come all the men in your movies are raising children that aren't
theirs?'' I wasn't even aware of this, but if you go through my
movies, every one of them is the story of a man who is raising a kid
that is not his.</span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In
the book of I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, Dominic also raises a child
that isn't his.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's
also kind of there in the in the final image of the last episode, in
the scene in the nursery, where he is holding and nurturing a child
that's not his. I don't know quite how to explain why I keep having
my male characters raising kids that aren't theirs, but its some
deep, internal meditation of trying to strip the nature from the
nurture of children. It's this idea of raising children that aren't
yours, that don't have anything to do with you or your history. It's
just what my imagination always goes to. It's pure love. So
much of what I'm trying to do is, and what I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE
allowed me to confront, is to deal with familial trauma and
generational trauma, not only in families but on a societal level,
with the traumatic experience of what it means to be an American.
We're seeing that in our country right now.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bnUcJEsiz6k/YFFxk3SiaRI/AAAAAAAAFHs/D6onBgMbqhISIOKy1o2P4wynMpEtGPRSgCNcBGAsYHQ/s600/Cianfrance%2BBlue%2BValentine%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bnUcJEsiz6k/YFFxk3SiaRI/AAAAAAAAFHs/D6onBgMbqhISIOKy1o2P4wynMpEtGPRSgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BBlue%2BValentine%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
know that BLUE VALENTINE had a pre-production period where the lead
actors lived together to help them appear as an intimate couple
onscreen. In all of the work that you do with the actors before
filming, what would you say your goal is?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
look at Rick Rubin, the music producer, as a huge inspiration on
this. I think of the some of the classic albums he made, whether it
be with Slayer, Johnny Cash, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Run DMC.
Every story that I have heard about his process is that he spends a
lot of time with the artists to try and understand who they are as
people. In my time with the actors when I'm shooting, I never
rehearse. We never talk, necessarily, about scenes. I try to know
about them as people. I'm always trying to find a place where the
actor and the character begin. I'm trying to make a marriage between
the actor and the character. I want them to get lost inside of it.
Ultimately, I'm more interested in behavior than I am interested in
performance. I try to develop a kind of trust with them and an
understanding of what makes them tick so that when we're on set and
we are working, we can make something that's outside of the context
of making a movie.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When
I was a kid, the idea of being an actor almost seemed like a
derogatory statement. For example, a kid would get hit in the head
with a ball and fall to the ground and start crying, and you'd say
''Oh, stop acting. You're faking it, you're lying. Get up. Stop
acting. '' Derogatory. People associate acting oftentimes with
lying. When I started making documentaries, I started to realize that
the people crying and screaming in the docs I was making weren't
lying at all. They were telling their truths, and I was experiencing
their truths and their lives, and it made me start to see acting as
not lying and faking it or derogatory but as telling the truth, being
honest, being vulnerable and open and exposing yourself. That's what
I try to communicate to actors what I want and then we go on and find
it.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bS-xuqMzGQc/YFFx0Uyo-9I/AAAAAAAAFH0/Tzj6AtEBghQS_9o2HTkpGL4VWtexmPsNQCNcBGAsYHQ/s480/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BC%2B-%2BCopy%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bS-xuqMzGQc/YFFx0Uyo-9I/AAAAAAAAFH0/Tzj6AtEBghQS_9o2HTkpGL4VWtexmPsNQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BC%2B-%2BCopy%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes
people describe my style as 'fly on the wall', but that term rubs me
the wrong way, because what is a fly but a nuisance? A fly is a pest.
I never want to be considered a nuisance with actors. I don't want to
be sitting in the corner watching them. I'm so deeply engaged and
loving and nurturing and supportive and instigating to them. I'm
right with them and so empathetic with them. A fly could never be
empathetic, right?</span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The
editing and sound design is very important to your films. How far in
advance are you already considering or fixing in your ideas about
editing and sound design?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The
editing is very much thought out beforehand, at least structurally.
In BLUE VALENTINE, the non-linear structure was there. In PINES, the
linear structure was there. In I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, the Big Bang
structure and these bifurcated fragments of memory playing
concurrently was all there. The many cross-cut moments. from Dominic
wrecking his truck to him climbing the ladder of the house. to Thomas
dropping out of school to the funeral, and so on, were all written
into the script. When we get into the edit, we aren't saying ''Okay,
cut after this line here. '' You have to throw away all of your
preconceived notions into the edit and try to make it work. If it's
planned well enough, and it's written well enough, then usually the
editorial concepts work. But it's not paint by numbers.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's
so much in my movies because I spend so much time writing them and
visualizing them. I learned how to visualize during the twelve years
it took to make BLUE VALENTINE. Because I wasn't making it I would
watch the movie in my head every day. By the time I was on the set
making the movie, it was absolutely internalized inside of me. I knew
it backwards and forwards, inside and out. That allowed me to let go
of my preconceived notions and let it be alive. With every one of my
films I try to let it get to that place where I'm on set and I just
want the actors to explode it and surprise me, and show me something
that I haven't written or I haven't seen because I've watched it in
my head so many times.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x96ckq77iVM/YFFzUahecxI/AAAAAAAAFIE/YRmyjnaXbQEq1wenF9pEOnEy2Q_2r3oygCNcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BE.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x96ckq77iVM/YFFzUahecxI/AAAAAAAAFIE/YRmyjnaXbQEq1wenF9pEOnEy2Q_2r3oygCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BE.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
have watched I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE in my head for five years. So
by the time I got to set I didn't want to watch what I had already
seen in my head. I was kind of bored with it. I wanted the actors to
bring new stuff to the table. Then we get into the editing room, and
sometimes you find out that your original concepts as written really
work, or you get these moments that can never be replicated.
Ultimately, one of the things that I am trying to do with my editors
is to find all the moments that cannot be repeated, and make a
mix-tape of a movie with all these sounds and moments that will happen
one time. On BLUE VALENTINE we talked about Halley's Comet – ''You
get to see it once every seventy years. Well, we could grab some
moments with actors that could happen only once every seventy years!
''</span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tarantino
did an extended TV version of THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) and is apparently
planning extended versions of DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012) and ONCE UPON A TIME IN … HOLLYWOOD (2019). Is this something that would interest you?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
can't see myself going back and re-cutting anything I've ever done.
Part of making a film to me is the scar or tattoo you get after it's
finished. You live with it. And the film is a choice that represents
the time. I don't like the idea of covering up tattoos either because
they represent a moment, and for all the mistakes or successes and
failures and joys, they represent a time and a choice. You can't take
those things away. They existed. I kind of believe that I can't go
back to my art once it's finished. I did toy with the idea, back in
the day, of cutting a movie called VALENTINE with all the moments of
them falling in love, and cutting a movie called BLUE with all the
moments of them falling out of love, but this was just because I was
so in love with all the great footage that we had to lose which
wouldn't fit within the shape of the movie. But even the three and a
half hour cut of THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES ultimately wasn't my
movie. The movie I put my name on was the two hours twenty cut that
went to the theaters. I think if I had an experience where I was
forced to make changes, or I had had a movie taken away from me, I
could understand the need to go back and show people what I really
had in mind, but I haven't had that experience yet. Every movie that
I have put out, for better or worse, has been the version I decided
upon.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LMw_u_LIi7E/YFF0Ev_xp1I/AAAAAAAAFIM/TW1aFRp7QQ8YfMsPLX2IUhztNbQ_raXNQCNcBGAsYHQ/s828/Charles%2BBurnett.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="552" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LMw_u_LIi7E/YFF0Ev_xp1I/AAAAAAAAFIM/TW1aFRp7QQ8YfMsPLX2IUhztNbQ_raXNQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Charles%2BBurnett.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What
was the last great film that you saw?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Without
a doubt, it was Charles Burnett's TO SLEEP WITH ANGER, from 1991,
with Danny Glover. It's just a complete masterpiece. Beyond that
there's his movie from 1983 called MY BROTHER'S WEDDING. I'd always
loved his film KILLER OF SHEEP (1978), and I've just been exploring his
filmography for the last few months. To me Burnett is one of the
greatest American filmmakers that has ever lived. Right now he's like
the new Cassavetes to me.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I Know This Much is True can be seen on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK, and is also available on Amazon Prime.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2021. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></p>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-24358393644089511602021-03-16T12:55:00.003+09:002021-03-21T17:14:42.489+09:00DEREK CIANFRANCE ON 'I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE' AND HIS CAREER (PART 1 of 4) <p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kr1jL1_7NIM/YFAm8OAMX3I/AAAAAAAAFGk/plMrv0HdwL0po7Lf2DyRs_M2BI1-oeb1QCNcBGAsYHQ/s650/Cianfrance%2BA.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="511" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kr1jL1_7NIM/YFAm8OAMX3I/AAAAAAAAFGk/plMrv0HdwL0po7Lf2DyRs_M2BI1-oeb1QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BA.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Derek Cianfrance is the filmmaker behind such intimate, psychologically gruelling and soulful dramas as BLUE VALENTINE (2010), THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (2012), and THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS (2016). His works have a naturalistic, lived-in quality, and are concerned with families, relationships and legacies. They have a fearless, stare-into-the abyss approach, and his latest project, the six-part HBO miniseries I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE (2020), is no exception and might be the summation of his ouevre so far. It centers on identical twin brothers (both played by Mark Ruffalo), and the aftermath of one of the brothers (Thomas), who is a paranoid schizophrenic, cutting off one of his hands to try and stop the Gulf War. The other brother (Dominick) has to wrestle with Thomas's decision to not have the hand reattached and come to terms with his own demons whilst trying to keep Thomas somewhat balanced. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE is hugely affecting, beautifully made, epic storytelling, and in the first of a four-part interview with Cianfrance about the series and his career, I spoke with him about his approach towards the series, what attracted him to the project, his response after first reading the 1998 Wally Lamb novel, the 'message' of the story, the literary qualities of his films, whether or not he feels the series ends the first chapter of his career, and how he felt about being able to tell a story in six parts. <br /></span></span></i><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
have been a huge fan of your work ever since I saw BLUE VALENTINE.
It's one of the most emotionally honest and powerful
films I've ever seen.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's
sweet. That's awesome, man. It was truly a labor of love to make that
movie, so that's so nice to hear.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The
film also inspired me to start this website, Money Into Light,
because I felt so compelled to write about the film that I needed a
place for it to appear.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh,
wow, that's amazing. I have to say that there are so many young
filmmakers that I meet who have been inspired by that film and others
that I have made, and it brings me so much joy.
I was also inspired by so many films and filmmakers in my life that
helped me feed the dream or the illusion, or whatever you want to
say. They're the best compliments when your films inspire people to
make stuff.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fH1jxaceVU8/YFAnqTsmfRI/AAAAAAAAFGs/s2o6j3T1jKgZX7MtmQLi-uTg48B0Xh_9gCNcBGAsYHQ/s600/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BG%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fH1jxaceVU8/YFAnqTsmfRI/AAAAAAAAFGs/s2o6j3T1jKgZX7MtmQLi-uTg48B0Xh_9gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BG%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
just finished I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, and I found it devastatingly
powerful. What was your first reaction to the book
when Mark Ruffalo introduced you to it?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It
took me a long time to read the book because I really struggle
with reading, and I have my whole life. In high school, I
only read one book the entire time I was there because of this
struggle, even though I aced my English classes and became the
most valuable student at my school. My difficulty with reading counts
for one of the reasons why I became a filmmaker. It came out of my
need to communicate with other people through a medium that I could
comprehend.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When
Mark gave me the book, he told me all about it and I asked him lots
of questions about what it was about and what was in it. One of the
tools that I developed throughout my young life with reading was my
ability to listen and to intuit details about stories and characters
through talking to people and just through listening to their
translation of it. When I brought the book home, I realized that it
was just so massive and so intimidating to read, so I got the
audiobook, but even that was hard for me to listen to. I listened to
it, and there was enough in it for my initial emotional response to
be that I related to it and understood it. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;">
</p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It
was about family and the bonds we are born into, and not the
ones we choose. It was about burden of responsibility, and secrets
and families where traumas influence legacies, and it was about an
Italian-American family, and I had also grown up in an
Italian-American family. I was really refreshed to read about this
family that wasn't gangsters. It was more true to the specificity of
my Italian-American upbringing. It felt right up my alley. There's a
lot of heightened drama throughout the story, and my imagination
always goes towards catastrophe. It's
just where my mind goes. This kind of thinking leads to a lot
of catharsis in my life, which I think is why I'm always drawn
to telling stories about tragedies. I'm always looking towards that
relief and that catharsis, that epiphany. </span></span>
</p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span>
</p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It
took me really three years to read the book and to really understand
it. I had actually written the first episode before I had really
finished the book. I guess it was just a power of intuition about
what the shape of the whole thing was going to be. By the time I got
to the end of the book I had a bit of a different feeling about how I
was going to tell the story, and Wally Lamb was very generous and
told me to take over in the transposing of it and to not feel
beholden to him at all. I loved the book but he gave me the freedom
to create with it.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP0DKAMpPM8/YFAoK57OUiI/AAAAAAAAFG0/xcoE24lzk3gqzVANGgiFFjO4sQ-aAsaMQCNcBGAsYHQ/s500/Cianfrance%2BBlue%2BB.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP0DKAMpPM8/YFAoK57OUiI/AAAAAAAAFG0/xcoE24lzk3gqzVANGgiFFjO4sQ-aAsaMQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BBlue%2BB.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've
always found a very literary quality to your films. The structure in
BLUE VALENTINE, for example, would not be considered unique if the
film was a book.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's
true. Structure is everything to me. I'm kind of obsessed with it.
That kind of parallel duet in BLUE VALENTINE that I was trying to
tell, between man and woman, between past and present, and between
love and hate was my first idea for that movie. I thought of
juxtaposition. For THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES I was interested in
making something that was relentlessly linear, that refused to jump
around in time. In fact, when I was in the edit there were a lot of
notes coming from the
financiers that after Gosling is gone from the movie they wanted to
see flashbacks of him in the third act. I would say ''He's dead! He's
dead!'' Flashbacks only happen in movies. I made a rule with that
movie that we were completely counter to what BLUE VALENTINE was.
With I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, I called the structure that Wally Lamb
had created, 'Big Bang Structure'. The story begins on an event that
would rip everything apart and incite everything. It all starts with Thomas
cutting off his hand in the library, and from that 'Big Bang' moment,
the story moves forward into the present and the future but it also
expands back into the past. It's this idea of expansive storytelling.
You go into the past to try and understand how we got here in the
first place. The movie I looked at for inspiration with the structure
was Errol Morris's THE THIN BLUE LINE.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When
I finished watching the series I came to the conclusion that it
marked the end of your first chapter as a filmmaker. Dominic seems to
have completed the journey that the characters in your previous films
had also embarked upon. Do you feel a similar way?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's
funny. I was having a conversation with my good friend the producer
Jeff Clifford the other day and he said the same thing to me – ''I
think you've just reached the end of a chapter''. I do feel this way
too. Every time I make a film I'm trying to confront
and deal with things that are inside of me - a truth, a fear, a
trauma, a memory – and there's always this hope that by
attacking these things, they'll be exorcised from my life, and as
Thomas in the series says, they'll be 'purified'. But this has never
really happened, although the act of making each film, in the moment,
of searching and exploring, and making discoveries, with actors,
crew, on set and with editors is cathartic. On the last day of
shooting, though, I'm always looking for this sense of relief and it
has never ever happened. When the journey is over, I am back where I
started. There's never any destination. So I have to get back to the
journey, because that's where the joy is. I often think about Indiana
Jones and Professor Jones. I feel like in my regular life I'm
Professor Jones – I'm at school, I'm teaching these kids. But then
I leave this life and I go out and I have these adventures, and these
adventures are where life is. Then you go back to your
normal life and you wait for another opportunity to have an
adventure.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lhge_mqlPdA/YFAok1-VdQI/AAAAAAAAFG8/0q2PixApK-QLf1X9V5V6z3Qt1X5OxDhjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BA.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lhge_mqlPdA/YFAok1-VdQI/AAAAAAAAFG8/0q2PixApK-QLf1X9V5V6z3Qt1X5OxDhjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BA.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span>I
will say that my inspiration for my next project is to move beyond
this chapter. I feel like I've expressed it and I've come to the
realization that there are no real answers, it's just all about
acceptance and letting go, about love and growth. I'm a very
anxiety-filled person, and hard to be around at times. The other
day I went on a tube in this river with Mark Ruffalo. For about three
hours, Mark just lay back on this tube, and it takes you wherever it
wants to take you. I spent the whole time steering it, trying to take
it where I wanted it to go. For the last fifteen minutes I decided I
would just let it go and release now, but it was really hard. I feel
like I now want to look onward and see what else is there with
whatever I do next. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've
felt a very close connection with all your films and often, as
with BLUE VALENTINE, they have made me go away and work on things in
my own life.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's
beautiful, man, that's why I made BLUE VALENTINE.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
also came to similar conclusions that Dominic came to at the end of I
KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE – that you have to go easy on yourself, that
there is a limit to how much we are responsible for
others, and that there is evidence of God, through all the ways we
are connected to each other, if you have the eyes to look.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: -0.4cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Especially
now, with the pandemic. There has never been such a
time where we have been forced to see how connected we all are.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpHDKfca7WM/YFAr3X0dqKI/AAAAAAAAFHU/Jbq9cY5U41YWzCknWbzhMjYQ7-nSTODrgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BF%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1436" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpHDKfca7WM/YFAr3X0dqKI/AAAAAAAAFHU/Jbq9cY5U41YWzCknWbzhMjYQ7-nSTODrgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cianfrance%2BI%2BKnow%2BF%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How
much of a challenge was having the canvas of six one-hour episodes to
work from, and how much of it was a pure joy?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was pure joy, a pure
blessing. You have this paradox with the size of the movie screen.
You have this expansive scale of a canvas from which you can project
on, but often times I felt the scale of the stories I wanted to tell
were too big for the screen, and too long than the exhibitors wanted.
If your movie is over 2 hours and 20 minutes, that's one less showing
a day, which I do get. I had always dreamed of having all my dreams
projected onto a giant screen, but I found that I ran into a place in
the editing of both THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES and THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS where I struggled to squeeze all the ideas, the story, the
characters, and the little moments so that they would fit.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I
have been working on this other project called Empire of the Summer
Moon, for nine years, and from the very start I have been told that
the story is too big, that there are too many pages in the script and
that the budget is too high. It's too big for the movie screen and
yet there was nothing more epic than the story I want to tell with
this movie. It needs to be on the big screen, but that's the paradox.
In today's world, it's hard to tell expansive stories unless you have
a franchiseable universe, and I just haven't gotten to that place
where I have been inspired to tell stories about superheroes or
spacemen yet. I'm not saying I couldn't or wouldn't. I don't have any
judgment against people who do, I just personally don't have that
kind of story that I'm trying to tell.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-right: 0.64cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For
I Know This Much is True, the idea of squishing it into a two-hour
movie was really challenging. You would end up losing so much of the
story and the moments and characters. It was such a relief all of a
sudden to have six hours to tell this expansive story. It's actually
six hours and twenty minutes because HBO gave me the extra twenty
minutes for the last episode. I actually overcompensated in some
instances because I was so excited by the opportunity to be
expansive. I wrote the first scene as a 21-page scene, which I would
never be able to do in a two hour movie because 21 pages equates to
21 minutes of a two hour movie, which is 1/6 of your whole running
time. But now I had all this time to be able to fit in the dynamics
and the scale and structure and rhythms. It was a total joy. In terms
of artistic and creative freedom, I've had a lot of experiences where
I was free to make choices and mistakes and this was no different.
Just because I went to TV, it did not change that process one bit. It
just allowed me to go deeper.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/2021/03/derek-cianfrance-on-i-know-this-much-is_21.html">Part two </a>of the interview. </i> <br /></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I Know This Much is True can be seen on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK, and is also available on Amazon Prime.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2021. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></p>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-25362972715393058962020-05-11T20:10:00.003+09:002021-03-16T23:13:34.344+09:00RICHARD LOWENSTEIN ON 'MYSTIFY - MICHAEL HUTCHENCE' (PART 3 OF 3) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8OQGtL4hg4/XrksR5CUF5I/AAAAAAAAFB8/kAZh08BwM80mlrCtQAS3jnkmfDCBOMRsACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hutch%2BC.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D8OQGtL4hg4/XrksR5CUF5I/AAAAAAAAFB8/kAZh08BwM80mlrCtQAS3jnkmfDCBOMRsACNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Hutch%2BC.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Richard
Lowenstein is the Australian filmmaker behind motion pictures
STRIKEBOUND (1984), DOGS IN SPACE (1986), SAY A LITTLE PRAYER (1993),
and HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND (2001), and the documentaries
AUTOLUMINESCENT (2011) and ECCO HOMO (2013). Lowenstein is also one of
the music industry's most brilliant promo video directors, working with
the likes of INXS, U2, Pete Townshend, Hunters & Collectors, Cold
Chisel and Crowded House. His latest film is MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE
(2019), a documentary celebrating the INXS frontman. As well as being a
close friend of the late singer, Lowenstein collaborated with Hutchence
on numerous promo videos and live films, both for INXS and Hutchence's
solo projects, including the groundbreaking and influential INXS videos
What You Need, Need You Tonight and Never Tear Us Apart. Lowenstein also
cast Hutchence in the lead role in his vivid recreation of the
Melbourne punk era, DOGS IN SPACE. MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE seeks to
show a more accurate picture of the complex, warm-hearted talent, and
explain the circumstances that led to his all too young death. In the third part of a three-part interview, I spoke to Lowenstein about what whether he thinks he can finally say goodbye to Michael after making MYSTIFY; whether he believes that Michael's suicide was simply the result of him being 'stuck in moment'; whether making the film led to Lowentsein </span></i><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">reflecting upon his own mortality; what he made of Michael's close friendship with U2's Bono; what he thinks Michael would have thought of MYSTIFY; why he thinks Michael was able to remain close with his ex-lovers, and whether he feels life has an element of Greek tragedy to it given Michael's fascination with the Patrick Biskind book Perfume had echoes with his own tragic death. </i><br />
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Parts <a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/04/richard-lowenstein-on-mystify-michael.html" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/04/richard-lowenstein-on-mystify-michael_29.html" target="_blank">two</a> of the interview. </i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You sadly never got the chance to say goodbye to Michael. Do you think with this film you were able to finally say goodbye to him?</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I definitely think there's a sense of closure in making a statement with the film. I knew there were injustices going on with his legacy. I was at the funeral home with his body and everything, and it all seemed so alien and bizarre. In a way, I guess my desire to make a feature film or a documentary or whatever was me floundering about how I could pay him back, how could I actually say goodbye in a way that has resonance, not just for me. As Ollie Olsen says, he changed our lives by offering us these jobs, and we feel like we owe him, his family, his friends, his fans, the people that know nothing about him, and Australian music history, an accurate portrait. Otherwise, everything that he was railing about in life, about not being respected, was going to happen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I gave the band and their unbelievably terrible management twenty years to do the right thing. Then I just sat back and looked particularly at what the management were responsible for, and I said to myself ''I can't let this happen. I've got to enable Michael's story and legacy be told without it being exploited for selling back catalogue or whatever. '' Some things are more important than money. Michael was so down and furious about his music being used for TV commercials when he was alive and I believe he would still feel like that today. And yet I'd see his voice being used in Target commercials and the like. Classy stuff. So I decided he was alive. ''Somebody's got to do the right thing for this guy that had helped me so much, because nobody else was doing it ... '' It's definitely good to know that I did the right thing.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_eHIgmT5pkI/XrkvqGBn1PI/AAAAAAAAFCU/FT5NQaoQ2csRuHbFypJBaqXld_AovAwuQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/U2%2BStuck%2Bin%2Ba%2BMoment.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_eHIgmT5pkI/XrkvqGBn1PI/AAAAAAAAFCU/FT5NQaoQ2csRuHbFypJBaqXld_AovAwuQCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/U2%2BStuck%2Bin%2Ba%2BMoment.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Looking back at how Michael died, would you agree with Bono that he simply got ''stuck in a moment he couldn't get out of''?</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's my understanding, after speaking to the psychiatrists and neurosurgeons for the film, that this is how suicide works: it's spontaneous, it's very rarely planned, with long, explanatory notes and everything. He absolutely wasn't planning a suicide. He was on the phone to his ex-partner Michele, begging her to come and be with him. He was always terrified of being alone in a hotel room. That's why he never wanted to be the last person left in his hotel room. He wanted you to to just sit and talk through the night. But in this spontaneous burst of irrationality, he couldn't even wait the half hour it would take for Michele to arrive and come sit with him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was a real ''fuck it all'' moment that the shrinks and the specialists would tell me about from all their discussions and research with the ones that survive. They told me that spontaneous suicide was like this sudden explosion of everything, where you're not really thinking about the situation or the daughter or partner you're leaving behind. It's just like a fit or a spasm. It's no coincidence he was calling his manager and saying ''Fuck it, I've had enough. I can't take it anymore. '' They said if you can get through the suicidal spasm, or if someone is there to talk you down, often the person is embarrassed about what they might have done, and never try again. It's a short circuiting of the brain, the frustrations of his life exacerbated by the symptoms of the traumatic head injury (TBI), the lack of sleep (which they could tell from his hotel phone records), the depression, and the excessive drinking (there was a tiny residue of drugs in his blood but a seriously large amount of alcohol). When my specialists saw the doctors I talked to saw Michael's autopsy report and the size of his head injury, and the size of the two lesions in his head, they were in shock, and said ''I can tell you from past experience, I can almost guarantee that he killed himself ... ''</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Watching the film made me look at my own mortality. Did making the film have the same effect on you?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm always ruminating on mortality and my own mortality in particular. There's part of the Peter Pan in both Michael and I. Neither of us really settled down and had normal nuclear familiy situation. We both grew up in a Bohemian world and tried to retain that in a singular manner throughout our lives. I'm not in a profession that's so dependent on youth, but the pop music world is similar to the model world in that there's an insane obsession with being talented, young and beautiful. Not necessarily in that order. Being a great performer was a skill Michael perfected through hard work, but the youth, beauty, energy and stamina that everyone gushes about all have a use-by date. You may feel you're reaching your creative peak in your mid-thirties, only to find that the pop music industry is far more interested in the next fresh-faced, young, talented thing that is coming along, and the recording contract you're offered begins to look more like a pension plan than anything else. At the time when other artists are just hitting their prime, as personified by the Oasis comment, you're seen to be an old man. It's kind of like an advanced mid-life crisis because you're only 35 and the world is looking at you as a has-been, unless you can do what very few performers like the Rolling Stones or U2 do and somehow keep pumping out the hits, and looking cool in their videos. If you make money for people, then no-one seems to mind and the sycophancy continues, but if the hits and cash influx starts to fade, suddenly you're considered too old and a has-been, and people start looking the other way. It's a bit like having a contract with a vampire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael loved the new bands coming up like Nirvana and Oasis, but he was definitely feeling like it was a young person's game, and wondering ''How the hell am I gonna transcend this?'' If he hadn't had had his traumatic head injury, I believe his intelligence and his love of art and everything would have shown him the way, much as it did with U2, to move forward and survive the 90s. All of my research into the effects of these two walnut-sized areas of brain damage tells me that he wouldn't have had a hope of traversing all the dilemmas of surviving the 90s grunge era as an 80s funk-based band and staying relevant. He wouldn't have had a hope of surviving and dealing with all of that and the head injury as well. Michael had an increased sense of his own mortality going on well before he should have. You can see that in his interviews. The ''27 Club'' and ''Shouldn't you be dead by now?'' was much discussed. Male mid-life crises should happen when you're 55, not 35.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The sad thing is that INXS and Michael probably would have risen again because it's all cyclical. They just have to wait it out. Even U2 have had periods when they were considered less relevant.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Absolutely. U2 were not only incredibly lucky, but incredibly clever. In the 90s, they survived grunge and were very relevant and played huge stadiums. But what other band was able to do that?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What did you make of Michael and Bono's friendship?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nick Cave said that he was jealous of Michael's audience and performing abilities, and Michael always said he was jealous of the creative respect Nick got, and his songwriting and creative capabilities. I think it was a similar thing with Bono and Michael. Bono was a very successful artist and a great onstage performer who got a lot of respect, but he's not a classic rock performer like Michael. U2 are a great band, and Bono and The Edge have an incredible relationship that drives everything along. Michael was desperate for this, but he didn't have it on the same level with Andrew Farriss. Andrew and Michael were a great songwriting duo, but were like chalk and cheese as people, which is perhaps why they drifted apart in values as they got older, which made it very hard to create together and allow that innocent magic to happen again. Edge and Bono are two like-minded people that just get each other no matter how old they are. I think Michael and Bono connected through their shared experiences, but they were also envious of what the other had in a very friendly way. They were very close.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I read that Bono still expects Michael to jump over the fence in his property in Nice when he goes there for the summer.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After Michael's funeral, I stayed with Bono and others at Bono's place in Eze, and one day we broke into Michael's house there and had a little wake for him with champagne in the olive groves etc. It was good to be there with Bono at that personal wake since I had been the catalyst for bringing them together on U2's Desire shoot and then again on the Lovetown tour in '89. They might have bumped into each other before that, but they hadn't met properly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What do you feel Michael might say about MYSTIFY?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I hope he'd be very proud. I think he would love the fact that the full story of the Max Q project has finally been told. I think he'd love the fact that, even though he kept his secrets, the reasons for his decline and demise were shown to be medical reasons and not just him getting too big for his boots or becoming a victim to the rock star cliché. I think he'd love the honesty of his story being told in a respectful way in which he's not just going down in history as an anachronism of the 80s. I think there was a danger of him being remembered as a one album hit wonder, and I certainly came across that attitude in the making of this film. I think he would be incredibly thrilled that publications like the NME came out and embraced the film. The NME was INXS's enemy for the entire 80s and to be nominated for an NME Award for Best Music Film and to have a rave review from them is something he would have liked more than anything else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It said a lot that in the film, nobody had anything bad to say about him - especially the women, considering his 'love them and leave them' image. In fact, he seems to have stayed friends with all his exes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, and a lot of them weren't clean breaks either, if you get what I mean. As a Bohemian, I think he loved the concept of an open relationship, especially when he was young. He was pushing the idea of an open relationship on his very first girlfriend. It's hard to quantify how he remained on good terms. Certainly when he broke up with women there were grudges and upsets, and like most of us, he wasn't into confrontations. He'd just leave and sort it out later. There wasn't anyone that we could find who could say ''He treated me selfishly'' There were a lot of people saying that in his last two years he was very aggressive and would lose his temper and snap, but that was a result of his accident and TBI which very few knew about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was one time when I remember clearly that something was wrong with Michael. It was sometime in 94, after the accident, and the bar in Michael's hotel was closing. We were leaving to go upstairs, and there were all these fans shouting ''Michael! Michael!'' etc and holding out things for him to sign. He waved at them and said ''Fuck 'em'' out loud. I followed him upstairs thinking ''Wow, that's weird. I've never seen that before. '' Then when you find out all the things about his condition, it all makes sense, because this wasn't the Michael I knew. The Michael I had known for ten years would have been out there signing autographs and making them all feel great, even for the hardcore fans out there at 3 in the morning when he was coming back from a bar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In the documentary there's a parallel between the events of the Patrick Biskind novel Perfume, a book Michael loved, and the tragedy of Michael permanently losing his sense of smell and taste following the accident. Do you believe life has an element of Greek tragedy to it?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unfortunately I do believe that Zeus was up there watching and decided to take away what Michael loved the most, for no other reason than spite and envy. My mother was a writer and died of Alzheimer's disease. Tim Farriss, the INXS guitarist, lost a finger in a fishing accident, and he can't play anymore. I grew up reading the Greek myths, legends and tragedies, and it's just uncanny that it was Michael's most loved senses that there were taken away from him – his senses of taste and smell and his cognitive abilities. There's something weird going on out there … Zeus was and still is an arsehole! It's Faustian. Robert Johnson and The Devil down at the Crossroads kind of shit. No wonder people dreamed up religion. The coincidences are just too bizarre to be coinc</span>idences ...<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mystify: Michael Hutchence is available on disc and digitally. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIFR3hkIpo&t=1s" target="_blank">trailer. </a> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You can read about the work of Lowenstein and his production company <a href="http://www.ghostfilm.net/" target="_blank">here.</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> </a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2020. All rights reserved.</i></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-11129782060833779632020-04-29T18:46:00.000+09:002020-05-11T20:12:31.354+09:00RICHARD LOWENSTEIN ON 'MYSTIFY - MICHAEL HUTCHENCE' (PART 2 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E1GHqCAvEkA/XqkrFNi859I/AAAAAAAAFAI/ydS-zonXpVsYQuMxr_wa-LqsO7IPWKpnACEwYBhgL/s1600/Lowenstein%2BHutchence%2Blaughing.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="352" height="158" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E1GHqCAvEkA/XqkrFNi859I/AAAAAAAAFAI/ydS-zonXpVsYQuMxr_wa-LqsO7IPWKpnACEwYBhgL/s200/Lowenstein%2BHutchence%2Blaughing.jpeg" width="200" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Richard Lowenstein is the Australian filmmaker behind motion pictures STRIKEBOUND (1984), DOGS IN SPACE (1986), SAY A LITTLE PRAYER (1993), and HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND (2001), and the documentaries AUTOLUMINESCENT (2011) and ECCO HOMO (2013). Lowenstein is also one of the music industry's most brilliant promo video directors, working with the likes of INXS, U2, Pete Townshend, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel and Crowded House. His latest film is MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE (2019), a documentary celebrating the INXS frontman. As well as being a close friend of the late singer, Lowenstein collaborated with Hutchence on numerous promo videos and live films, both for INXS and Hutchence's solo projects, including the groundbreaking and influential INXS videos What You Need, Need You Tonight and Never Tear Us Apart. Lowenstein also cast Hutchence in the lead role in his vivid recreation of the Melbourne punk era, DOGS IN SPACE. MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE seeks to show a more accurate picture of the complex, warm-hearted talent, and explain the circumstances that led to his all too young death. In the second part of a three-par interview, I spoke to Lowenstein about what Michael got out of the solo Max Q project; whether he believes Michael would ever have left INXS; whether he was worried being a hugely in-demand music video director would negatively impact his feature directing career; how he got the gig directing the Desire video for U2, and what it was like working with them; what the original impetus for making MYSTIFY was; how he balanced making a subjective and objective documentary on Michael; how Michael still remains an elusive figure and person; whether there was a longer cut of MYSTIFY that he was happy with; and the process of editing the film</span></i><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">. </i><br />
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<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/04/richard-lowenstein-on-mystify-michael.html" target="_blank">Part one</a> of the interview. </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When
you worked with Michael on the promo videos for the Max Q project,
did you get the sense that he was happy to be able to express himself
in ways he couldn't with INXS?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes.
Kick had been a huge success, and they had toured for two years. It's
no coincidence that after that, Michael changed everything. He broke
up with Michele, he had the freedom of being single for a while and
then he got with Kylie. The band took a year off, and at this stage
it was over ten years of being with the band. INXS knew they wanted
to keep going, but Michael needed a recharge. Michael wasn't going to
get a recharge by sitting on a beach for a year, or raising a family
like the others did. He would recharge by exploring new things, and
doing something without the constraints of the commercial world and
the record company watching his every move. At the same time, he did
want Max Q to be a hit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It
seems that the band, management and record company were all scared
Max Q being a success might lead to Michael leaving INXS. Do you
think that Michael would ever have left the band?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael
never made it easy for anybody. He never let anybody feel secure. You
were insecure as a partner, you were insecure as a band member. Sting
had left The Police, Peter Gabriel was a successful solo artist, and
both the band members and management were absolutely terrified that
if Michael had commercial success with Max Q, he would suddenly
become Michael Hutchence the solo artist and everything that they had
worked so hard for with INXS would collapse. But honestly, from
knowing him, that was never going to happen. Michael would never have
left his INXS family. He expressed frustration sometimes and might
have said ''I'm gonna leave you guys, you're driving me crazy'' a few
times, like in any normal family fight, but he was addicted to what
happened on stage when they all got together. There was an
indefinable magic. But he also wanted to spread his wings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You
became quite famous as INXS's go-to video director, particularly in
the Kick era. Were you worried at all that your success in this field
might overshadow your feature directing career or take you away from
feature directing opportunities?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
I was, but it was very hard to say no to them. You're sitting there
trying to get a film off the ground but your last one, DOGS IN SPACE,
didn't do well commercially, even though it did well critically and
got a wide release, and they call up and say they have three videos
they want you to do. I'd say ''Can we do them in Prague?'' and they'd
say okay. How can you say no to that? Later on I would start giving
the jobs of the third or fourth singles to my other director friends,
and I regret not doing some of those videos. Then of course, people
like Pete Townshend and U2 would then call me up, and I can't say no
to great experiences like that either. A lot of video directors of
that era would make a video in a week and move on, but the videos
were always labors of love for me, and it would be three months
before I was finally finished. Then I would get my head back into a
feature script.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
did find that the videos were a big distraction, but in hindsight
there are experiences there that I wouldn't change for anything. I
could have said no to U2 or no to Prague and Never Tear Us Apart and
sat there in my room bashing out a script that never went ahead. On
the other hand, it might have gone the other way and I'd have a
Hollywood contract by now! I'm glad I had those experiences, that's
for sure.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Did
you get the gig to direct U2's Desire video through Michael, who was
friends with Bono?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No,
although everybody thinks I did. I actually introduced Michael to
Bono. I knew the U2 guys totally independently, going back to even
before I was offered Burn for You by INXS. They were touring in
Australia when the Hunters and Collectors video I did came out, and
they loved it. They rang me up and said ''We'd love you to see our
show'', and the next thing you know Lynn and me and my team were all
backstage with them talking about art, music, film and everything,
not in a green room situation, but in a private meeting. They said
''We are gonna work together one day'', and it wasn't until about
five years later that we did. I'm sure the success of the Kick videos
helped a lot. If I had disappeared into the wilderness, I'm sure they
wouldn't have dug me up! But yeah, I had a connection with U2 before
INXS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What
was it like working with them on Desire, Angel of Harlem and the
Lovetown TV special?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They
were great. They were different, very Irish. We were all Bohemians,
and like a lot of bands of that era, had grown up with David Bowie,
who I also loved. We shot Angel of Harlem at the Apollo Theatre in
New York, and Desire in LA. The band were more forthcoming with ideas
that did make their way into the videos. They knew where they were
going, and knew what they wanted. In Desire you could see they were
already playing with media, grabbing blips and bits off cable TV. I
remember Bono sitting with me, flicking through the 25 channels on
the American TV set, going from infomercials to bits of TV shows,
saying ''This is what we want. '' I told him ''You've come to the
right guy'', since I was really into this kind of filmmaking style,
and I'd do more with it on my Max Q videos. The band were very
friendly and we've formed a strong friendship. They obviously came
from a more Irish, poetic space. They were very well read, quoting
Dylan Thomas, and everything was thought through. They were also in
competition at that time with INXS. The Kick videos had beat them at
the MTV Awards that year and they wanted the guy who could make
videos like that for them.</span><br />
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I'd
love for the Melbourne concert that you filmed for the Lovetown TV
special to be released one day.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We
filmed and edited the entire concert, but it was cut down for the TV
special. There's also a lot of behind the scenes stuff with BB King
in the rushes. There was a symposium of U2 fans on the last tour who
dug up the concert and played it. I don't know how they got it. I
don't know if U2 will ever release it officially. I think at the time
it clashed with the video release of RATTLE AND HUM (1988).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It
strikes me that you are the equivalent to INXS of Russell Mulcahy to
Duran Duran. Do you guys know each other well?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No.
I think we've been at the same parties but we have never bumped into
each other and chatted.</span><br />
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</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>MYSTIFY
was going to be a feature film in the beginning. What was the
original impetus to do a film about Michael?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
had been ten or fifteen years after his death, and nothing in the
mediascape, be it books or dramas, spoke of the person or musician
that I knew. It wasn't just because he was a friend. He was quite a
remarkable performer, composer and singer, which I had seen up close
when I worked with him and saw him in the studio. I felt it was a bit
of a crime. I spoke to a few close friends of Michael's, and we would
talk about how dreadful a particular documentary or drama about
Michael was. We all decided we owed him an honest portrait. I called
up all the people that knew Michael and asked them if they would talk
to me if I made a film, and they all said ''Yes, of course. You're
the only one we would speak to. ''</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There
had been so many scurrilous documentaries. My phone would be off the
hook with so many of his close friends going ''Who was that about?''
So, I knew I had some people on my side. When Mandy Chang at ABC said
''We'll back you if you make the documentary'', she didn't know that
I had already filmed some twenty interviews since 2009, with people
like Bono and Nick Launay when they came through town.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
Channel 7 TV mini-series Never Tear Us Apart had kind of put the end
to the idea of doing a drama. I saw it, and ultimately, it's just a
bunch of actors pretending to be the real people, and I felt in the
end that I owed it to Michael to tell his own story in his own voice
and with his own face. I'm glad that the miniseries was made and
prevented us making a feature, because I would have hated making a
feature about Michael when a good documentary about him didn't exist.
It was around 2014 when I realized that I had enough good footage in
the archive to seriously make a documentary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It's
interesting that the common conception about documentaries is that
they need to be objective and distanced, when with MYSTIFY what was
needed was a subjective portrait where you got to be the caretaker of
his memory in a way.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
get into this dubious area of whether the film is just going to be a
lovefest made by people who loved him, but we did try to be as
objective as possible and I think we achieved that. I don't think
this is a film just for the fans. We are showing Michael warts and
all. You can easily slip into things like ''And then he became an
arrogant rock star. '' We tried to explain how these things happened.
Helena Christensen, if she hadn't trusted me, wouldn't have told us
the full story of what happened with Michael's accident, and we
wouldn't have gotten the reason why he became this cliched rock star
kicking photographers. He's not really himself at that stage, there's
something actually wrong with him. A lot of his friends of that last
two years wouldn't talk to me because they'd say ''The Michael I knew
was the full Michael, and I'm not going to talk to you if you're
going to make a big thing about this accident, which really was just
a knock on the head and didn't change anything, because you're saying
that the Michael I knew wasn't the real Michael. '' It's ridiculous
to put your head in the sand and say that the Michael after the
accident was the same Michael from before. No wonder people come up
with all these weird theories about why he killed himself. They don't
have all the information. The friends that knew him from the 80s
right through to the end, people like Michele, Terry Serio, Nick
Conroy and members of INXS told me ''No, he was absolutely a
different person after that accident. We don't know the full details,
but he was not the same. ''</span><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehqguyvFsRA/XqlKsIIAsOI/AAAAAAAAFBY/8gmKAQkMzZIoCF5dckqEDXA9R5tg3oiWACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="201" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehqguyvFsRA/XqlKsIIAsOI/AAAAAAAAFBY/8gmKAQkMzZIoCF5dckqEDXA9R5tg3oiWACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B7.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It's
also remarkable that even though the film is intimate, and revealing, about Michael, he still remains a charismatic, elusive figure at the
end.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
think that's why we called it MYSTIFY. I think he was elusive, even
to himself. You could be his friend, especially a male friend, and
he'd put on a show for you, take you to parties and show you what
it's like to be a rock star. He didn't really enjoy himself unless he
was sharing his good fortune with his friends, especially if they
didn't have much money. It's interesting that going into it, I
thought I was making a simple portrait of the guy and then as I found
out more and more and more, especially about the secrets he kept and
so on, you still end up with rather an elusive figure at the end.
Even for those who knew him very well it is hard to say what he would
be doing today. He juggled so many things and started keeping
secrets, like what really happened with the accident, which he even
kept from Paula.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What
was the process of editing it like, going through all the footage you
had?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
knew it was something I couldn't do by myself as a lone filmmaker. I
needed other opinions and other sensibilities, so I opened it out to
a group of us. I was sort of the adjudicator. There were sequences
being edited all over the place, sometimes successfully, sometimes
not. It was a collaborative edit, and it would have done my head in
had I tried to do it on my own. We had teams of people looking at all
the rushes from the archive and all the stock footage, pulling out
sections they thought were great. There were many collections of the
best bits of the ten hours of footage we had. It was a very long,
organic process of trying to find how best to tell the story, and how
linear or non-linear to make it. Where is the best point to cover his
childhood, for example? There were many questions, and I was open and
would take notes from all my investors, friends, strangers even. Not
that I would listen all the time, but I would hear everyone's
opinion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There
were lots of problems. The beginning was a huge problem and the
ending was a huge problem. The story in between was hard too, but
some of it was actually easy. The twenty minutes of Kylie footage
just fell together instantly because we had a great interview with
Kylie and all that great footage. That section was pretty much
untouched from the over one and a half years of editing. We only got
the INXS music at the last minute, and we only got the Wembley
footage at the last minute. It was a very protracted and agonising
process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Was
there a longer cut that you would have been happy with?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We
had an English producer, John Battsek (SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN), who
had won a couple of Oscars, and he kept saying ''95 minutes, 95
minutes. '' He is probably still saying ''95 minutes'' out there
somewhere. (The final run time is 102 minutes. ) We did have cuts
that were 120, 130 minutes long, but to be honest, we would screen it
for friends and it did seem like it was going on too long. There
would be comments like ''He's sexy, but he's not an icon of music.
We're here because of the Paula story'' etc etc but I always thought
it was a much bigger story than just the Paula story. A lot of the
stuff we cut out is in the DVD extras. One chunk we cut out was his
acting career. To tell that story, you had to stop all the other
stories and go back to telling the story of him growing up on film
sets in Hong Kong, where his mother worked as a makeup artist, and
later making DOGS IN SPACE and other bit parts in films. A lot of
interviewers seemed relieved they had something else to ask him other
than ''Tell us about your latest album … ''</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3tTI1N4kT4/XqlMiRTREZI/AAAAAAAAFBs/ov5VF4O2FEc7CWD-vbcSJnJ4E4p94BT8gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/LOwenstein%2BHutchence%2BINXS%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="617" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3tTI1N4kT4/XqlMiRTREZI/AAAAAAAAFBs/ov5VF4O2FEc7CWD-vbcSJnJ4E4p94BT8gCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/LOwenstein%2BHutchence%2BINXS%2B2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I
could have watched hours more. I recently watched the four hour Tom
Petty documentary RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM (2007), and I never wanted it
to stop!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We
were aiming for a cinema release, and the distributors had very
strong ideas about how long it should be. You don't want to overstay
your welcome. If we had released it through streaming, we could have
done three or four one-hour episodes, but we had to speak to
audiences who weren't fans as well and tell the story of the 'unknown
rock star'. I'm sure the fans could have handled a three hour cinema
experience no problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>There's
something great about it playing in cinemas.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
and we mixed it in Atmos for that whole cinema experience. It was our
selling point: 'Hear the music like you've never heard it before. ''</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/05/richard-lowenstein-on-mystify-michael.html" target="_blank">Part three</a> of the interview. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mystify: Michael Hutchence is available on disc and digitally. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIFR3hkIpo&t=1s" target="_blank">trailer. </a> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You can read about the work of Lowenstein and his production company <a href="http://www.ghostfilm.net/" target="_blank">here.</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> </a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2020. All rights reserved.</i>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-45072155630267466062020-04-06T11:05:00.001+09:002020-04-29T16:33:05.227+09:00RICHARD LOWENSTEIN ON 'MYSTIFY - MICHAEL HUTCHENCE' (PART 1 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Richard Lowenstein is the Australian filmmaker behind motion pictures STRIKEBOUND (1984), DOGS IN SPACE (1986), SAY A LITTLE PRAYER (1993), and HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND (2001), and the documentaries AUTOLUMINESCENT (2011) and ECCO HOMO (2013). Lowenstein is also one of the music industry's most brilliant promo video directors, working with the likes of INXS, U2, Pete Townshend, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel and Crowded House. His latest film is MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE (2019), a documentary celebrating the INXS frontman. As well as being a close friend of the late singer, Lowenstein collaborated with Hutchence on numerous promo videos and live films, both for INXS and Hutchence's solo projects, including the groundbreaking and influential INXS videos What You Need, Need You Tonight and Never Tear Us Apart. Lowenstein also cast Hutchence in the lead role in his vivid recreation of the Melbourne punk era, DOGS IN SPACE. MYSTIFY – MICHAEL HUTCHENCE seeks to show a more accurate picture of the complex, warm-hearted talent, and explain the circumstances that led to his all too young death. In the first part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Lowenstein about how he got into making music videos; how he began working with Hutchence and INXS; his friendship with him, and casting him in DOGS IN SPACE. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How did you get into making music videos?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I studied Film at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, and when it comes to one's prospects after finishing film school, it's going to be a long time before you make a full-length feature film. You usually have to make a 20-minute film, a 50-minute film or whatever, and then if it's all good enough, then they'll let you make a feature. But even your short films would need scripts, lots of applying to different places, and months of trying to get the money and trying to convince the government that you have the talent and so on. They'd give you 5, 000 dollars, or if you're lucky, 10 or 20, 000 dollars, to make a short film, and then you get your career.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CTOlrYqqLo/XoqDXNUUabI/AAAAAAAAE-A/4dovc58lctYXF9Vy9XUPLmJij-ir8X5XQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CTOlrYqqLo/XoqDXNUUabI/AAAAAAAAE-A/4dovc58lctYXF9Vy9XUPLmJij-ir8X5XQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B1.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the point of time I got out of film school , I had already done a couple of really rough music videos for friends that I was living with, and what started happening was that a band would come along and say something like ''We'll give you 5, 000 dollars to make a short film. You can be as arty and as experimental as you like, it's just got to have our music on it. We're ready to go tomorrow. ''</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Music videos seemed to be this extraordinary canvas of getting to be a short film filmmaker, getting experience on set and experimenting with techniques that I had seen in films at the Melbourne Film Co-op. I wasn't just thinking ''Oh, I'll just make some nice little story film and I'll get to make a bigger film '', I was really into experimental cinema and everything. Music videos were this great fast track, and you could work out your feature film aspirations on something like Listen Like Thieves. A lot of filmmakers in the 80s were treating music videos as if they were mini-films.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Making music videos was also great because unlike when you were making a feature, you didn't have to harangue people for money or wait six weeks to see if Screen Australia, for example, would give you any money. It was this amazing opportunity that happened to me again and again for me to learn my craft, with very little effort, and get paid as well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's not always the case with music video directors, but all this was happening while I was also making films. I made the Hunters and Collectors video (Talking to a Stranger) first, and then I went into my first feature film STRIKEBOUND, and continued to do music videos, commercials and features. It was great having all this parallel processing because I wouldn't have to wait two years to get on a set after finishing a film, and spend all my time writing a script and trying to get funding. You could have three days on a set and have a great time and learn about shots and about your craft. It was usually extremely relaxed and very creative. A lot of the people I collaborated with back then I am still working with today. The videos started a lot of great creative collaborations that I am very thankful for.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Before you did your first video with INXS, Burn for You, how aware were you of their music? Were you a fan?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was a follower of a Melbourne band that I lived with called The Ears. I remember one night in 1979 or 80, I was with some people downstairs in in a multi-venue place called The Crystal Ballroom in Melbourne, watching a band play when someone came in and said ''You need to go and watch this band playing upstairs. The singer is imitating Sam (the lead singer of The Ears). '' We went upstairs and there was this guy throwing himself around on stage in a very similar way to Sam. That guy was Michael (Hutchence) and the band was INXS. Because they were a Sydney band and The Ears was a Melbourne band, we were very dismissive of INXS. They were commercial, their music was catchy and their lyrics made sense instead of being stupid! We thought that was really boring. That was my experience with INXS until I got a phone call about doing Burn for You.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Is it true that it was especially Michael who wanted you to direct the video?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael was watching the video we did for Hunters and Collectors (Talking to a Stranger) on Countdown one day, and he turned to his girlfriend Michele Bennett, and said ''Who did that video? We want one like that. '' Michael had stolen Michele off one of the members of Hunters and Collectors, Greg Perano, and Greg was still pissed at him and pining for her. Michele said ''I'll ask Greg. '' Greg told her it was Lynn-Maree (Milburn), Andy (Groot) and me, and Michael told his management to get on to us. And it went on from there. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Around that time we had also done a video for Cold Chisel called Saturday Night, which I think was what really showed Michael and the band what we could do for them, because I don't think they really wanted an arty video like the Hunters and Collectors one. The Cold Chisel video showed that we could also be commercially-oriented as well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The band called me up about a week before I was going off to the Cannes Film Festival with my film STRIKEBOUND. It was only my second big trip overseas, and I was nervous, and they were saying ''Come and do a video for us. '' I said ''I can't do this. I've got to hire cameras and tracks and all that. '' They said ''No, no. Just grab one of your portable cameras and come up to Queensland. '' I said ''I shoot on 16mm. There's no such thing as a portable 16mm camera. '' Luckily I did have a little portable camera that I had bought in the Trading Post for 300 dollars called a Bolex. So me, Lynn-Marie and our stylist Troy flew up to Mackay in North Queensland with our little Bolex camera and little hundred feet rolls of film, which was all we had. We were there to make a video for Burn for You, but we filmed what we could and did stuff for other songs as well. As Michael says in one of the extras on the DVD, we would be driving through mangrove swamps and I would say ''Let's get a shot!'', and he would get out of the car and we would film him running through the mangroves. Of course, I would stay in the car. We would do lots of funny things like that. We built up a collection of different images, and finished the job off in London. After I came back from Cannes, we edited it together.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Of all the members of INXS, was it Michael who was the most interested and got the most involved in the videos?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the first few videos at least, the band would have these serious meetings where they sat down amd discussed their various ideas. I'm a very passively determined person, so I would listen to them all and nod. Andrew Farriss would say ''The song is about (this)'', and someone else would say ''I see dinosaurs'' or something, and I would say ''Uh-huh''. I would look at Michael and he would roll his eyes!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Michael would sometimes make suggestions but usually he would just say ''Look, I trust you, and it's not really about what we think should be in the video. We're not filmmakers. What have you got?'' And then I would say something like ''Well, the music speaks this to me, and I imagine this happening, and this could happen. '' In the case of something like What You Need, that was a concept that Lynn-Marie and I had thought up. Before we had even heard the song ,we saw a collage in Face magazine that was half Xerox and half real image. We thought ''Woah! That would be great in a video one day. '' The next video that came along was What You Need, and we said ''This is what we are gonna do'', and the band just went ''Yep, love it. '' Michael would have the most connection, but honestly the other members had more physical ideas. I can't say any of the ideas would ake it through to the final video, though, because I would just say ''I'll see how it goes with that idea'', and then the idea would just disappear. Invariably, the band made a joke of it. They'd say ''We say all this stuff to Richard and he just ignores us, but we always love the end result. '' The band loved the film AFTER THE FOX (1966), where Peter Sellers pretends to be a film director, and they would always take the piss out of me on set as if I was Peter Sellers not knowing what he was doing!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Was Michael really interested in learning about filmmaking or the equipment you were using?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only thing that he really focused on was the Bolex camera. Once he got some money in the bank he came up to me and said ''I want one of those cameras. It has an incredible look. '' I would say ''Well, it's quite expensive to process the film '', but he wanted one. They were also difficult to find, and at this stage, everybody in the filmmaking business wanted one. I had to wait until my next trip to Los Angeles to get Michael one. There's a famous old camera store in Los Angeles, and I found him one there, and then about two years later I had to buy Bono one because he didn't want to be outdone by Michael. Michael was really fascinated by the Bolex, and thank God he was because the footage we found of him and Kylie Minogue that's in the film is from the camera that I bought him. The Max Q footage too. Michael would shoot stuff on the Bolex when he was on holiday or doing a video shoot, and then the next time we met on a video shoot or something he would hand me these 100ft rolls of Kodak film and say ''Get this processed for me?'' I would just throw it in with all the rushes from the videos we were making. and then put it on a VHS for him, which he was more than happy about. The film he gave me just stayed in our archive in my attic, and I had totally forgotten about it. It turned out I had put all the rolls of film in with a lot of Max Q stuff so he didn't have to pay upmarket fees, and after I sent the Max Q tins to a computer scanning service to see what we had for MYSTIFY, they rang up in the middle of the night and said ''There's twenty minutes of Michael and Kylie on holiday here. '' I didn't expect that.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbUJIJhV73A/XoqExfyRFQI/AAAAAAAAE-o/SMQj9fiCwe02_ULRQH4rxH_kOPTT0QuiQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbUJIJhV73A/XoqExfyRFQI/AAAAAAAAE-o/SMQj9fiCwe02_ULRQH4rxH_kOPTT0QuiQCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Lowenstein%2BHutch%2B6.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When you worked with INXS on Burn for You, did you have any inkling at all that this might lead to a long series of collaborations?</i> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No, not at all. I knew instantly that the band were lovely. We all bonded and we were friendly. They are all eclectic characters and not all of them wanted to connect on the level that Michael did. A lot of them had girlfriends, so as soon as the job was done they'd disappear off with them, but Michael was more inclusive, so by the time we were filming in London on Burn for You, we'd partied in Cannes together and he was definitely open for a friendship that went beyond just working together. The Burn for You shoot and video went well and at the end of it, I was thinking ''Oh, they might ask us again'' but I never expected it to keep going again and again and again. Later on when they started asking other directors, I sort of got miffed. I'd look at the videos they did for the last few albums and think ''Geez, I could've done a better job than that. '' But, it was fair enough though. Other influences and looks came into play and they were trying to reinvent themselves, so they went looking for new imagery.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Why do you think you ha</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>d this special connection with Michael?</i> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well,
he was very curious about Melbourne people. Melbourne had that Nick
Cave kind of credibility thing. And we looked strange. We didn't look
like the members of INXS. We had two-tone hair and wore make-up.
Lynn-Maree looked like a young Mia Farrow with short red hair. We all
looked like something out of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976). Michael
loved the Bohemian lifestyle, the ''Let's not be boring and
middle-class'' kind of attitude. He had a very strong connection with his</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> girlfriend
Michele, but there was no danger of him settling down like the other
band members and having kids pretty quickly. Michael very much wanted
to be a part of this Bohemian world that these Melbourne people,
including our friend Troy (the subject of ECCO HOMO), who was an outrageous gay guy and an
hilarious comedian, were a part of.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VL1cfw7yebI/XoqOTfEZLfI/AAAAAAAAE_U/xk2G3SrRD14vf9IdOc2BuANyzAbB8PUxACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/inxs%2BBURN%2BFOR%2BYOU%2BBETTER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VL1cfw7yebI/XoqOTfEZLfI/AAAAAAAAE_U/xk2G3SrRD14vf9IdOc2BuANyzAbB8PUxACNcBGAsYHQ/s200/inxs%2BBURN%2BFOR%2BYOU%2BBETTER.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whenever he was in Melbourne, Michael would call up and say ''Are you going to take me to the Razor Club?'' or another club that was way cooler than the Sydney clubs. He just loved that whole sensibility that Melbourne represented to him. The same would happen in London. I had connections to different people and places in London and he would love going out and meeting all kinds of people. I knew people at Faber and Faber and he would come to parties of theirs and have fun mingling with all the different writers and academics. He'd say ''Wow, this is certainly different from being on the road with my band. '' I think we also got on as well because I wasn't a sycophant and I was my own entity. I would get to hang with Michael, and I'd be interested in the girls that he didn't want to spend time with. He loved the film world, as you can see in the DVD extras, hanging around on sets, the whole community. He wanted to do more than INXS. He kept saying ''I want to produce a film'' and ''Let's do a film together. You find a good script and I'll get it funded. '' One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't take him more seriously on that front, you know? He would have been a great producer, funding unique things like George Harrison did with the Monty Python films, for example. Michael would have loved to have put his money into really special things like that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How quickly after working with Michael did you start to consider casting him in DOGS IN SPACE?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We went to Mackay to do Burn for You, and then I had to go to Cannes with STRIKEBOUND, so we couldn't finish the video. They were playing in Nice, so I went to see them play a week after Cannes. Me and Michael went back to Cannes to party all through the night. Literally the next morning, I had a meeting with a big Australian producer I couldn't hope to have got to see in Australia, but it was possible in Cannes. I was seeing him about a different film, a political thriller, but I had a rough idea of DOGS IN SPACE up my sleeve in case the main film didn't go. I hadn't discussed DOGS IN SPACE with Michael at all, but he said ''I've got nothing to do. I'll come to your meeting. ''</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_YeK_BbIqpo/Xpu56gCWY0I/AAAAAAAAE_g/rMmeTnDL-NAlk0D8YBvF-vlgiUihWeOgQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Dogs%2Bin%2BSpace%2BQuad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="700" height="243" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_YeK_BbIqpo/Xpu56gCWY0I/AAAAAAAAE_g/rMmeTnDL-NAlk0D8YBvF-vlgiUihWeOgQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Dogs%2Bin%2BSpace%2BQuad.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was doing my pitch for this political thriller film and it wasn't going so well. The producer was looking bored so I said ''I've got this other film, which is about a whole bunch of punks and hippies living together in Melbourne, and Michael's the lead. '' Michael was half asleep and this was the first he'd heard of it. He said ''Oh, am I?'' And I said ''Yeah. '' At this point, the producer woke up as well and looked like he'd had an injection of speed or something. He said ''Woah, I'd be interested in that one. '' This was summer of 1984, and INXS had just had a number one in France that very week with Original Sin. We finished the Burn for You video in London, Michael and I discussed the movie further and he said ''OK. You go off and write the script. I'm in. '' And that was it. So, you could say it was two weeks after meeting the band that I cast Michael in DOGS IN SPACE, which I hadn't even written yet.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Michael is amazing in the movie. Were you at all nervous about casting somebody who wasn't an actor?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No, because by the time we got to do the film about a year later, I'd gotten to know him really well and I'd been to so many dinners with him where he would do impersonations of people. He'd do his manager really well and take the piss out of him. He could pick up people's traits really well, and then throw them right back. His favorite was to do all the Eddie Murphy sketches of that era. He would have me in stitches, and there's certainly a comedic element to DOGS. I just knew that he would be excellent, especially if I had other actors around him. I was also of the view that we could do some method acting. The role was something he could identify with, plus he knew Sam, the real guy that he was playing, the lead singer with The Ears that I had lived with, from playing together and things. I had already seen Michael do what I thought was an imitation of Sam on stage, and in person, and I thought it was pretty good. To give Michael credit, he really took the role on and went beyond imitation. He read all about Robert De Niro and method acting and everything. He lived the role for the seven weeks that we filmed. I wasn't worried about Michael at all, but I was worried about some of my other actors, that's for sure.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Was he a guy who always threw himself headfirst into anything he did?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He certainly threw himself into anything that smacked of Bohemia, because he was a repressed Bohemian. Whether it was an interesting party full of drag queens or all different people. He would've been ecstatic in pre-Hitler Berlin. He just loved the eccentric and Bohemian kind of life, being amongst the artists, the painters, the filmmakers and the poets, and being a part of that. And that's where I came from as well, so whenever there was something that came around with some artistic interest, he jumped on it. It was partly I think because once the managers and the record company got their claws into what INXS were doing, they just wanted more and more mainstream stuff and while Michael absolutely wanted the roar of the crowds, he also wanted to be respected like Nick Cave and Bowie for doing interesting stuff. That's when he started separating from INXS and doing stuff like Max Q, instead of trying to turn INXS into something art-rock like U2. He decided it was easier to separate into two different streams. There was no surprise when I interviewed his first long-time girlfriend Amanda, and she told me that their dream when they were 18 or 19 was to go to Amsterdam together and be Bohemians, to suffer in the garage and write that great novel, or in Michael's case, write great poetry. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mystify: Michael Hutchence is available on disc and digitally. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIFR3hkIpo&t=1s" target="_blank">trailer. </a> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You can read about the work of Lowenstein and his production company <a href="http://www.ghostfilm.net/" target="_blank">here.</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> </a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2020. All rights reserved.</i></span></span><br /> </span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-16637989872780462222020-02-10T13:02:00.000+09:002020-04-06T10:48:56.677+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH 'FIRST BLOOD' AUTHOR DAVID MORRELL (PART 2 OF 2)<div style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>David Morrell is most famous as the creator of John Rambo, the traumatized Vietnam vet anti-hero of Sylvester Stallone's hugely successful five-film franchise. He first introduced Rambo in the acclaimed 1972 novel First Blood, published whilst he was a Professor in the English Department at the University of Iowa. Morrell also wrote the novelisations for RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD, PART II (1985) and RAMBO III (1988). He is also the writer behind over thirty bestsellers, encompassing many genres - titles that include the spy novel The Brotherhood of the Rose (1986), which was adapted into a hit 1989 TV mini-series starring Robert Mitchum; the creative fiction memoir Fireflies (1988), inspired by the passing of his son; the comic books Captain America: The Chosen (2007-08), Spider-Man: Frost (2013-14) and Savage Wolverine: Feral (2014), and his latest works, the Victorian mystery thrillers Murder as a Fine Art (2013), Inspector of the Dead (2015) and Ruler of the Night (2016), all featuring the real-life literary figure Thomas De Quincey. Morrell has 18 million copies of his books in print, and his books have been adapted into 30 languages. In the second part of a two-part interview, I spoke with Morrell about how he feels about the FIRST BLOOD (1982) movie, and the differences between the film and the book; his opinions on the William Friedkin movie THE HUNTED (2003), which bears similarities to First Blood; his experiences writing Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine comic books and how similar they are to writing movies; his latest book, the short story collection Before I Wake (2019); and his love for the Quentin Tarantino film ONCE UPON A TIME IN ... HOLLYWOOD (2019).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/02/an-interview-with-first-blood-author.html">Part one</a> of the interview.</i></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stallone, Morrell and director Peter MacDonald on the set of RAMBO II. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What do you know about an apparent rough cut of FIRST BLOOD that Stallone is supposed to have hated so much that he wanted to bin the film?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first assemblage of FIRST BLOOD was long, with flashbacks. That’s probably the version he’s talking about. Eventually the film was cut to around 95 minutes. I never saw the original version, but I gather there’s quite a difference. LAST BLOOD is about 86 minutes, but it feels much longer. Interestingly there are 2 versions of LAST BLOOD. The one shown in Europe and many other international markets is around 12 minutes longer than the one shown in the United States. The overseas version starts with a half-successful rescue in a flash flood. The American version starts immediately in the tunnels, with Rambo swallowing pills. I think the US version would have benefited by showing immediately that Rambo could be a hero.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I actually spoke with Ted Kotcheff about the movie and his career.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ted did a great job on FIRST BLOOD. Andy and Mario always hired the best people, from Jerry Goldsmith for music to Andrew Laszlo, who lit the cave sequence with a few matches! I admire how that picture was put together. First rate.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morrell and producer Andy Vajna. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How do you feel about FIRST BLOOD as an adaptation of your book?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you're going to be in the movie business, you need to realize that books and movies are different ways of telling stories. What works in a book won’t necessarily have the same effect in a movie. For me, the strength of the book is the alternating emphasis on Rambo and Teasle as equal characters who refuse to understand each other. When the book was first reviewed in the early 70s, many reviewers couldn't decide who the main character was. That was the point. Both were the main character.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In my novel, Teasle is old enough to be Rambo's father, so there’s a generational aspect to the story. In the film, the actor playing Teasle, Brian Dennehy, is roughly the same age as Sly, and that makes them like brothers, not father and son. That changes the interpretation of the story, but it still works. It's just that it's different. Before the film went into production, Andy Vajna called me and said, ‘’For budget reasons, we’re going to move the setting from Kentucky to the Pacific Northwest. Will the plot still work if we do that?” My answer was that there wouldn’t be a problem with the change. "It'll be different, but it'll work. ''</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another key change from the novel is that Teasle’s role is lessened in the movie. A critic commented that it seemed as if a redneck police chief from the American South was on sabbatical in the Northwest. The role reeks of stereotype, but Brian is so brilliant an actor that he found ways to make it fresh. One key to the character in the book is that he’s a decorated veteran from the Korean War. He thinks he understands combat, but he was never encountered a guerrilla fighter. That's a major point in the novel – traditional war versus guerrilla war. In the film, the only remnant of Teasle’s military background is a display of medals behind his desk.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Regardless of these differences, I think the film adaptation works splendidly. I discuss the novel and the film on my audio commentary for the Blu-ray version of FIRST BLOOD. Also there’s a RAMBO page on my <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/rambo/">website</a>, that has a long Q and A about the character’s background. Rare photos and posters are on that page also.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>What did you think of the William Friedkin film THE HUNTED? It's very similar to the FIRST BLOOD film and book.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, it's more or less the same, isn't it? I attended a Blade Magazine event at the time THE HUNTED was released. Someone associated with that film was there. I went over to him and said, ''Hi, I'm David Morrell. I created the Rambo character.’’ He turned pale and got out of the room as fast as he could.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You have also written comics for Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. Did you feel like you were in a filmmaker's shoes given that comic books are a visual medium?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Comics are absolutely a visual medium. Marvel sent me some sample scripts from other series, so I could learn the format. Those scripts reminded me of storyboards for a film. It's stop-action storytelling. The gap between the images—the jump—is hugely important. That gap provides the drive and the propulsion for the story. I thought, Wow, I can be the director. I can describe the angle from which the reader is viewing the image. I can describe everything that's in the image. I can even suggest the colors. '’ A comic-book writer is also the director, cinematographer, set designer, and editor. It’s a wonderfully creative medium, involving at least three people: a writer, an illustrator who interprets the script, and a colorist who makes it vivid. The collaboration is fascinating. On the <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/writing/">Writing</a> page of my website, there’s an essay about how I wrote Spider-Man: Frost and worked with legendary artist, Klaus Janson. Anyone interested in writing comic books will find it informative. There are script pages that provide an example of the format.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Do you enjoy dropping into different formats of writing?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because I'm always interested in technical challenges. I love different kinds of writing, trying to get to the core of them and reinvent them. If somebody would allow me, I'd write a Broadway musical. I write non-fiction and have a writing book The Successful Novelist, for example. I've written thrillers, mysteries, horror, Westerns, historical novels like my Thomas De Quincey Victorian stories, short stories, movie scripts, even liner notes for DVDs and CDs. One thing I always ask myself before I do something is how I can make it technically interesting.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GMwQmvL6jzo/XkDMhSICZtI/AAAAAAAAE9Y/VlnUWtAN8SULYHMFfzyBQgEso0xbU_uBACEwYBhgL/s1600/Before%2BI%2BWake%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GMwQmvL6jzo/XkDMhSICZtI/AAAAAAAAE9Y/VlnUWtAN8SULYHMFfzyBQgEso0xbU_uBACEwYBhgL/s320/Before%2BI%2BWake%2Bcover.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Your latest book is a collection of short stories, Before I Wake.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It contains a Western and several historicals, including one that’s set in WW2. That story is about the French Foreign Legion, which was split in half during WW2. One side was loyal to Britain, and one was loyal to Germany. At one point in Syria, they had to fight each other. They knew each other, had trained together, and now had to kill each other. There's also a Sherlock Holmes tale in the book, and also some Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling Twilight Zone type short stories. The publishing world has changed drastically, to the point that there’s no mass market for story collections anymore (unlike my two previous collections), so I chose a collector's publisher (Cemetery Dance) that specializes in exclusive, numbered, signed hardbacks. There’s also an audiobook and a large print library book version.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I've noticed online that you are a big fan of Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME … IN HOLLYWOOD. I was wondering why you are so fond of it.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm obsessed by the dizzying self-referential “meta” in it. Tarantino convinces me that the character Rick Dalton is a real actor, who played a character named Jake Cahill in a non-existent TV series called Bounty Law that somehow seems real. Tarantino also makes me believe that Rick’s stunt double, Cliff Booth, is a real person. The film has fake posters for non-existent Rick Dalton films. I collected them – Nebraska Jim, Hellfire Texas and so on. I wrote an <a href="http://www.roguewomenwriters.com/2019/09/david-morrell-goes-rogue.html">essay</a> about the meta in the film. It includes many of the fake posters. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ... HOLLYWOOD is a movie about movies. That technique adds an extra depth that I try to include in my own work. For example, Murder as a Fine Art is an imitation Victorian novel that could have been published in 1854.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>David's <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/">website. </a>The site has links to sites where you can order his books.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>His new book, the anthology Before I Wake, can be ordered <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Before-I-Wake/dp/B07SSW1YSX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1J5C9YKO5M8H0&keywords=before+i+wake+david+morrell&qid=1580967283&sprefix=before+i+wake+%2Caps%2C522&sr=8-1">here</a>.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Rambo films are all available on disc and digitally.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2020. All rights reserved.</i></span></span></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-90695023645348453862020-02-06T14:41:00.000+09:002020-02-10T13:04:32.132+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH 'FIRST BLOOD' AUTHOR DAVID MORRELL (PART 1 OF 2)<div style="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>David Morrell is most famous as the creator of John Rambo, the traumatised Vietnam vet anti-hero of Sylvester Stallone's hugely successful five-film franchise. He first introduced Rambo in the acclaimed 1972 novel First Blood, published whilst he was a Professor in the English Department at the University of Iowa. Morrell also wrote the novelisations for RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD, PART II (1985) and RAMBO III (1988). He is also the writer behind over thirty bestsellers, encompassing many genres - titles that include the spy novel The Brotherhood of the Rose (1986), which was adapted into a hit 1989 TV mini-series starring Robert Mitchum; the creative fiction memoir Fireflies (1988), inspired by the passing of his son; the comic books Captain America: The Chosen (2007-08), Spider-Man: Frost (2013-14) and Savage Wolverine: Feral (2014), and his latest works, the Victorian mystery thrillers Murder as a Fine Art (2013), Inspector of the Dead (2015) and Ruler of the Night (2016), all featuring the real-life literary figure Thomas De Quincey. Morrell has 18 million copies of his books in print, and his books have been adapted into 30 languages. In the first part of a two-part interview, I spoke with Morrell about the TV series that inspired him to become a writer; how his First Blood novel and the De Quincey series came about; how he approaches each project he embarks upon; his feelings on the Rambo movies and the legacy of the character, and about the rejected fifth Rambo film he and Stallone worked on.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You have said you wanted to become a writer after watching the TV series Route 66 (1960-64). What was special about that show?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, first, it was very unusual. It was attention getting because it was shot entirely on location. It was maybe the only series to ever have every episode be shot on location. The two characters in the show travelled from town to town in their Corvette, trying to find the United States and also find themselves. They drove from here to there at a time when the United States was not integrated with the Interstate system the way it is now, so little off-roads could take you to towns that hadn't been made the same as every other town the way they are now. That's what attracted me, but I also identified with these two characters. I was a troubled teenager at the time, and the series inspired me to believe that their quest was worthwhile trying. I watched the show as if I were the guys in the Corvette. I later realized that the writer Stirilng Silliphant, with whom I became friends eventually, wrote the scripts on the road as if he were the characters. He was always five weeks ahead of the production, and he would pull into a place, scout the location and spend three days writing a script. Then off he'd go off to the next location. Stirling had been raised in the back seat of a traveling salesman's car, so that was life as he knew it. He often talked to me about how he felt he was always on the road and discovering things all the time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I sent him a letter, hand written because I couldn't type at the time. A librarian found the address for Screen Gems, so without that librarian's help I wouldn't have had a career. Stirling encouraged me to write and write and write, which is what I did. We became pen pal friends and then years later, we actually met. NBC bought my novel The Brotherhood of the Rose and wanted to turn it into a mini-series. Stirling was hired as the executive producer. Between 1985 and 1989, when we worked on the show, we met and talked often, and he became one of a group of mostly writers who provided me with the male authority figure I had missed growing up after my Dad had died in combat. It was terrific to work with him, to get to know him personally and be at his home and have dinner with him for those four years. It was really a rewarding time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Given your love of THE YAKUZA (1974), did you have anything to do with the casting of Robert Mitchum in THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE mini-series?</i><br />No, I didn't. The initial idea was that Gregory Peck was going to be Eliot, and that would have been fine, but I heard from Stirling that one of Peck's conditions for signing on was that his son would have a significant role in the series. For reasons that were never made clear to me, NBC balked at that. They had a very limited list of older prestige actors, and Mitchum agreed to do it. Without him, it never would have gotten made.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I re-read FIRST BLOOD for the first time since RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD, PART II (1985) came out, and I found it so engrossing that I read it in a single day. I was struck by how beautifully, vividly and excitingly you handled the action and the geographical space.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, it's not a long book. It's only 300 pages. At the time, that was considered an average length. I was trying to write an action book that didn't feel like a genre book. When I was working on my Masters degree at Penn State University, Hemingway's style was the topic of my thesis. I don't write like Hemingway, but what I noticed was that he was an action writer in many ways. He certainly wrote a lot of action books, To Have and Have Not (1937), for example, and I noticed that his approach to writing action was to write it as if it had ever been written before, as if he was doing it for the first time. I was wondering if, in a parallel way, I could do the same thing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First Blood is a very immersive, sensual book. I wanted readers to feel they’re truly in the story. I think that quality and the alternating viewpoints of Rambo and Teasle are the important aspects of the book. When I started writing First Blood in the late 60s, the United States was split apart over the Vietnamese War. It seemed to me that both sides were so entrenched that maybe if they just talked sensibly to each other, some resolution could be found. Nowadays the United States is not violent the way it was in the late 60s, but it still has that same kind of rigid separation, which in my opinion is anti-American. We should work to get along and not separate. In any case, these were my themes, and the alternate viewpoints were my way of saying them without ever having to state them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When you write any book, is it mostly you trying to come to terms with how you feel about an issue or is it you wanting to simply tell a good tale?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i>For me, it’s about what I’m feeling and thinking at the time. At the start of every project, I write a letter to myself, asking, ''Why is this project worth at least a year of my life?’ I write every day, usually for eight hours. Occasionally I take weekends off. There's no guarantee that the book I'm writing will sell, or that I'll find a publisher for it. So I'm on a high wire as it were, and the book has to be really important to me to justify the time I’m putting in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm not a political writer. There aren’t any politics in First Blood. That novel is about human beings and how they got themselves in a terrible mess. With each book, what interests me is some topic that's related to what's happening inside me. A really good example would be my three recent books, which are Murder as a Fine Art, Inspector of the Dead and Ruler of the Night. All three are Victorian mystery thrillers set in London in 1854-55. Why did I write them? The answer is that my 14-year old granddaughter Natalie died in 2009 from a rare bone cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma. She was very, very ill for nine months. She had her left pelvis surgically removed, but the cancer wasn't stopped. This was on the heels of my 15-year old son Matthew dying in 1987 from the same disease. Only 200 people get the disease in the United States each year. That’s how rare it is. His left rib cage was surgically removed, but the cancer couldn’t be stopped. When Natalie died, my wife and I were in a spiral of grief, and I got interested in Thomas De Quincey, who lived in the 1850s and invented the concept of the subconscious. Freud essentially lifted the idea from him. As an escape, I became fascinated by the idea of a story set in the mid-1800s. The Scotland Yard Detective Division had been founded only twelve years earlier, and they think it's wonderful that they do plastic casts of footprints at a crime scene. Along comes De Quincey to tell them that the human mind is composed of chasms and sunless abyssses and layers upon layers in which there are secret chambers where alien natures hide undetected. I wondered what Scotland Yard would have thought of this guy as he teaches them the truths about the criminal mind.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I got lost in researching the Victorian era in the 1850s as an escape from my grief. De Quincey had a daughter in real life named Emily. At the time of the novels, he was 69 and she was 21. 69 was old in those days. Emily took care of him. A bookseller here in the United States named Barbara Peters pointed out to me that in a way Emily was my granddaughter Natalie, and that was maybe why I was writing these books. I was writing a series of mysteries, or thrillers, about a man who had invented the word 'subconscious', and at the same time I was writing these books unknowingly going into my own subconscious. That's the sort of thing I like to do. Someone said that if you read my books in order, they are like the autobiography of my soul. Yes, they are popular books, but they are serious at their core. In sequence they basically represent who I was when I wrote those books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Has your relationship with the character of Rambo changed since you created him?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rambo, in my novel First Blood, is a very angry man. He went to war. He discovered something about himself that made him bitter - that he was good at killing. I have a journalist friend here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I live, named Robert Nott. He's writing a series of articles about war veterans. The article he's working on right now is about a helicopter pilot who was in Vietnam, who has PTSD and has had serious psychological repercussions from that war. He told Robert that it took him a long time to admit that in war he enjoyed killing, that if he didn't embrace killing, he was going to die. That contradiction has haunted him for the rest of his life. That's Rambo. I modeled him on Audie Murphy, who was America's most decorated soldier of WW2, and whose citation for the Medal of Honor makes anything Rambo did in fiction seem like child's play. Audie Murphy didn't adjust to peace time very well. He kept a pistol under his pillow and sometimes woke up, screaming and shooting. The term PTSD didn’t exist back then, but he sure had it. I imagined what would have happened if Audie Murphy came back from the Vietnam War and (like Rambo) grew long hair and a beard as many young men did then, and was hassled by the police, as often happened to young men with beards and long hair. I imagined Audie’s angry reaction. That's Rambo in the novel. I have an essay about this in Rambo and Me: The Story Behind the Story, which is available as an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rambo-Me-Story-Behind-essay-ebook/dp/B007W2MF34/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=rambo+and+me&qid=1580966947&sr=8-1" target="_blank">e-book</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>FIRST BLOOD (1982) took a while to reach the screen.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There were 26 scripts for the movie and four different studios. Steve McQueen was going to be Rambo at one point, and Sydney Pollack was going to direct it. This was in 1975. But then someone realized that Steve was in his mid 40s, too old to be a Vietnam veteran at the time. A company called Carolco eventually made the film, and the producers – two wonderful guys who I loved hanging out with named Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar – decided to modify the character for the big screen, to make him less angry and more of a victim. They actually killed him in the first cut of the movie, but the test audience objected, so Andy and Mario decided to reshoot the ending, leaving Rambo alive. The movie was a hit, and they realized that, by accident, they could do sequels. RAMBO II and RAMBO III further changed the character, making him jingoistic. President Reagan often referred to that version of Rambo in his press conferences. He once said that he’d seen a Rambo movie the night before and now he knew what to do the next time there was a terrorist hostage crisis. This is not the same character that’s in my novel or the film adaptation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before RAMBO IV (2008) came out, Sly phoned me and told me that now, in hindsight, he was troubled by the second and third films because they seemed to glamorise war. He wanted, in the fourth film, to make a Sam Peckinpah Rambo film, that would have all the bitterness and anger that was in my First Blood novel. While that fourth movie is weakened by over-long action sequences, there are nonetheless many terrific speeches in it, with Rambo saying things like ''Old men start wars, young men fight them, and nobody wins. '' There's another terrific speech where Rambo is forging a weapon and he says to himself something similar to what that Vietnam veteran told my journalist friend Robert Nott: ''Admit it, you didn't kill for your country, you killed for yourself, and for that, God will not forgive you.'’ Critics didn’t pick up on this. Mostly they had a standard reaction: ''Oh, here's another shoot 'em up.''</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So we now have the Rambo of my novel First Blood, the Rambo of the film version, another version in 2 and 3, a throwback version in 4, where he’s sort of the guy in my novel, and now an extremely different version in 5. In all the Rambo films until the fifth one, there was a template and this was it: Rambo hates himself for what he discovers about himself in war. He wants to retreat, but something happens that is so powerfully personal, that against everything he has to access that dark side again of himself, hating himself all the while for doing it. That's Rambo.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had no problems with the Rambo series until LAST BLOOD (2019), which has problems with logic and is less a Rambo film that an exploitation film from the 1970s. Compare LAST BLOOD to a James Mitchum exploitation movie TRACKDOWN in 1976, and you’ll see what I mean. It bothers me that some fans are saying it's the best one. It isn't. And the fact that they didn't see the difference makes me wonder if what they really wanted all along was merely the violence. The character in LAST BLOOD could be John Smith, not John Rambo. The character has been turned into a vengeance-seeking machine without redemption. I can only imagine what some Vietnam veterans are saying after seeing the movie. The character has been changed so that instead of hating what he learned about violence, Rambo gleefully wallows in it. It doesn’t help that there are plot problems. In RAMBO II, Rambo says that the mind is the best weapon, but in LAST BLOOD, he stupidly confronts what might be a hundred armed men and then seems surprised when they nearly beat him to death. He has a concussion that leaves him unconscious for four days. He then wakes up and bounds into action as if a concussion is a headache. A bad guys cuts an X in his cheek, obeying orders to make it really deep. Of course that would have meant cuts THROUGH his cheek, because there’s hardly any flesh in that area—and yet the deep cut through his cheek heals in a matter of days. A doctor is in the film. But Rambo doesn’t take his injured niece to that doctor. Instead he drives her to the United States. It’s hardly a surprise that she dies along the way, and an argument can be made that Rambo was culpable in her death. The plot has many similar problems.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Is it true that you and Stallone discussed developing a very different fifth film?</i><br />In February of 2015, Sly was in Philadelphia making CREED (2015). He phoned me and said he wanted to make a new Rambo film. He emphasized that he wanted it to be soulful, "like the first movie." He and I talked every weekend for seven weeks, for as long as ninety minutes at a time, working on this soulful story, but when he took our ideas to the studio, he told me, “They don't want to do that. They want a movie about human trafficking.'' A little while after that, Sly made a public announcement that he was no longer going to make Rambo movies. To me, he seemed to be saying, if he couldn't make a soulful Rambo movie, he wasn't going to make them anymore. Then last year I learned he was making LAST BLOOD. I emailed him, asking, ''Hey, is this what we talked about?'' and he didn't respond. Usually he'd respond right away. When I saw LAST BLOOD, I understood why he didn’t answer my email. Not only is the film not soulful—it has no soul at all. I don't understand how he switched from the beautiful story we talked about and went in the opposite direction. I was in shock. Most reviewers disliked it also. Hollywood Reporter even put the film on its "ten worst" list of 2019. I really like Sly. Our conversations have always been interesting and smart and creative. Movies are made for all sorts of reasons, and it's not always the actor who is behind those reasons. There are many forces behind the making of a movie. Maybe one day I'll find out what happened with LAST BLOOD.<i> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2020/02/an-interview-with-first-blood-author_96.html" target="_blank">Part two</a> of the interview. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>David's <a href="https://davidmorrell.net/" target="_blank">website. </a>The site has links to sites where you can order his books. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>His new book, the anthology Before I Wake, can be ordered <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Before-I-Wake/dp/B07SSW1YSX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1J5C9YKO5M8H0&keywords=before+i+wake+david+morrell&qid=1580967283&sprefix=before+i+wake+%2Caps%2C522&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a>. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Rambo films are all available on disc and digitally. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2020. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i><br /> </span></span></div>
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Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-77216827237941201112019-12-01T16:23:00.000+09:002020-02-06T14:37:29.130+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH BARRY NEWMAN (PART 3 OF 3)<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barry
Newman is best known as the star of the cult classic VANISHING POINT
(1971) and the legal drama THE LAWYER (1970). He was also the lead in
the successful spin-off TV series from THE LAWYER - 'Petrocelli'
(1974-76). Newman is also an accomplished and respected theater actor
and has extensive credits on TV and in film. His other film work
includes lead roles in the thrillers FEAR IS THE KEY (1972) and THE
SALZBURG CONNECTION (1972), the disaster movie CITY ON FIRE (1979) and
the drama AMY (1979), and supporting roles in DAYLIGHT (1996), THE LIMEY
(1999), BOWFINGER (1999), and 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS (2002). Newman is
one of the most interesting film and TV actors to have emerged since the
70s, boasting an ability to be a magnetic lead actor as well as a
captivating supporting actor. Rolling Stone fittingly described him as
being ''like producers fused Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen into one
actor. " In the third and final part of the interview, I spoke to Newman about his experience of making the Alistair MacLean thriller FEAR IS THE KEY, including the car chase scenes; how he first approaches his characters; sharing scenes with Eddie Murphy in BOWFINGER; whether he regrets not making more comedies; whether he feels THE LIMEY and Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME ... IN HOLLYWOOD (2019) captured the eras they were addressing; working with Daniel Kremer on RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015), and making a new film with his LAWYER director Sidney J. Furie. </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Parts<a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/11/an-interview-with-barry-newman-part-1.html" target="_blank"> one</a> and <a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/2019/11/an-interview-with-barry-newman-part-2.html" target="_blank">two</a> of the interview. </span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Your
film FEAR IS THE KEY, like VANISHING POINT, had some amazing car
chases.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
we had Carey Loftin, who was a great stuntman and stunt co-ordinator.
On VANISHING POINT, he taught me how to drive.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do
you think you were brought on the film because of VANISHING POINT?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
don't know, but in the film business, once you get a reputation,
that's it. I do know VANISHING POINT was doing fine at that time, so
I guess it could've been the reason I was hired, yeah.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
was the experience of making the film like?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
enjoyed doing that film. I thought the character that I played was a
lovely character for the kind of film it was, an Alistair MacLean
story.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
watched the movie a lot as a kid and really like it. I think it needs
to be rediscovered.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That
would be great!!</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After
your experiences with the driving scenes on VANISHING POINT, did you
feel a lot easier behind the wheel on FEAR IS THE KEY?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
but I almost lost the car in one scene. We were on these roads and we
were using walkie-talkies on a quarter of a mile run. We were doing
one scene and they had forgotten to stop the traffic or something. I
was driving pretty fast because I wasn't expecting anything to be on
the road, and this car came straight at me. I went off the roadside
and almost crashed. I enjoyed doing the driving, although I didn't
do the stunts, except for some turn-outs. Like I said, Carey Loftin
taught me everything. He was just wonderful.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
saw an interview with Quentin Tarantino and he talked about one of
the keys for Robert De Niro developing his character in JACKIE BROWN
(1997) was deciding what shoes he would wear. How do you approach the
characters you play?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Actually,
I try to think about ''How would this guy sit down in a restaurant
and have a meal?'' The moment I started eating in restaurants the way
I thought my character would eat, I began to get the physicality of
the characters I was going to play – just the chewing and the
eating. It worked naturally for me.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've
enjoyed your comedic performances over the years in films like
BOWFINGER and certain moments in THE LIMEY. Do you wish you'd done
more comedy roles?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's
interesting you say that because I started off in comedy on Broadway.
That's all I really did, was comedy, in things like Nature's Way, and
What Makes Sammy Run?, which was musical comedy. It all began when I
was very young. My Dad was the manager of the largest nightclub in
New England called The Latin Quarter. As a kid, I would always go
into the nightclub on a Sunday and watch the new acts. I saw all the
top entertainers – people like Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Danny
Thomas, and Milton Berle. When I was in college, in the summertime I
worked as a waiter in the Berkshire Country Club to help pay my
tuition. I worked there for two years and the comics who were on the
social staff there would ask me to do sketches with them on Talent
Night, and I always enjoyed that. I remember at one point in my
career, somebody asked me ''Do you wanna be Steve McQueen or Danny
Kaye?'' I never thought of it in those terms!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
you worked on BOWFINGER with Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, was there
a lot of ad-libbing? How did you cope with it?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There
was a tremendous amount of ad-libbing on that film. I had three
scenes that were completely improvised with Eddie Murphy. I played
his agent. They were really funny scenes, but they were cut out of
the movie. He was wonderful at improvising. He never stuck to the
script at all, which was fine for me.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Going
back to THE LIMEY, that film had such a bittersweet vibe about the
legacy of the 60s. Do you feel it was authentic in dealing with that
era?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Absolutely.
Soderbergh really captured it all … Sunset Boulevard, and the film
and music businesses.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tarantino's
recent film ONCE UPON A TIME … IN HOLLYWOOD is set in 1969,
presumably around the time you were filming THE LAWYER. Did you feel
it captured that time very well?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
loved it. Especially the ending! I thought it captured the time very
well, but to be honest, I wasn't really part of that whole scene.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
worked with the independent filmmaker Daniel Kremer on RAISE YOUR
KIDS ON SELTZER. How did that come about?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Daniel
is a friend of Sid Furie's. He wrote a book about him, and they spend
a lot of time together. Daniel came to me and asked me if I would do
a little thing for the movie, and I said ''Sure'', and we shot it at
my apartment. I'm in the film for about five minutes. I had met
Daniel before that and liked him. I knew a little about his work and
that he was friendly with Sidney. I think it's amazing that Daniel
can do these kinds of films he makes with no money at all. It's
wonderful.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How
did this new project you're making with Furie come about?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sid
came to me with this script that he had written and said ''What do
you think about doing it?'' I thought it was a beautiful part and a
lovely script, so I said ''Of course. Are you kidding?'' I've had to
turn down a lot of parts over the last few years because in 2009 or
2010 I got cancer of the vocal cord in of all places. I had radiation
and everything, and it took five years to get through it. I didn't
want to work at all because I was afraid that if I did work, I would
start getting hoarse or something. Then when I started working again,
it was the typical grandfather roles, and TV stuff, which were no
challenge whatsoever. When Sidney came to me with this wonderful
part, I was very happy to do it. It's an interesting film, and we've
done it independently because no studio in the world wants to do a
movie with a 86-year old director and an 88-year old leading man!
<i>They're dying to do a film like that, with the Holocaust as the
background!! A love story between 90-year olds!! </i>We've been working on
it for three years. We've been through sixteen scripts. We shot it,
and Sidney is in editing right now.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Is
he as energetic and as passionate as he was when you worked with him
on THE LAWYER?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Very
much so. I thought I had good energy, but I've never seen anybody
like him. The guy doesn't sleep. He's taking calls at 9am, but he's
been up since 3 rewriting. He goes to bed at 11 and gets up at 2
every day. He never gets more than four hours sleep a day. And not
only is he writing it and producing it and directing it, but he's the
prop man and the set designer! Incredible. He's an Old Master. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-73182602230832423022019-11-20T11:16:00.001+09:002019-12-01T16:25:04.953+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH BARRY NEWMAN (PART 2 OF 3)<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8QHQAyqcQPE/XdSbrCFCoJI/AAAAAAAAE4k/jTCuOhmTdtk6hc-21YkTkY9OlvTQDWj9ACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Barry%2BNewman%2BB.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8QHQAyqcQPE/XdSbrCFCoJI/AAAAAAAAE4k/jTCuOhmTdtk6hc-21YkTkY9OlvTQDWj9ACNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Barry%2BNewman%2BB.webp" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barry
Newman is best known as the star of the cult classic VANISHING POINT
(1971) and the legal drama THE LAWYER (1970). He was also the lead in
the successful spin-off TV series from THE LAWYER - 'Petrocelli'
(1974-76). Newman is also an accomplished and respected theater actor
and has extensive credits on TV and in film. His other film work
includes lead roles in the thrillers FEAR IS THE KEY (1972) and THE
SALZBURG CONNECTION (1972), the disaster movie CITY ON FIRE (1979) and
the drama AMY (1979), and supporting roles in DAYLIGHT (1996), THE LIMEY
(1999), BOWFINGER (1999), and 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS (2002). Newman is
one of the most interesting film and TV actors to have emerged since the
70s, boasting an ability to be a magnetic lead actor as well as a
captivating supporting actor. Rolling Stone fittingly described him as
being ''like producers fused Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen into one
actor. " In the second part of a three-part interview, I spoke with
Newman about how he got cast as THE LAWYER; working with director Sidney J. Furie on the film; returning to the character in two seasons of the TV show Petrocelli; how closely identified with the themes of VANISHING POINT and his character Kowalski; how enjoyable it was to drive the film's Dodge Challenger; his thoughts on the film's ending; and making THE LIMEY with director Steven Soderbergh and actors Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda. </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/11/an-interview-with-barry-newman-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part one</a> of the interview. </span></span></i><br />
<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How
did you get cast as the lead in THE LAWYER?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
would say Sid was responsible for my film career, really. On THE
LAWYER, I came in and met Sidney at Paramount Pictures in New York.
He didn't read me at all. He just spoke with me. The next thing was
that he asked me to go to lunch with him the following day, and
after that I had dinner with him and I met his wife. It was a brand
new experience to me. I didn't understand it at all. He was extremely
honest with me, and said ''Look, I wanna tell you. You are the
character that I wrote, but Paramount wants me to go with a star,
which I certainly would do if I could find a star who was what I
wrote. '' I understood the situation. This was the lead in a studio
movie. When he left for Hollywood, he still hadn't read me. I
remember it was a few weeks later and I was painting in my bathroom
in New York when I got a call from Sid and he said ''You got the
part. '' It was like something out of a B-movie. What had happened
was that he couldn't find a star in Hollywood who could play what he
had written. I felt very fortunate.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
is Furie like as a director?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
was very hands-off, in terms of directing actors as such. He always
felt that casting was the important element. Maybe many actors could
play a particular part, but he was looking for that special quality
that people can have, which in some sense is nothing to do with
acting. Once in a while he would give you very slight direction but
we never had long discussions, like you would have with Lee
Strasberg, sitting and talking about a part.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At
this point in your career were you keen to become a movie star or
were you simply focused on being an actor?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll
be really frank with you. I never really thought in those terms. When
I was at Brandeis, they had a Creative Arts Festival in honor of
Leonard Bernstein, and I was his assistant. I remember I used to go
out and get him corned beef sandwiches from in town, and put his
chair center stage in the amphitheater, things like that. He was
being interviewed onstage and somebody asked him ''Mr. Bernstein, do
you love conducting, or do you love being a conductor?'' I thought
''Wow, that's a deep question. '' Well, that question is a little
like the one you asked. The answer is ''A little of both. '' There's
a little part of me that just wanted to act, but all of the
peripheral things that come with doing movies were things I liked
too.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
returned to your character in THE LAWYER in two seasons of the TV
show Petrocelli. Did you have any trepidation about committing to a
TV show? Were you worried it might hurt your film career?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
did three or four films after THE LAWYER and then they came to me to
do the series. I said ''I'm not interested in doing a TV show. I'm
interested in doing films. '' In those days, it was felt you didn't
do television if you wanted to make films. Originally I had gotten a
call from the show's creator, E. Jack Neuman and he said ''I'm doing
a take-off of THE LAWYER and it's called Zalengo. The character is
called Vincent Zalengo. '' I said ''Why would you change the name of
the character?'' There had been a fun running joke throughout THE
LAWYER about people mistaking Petrocelli's surname and making jokes
about it. I had just finished a Paramount-EMI film called FEAR IS THE
KEY, and I realised that I had gotten away from the center of what I
should be doing. I was becoming like Stewart Granger from KING
SOLOMON'S MINES (1950), doing the same part again and again. And to
be perfectly honest, I was not getting the top film parts. So I did
the show and we made it about Petrocelli.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How
did you keep it interesting for yourself when you're playing the same
character so many times in a row?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Interestingly
enough, I never got bored. The character was interesting enough for
me, and each episode was different. I could work the character into
different scenes and situations. I got more bored doing a show on
Broadway for 17 months.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">VANISHING
POINT has a counterculture vibe and a main character with an
existential outlook. How much did you identify with the material and
the character of Kowalski?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
reason I did the film was interesting. I had just done THE LAWYER,
where I was speaking non-stop for 90-odd minutes and I got the script
for VANISHING POINT. I wasn't even thinking of the idea of the film
or the existentialism of the character – I just thought it would be
interesting to do a part where I am playing the antithesis of the
character I had just played.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
the film first came out, it was the second feature to THE FRENCH
CONNECTION (1971), but when it opened in London at the Leicester
Square theatre, critically it was acclaimed and people lined up
around the block to see it. In England I was a hero, and in America I
was just a guy picking up his bags at the plane terminal! It opened
again in America after playing Europe and people then started getting
on to the film. It became a cult film without me even realizing it.
To this day, I'm always being asked to talk about it somewhere.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do
you credit the ongoing cult of the film to how you got some of your
high-profile roles in the 90s?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No,not
at all. It seems to me that anybody's career is like the stock market
– bulls and bears. I was happy to do the parts, but the fact of the
matter is that those parts weren't really that great. I remember
doing the Sylvester Stallone film DAYLIGHT in Italy, and it cost
about a hundred million dollars to make, but only grossed about $38
million. I do have to say though, that Soderbergh did hire me for THE
LIMEY because of VANISHING POINT. He wanted icons of the 60s and 70s
in it, like Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda and myself.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Your
character in THE LIMEY was interesting. This nervy, shady attorney
with all these criminal connections who knew where all the bodies
were buried.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Someone
described him as the coldest character that Soderbergh had ever put
in a movie. It was an interesting character to play.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
was it like being directed by Soderbergh?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
was terrific. What Soderbergh always did was to line up the close-up
and the master together on two different cameras and hold them
together. Then he would kind of rehearse the scene and walk around
it. If your face was on camera while they were blocking it, it was on
camera. If not, the camera would be moving around but the actor
wouldn't be moving. He had all of his shots on the two cameras.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2PSz6f2u4rY/XdSg-mVBy6I/AAAAAAAAE5U/LW6LpWDRl3gdGw65h0lpA2xJGT-PcSHjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/The%2BLimey%2BUS%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="509" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2PSz6f2u4rY/XdSg-mVBy6I/AAAAAAAAE5U/LW6LpWDRl3gdGw65h0lpA2xJGT-PcSHjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/The%2BLimey%2BUS%2Bposter.jpg" width="134" /></a><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
were your impressions of Stamp and Fonda?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Terence
was a very nice guy and I enjoyed working with him. He was very
private, very professional. Most of my time on the movie though was
spent working with Peter Fonda, who I also enjoyed working with.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Talking
of co-stars, how was working with the Dodge Challenger in VANISHING
POINT?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
was the star of the movie! It was a great car to drive because it had
terrific power. I was asked to test drive the new version of the car
for a magazine and the body and the engine seemed to meld together
even better.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
read in an interview that you interpreted the ending as Kowalski
believing he would get through the road block and that he was not
attempting to commit suicide. Do you think part of the appeal of the
film is that the ending can be interpreted in different ways?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Absolutely.
What I loved about that film was the fact that it was so visual. It
didn't show you lots of scenes of Kowalski being a cop or spending
time with his girlfriend. You just had things like the surfboard
washing up on the beach, so you knew his girlfriend was dead. When I
was playing Kowalski I believed I could get through that roadblock,
because Kowalski had nothing to lose. People can see the ending how
they like, although as an existentialist piece, the character is
fated to die.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was moved by what you said about him seeing a glint of light and
believing he could get through. It could be applied to real-life
situations. That glint of light is all some need to believe they can
survive or overcome or endure.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everything
this guy had done had gone wrong, and they were after him, really,
for nothing, for misdemeanors. His life had been nothing but
disappointments, but he kept getting up again and trying. It was that
kind of thing – ''What the hell? I have nothing to lose. ''</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/12/an-interview-with-barry-newman-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part three </a>of the interview. </i> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-19476782692254725822019-11-14T12:50:00.001+09:002019-11-20T11:07:26.816+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH BARRY NEWMAN (PART 1 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barry Newman is best known as the star of the cult classic VANISHING POINT (1971) and the legal drama THE LAWYER (1970). He was also the lead in the successful spin-off TV series from THE LAWYER - 'Petrocelli' (1974-76). Newman is also an accomplished and respected theater actor and has extensive credits on TV and in film. His other film work includes lead roles in the thrillers FEAR IS THE KEY (1972) and THE SALZBURG CONNECTION (1972), the disaster movie CITY ON FIRE (1979) and the drama AMY (1979), and supporting roles in DAYLIGHT (1996), THE LIMEY (1999), BOWFINGER (1999), and 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS (2002). Newman is one of the most interesting film and TV actors to have emerged since the 70s, boasting an ability to be a magnetic lead actor as well as a captivating supporting actor. Rolling Stone fittingly described him as being ''like producers fused Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen into one actor. " In the first part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Newman about how he got into acting; his musical background and how music compares to acting; and his early experiences in theater and TV before his success in the movie THE LAWYER.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
fell in love with acting after sitting in on a Lee Strasberg acting
class. What was remarkable about that class? How did the class
inspire you?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
was interesting because I had come to New York and I was going to get
my Masters in Anthropology from Columbia University. A buddy of mine
was studying acting and he asked me to sit in on an acting class with
him because it was a teacher named Lee Strasberg who was teaching
down at the Carnegie Hall Studios in Manhattan. I said to him
''Actors? Aaaah … okay'' and I went down to the class, and when I
came in they were doing what I thought was a strange exercise. There
was a kid up there singing Three Blind Mice extremely slowly and
doing some kind of physical activity. I said ''What is all that
about?'' I was actually quite mesmerized by it. It was really strange
but it was interesting. It was so amazing that a little while after,
I called my mother in Boston and said ''I'm going to leave Columbia
and start acting classes''. After she took her head out of the oven,
she said ''Oh, My God!''</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7pBWpL3lb8/XctrSZIUs9I/AAAAAAAAE3c/9p4DHLlU3wIM_S7OlV2fR6RrwiN95dXpwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Barry%2BNewman%2BVanishing%2BPoint%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="473" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7pBWpL3lb8/XctrSZIUs9I/AAAAAAAAE3c/9p4DHLlU3wIM_S7OlV2fR6RrwiN95dXpwCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Barry%2BNewman%2BVanishing%2BPoint%2BA.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Did you have any experience or interest in acting before you sat in on that class?</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, when I was a senior at Brandeis University, we had had a student there who had died of cancer and to raise money, our particular dorm decided to put on a show, kind of like the Harvard Hasty Pudding Club. We put on some sketches and I wrote and directed some of them. It was all very high school-ish. Brandeis was putting on a production of Our Town and the teacher of the Drama course asked me to be the stage manager. His name was Elliot Silverstein, who was teaching at Yale at the time and came over to Brandeis to teach a course. He later went on to do CAT BALLOU (1965), and some other good things in his career. So, I had done some things to do with acting, but it wasn't what I was thinking about doing at the time.</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
were you thinking of doing?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was thinking of being a jazz musician, a saxophonist, although I
wasn't that great. I made a lot of money playing in Boston, and after
I was drafted following Brandeis, I made more money doing civilian
jobs in Atlanta, Georgia, than I did during my first five years as an
actor!</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AiZU5PgEmg/Xctt2-MyMiI/AAAAAAAAE3w/ngcU466IAFEdG2XotqY4zCDqOCd8joa7wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Barry%2BNewman%2BLawyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="788" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AiZU5PgEmg/Xctt2-MyMiI/AAAAAAAAE3w/ngcU466IAFEdG2XotqY4zCDqOCd8joa7wCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Barry%2BNewman%2BLawyer.jpg" width="157" /></a><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do
you feel there's a similarity between being a musician and an actor?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In
one respect, of course, there are similarities because they're both
improvisational. But with acting it's much more about interpreting. I
always call an actor an 'interpreter'. I never call him or her a
creative artist. In music, you're much more creative, even though
you're working with melodies that have come before, and improvising
upon them. Music is very helpful to an actor. I have always used
music when I am studying scripts. For example, I would write in the margins
of scripts 'In terms of a musical instrument this section would be
woodwinds, and here's a little brass over here' and so on.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
had great success on stage on and off-Broadway before breaking
through in films with THE LAWYER. What was it like breaking into the
theater?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was very fortunate that the first job I had on the stage was playing
the part of a jazz musician! I was studying with Lee Strasberg and I
was doing all sorts of odd jobs. I was working at the 21 Club,
checking hats and coats, when I was 24-25 years old.</span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptntT-3Wxhg/XczNQOTwACI/AAAAAAAAE4E/d1k9Iae-1QIqhU56bYR70UFe4XCX01PEgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Barry%2BNewman%2BVanishing%2BPoint%2BRampling%2BC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1331" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptntT-3Wxhg/XczNQOTwACI/AAAAAAAAE4E/d1k9Iae-1QIqhU56bYR70UFe4XCX01PEgCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Barry%2BNewman%2BVanishing%2BPoint%2BRampling%2BC.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
remember the audition well. I had just come out of the Army, and was
walking along and I saw a group of people outside the Yenta Theater
on 52<sup>nd</sup> Street. They all had instruments in their hands –
there were trombones, saxophones, clarinets. I asked one of them
''What's going on?'' and they said ''Well, there's a part in this
Herman Wouk play, 'Nature's Way' ''. It was an open call, actually,
for anybody that could play an instrument, or for musicians that
could act. I ran home and got my saxophone, stayed in the line and
did an audition. Interestingly, Herman Wouk had written the
character as kind of a 'hot' guy, and I played him as kind of 'cool'
in the audition. I tried to explain to the director that 'hot' wasn't
what was in at that time. I told him ''You don't say 'hep', you say
hip''. I got the part, and in the play I came on in the third act and
had five or six lines.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">W</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>hat were some of the most valuable lessons you learned during your time as a theater actor?</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The biggest lesson I learned was discipline, in terms of myself and the physicality of being on the stage. I learned all about working in front of an audience, which is different from being on television or making a film. I really enjoyed my time in the theater. The second show that I did was a comedy called Maybe Tuesday, from the writers of the Sid Caesar Show - Mel Tolkin and Lucille Kell, who was Imogene Coca's head writer. We opened I think on a Monday and we closed Saturday! I thought it was a very funny show, but they didn't like TV writers doing things in the theater. My musical background helped me in terms of improvisation as an actor. I enjoyed that - being able to improvise on stage, when the director would allow it. Sometimes of course, the writer wanted their lines followed to the letter.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSiZzuPEG3Q/XczOj5pkN5I/AAAAAAAAE4Q/BrDFsFnBW8QCaGOGAaZpvhDNhnXEWpwdACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Barry%2BNewman%2BD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="236" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSiZzuPEG3Q/XczOj5pkN5I/AAAAAAAAE4Q/BrDFsFnBW8QCaGOGAaZpvhDNhnXEWpwdACNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Barry%2BNewman%2BD.jpg" width="162" /></a><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
must have been grueling filming the TV show Edge of Night in the
daytime while you were appearing on Broadway in What Makes Sammy Run?
at night.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That
was my first bit of TV. Procter and Gamble had hired very
buttoned-down actors as the young guys in the show and then I came
onto it playing one of the young lawyers. I broke the mold a bit.
There was no tape at the time, and everything was live. You had to
memorize 25 pages a day. It was hilarious.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was the second lead in the show, but I was fired in my second year.
The director and I had an altercation about something. I'd never had
one before. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but I thought
he was being a little rude and mean and I told him to go and fuck
himself. We were filming a courtroom scene, and when we came back
after lunch, the director (who was in a booth like they were in those
days) came over the loudspeaker and said, in front of about fifty
actors and extras, ''Barry, are you going to apologize for telling me
to go and fuck myself?''I just looked at him and said ''No, I'm not
going to apologize. '' And at that moment, actors' union people came
down, and the next day my character was sent to a sanitarium, after
taking a fall to his head or something unbelievable like that.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was
it much of a transition moving from theater to TV?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not
really, because the soap stuff was kind of very natural and real. I
didn't think of it being anything else but being just acting. When I
did my first film it was different. There were close-ups and
everything, and you had to act differently. After speaking to a few
pros though, they said ''Just act, kid. Don't think about it too
much. ''<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span>
</div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-31471009048326418332019-10-29T12:45:00.001+09:002019-11-14T12:35:35.527+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVEN LAMBERT <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--rkYAMENle8/XbeseXJxQpI/AAAAAAAAE2I/v8kXT-h7J9YFprHYU0fBH54g9YtRMF8CACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lambert%2Band%2BKosugi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="793" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--rkYAMENle8/XbeseXJxQpI/AAAAAAAAE2I/v8kXT-h7J9YFprHYU0fBH54g9YtRMF8CACNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Lambert%2Band%2BKosugi.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Steven Lambert is a hugely experienced stuntman and stunt co-ordinator, with credits like AMERICAN NINJA(1985), REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (1985), INNERSPACE (1987), RAMBO III (1988), INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989), TOTAL RECALL (1990), AIR AMERICA (1990), BEVERLY HILLS COP III (1994), CASINO (1995), TITANIC (1997) and WHITE HOUSE DOWN (2013) to his name. Lambert has been James Woods' stunt double for over three decades, since their first film together, 1987's BEST SELLER. As an actor he has appeared in such films as REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983), RACING WITH THE MOON (1984), TIMECOP (1994), L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997), and OCEAN'S THIRTEEN (2007). Lambert is also a highly proficient martial artist and the author of a fascinating new memoir From the Streets of Brooklyn to the Halls of Hollywood. I spoke to him about the lifelong journey that has led to this new book. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why did you think you
fell in love with martial arts so deeply?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was always an athlete. I
won the John F. Kennedy Award in 6<sup>th</sup> Grade for physical
fitness. I fell in love with martial arts because it was the first
time people took notice of me. I was very good and nobody had ever
said that to me before. Martial arts became my secure home, really.
It was the first time people wanted to help me and teach me.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How has martial arts
training transformed your life?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It gave me a direction in
my life, although at the time I had no idea where it would take me.
It gave me enjoyment, and confidence. It taught me to believe in
myself, and a sense of what can be achieved through hard work.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How did Hollywood come
calling?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It found me. I was not
looking for it. I was competing in my last martial arts tournament,
which was called the BKF – the Black Karate Federation. I got
second place, in three black belt federations: weapons, fighting and
kata. Some casting people came over to me and said ''You are very
good. How would you like to fight Chuck Norris in a movie?'' This was
his first starring role in the film GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK (1978). They
told me they would pay me five hundred dollars cash for one day's
work. That was more than I made in a week at my regular job.</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uGB052li0-A/Xbet0PNaS3I/AAAAAAAAE2U/1nwxrMfkK6gMUz7nRySUE5w1X_2Hw2LCgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lambert%2Band%2BNorris.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="800" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uGB052li0-A/Xbet0PNaS3I/AAAAAAAAE2U/1nwxrMfkK6gMUz7nRySUE5w1X_2Hw2LCgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Lambert%2Band%2BNorris.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What was the experience
of fighting Norris like?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was my first time
working on a movie. I did not know about things like hitting marks or
performing for the camera. I didn't even know about 'Lights, Camera,
Action!' But Chuck was patient and kind with me. When we talked, I
told him that he had judged me in tournaments before and that he knew
my Master in martial arts, Douglas Wong. Chuck and I became friends
and I worked for him many, many times in the future. I even
co-starred in his TV show Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001).</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What kind of mental or
physical exercises do you do before performing a stunt?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mentally, I make sure I go
over everything about my performance in my head. I stretch out and
stay calm until they say 'Action!' At the end of the scene, I expect
no less than a standing ovation when they say 'Cut!' and 'Print!'!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How much has conquering
and learning to respect fear been a part of your life?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Exactly, that's it. You
have to respect fear. It is normal. It will always be with you. When
you're scared, you must learn how to control it. Only then will you
understand fear. It will help you get through whatever you are doing.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4UhdwW1RKxk/XbevVd_r30I/AAAAAAAAE2k/6vmrKZWkovUMdwI9iyJvME6WLvyyGEdxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lambert%2Band%2BWoods.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="553" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4UhdwW1RKxk/XbevVd_r30I/AAAAAAAAE2k/6vmrKZWkovUMdwI9iyJvME6WLvyyGEdxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Lambert%2Band%2BWoods.png" width="183" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You have been James
Woods' stunt double for over three decades. What are your favorite
collaborations?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My favorite collaboration
is the first movie we did together, BEST SELLER (1987)which is also
where we became friends. I was hired to teach him how to fight, and
if you can believe it, how to look cool! After that I got the job
stunting for him.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How has your relationship
evolved over such a long time?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, now he thinks of me
and treats me like a brother and a friend. We are very close. When we
are not working together, we still talk all the time. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Did the recent ONCE UPON
A TIME IN ... HOLLYWOOD (2019) resonate for you?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">OK, here we go … Quentin
Tarantino should be ashamed of himself. Why did he make Bruce Lee
look so terrible? His family and friends are hurt. Bruce was not
cocky. He was confident. There is a big difference. There are ten
different ways you could have done that scene. Why choose the one
where Bruce Lee looks so bad? Brad Pitt is no better either. He
should be ashamed of himself too. If I had been the stunt
co-ordinator I'd probably have been fired trying to convince them not
to do the scene that way.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How do you feel about the
advent of CGI? Has it hurt your career opportunities?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am a real stuntperson. I
don't believe in this CGI crap. In most cases, CGI and cables for
wimps, unless it is for an actor. It hasn't hurt my career
opportunities. Hell, no. The way I do it, which is for real, helped
my opportunities. It has made people admire me and my abilities and
made me more well known in the stunt industry.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of all the awards for
stuntwork you have won, is the entry into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame
the one you are proudest of?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In one word, yes!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What are some of the
scenes from the films you have worked on that you are the most
proudest of?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Is your work on REMO up
there?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I care. I am proud of all
my work. I consider myself an artist more than a stuntman. I love it
all. From REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983) to INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
to REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS and everything else.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>What constitutes a good
scene for you?</i> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">An empty canvas so I can
create.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Were there times when
you were required to learn a new skill or conquer a personal fear in
order to achieve a stunt?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's not about needing to
learn the skill, it's about maybe not having the experience that you
would like to have in one particular skill, and believing that you
will achieve what you need to do.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Which actors have had the
best understanding of stunt and action work that you've worked with?
Which ones surprised you the most?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sylvester Stallone has the
best understanding when it comes to fights, but the one that
surprised me the most was Rutger Hauer. He was a natural in movie
fights.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Which directors?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Steven Spielberg and Sam
Firstenberg. Two great directors. They let you work and create as
long as you produce what you say you are going to do.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You must have witnessed
all kinds of bad behavior on set during your career. What have you
learned from it, and how has it changed your perception of Hollywood?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You learn that there are
all kinds of personalities and behavior. You must understand how to
deal with it all. Some things never change, especially in Hollywood.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Gene Lebell incident
between him and Steven Seagal whilst filming OUT FOR JUSTICE (1991)
has become a legend. You clear it up in your book, but does the urban
legend of it bother you at all? We may never know who lied about the
story, but Is something like this part of the worst elements of the
world you work and live in?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just the lies bother me.
Everyone wants to be noticed so they tell stories that are not true.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What are your
recollections of your time working on Cannon productions?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was the best of times
in my life in the movies working with Cannon. I was always the man
and Menahem Golan was like no other person. He was the best to work
for.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How did your time with
Cannon compare to working on big Hollywood films?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You have more control on
low-budget movies. On big-budget movies you have less control, and
you have more people you must answer and listen to.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With RAMBO: LAST BLOOD
(2019) now in theatres, what is your strongest memory of working on
RAMBO III?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Watching the brilliance of
Sly Stallone. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How do you enjoy
co-ordinating stunts compared to performing them?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They are both so
different. With co-ordinating you have much more responsibility.
Peeforming was easy for me.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Was there a point where
you realised your age was effecting your ability? Is there an age
when stuntmen should quit before they get seriously hurt?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wasn't the normal age
when it started affecting me. It wasn't a concern for me until I was
about 57. The reason was martial arts catching up to me. I hate it.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What made you decide at
this point in your life to write an autobiography?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have had a wonderful
life. I have been blessed. I thought 'Why not share it?'</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What projects are you
currently working on?</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just finished writing a
script called Ninja Resurrection. We are looking for the money. So
you money people, look me up, we have a hit movie.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Steven's book, From the Streets of Brooklyn to the Halls of Hollywood can be ordered<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Steven-Lambert-Streets-Brooklyn-Hollywood/dp/1079542841/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Q8BFXMTWDYFF&keywords=steven+lambert+from+the+streets+of+brooklyn+to+the+halls+of+hollywood&qid=1572319566&sprefix=steven+lambert+%2Caps%2C471&sr=8-1" target="_blank"> here.</a></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-36471403693859875472019-10-01T15:15:00.001+09:002019-10-29T12:44:42.163+09:00DANIEL KREMER ON 'OVERWHELM THE SKY' (PART 3 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t1Y0vg_Zm9g/XZLsBvEGd9I/AAAAAAAAE00/f0ri7fFbAZ8xlTCwWE6MQAi-T05OsKI2gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Daniel%2BKremer%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="446" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t1Y0vg_Zm9g/XZLsBvEGd9I/AAAAAAAAE00/f0ri7fFbAZ8xlTCwWE6MQAi-T05OsKI2gCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Daniel%2BKremer%2BA.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Daniel
Kremer is the independent filmmaker behind such acclaimed films as EZER
KENEGDO (2017), RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015) and THE IDIOTMAKER'S
GRAVITY TOUR (2011). As well as being a resourceful, prolific,
award-winning film writer-director, Kremer is also a professional film
archivist and the author of the biography Sidney J. Furie: His Life and
Films (2015). His biography on Joan Micklin Silver (HESTER STREET,
CROSSING DELANCEY) will be published soon, and he is currently
researching a biography on Henry Jaglom (TRACKS, SITTING DUCKS).
Kremer's latest film is OVERWHELM THE SKY (2018), an ambitious, profound
and stimulating epic drama that celebrated film critic Gerald Peary has
described as ''Antonioni's BLOW-UP filtered through early David Lynch,
with echoes of Dostoyevsky's Underground Man and Nathanael West's Miss
Lonelyhearts. '' In the third part of a three-part interview, I spoke
with Kremer, about how much he considers the marketplace; the current state of the festival marketplace; how he has progressed and developed as a filmmaker, and what projects he is currently working on. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Parts <a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/08/daniel-kremer-on-overwhelm-sky-part-1.html" target="_blank">one</a> and<a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/09/daniel-kremer-on-overwhelm-sky-part-2.html" target="_blank"> two</a>. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How much do you consider the marketplace when you're making a movie?</i> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The irony is that I thought in more commercial terms on my previous two films, and while we got some nice screenings and reviews, it didn't leave me anywhere I was itching to go. I mean, EZER KENEGDO (2017) featured Josh Safdie in a supporting role that he was perfect for (he resembles the real-life Chasid I based the character on). It played a couple spots and just died. I thought we'd do a lot better on that one and it left me a bit heartbroken. People are generally fascinated by Orthodox Judaism and we had a hot name in the cast. Plus Rob Nilsson in a memorably fiery performance. Didn't mean scheise. RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015) got predominately good reviews and some play dates, yet once again, established no momentum. I've never had a lot of money behind me for promotion and publicists and whatnot, but still.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So along comes OVERWHELM THE SKY and I figure, "To hell with it. Give them black-and-white, let it run long, stack the mystery, make it weird and atmospheric, what have I got to lose?" And it just took off and I was gobsmacked. Of all my films, THIS one is the first film I have that resembles a hit? Well, okay, I'll definitely take it. But irony of ironies, success came when I said, "Screw commercial concerns! Balls to the wall, I'm making this patently unusual, unclassifiable, and personal film and no one is going to stop me!" And there's still a lot going on with the film that I cannot spill the beans on just yet. But it's been stupefying for all of us involved.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How do you feel about the current state of the festival marketplace, which of course is very important for independent filmmakers?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm sorry, but I feel that the American festival scene is a cultural wasteland. I won't mince words, especially when Mr. Sylbert taught me not to. And this is not sour grapes. I've gotten into some good festivals and have wondered just what the hell is going on with a large percentage of the selections. And the audiences seem listless and inured to mediocrity. Films ain't what they used to be, to use the cliché. Sundance to me is a joke. I've liked virtually nothing coming out of Sundance for I don't know how many years. It's just a venue for rewarding these prefab, posturing 'off-Hollywood indies' that I so abhor. I often dig the documentaries coming out of Sundance, but truthfully, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (2011) and TANGERINE (2015) were the last Sundance Lab narrative films I remember finding really exceptional or extraordinary. Recently, in a piece I read online, I copied the following passage: ''… feels like a collection of leftover Sundance tropes trying to wrestle themselves free from a straitjacket.'' I just thought, ''Yeah, that kind of statement resonates.''</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The paradigm has shifted and everything is kind of screwed. Studios now only make tentpoles and glossy, empty, star-driven romcoms and farces. That means that these lesser budgeted, 'smaller' (by their yardstick) films get shunted off to other investment sources and boutique studios, which depend on the festival scene to build their products' profile and momentum. The festivals need prestige and marquee attractions to meet their own revenue demands, and they're often cornered into programming stinky product, if there's an angle they can use to sell it to attendees. And with the democratization of the medium, everyone is making films and the market gets oversaturated, so you have thousands of submissions in a single year. Plus, I won't countenance these 'pop-up' festivals. I have heard too many horror stories.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">America prefers film as product, like wholesale items, and marquee value is the whole ballgame. In Europe, it's different; the programmers and the audiences are much more attentive and observant. My Q&As are more invigorating and stimulating overseas. And I really do believe that they love cinema more. So I've been sending my work off to Europe a lot recently.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How do you think you have progressed and evolved as a filmmaker through the progress of making the film?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Film after film, I get more effective at talking to actors (and occasionally tricking them, har-har), I get a little more savvy with staging for camera, and I get a little more efficient in getting it all to come off. Boredom and impatience aren't commonplace anymore with my dear co-conspirators. I went to film school but I learned more from making my own stuff than from anywhere else. And as someone who writes about film professionally, from a film history perspective, you only truly understand what your subjects do and what they undergo by doing it yourself. The one endeavor informs the other, and vice versa.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>If you could listen to conversations between people who had just seen OVERWHELM THE SKY, what kind of responses would make you happy?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I need to see it again. I wonder where and when we can." <br />"Yeah, there's a lot there to unpack." <br /><br /><i>What projects are you working on next?</i></span></span><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlTySyCYBqw/XZLu-dtB3uI/AAAAAAAAE1k/ctuvuoH-URAhx3_R6rtrF010LGXnN8P2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Overwhelm%2BD.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="1170" height="128" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlTySyCYBqw/XZLu-dtB3uI/AAAAAAAAE1k/ctuvuoH-URAhx3_R6rtrF010LGXnN8P2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Overwhelm%2BD.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm editing an eighth feature called EVEN JUST, which I shot completely solo as a one-man crew. It's also my take on Kieslowski's CAMERA BUFF (1979). On the subject of length/runtime, this one shouldn't run a smidge over 90 minutes. I like to do one of these one-man band films every 5-6 years, just to prove that it can be done and I can still do it. Plus, I can really go hogwild with experimentation in a way I cannot when I'm working with a crew. Keeps me chipper and sharp and more informed about what crazy thing might work when more people are around and the pressure is on. I recommend every filmmaker at least try it.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">EVEN JUST is the first film in the proposed Small Gauge Trilogy – three experimental narrative features about our small-gauge (8mm, Super-8, 9.5mm, et al) motion picture film heritage, and its impact on the lives and histories of ordinary people who've lived behind the viewfinders and in front of the lenses.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm also prepping a next 'big' project, plus working on a documentary about Sidney Furie and an essay film about Swissvale, the now rusted-out neighborhood in Pittsburgh where I grew up. And literally I'm trying to get to the finish line on Joan Micklin Silver. I've also been researching my volume on Henry Jaglom. I worked with both Joan and Henry one-on-one, and these are the first books written on their careers. In terms of the latter, get ready for some incredible stories about many Hollywood legends.<i> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>OVERWHELM
THE SKY has been playing at film festivals in its roadshow version
since July 28th. The theatrical cut will open in New York on November
15th, with a couple of roadshow screenings as well. </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://vimeo.com/305461750" target="_blank">Trailer.</a></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span> </span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-45324345976067815772019-09-17T11:08:00.000+09:002019-10-01T15:16:47.219+09:00DANIEL KREMER ON 'OVERWHELM THE SKY' (PART 2 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sBOzOr_O4y0/XX8lMR3VrbI/AAAAAAAAEzY/R00I_d0VHFYuCxQ8E03cdyMqQOyemHplwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Daniel%2BKremer%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="446" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sBOzOr_O4y0/XX8lMR3VrbI/AAAAAAAAEzY/R00I_d0VHFYuCxQ8E03cdyMqQOyemHplwCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Daniel%2BKremer%2BA.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Daniel
Kremer is the independent filmmaker behind such acclaimed films as EZER
KENEGDO (2017), RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015) and THE IDIOTMAKER'S
GRAVITY TOUR (2011). As well as being a resourceful, prolific,
award-winning film writer-director, Kremer is also a professional film
archivist and the author of the biography Sidney J. Furie: His Life and
Films (2015). His biography on Joan Micklin Silver (HESTER STREET,
CROSSING DELANCEY) will be published soon, and he is currently
researching a biography on Henry Jaglom (TRACKS, SITTING DUCKS).
Kremer's latest film is OVERWHELM THE SKY (2018), an ambitious, profound
and stimulating epic drama that celebrated film critic Gerald Peary has
described as ''Antonioni's BLOW-UP filtered through early David Lynch,
with echoes of Dostoyevsky's Underground Man and Nathanael West's Miss
Lonelyhearts. '' In the second part of a three-part interview, I spoke
with Kremer, about, amongst other things, his working relationship with frequent collaborator Aaron Hollander; the benefits of shooting without a script; when he realised he had a three-hour epic film; what he has learned from mentor and book subject Sidney J. Furie; and the films and filmmakers that influenced OVERWHELM THE SKY, and why he chose to present the film in a Roadshow format. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/08/daniel-kremer-on-overwhelm-sky-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part one</a> of the interview. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span><i>How invaluable has Aaron Hollander, your frequent DP/ writing collaborator, been on the filmmaking journey you're on?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Indispensable. More Orson for you, in this case talking about DP Willy Kurant: "He's my Rembrandt."As I think you'd gather by now, we're kind of a unit. Some people even call us "Darren" collectively. We have a short-hand together, an ease of working with each other. We tell the same running gags (our cast members know those to well by now), and we are a brain trust. I can't tell you how much easier everything is in independent filmmaking if you have an Aaron Hollander figure in your life. I'm reminded of the Alan Price lyrics from O LUCKY MAN! (1973): "If you have a friend on whom you think you can rely, you are a lucky man."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>What are the benefits of starting shooting a feature without a script, like you did with this one? What would you say to those filmmakers or critics who would say it isn't the way to go?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>I work from a very detailed outline, and every scene has a clear purpose and an arc. Give a good actor the character's objective in a scene, and they'll work that over. It's not as scattershot as it might sound. On this picture, we had the freedom to mess around more than on others I have made, so that's what we did. We basically filmed what would have otherwise been workshop sessions. I just let the actors have more leeway and more of a piece of the action in creating the characters. If that load is going to wind up on their shoulders anyway, they have to decide how to carry it, how much they carry, and even what they are carrying (that's what you might call backstory). Most of all, they are the ones who have to make it real for themselves. Directors and screenwriters get so proprietary about how all of this goes down, and I've gotten frustrated witnessing that from all the sets I've been on. Didn't Robert Altman say, "I just hire great actors," when asked how he manages to do what he does? And we know his process was loose, mellow, even zen.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For those who say my process is futile or "unprofessional" or what have you, look at my films (especially this one) and you will see that the proof is in the pudding. Our reviews are unanimously positive and we have not received a single bad notice yet. In fact, in this particular case, our critics wanted to see even more of the film beyond the three-hour runtime. Hard to accomplish indeed! These are critics at places like NPR, Filmmaker Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and others. That doesn't happen every day, and I do think it demonstrates what is possible with cinema when it is made in this ostensibly shambling but infinitely more liberating manner. But those hardened in the 'system' can't leave certain preconceptions at the door, and I think that's very sad.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>At what point did you realise you had an epic three hour film?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Early on, it was a prediction. Almost a joke. You never know how something plays until you watch it with an audience, and I had a number of rough-cut screenings on this that pointed me in the right direction. We wound up with a 169-minute movie. I prepared a 124-minute version that every single person with whom I have spoken honestly agrees is vastly inferior. Some stories just need more time to unfold. But I have to say, knowing that we made an 'epic,' especially on this scale, gives me a lot of pride and joy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sid Furie put up a little fuss about the length for awhile, before ever seeing it. But he quipped, "You know how I feel about the length. But I guess if you're going to do it, 'Alexander Hero in OVERWHELM THE SKY makes damn good marquee for an epic!"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>You wrote a biography of Sidney Furie. How has your time studying his films and talking with him changed the way you approach your craft?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Majorly. So many shots stem from a Furie influence that I absorbed through a kind of osmosis when I was a kid. He's still, as always, a very important presence in my life. Of course you don't want the influence to be so on-the-nose, but it's there. Most of the time, you can't help these things. They emerge even when you're not consciously arranging little homages and scaping the type of covert pastiche that movie-crazy filmmakers like myself love.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Which films or filmmakers inspired you on this film? Which films do you think would make great background viewing for the film?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some filmmakers don't like discussing specific influences, but I'll be upfront about it, happily. I think discussing where we glean inspiration is always important. Frank Perry's MAN ON A SWING (1974) was quite formative in terms of mood and slow-burn dread. Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT (1999), in terms of structure and, again, mood. One person told me that the film suggests a cross-breeding of Scorsese's AFTER HOURS (1985) with Antonioni's BLOW-UP (1966), which is an analysis I always found somewhat on-point. On the Antonioni note, I first laid eyes on ZABRISKIE POINT (1970) at age twelve and that instilled in me a dream to one day shoot in the American desert. The last act of OVERWHELM realized that dream for me. BLOW-UP is generally a film that folks often mention when they see the film. It's apropos. The critic at KQED mentioned Erich Von Stroheim's GREED (1925), which is the first feature-length silent film that I saw all the way through at a very young age; the influence and incorporation of that film wasn't conscious to me until that critic so aptly mentioned it. The radio stuff came from Aaron's and my own intense love of Alexis Kanner's KINGS AND DESPERATE MEN (1981) and Bob Rafelson's THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972). And of course there's the whole spirit and specter of Alan J. Pakula. I could go on and on...the film is really a compendium of influences. Then you put all of them in your own voice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Were David Lynch or PT Anderson influences at all?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>Lynch, not so much. I respect Lynch and I do think he's an inviolable genius, but I don't think he's ever spoken to my sensibility in deeper ways like others have. I might be wrong, as I'm in no place to truly judge, and many people have brought up the Lynch-ian gambits in OVERWHELM THE SKY. They might be there, but they were never on my radar.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">P.T. Anderson, much more so. I think that in terms of 'mainstream' or major league, A-list, big budget auteurs working today, he's the best of them, numero uno, no question. Two critics have paralleled my film with the Anderson sensibility and I think there's much more of a case to be had there than with Lynch. I also think we share proclivities in terms of adapting literary sources.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>What is the deepest personal connection you have to this film?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>I don't really have enough distance from it yet to say. It takes years for me for the films to incite me and invite me to put together the personal puzzle pieces. I do think Eddie Huntly is that kind of woebegone, displaced dude that I understood very much when moving from Philly to New York City and then to San Francisco within the span of twelve years. I've only really found a sense of 'soul home' and peace of mind in San Francisco. Eddie's still squirreling on all of that. He really learns what displacement means in the final act. I can also say that the film's theme of 'sacred space' is a very conscious element, and is the most important aspect to me at the moment.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Alexander Hero's performance is great. So multi-faceted. What was the most memorable aspect of your discussions with him regarding his approach to the role?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Day by day, scene by scene, we worked it intensively. He was very included in the structural building of the film as we were constructing things. And I do believe that this was his most personal film as an actor. I think he mourned the end of the process and probably wouldn't have minded staying in that character indefinitely. Keep in mind, we shot over a two-year period. Sometimes, giving Alex a random piece of business or a specific movement would unlock the most unexpected stuff. He was full of surprises, and an exceptional collaborator. He loves the work and it shows.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Do you see Edgar (Hero's charcter) as the Everyman? Doomed to try to and understand what has traumatised him? The man boxed in by the huge expanses and noise of the city and further isolated? In order to rid himself of pain, he only subjects himself to more pain.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's an interesting read on the character and the film, yes. To me, Eddie is a little more specific than the Everyman figure, but I wouldn't fight such a read on him. If people see themselves in him, that makes the experience more immersive, after all. Landscapes are always important in epics, and the landscapes often wind up trapping the hero. I debated about whether folks would think Eddie was mildly autistic in the first hour of the film, but that first hour is its own mindfuck anyway. Some people think Eddie is the murderer during the first 60 minutes. I kind of like that uncertainty.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Was part of the goal of the film to convey visually a human mind trying to put a puzzle together?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's the whole goal. Awhile back, Aaron and I defined the genre or sub-genre of a 'puzzle film. ' For some reason, Greenaway's THE DRAUGHTMAN'S CONTRACT (1983) immediately leaps to mine, but there's a whole school of these pictures for us. You could count BLOW-UP among them. I think we infused the film with that sensibility. We didn't make the film, or any of our films, with an answer key. I know what certain things mean to me, but my own secret design doesn't have to be the definitive gateway to understand it. I try not to be selfish like that. I want people to have their own experience with it, not necessarily mine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Do you hope audiences will want to return again to the film to trace each part of the puzzle again?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's always the goal on my films. Even if people initially hate whatever film I make, if it gets them to return to it, I feel vindicated. Leaving a residue, if you will, is crucial to the type of pictures I want to make. And I can't tell you how often folks have changed their minds or surprised themselves upon additional viewings of my work. That's the greatest gift I could get as the maker. If a film doesn't reveal itself more on repeat viewings, or invite people in for more, I won't be terribly impressed.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yzpv48nucjo/XYA-6v5g9RI/AAAAAAAAE0c/mTB8tkPF_AMNCbXoRpwNtz4UrO7_BukkwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hawaii%2B1968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="489" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yzpv48nucjo/XYA-6v5g9RI/AAAAAAAAE0c/mTB8tkPF_AMNCbXoRpwNtz4UrO7_BukkwCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Hawaii%2B1968.jpg" width="152" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Why did you decide to release the film in a Roadshow format?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>Contrary to the suspicions of many who've approached me, the idea in no way generated from Tarantino's release of THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) a few years ago. He just got to do it before I did, and with a lot more money behind him. I just want to get that out-of-the-way immediately. I grew up in Pittsburgh collecting thousands of VHS tapes. My favorite package designs were the MGM/UA two-volume "Screen Epic" VHS's, gorgeously gold foil-stamped with the MGM logo, released between 1988 and 1992. Many of these video releases proved the first time the original roadshow cuts of these epic films were made available following their initial reserved-seat runs. For instance, George Roy Hill's HAWAII (1966) was released for the first time in its 190-minute roadshow length in this gold-foil-stamped MGM edition in 1990, after it had been cut down to 161 minutes. The roadshow format and the lore of roadshows captured my imagination almost immediately, from age ten onward. That interest started then with both IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968). I loved two-cassette editions of long movies and, when watching them, I kind of made my own ceremony around the switching of the tapes. I swore that if I ever made a long movie one day, I would exhibit it at least once in roadshows style. And I fulfilled that promise with OVERWHELM THE SKY.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/10/daniel-kremer-on-overwhelm-sky-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part three. </a> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>OVERWHELM
THE SKY has been playing at film festivals in its roadshow version
since July 28th. The theatrical cut will open in New York on November
15th, with a couple of roadshow screenings as well. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://vimeo.com/305461750" target="_blank">Trailer.</a></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-56108550678426985412019-08-26T16:18:00.000+09:002019-09-17T11:25:30.891+09:00DANIEL KREMER ON 'OVERWHELM THE SKY' (PART 1 OF 3)<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> Daniel Kremer is the independent filmmaker behind such acclaimed films as EZER KENEGDO (2017), RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015) and THE IDIOTMAKER'S GRAVITY TOUR (2011). As well as being a resourceful, prolific, award-winning film writer-director, Kremer is also a professional film archivist and the author of the biography Sidney J. Furie: His Life and Films (2015). His biography on Joan Micklin Silver (HESTER STREET, CROSSING DELANCEY) will be published soon, and he is currently researching a biography on Henry Jaglom (TRACKS, SITTING DUCKS). Kremer's latest film is OVERWHELM THE SKY (2018), an ambitious, profound and stimulating epic drama that celebrated film critic Gerald Peary has described as ''Antonioni's BLOW-UP filtered through early David Lynch, with echoes of Dostoyevsky's Underground Man and Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts. '' In the first part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Kremer about how OVERWHELM THE SKY came together; adapting the novel the film is loosely based on, Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker by Charles Brockden Brown; how the film evolved from the writing to the editing; why the film is dedicated to production designer Paul Sylbert, and why he choose to shoot the film in black-and-white.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When
did you first start to formulate ideas for OVERWHELM THE SKY?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My
best friend is my longtime cinematographer Aaron Hollander, and we
hatched the film individually, yet we came together on it kind of
cosmically. During the year or so before November 2016, I was
workshopping another project called Precious Wheels Above, with the
four principal actors who were to star. The money situation on that
dried up and we reached a dead end. November 2016 was a rough time
for many Americans, and I guess you might say we were among those who
were traumatized by the turn of events. In addition to that, my
mentor Paul Sylbert had passed away - I had just spoken with his wife
on the phone, and she wept as she told me the news. I'd wanted to
talk to him more than ever, and I quickly had to adjust to the fact
that he wasn't going to be around anymore. A contract job I'd scored
to edit a feature at Zoetrope for one of the Coppolas was pushed off
indefinitely - again, money issues. And I had just come out publicly
as gay for the first time in my life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
was kind of a hazy, crazy time, a bit of a crossroads for us. Aaron
just got the sense that we should just start working on something we
could do inexpensively...or for nothing. "Let's do that weekend
feature project you've been talking about for so long!" he told
me. It would get us out of a funk, and we could use the time
productively as opposed to lounging and lamenting. No cursing our
fate! We had cameras, we had equipment, we had a unyieldingly loyal
and talented base of local actors to pull from, thanks to the robust
Bay Area community of cinematic creatives that our dear friend Rob
Nilsson helped solidify over the course of decades.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
have a log of movie ideas that I will consult every now and again …
scenes, moments, bits of dialogue, condensed prospecti of full
projects, etc. On that log was the book Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a
Sleepwalker, which my antebellum literature scholar brother had
recommended to me years back as primo movie material. I got the
sudden sense that we could effectively shoot that as a microbudget
picture. When I told Aaron that I wanted to do Huntly for this
"weekend feature project," he freaked out. He told me he
had just been looking at that book on his own shelf, thinking he
wanted to adapt it as a screenplay himself. We are also among the
seemingly few who not just knew of the book, but owned respective
copies of it -- it's pretty obscure. So, as on many other occasions,
we were somehow clairvoyantly linked; I could tell you other stories
that speak to that bond. We're like brothers, but we're also
generally just somehow in-synch. But we also make good foils for each
other, and we challenge each other.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
film is is loosely based on the 1799 novel Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs
of a Sleepwalker by Charles Brockden Brown. What was your
relationship with the book prior to the movie? How does it influence
the film?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
had read the book when my brother told me about it. It's a physically
thin text, but the language is dense. There were scenes in it that
struck me, but I found the book narrative unadaptable as-is. But
those certain scenes struck me enough that I thought it be fun and
exciting to stage them, particularly with nothing really at stake. We
had freedom to try things, right? No one was counting any beans. The
central sleepwalking sequence was one that really ignited my
imagination. I could see the scene in my head, and knew how I would
stage it. But it's almost like the book becomes entirely another
story in the middle, and I knew that wouldn't read well in film form,
at least for what I wanted. So I made a number of alterations to suit
our needs and our ambitions. Aaron and lead actor Alexander Hero
would either back up or improve upon these new ideas of mine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
am happy to report that a leading scholar of the author Charles
Brockden Brown gave the film his endorsement, stating, "As
perhaps one of the two dozen academics who are most familiar with the
book, I’d honestly say that you caught a truth in the text."
And would you believe that there is a Charles Brockden Brown Society?</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do
you think there were benefits to beginning from a literary source?
Has it made you want to adapt more books or plays?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To
me, you get the best results when you let the performers experiment
with you and make it their own. By permitting them a little license
and latitude, you're also inviting them to believe more deeply in
what it is they're doing. It's really as simple as that. Our recent
cast-and-crew Q&A was testament to the fact that my performers
always felt safe and protected, but flew really high and far afield
too -- and those "high altitudes" can be dangerous and
frightening for those reared within more traditional methods, which I
believe have become tired and passé. I expect my collaborators to
kind of follow me down a rabbit hole. I think the book also gave us
further framework, likely more than my usual. Everyone was on firmer
ground knowing the picture had a literary antecedent. And, with every
film - this being my seventh - you constantly refine your process and
your methods, and you develop more confidence. So, the sum total of
my experience brought me to OVERWHELM THE SKY.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
terms of other adaptations, there are a number of literary sources
I'd love to adapt, one in particular being my dream project. But as
I've heard so many seasoned, veteran filmmakers tell me, "You
make the films you can make, when you can make them." I've
always found that very wise. Many younger directors I know have their
eyes only on the one film project they want to do at that time, at
the expense of every other potential endeavor. My advice is to keep a
Rolodex of ideas and do the ones that you can do when it's opportune.
Focusing on one at the expense of others has merit in some respects,
but it doesn't translate well to productivity or the ultimate sense
of self-fulfillment that comes with a completed motion picture. I am
constantly hopscotching between various pet projects, returning to
them when I can feel fresh again with them. It's easy for the mind to
get constipated when you're so mired in something, or married to it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'll
give you an idea of the type of alterations we made from novel to
screen. For instance, there was a scene in the novel that involved
Edgar waking up in a cave all bruised and battered, having
sleepwalked himself. He fights his way out of the cave by killing a
number of Lenni Lenape Indians, and eventually drinks the blood of a
panther. You can imagine how, in the context of the film we made,
this would never have worked and it was incumbent upon us to change
it. The political ramifications of the way the Native Americans are
depicted in the novel are a bit messy in a modern context as well, so
these are just some of the liberties we took, I think for the
better. I was also able to fashion something else thematically
intriguing by including the Navajo characters that Eddie encounters
in the desert.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How
much of the final film was the product of an evolution during
shooting and editing?</span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everything.
I'd come up with scene concepts and we would flesh them out in
action. It was a dynamic process at all times. On both OVERWHELM THE
SKY and my earlier RAISE YOUR KIDS ON SELTZER (2015), I never had a
better time making a movie.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
don't believe in prefab scenes - I have complete anathema to that; I
detest when scenes feel too "written." It's drama measured
in teaspoons, or IKEA filmmaking as I call it. A sense of danger and
moment-to-moment invention, specifically when a director is proactive
in shaping and sculpting it on a commensurately moment-by-moment
basis, is invaluable and priceless. To me, the best, freshest
filmmaking today comes from this kind of process. Traditional,
so-called 'off-Hollywood' indie films and perfunctory genre efforts
so often stir only drowsiness in me, because they come off like stale
filmed theater pieces, or the palest, most meager imitations. And
there is always the pretense in 'off-off-off Hollywood' films of
trying to look like they are extravagantly budgeted when they are so
obviously (and often pathetically) squeezing the material dry to look
'Hollywood-ready.' I have always been of the mind that you should own
your low-budget roots, and demonstrate that the enemy of art is the
absence of limitations. I find audiences will respect that more.
Aspire, be ambitious, and think big, but be real about yourself,
otherwise you fall on your ass with egg on your face.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You
dedicated the film to Paul Sylbert, the celebrated art director. How
much did your friendship with him inform the film?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Paul
is always with me. He was a very exacting and discerning man, and his
voice is always in my ear, even after his death. He loved
black-and-white, he loved Bergman, he loved the efficiency of
Bergman's visual poetry, he loved when he could sense an artistic
voice. As a result, he was always very cynical about Hollywood, even
films he worked on. I remember him standing up in a class showing the
students the Hollywood pictures he designed, ranking on many of them
for whatever reason, usually in regard to lost integrity. To specify,
integrity that was either lost on the way, or projects that never had
integrity in the first place. He never ever minced words, and I
admire that trait when it's done with reason and erudition, which he
had in spades. He loved the film he designed for me, which was my
thesis film: A TRIP TO SWADADES (2008). He dug the monochrome and the
mood and the style of it. That remained his last credit for many
years leading up to his passing, and he often expressed to me how
proud he was to go out on it, which made the younger me feel like a
million bucks. I can't help but think he would have loved similar
touches in OVERWHELM THE SKY, which is also in black-and-white. It
made sense to dedicate the film to him from the getgo, and I am
honored that it is the most successful of my films so far. I want
Paul's name to be associated with that, because he was the first
individual of consequence in the film industry to really believe in
me. When I met with him for the last time in person, a few months
before his death, I gave him a copy of my first published biography
(of Sid Furie), and he got misty-eyed and said, "I always knew
you'd make good, Dan." I still choke up when I think about that.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why
did you choose to shoot the film in black and white?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
Orson Welles quote, right? "Everything looks better in
black-and-white." I think that was partly the specter of Mr.
Sylbert, but it was also a bit of chance and a...dash of logic, I
guess. I felt that (lead actor) Alexander Hero's face, his visage,
would look its absolute best in black-and-white. Also, the night
before the first day of shooting, my cinematographer Aaron and I
attended a special post-Telluride Film Festival screening of Francois
Ozon's <span style="font-style: normal;">FRANTZ</span> (2016), hosted
by the great Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger. We thought the film was
okay, but I loved the use of black-and-white Scope (aspect ratio of
2.20/2.35/2.55/2.76:1, depending on lenses, process, et al.) and I
turned to Aaron in the middle of it. I whispered, "Let's do
black-and-white Scope tomorrow." He chuckled and replied,
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." That was how
informal our 'pre-production' was! And of course, we had many a
conference about style and camera voice as we were going week to
week, and I was loaded with references for him. That whole look just
made sense, and it seems that Scope films are shot in black-and-white
more rarely than most recognize. Sometimes, things just feel right.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/09/daniel-kremer-on-overwhelm-sky-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part two</a> of the interview. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>OVERWHELM THE SKY has been playing at film festivals in its roadshow version since July 28th. The theatrical cut will open in New York on November 15th, with a couple of roadshow screenings as well. </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://vimeo.com/305461750" target="_blank">Trailer.</a></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div>
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Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-52521792288734743982019-06-02T15:07:00.000+09:002019-08-26T16:09:20.843+09:00WALTER HILL ON 'THE COWBOY ILIAD' (PART 3 OF 3)<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Walter
Hill made his name as the screenwriter of the Sam Peckinpah classic THE
GETAWAY (1972), and following his directorial debut in 1975 with HARD
TIMES, went on to establish himself as one of Hollywood's biggest
filmmakers, achieving success and acclaim across many genres: the
Western (THE LONG RIDERS, GERONIMO, WILD BILL, BROKEN TRAIL, the pilot
to the Deadwood TV series); crime movies influenced by noir, the Western
or ancient Greek literature (THE DRIVER, THE WARRIORS, 48 HRS, STREETS
OF FIRE, EXTREME PREJUDICE, RED HEAT, JOHNNY HANDSOME, TRESPASS, LAST
MAN STANDING, A BULLET TO THE HEAD, THE ASSIGNMENT) and comedy
(BREWSTER'S MILLIONS). He also co-wrote and co-produced the first three
ALIEN films (1979-92), and was an executive producer on the anthology TV
horror series Tales from the Crypt (1989-96). Hill is most closely
associated with the Western genre, and he returns to the Old West with
his new project, the audiobook The Cowboy Iliad - A Legend Told in the
Spoken Word. It tells the story of a legendary shootout that occurred in
Newton, Kansas in 1871. Produced by Bobby Woods, with music by Les Deux
Love Orchestra, the album is narrated by Hill himself. In the final
part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Hill about being in line to direct John Wayne's last film THE SHOOTIST (1976); how he feels about the resurgence of interest in his work; whether he considers the Western to be the true American genre, and whether he believes the Spaghetti Western helped to kill off Westerns. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Parts <a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/05/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-1-of-3.html" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/05/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-2-of-3.html" target="_blank">two</a> of the interview. </i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oKuP6zoI79E/XPNl9jt5tsI/AAAAAAAAEw8/YwK3urilgKENcGEE_pT5woS85kryUHbeACLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BShootist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="658" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oKuP6zoI79E/XPNl9jt5tsI/AAAAAAAAEw8/YwK3urilgKENcGEE_pT5woS85kryUHbeACLcBGAs/s320/The%2BShootist.jpg" width="210" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Is it true that after seeing HARD TIMES, John Wayne wanted you to direct THE SHOOTIST?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, what happened was, I had done HARD TIMES and the producer of THE SHOOTIST sent me the script. At the same time, he also sent HARD TIMES to Mr. Wayne down in Newport. Wayne ran the film and evidently liked it and wanted to see me about doing the movie. I read the script and I didn't like it, to tell you the truth, so I begged out of the situation. It wasn't a bad script, I don't mean that. It was that it wasn't perfectly to my taste and I just thought that I didn't want to see John Wayne dying of cancer in a movie. I wanted to see him in RED RIVER (1948) or something. THE SHOOTIST turned out to be his last film, and it turned out he was dying of cancer himself. This sounds small of me, and I don't wish it to come across in a mean way, but I was not really fond of the movie when it was made. I thought I was, in a sense, right. It seems to me his last film was really TRUE GRIT (1969). That's the way I like to think of him in my head, saying goodbye. I didn't know him or anything like that, though. We never met about the film.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>You've had a very long career, starting as a screenwriter and then as a writer-director, and recently there's been a resurgence of interest in your back catalogue, with THE DRIVER being cited as influences on DRIVE (2011) and BABY DRIVER (2017), for example. How does that make you feel?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I think attention is great. I mean, you do make these things for audiences, but you kind of make them for yourself and you hope somebody else is interested in watching. It makes an old man happy to think somebody is interested in his stuff and wants to look at it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I got a call last night that 900 people listened to The Cowboy Iliad on one of the outlets, and we expected to not even move one unit. This was absolutely done for the fun of it. The idea that it would be a commercial enterprise is something we still laugh about! But I'm glad that are some people interested in it. I dedicated it to 'the old cowboy on the porch' and I have to think that's probably who's listening. That dedication came out of a joke really. Bobby asked me ''Who the hell do you think the audience is for this thing?'' I said ''Well, there are very few left, but there are some old guys. They sit on rocking chairs on their porch. They usually are in the summer. Most of them are in Kentucky and Tennessee and Oklohoma and places like that. They might be interested. That's our audience!'' I said ''My daughters are not going to rush out to hear it!''</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Do you feel that the Western is the true American genre?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No. We are a big country. We are evolving. I don't think the Western is any truer of America than noir films. I love noirs. I think the dark and underside of America is better shown with the noir films. They are just as true. I think there's something about Westerns that are true in a positive way even when the stories are negative. They are very positive about American feelings about America. I think there's that to be said. They have declined and the decline was inevitable. They are never going to be what they were. In a sense, it's physically impossible. The audience has lost its collective memory of their agrarian past. My parents and my grandparents talked about country things that meant a lot to them, and so Westerns meant something very different to them than they do, say, to my daughters, who grew up in the big city, and their parents lived in the big city. The evolving part of the large audience that Westerns, and all films, have to have is not there anymore. Also, the Western genre has been largely exhausted. There were so many endless variations on the genre from the 1930s to the 1960s. The other thing is that the Western, of all the classic film genres, is the easiest, and most subject to parody. I think once you move something, even in the most half-assed way, over to the parodic category, it's something that you never quite get back into the mainstream.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Do you think the Spaghetti Western genre killed off the traditional Western?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I think you could make the argument. I don't mean to sound like a Smart Alec but in a sense, the Spaghetti Westerns were parodic in themselves. They took the kind of 'highs' if you will of the kind of classic Western stories and were kind of operatic pastiches. They don't go five minutes without a gunfight. When you look at the really classic Westerns of the 30s, 40s and 50s, that's not the way they were. They had action sequences, but the Italian Westerns became something very different. I've heard very serious arguments about whether or not they are even Westerns. Are they really more operas than Westerns? I'll leave all that to people smarter than I am!<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Cowboy Iliad is available on Amazon on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Walter-Hill/dp/B07QV42XDV" target="_blank">CD</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Bobby-Orchestra-Walter/dp/B07Q5D9N1H/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">MP3</a>, and as a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Special-Companion-Booklet/dp/0999852760/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=cowboy+iliad+companion+book&qid=1557730216&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull" target="_blank"> companion book</a>, written by Walter Hill. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Extract from the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o62eR0sks" target="_blank"> audiobook.</a></i></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span> </span></span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-37260709148784664522019-05-22T23:16:00.001+09:002019-06-02T15:09:31.524+09:00WALTER HILL ON 'THE COWBOY ILIAD' (PART 2 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y3udoFeAiEw/XOVUWV68GGI/AAAAAAAAEvg/pXW61PPlLWEwNtNsPZJcTvLLx0LVnVJMACLcBGAs/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="723" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y3udoFeAiEw/XOVUWV68GGI/AAAAAAAAEvg/pXW61PPlLWEwNtNsPZJcTvLLx0LVnVJMACLcBGAs/s320/Walter%2BHill%2B3.jpg" width="231" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Walter Hill made his name as the screenwriter of the Sam Peckinpah classic THE GETAWAY (1972), and following his directorial debut in 1975 with HARD TIMES, went on to establish himself as one of Hollywood's biggest filmmakers, achieving success and acclaim across many genres: the Western (THE LONG RIDERS, GERONIMO, WILD BILL, BROKEN TRAIL, the pilot to the Deadwood TV series); crime movies influenced by noir, the Western or ancient Greek literature (THE DRIVER, THE WARRIORS, 48 HRS, STREETS OF FIRE, EXTREME PREJUDICE, RED HEAT, JOHNNY HANDSOME, TRESPASS, LAST MAN STANDING, A BULLET TO THE HEAD, THE ASSIGNMENT) and comedy (BREWSTER'S MILLIONS). He also co-wrote and co-produced the first three ALIEN films (1979-92), and was an executive producer on the anthology TV horror series Tales from the Crypt (1989-96). Hill is most closely associated with the Western genre, and he returns to the Old West with his new project, the audiobook The Cowboy Iliad - A Legend Told in the Spoken Word. It tells the story of a legendary shootout that ocurred in Newton, Kansas in 1871. Produced by Bobby Woods, with music by Les Deux Love Orchestra, the album is narrated by Hill himself. In the second part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Hill about the importance of 'truth' in stories; the moral aspect of Westerns and their Old Testament qualities; how his Presbyterian upbringing informed his values and love of the Western; how much the Western has influenced his non-Western films; and the influence poet Christopher Logue, Sam Peckinpah and Sam Shepard had on The Cowboy Iliad.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/05/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-1-of-3.html" target="_blank">Part one </a>of the interview. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Do you think that often, with stories, whether they are true or not is not the most important thing – what is more important is whether we can get some kind of truth from them?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Exactly, that's so much the point. And also, I've always felt that this idea that violence in comics or movies or whatever is somehow destructive of character is extraordinarily naive: the idea that if we could disarm Eastwood or Schwarzenegger, the world would be a better place strikes me as ludicrous. I've always been amazed, because all action stories have violence. If you tell people you are going to tell them a violent story, people cringe. But if you tell them you're going to tell them a story full of adventure and action, they say ''Oh, boy. Let's pull up our chairs here. '' It could be exactly the same story. Of all these stories, though, there are very few that aren't quite strong, positive, moral, ethical lessons. There are very few of these so called 'violent' movies where the bad guys prevail. We see wicked people do wicked things and they are punished severely at the end. This is a staple of sub-literary efforts as well as on a more sophisticated level. Our great poets examined this! One of the distinguishing marks of literature is that you don't just make it good and bad, you make the argument for both sides. I believe the great Jean Renoir said ''There aren't any monsters, it's only the monstrous''. I say ''Hear, hear!''</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Do you enjoy the moral aspect that comes with a lot of Westerns?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nobody likes to describe themselves as a moralist, but at the same time, Westerns do tend to be Old Testament stories. If you say 'moral tales', you're slightly out of fashion, but if you say 'stories that deal with ethical concerns', you're still on safe ground! It's again, the choice of words.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You had a Presbyterian upbringing. Do you think this led to you liking the Old Testament nature of many Westerns?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm surprised you knew that! I don't remenber ever saying that in any interview. Yes, I grew up Presbyterian. I was sent to Sunday school and church, and I stopped going when I was sixteen. I should have probably kept going. I wasn't entirely happy that I was going at the time but I now think of it in a very positive way. The stories that I learned were very instrumental in developing a lot of my attitudes. I think that if you make a living out of your own wits in what's usually known as the 'creative areas', there's s this idea that you have to be wildly original. But we are all linked together and we are all standing on each other's shoulders. We tell stories that are different turns of stories that we are familiar with. I know the great Borges said that movies had a great relationship with their audience: the audience recognised the stories and anticipated them, and that that was one of the great pleasures of movies. In a sense, I think Cowboy Iliad is connected to that idea.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think Westerns are kind of an extension of the Old Testament. People say to me ''It must be fun making Westerns – you're caught up in the 19th century and the costumes and this and that .. '', which is true. But I always thought it was much more like you were walking around in the Old Testament. You were always kind of telling, one version or another, Old Testament stories. Most Westerns are just turns on them. Some may have a modern psychological dimension to them, for example.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnwn7Fjinx4/XOVXXSd3GYI/AAAAAAAAEv4/LGUr7Sq8QwAmQuJsbQrfHzTTXbz8qhyMwCLcBGAs/s1600/Wild%2BBill%2BUS%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="666" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnwn7Fjinx4/XOVXXSd3GYI/AAAAAAAAEv4/LGUr7Sq8QwAmQuJsbQrfHzTTXbz8qhyMwCLcBGAs/s320/Wild%2BBill%2BUS%2Bposter.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the way, I wouldn't want to overstate my religious background. I'm not like Paul Schrader, who is very involved with his Church. He had a very strong personal reaction to his upbringing in that sense. It was part of my life, as was baseball, and fifteen other things, but I think it has had lasting value. I'm married to a Jewish woman. We both agree that the worst mistake that we made in raising our daughters, although they turned out well, was letting them decide if they wanted to become Jews or become Christians or have any religious teaching at all. We feel that we both failed miserably! We should have chosen one or the other or something, because it ended up they weren't really educated in those areas. They both chose to be Jewish. I don't know what that says. I guess I didn't make my case very well!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You started your directing career as the Western genre was fading out, but do you feel that most of your films have had elements of the genre in some form?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I've said that in the past, but I think I tend to like what I call 'complexities based on simple stories', which is one of the aspects, I think, of the Western. I like stories that involve characters in situations where they don't have the normal recourse of a civiised authority for a solution. That again is the province of the Western. To tell you the truth, I think all of us only know four or five stories. We are just trying to figure out different ways to tell them. We put new clothes on them now and again and go out and make another version.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Do you wish you had made more Westerns in your career?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh, I don't know. I think I got to make more Westerns than anybody, save for Mr. Eastwood, so I can't really complain. They are more fun to do. You're usually out in the middle of nowhere, which means you're a long way from the studio and is part of the good news! The beautiful countryside when you make Westerns tends to be inspiring, and I like to be around horses. When you're making a movie downtown in some city, you're fighting to make every shot. You have to work around traffic and people on the street and hope that nobody is looking at the camera. Every shot seems like pulling teeth. When you're out there making a Western, it's just you, the actors, the crew, and the horses, and you own it. That's a very pleasant aspect of making Westerns.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In the booklet to The Cowboy Iliad you reveal that Greil Marcus's book The Old, Weird America (1997/ 2011) led you down the path to embark on the project. How so?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I read the book and he constantly has references to the 'Old, Weird America', which is one of his phrases. The shootout in Perry Tuttle's dancehall is I think so emblematic of this phrase, and also the American folk songs, 'Dock' Boggs, and any number of the darker American folk tales. I only know the author just to have a very brief conversation with him. His book also got me interested in Ken Maynard, who was a Western actor in the 1930s who put out some songs and was the real thing. We used some of his yodelling on the music tracks on The Cowboy Iliad. So I owe Mr. Marcus this, which is why I acknowledged his contribution.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You also thank Christopher Logue, Sam Peckinpah and Sam Shepard. Why those particular people?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christopher Logue I knew a little bit. I had lunch and dinner with him three or four times. He was very good friends with some writer friends of mine in London. He decided to do his own poetic version of the Iliad called War Music (1981). He spoke no Classical Greek, but he felt that was to his advantage. He would go down to the library and assemble various classic translations of the Iliad and then out of all that, create his own poetry. I had several conversations with him about this, about 25 years ago. I loved the book, which is actually a compilation of a series of books he put out separately. I was fascinated by what he did, which was very modernist. I felt that with my nerve of using Homer for my own purposes I was kind of holding hands a bit with Christopher. 'Dare to win' as the commandos say!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v3EwuTGRSDA/XOVZHEAltFI/AAAAAAAAEwc/oyJEWL4vI2c55tJQCocgUsySdzrUfN3WgCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BCowboy%2BIliad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1018" height="182" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v3EwuTGRSDA/XOVZHEAltFI/AAAAAAAAEwc/oyJEWL4vI2c55tJQCocgUsySdzrUfN3WgCLcBGAs/s320/The%2BCowboy%2BIliad.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I worked with Sam, I wrote a film that he directed, THE GETAWAY, which was at least a commercially successful film. I'm rather fond of it. I think it turned out to be a good movie. The success of that film is what largely enabled me to become a director. Again, as I was doing The Cowboy Iliad, I thought that Sam would probably like it. I was honoring the debt, I guess you could say.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sam Shepard is sadly missed. I knew Sam the last few years of his life. My wife is a theatrical agent and she represented Sam as an actor for a number of years. I got to know him through her. He had a very strong interest in Westerns and he and I were going to do a Western together. We would co-write it together, I would direct it and he would star in it. He was a very good actor, and a very good Western actor. But it didn't happen. We had lost the rights to the underlying material, and we were both often busy on other projects. He would call the house sometimes and we would talk about Westerns. I had done a movie called WILD BILL and the song Leaving Cheyenne was reprised many times in that movie. Sam had a very strong interest in the song and I have no idea what this was based upon. We would discuss the song and its meaning, and some of the obscure cowboy lyrics. At Sam's memorial service in Kentucky, a little over a year ago, his son played Leaving Cheyenne on the violin and it was very moving. As I was doing The Cowboy Iliad, again, I thought he'd probably like it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/06/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-3-of-3.html" target="_blank">Part three</a> of the interview. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Cowboy Iliad is available on Amazon on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Walter-Hill/dp/B07QV42XDV" target="_blank">CD</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Bobby-Orchestra-Walter/dp/B07Q5D9N1H/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">MP3</a>, and as a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Special-Companion-Booklet/dp/0999852760/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=cowboy+iliad+companion+book&qid=1557730216&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull" target="_blank"> companion book</a>, written by Walter Hill. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Extract from the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o62eR0sks" target="_blank"> audiobook.</a></i></span></span></span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span> </span></span></span>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-65934489264992920882019-05-15T12:59:00.000+09:002020-02-10T15:23:38.585+09:00WALTER HILL ON 'THE COWBOY ILIAD' (PART 1 OF 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m35wD2CdUwc/XNuFab2URyI/AAAAAAAAEug/A2HYdHK6xMQMRfVYLaV0epmihYcz_KbNgCLcBGAs/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="723" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m35wD2CdUwc/XNuFab2URyI/AAAAAAAAEug/A2HYdHK6xMQMRfVYLaV0epmihYcz_KbNgCLcBGAs/s320/Walter%2BHill%2B3.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Walter Hill made his name as the screenwriter of the Sam Peckinpah classic THE GETAWAY (1972), and following his directorial debut in 1975 with HARD TIMES, went on to establish himself as one of Hollywood's biggest filmmakers, achieving success and acclaim across many genres: the Western (THE LONG RIDERS, GERONIMO, WILD BILL, BROKEN TRAIL, the pilot to the Deadwood TV series); crime movies influenced by noir, the Western or ancient Greek literature (THE DRIVER, THE WARRIORS, 48 HRS, STREETS OF FIRE, EXTREME PREJUDICE, RED HEAT, JOHNNY HANDSOME, TRESPASS, LAST MAN STANDING, A BULLET TO THE HEAD, THE ASSIGNMENT) and comedy (BREWSTER'S MILLIONS). He also co-wrote and co-produced the first three ALIEN films (1979-92), and was an executive producer on the anthology TV horror series Tales from the Crypt (1989-96). Hill is most closely associated with the Western genre, and he returns to the Old West with his new project, the audiobook The Cowboy Iliad - A Legend Told in the Spoken Word. It tells the story of a legendary shootout that occured in Newton, Kansas in 1871. Produced by Bobby Woods, with music by Les Deux Love Orchestra, the album is narrated by Hill himself. In the first part of a three-part interview, I spoke with Hill about how he came to the project, his intentions for it, and about his love of the Western genre. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How did The Cowboy Iliad come about?</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i>It was basically done by two guys in a garage, Bobby and I, although Bobby does have an orchestra as a resource. We didn't keep them in the garage! Bobby Woods and I have been friends for a number of years. Bobby is very conversant about the music business. It kind of grew out of conversations we had. I was interested in these talking books, which I had occasionally come across as a kid. I remember that some of them were Western-oriented, and that Walter Brennan and, I believe, John Wayne, did a couple.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1nWlvsiL_TQ/XNuFsRke50I/AAAAAAAAEuo/9seebEr2kIEY5tpy7cgVz-p2nj8AKz2JwCLcBGAs/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BLast%2BMan%2BStanding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="1075" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1nWlvsiL_TQ/XNuFsRke50I/AAAAAAAAEuo/9seebEr2kIEY5tpy7cgVz-p2nj8AKz2JwCLcBGAs/s320/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BLast%2BMan%2BStanding.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(1)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I think, actually, that the creative origin came from when I was a small child listening to the radio and the dramas that the old Gunsmoke used to have. The radio Gunsmoke was very different to the television version. They had a wonderful actor named William Conrad, who also did many movies. He had a wonderful voice. He was the original Matt Dillon. There was a serious and a hardness to those shows that I think somehow imprinted themselves on my mind.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anyway, Bobby and I had many dinners and we would talk about the music business, and somehow we kind of started daring each other. He wanted me to write something, and I said I'd do it if he did the music. My film editor whom I've worked with for many years, Phil Norden, had a sound library so that was another thing. You might also want to cite the influence of alcohol! The idea always seemed to get better later in the evening.<i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When you made your own Western films, was a part of you harking back to sitting in the kitchen listening to those radio shows? </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, I think so. Without being too lugubrious about it, I was what you would call a sickly child. I was very badly asthmatic as a kid. I had several years where I really didn't go to school very much. I was kind of left to my own devices, although I was taught to read and write by my grandmother. My parents were both working. My recreational time, as I was restricted on physical activity, was mainly reading. I was a good reader. And listening to the radio. We didn't have a television yet. We were among the last to get a TV.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IDKU95trFgY/XNuGGoAn54I/AAAAAAAAEu4/YV1pUsxH5sAl5zRAcOqwzZySBPzHsrLewCEwYBhgL/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BThe%2BWarriors.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="656" height="214" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IDKU95trFgY/XNuGGoAn54I/AAAAAAAAEu4/YV1pUsxH5sAl5zRAcOqwzZySBPzHsrLewCEwYBhgL/s320/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BThe%2BWarriors.webp" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(2)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Would you say then that your love of Westerns comes from mainly the storytelling aspect of the genre, rather than the visuals of the TV and movie Westerns?</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, my brother and I used to go to movies all the time. People say ''Oh, you must have loved Westerns'', and I did like them very much. The truth is that not only did I like the Westerns, but I also liked the noir films very much. I liked musicals, anything, if I thought they were good., except I didn't really like movies about kids very much. I always wanted to see adult movies because the fights were exciting and the women were beautiful. The adult world was much more interesting to me than the kid world.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But it was mainly the Westerns and the noirs. I used to divide the Westerns up in my head very clearly. There were the knock-around, bullshit Wild Bill Elliott/ Johnny Mac Brown Grade 'C' movies. They were fun. And then there were the 'adult Westerns'. Whether they be SHANE (1953) or THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955), those kind of things. I was an enormous fan of those.<i> </i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIIUfwEHiCc/XNuJCPe6xMI/AAAAAAAAEvE/F2cUD1QHA8gr22uwTVV_55vccjCg0zZrwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2Band%2BIsabelle%2BAdjani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="642" height="210" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIIUfwEHiCc/XNuJCPe6xMI/AAAAAAAAEvE/F2cUD1QHA8gr22uwTVV_55vccjCg0zZrwCEwYBhgL/s320/Walter%2BHill%2Band%2BIsabelle%2BAdjani.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(3)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> Are you thinking of also doing The Cowboy Iliad as a TV or film project?</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I really don't have any plans. I'm negotiating on a movie to be done in New Orleans, kind of a contemporary Gothic tale. A small movie with two female leads. People are asking me about doing a series of things in the vein of The Cowboy Iliad.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I have always envisaged you as a private person, but before The Cowboy Iliad you also recorded a narration for the director's cut of THE WARRIORS (1979) and you did a voice cameo for Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER (2017).</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The serious fights that Bobby and I used to have about The Cowboy Iliad were because I thought we should hire an actor. I laid down the temp track but Bobby insisted that we stick with my voice to the extent that he said he'd boycott the project if we didn't. In the end, I caved into his wishes. I've had enough people tell me that it was okay! </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BABY DRIVER was at Edgar (Wright)'s insistence. It was his way of getting my blessing for his film, and I was very happy to do it. Edgar is a great friend and a great talent. I'm very fond of him.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJDk2uFKhR4/XNuJNWNx_AI/AAAAAAAAEvI/6kblmzADVp8vt5GehkafdD2ph_pFENmowCLcBGAs/s1600/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BStreets%2Bof%2BFire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1200" height="203" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJDk2uFKhR4/XNuJNWNx_AI/AAAAAAAAEvI/6kblmzADVp8vt5GehkafdD2ph_pFENmowCLcBGAs/s320/Walter%2BHill%2Bfilming%2BStreets%2Bof%2BFire.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Am I right in saying the stories that make up The Cowboy Iliad are believed to be true stories?</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first part of the story – the gun fight in Perry Tuttle's dance hall – that is absolutely true. It's kind of amazing, considering the amount of mayhem that was done, that it is not better known in the annals of history. For instance, it was a much bigger battle royale than say, the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which is endlessly depicted in films and written about and all that. This gunfight in Perry Tuttle's dance hall in Newton, Kansas in 1871 is barely mentioned in most books, but I thought of it as a remarkable true incident. The way I got to that was that I knew about the story in the New York newspaper, and that's been reprinted a few times. I had read that account, which we would now regard as 'fake news', and I originally thought that that story alone and the implications of that story would be what the album would be about. But then I shrunk it all together and gave you all a little philosophy at the end, and there it is.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In The Cowboy Iliad are there elements that make up the nutshell of what appeals to you about the Western genre?</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well I suppose. I tend not to want to ask myself questions of process, and why, and think like that. I think when you get into that kind of self-examination, you run the risk of damaging the process. It's much better just to function. I have no idea why I have the taste, inclinations, attitudes or personality that I have. We're all products of biology and environment and God's unchanging hand as they used to say. So you take your pick. We're all who we are. I have no idea how we got this way, and I've no idea how I ended up talking to you on the phone in Japan! But here we are!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cTuU2FG3YQc/XNkSc0gDs6I/AAAAAAAAEuU/Mi0S49dtv64MWISKgFhU7X0_PJgIYfKQACLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BCowboy%2BIliad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1018" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cTuU2FG3YQc/XNkSc0gDs6I/AAAAAAAAEuU/Mi0S49dtv64MWISKgFhU7X0_PJgIYfKQACLcBGAs/s320/The%2BCowboy%2BIliad.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I get a sense with The Cowboy Iliad that although the events depicted are of a sickening, mindless, bloody cycle of violence with philosophical implications, it also reminds us that the Old West must have been an exhilarating time to live in, where one really had to live by one's wits.</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What it tries to examine really is our fascination with these stories. On one level, a bunch of drunken knotheads got together and had a dispute in 1871, and shot the shit out of each other and did some horrible things. And yet we are fascinated by it and want to read about it. There's a need for completion in all of us, and the story seems incomplete to us, however factual it is. And so the other story becomes a necessary complement. It makes us somehow fascinated with the whole. When you think about that, this is the argument for the most primal of attitudes about our needs for stories.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://www.money-into-light.com/2019/05/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-2-of-3.html" target="_blank">Part two</a> and<a href="https://www.money-into-light.com/2019/06/walter-hill-on-cowboy-iliad-part-3-of-3.html" target="_blank"> part three</a> of the interview. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>The Cowboy Iliad is available on Amazon on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Walter-Hill/dp/B07QV42XDV" target="_blank">CD</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Bobby-Orchestra-Walter/dp/B07Q5D9N1H/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">MP3</a>, and as a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Iliad-Special-Companion-Booklet/dp/0999852760/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=cowboy+iliad+companion+book&qid=1557730216&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull" target="_blank"> companion book</a>, written by Walter Hill. </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Extract from the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o62eR0sks" target="_blank"> audiobook.</a></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Photo information (all rights to the copyright holders): (1) Hill with Bruce Willis on the set of LAST MAN STANDING (1996); (2) Hill with Michael Beck and others on the set of THE WARRIORS (1979); (3) Hill with Isabelle Adjani on the set of THE DRIVER (1978); (4) Hill on the set of STREETS OF FIRE (1984). </i></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></span> </span><br /> </span></span><br />
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Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-77026679730615917702019-04-23T15:09:00.000+09:002019-05-13T14:48:22.135+09:00SOME KIND OF HERO: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE JAMES BOND FILMS (UPDATED EDITION) by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury - BOOK REVIEW <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Original publication: 2015. Updated edition: 2018 (softback, RRP 20 pounds sterling). Foreword by George Lazenby. Published by The History Press. </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
For fans of the Bond movies growing up during the eras prior to Pierce Brosnan's GOLDENEYE (1995), it was slim pickings indeed when it came to books on the making of the films, and even slimmer pickings when it came to books that went beyond the usual PR fluff. The tomes that <i>were </i>essential included Steven Jay Rubin's 'The James Bond Films' (1981) and Raymond Benson's 'The James Bond Bedside Companion' (1984). Since the Brosnan era, there have been a plethora of books dedicated to the film franchise or respective films. So, what makes 'Some Kind of Hero' one of the books you need on your Bond bookshelf? </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As stated in the pages of the book, 'Some Kind of Hero' has been an endeavour two decades in the making. The authors have done exhaustive research on the history of the film series, but the main highlight is the information gleaned from over 120 new interviews with people connected to the franchise, including all of the actors who have played 007 in the series and the current producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
Field and Chowdhury's 'mission' is to tell the story of how the Bond series has managed to survive almost sixty years as a relevant, commercially viable enterprise. The reader learns of the great challenges and hardships faced by Eon Productions, originally under the leadership of Harry Saltzman and 'Cubby' Broccoli and now Broccoli's stepson and daughter, throughout Bond's filmic career. We learn of the long struggle to bring Bond to the screen in the first place, of the great struggle that EVERY Bond film endures to make it to the cinema, and of the competition and enemies Eon has had to face off against to ensure the survival of the franchise. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oOsu7MsH5qY/XL6ru_vDgkI/AAAAAAAAEtQ/_NdgZcF0fsQo1q4dPNSvQv4LArL-wUCtQCLcBGAs/s1600/Craig%2BQOS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="609" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oOsu7MsH5qY/XL6ru_vDgkI/AAAAAAAAEtQ/_NdgZcF0fsQo1q4dPNSvQv4LArL-wUCtQCLcBGAs/s320/Craig%2BQOS.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the threads that runs throughout this story is that the changing gatekeepers of the franchise have maintained their great passion and drive to each time bring to the screen a Bond adventure that shows its budget onscreen and is on the pulse of not only the issues that are dominating the world right now, but also 5 minutes into the future.
The book goes into detail on the creation of the screenplays for each film, and in doing so celebrates the hard work and craft that goes into putting each new story onscreen. Excitingly, the book also looks at the ideas, treatments and drafts that never made it to the screen, such as the attempts to make a third Timothy Dalton Bond film and the early incarnations of GOLDENEYE. Through their painstaking research and ruthless attention to detail, the authors manage to make the journey come alive, and they seemingly have spoken to EVERYBODY, including studio and marketing executives, who give their own unique angle on working with the producers and advising on creative decisions. The book is also peppered with anecdotes that are alternately hilarious and mindblowing.
<br /><br /> The book will make you reassess what you thought you knew about the Bond series. If not for the efforts of the filmmakers, and their abilities to constantly take a hard look at what they have done and where they are heading with the series, there have been quite a few instances where the franchise may have died. And touchingly, it is the ghost of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, who has indirectly saved the series, time and time again. When the producers sit with writers and discuss a new script, they consider what Fleming's Bond would do, and what Fleming material they can use or consult. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /> Another remarkable quality about the book is its frankness. Although the authors are rightly in awe of the achievements made by the filmmakers, they are not apprehensive about including criticisms levelled at certain actors or filmmakers by others for their behavior or creative decisions. Far from adding a salacious element to the book, this frankness only makes the story more human, and in the end, more extraordinary. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With Bond 25 on the horizon, which is expected to be Daniel Craig's final bow as 007, this new, updated version of 'Some Kind of Hero', complete with an extensive chapter on the making of SPECTRE with lots of new information, a chapter on the early road to Bond 25 and a memorial to Roger Moore, is a perfect opportunity to properly get ready for the new film and place the past achievements of the series in proper context. At nearly 800 pages long (with some fantastic colour and black and white behind the scenes photos), it's a huge book, but it is so beautifully and concisely written, so entertaining and constantly fascinating that the time will fly by, and you'll find yourself returning to the book time and time again, especially after you revisit the films. The book is a testament to the the men who brought Bond to the screen - Harry Saltzman and "Cubby' Broccoli - and the current team that continue to mantain their legacy. 'Some Kind of Hero' particularly makes the larger than life personalities of Saltzman and Broccoli come alive, and makes one realise how many unsung heroes the series has, not least United Artists executive David Picker, who recently passed. It is no exaggeration to say that 'Some Kind of Hero' is certainly the most definitive book ever written about the making of the 007 series, and cannot be more strongly recommended.</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The book can be ordered via The History Press <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/some-kind-of-hero/9780750969772/" target="_blank"> here.</a> The e-book is available via The History Press <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/some-kind-of-hero/9780750966504/" target="_blank">here. </a></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i>Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-90249695312783786132019-02-12T12:33:00.002+09:002019-04-23T15:00:46.287+09:00LONDON FIELDS - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT (Mathew Cullen, 2018) - A REVIEW <div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_n">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nhCjqltTO5c/XGI3qmovmgI/AAAAAAAAEsU/km_QhbHFysU4Q52Gux8YuphgyfYZMdRdwCLcBGAs/s1600/London%2BFields%2BDC%2Bposter%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nhCjqltTO5c/XGI3qmovmgI/AAAAAAAAEsU/km_QhbHFysU4Q52Gux8YuphgyfYZMdRdwCLcBGAs/s320/London%2BFields%2BDC%2Bposter%2BA.jpg" width="214" /></a><i>Amber Heard, Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Sturgess, Theo James, Johnny Depp, Cara Delevingne, Jamie Alexander, Jason Isaacs, Gemma Chan. 118 minutes. </i><br />
<br />
LONDON FIELDS, an adaptation of the celebrated 1989 Martin
Amis novel, has had a long road to the screen and unfortunately,
after missed festival screenings and release dates and bitter fighting
between Cullen and the producers, was released in a compromised version
that did not reflect director Mathew Cullen's intentions for the movie. The director’s cut, lo and behold, is a much more
successful version of the film. This is an artistic endeavour audiences are going to have strong opinions about, either in a positive or
negative way, but aren't these kinds of projects the most fascinating, especially in the current, sanitised PC culture?<br />
<br />
The story is set in a
future London nearing some kind of collapse. Amber Heard (AQUAMAN, DRIVE ANGRY) plays Nicola
Six, a woman whose clairvoyant powers have allowed her to see when,
where and how she will be murdered, but not by whom. Enter Billy Bob
Thornton as terminally ill novelist Samson Young, who has moved into the abode of
his rival Mark Asprey (Jason Isaacs) with the notion of completing a
final book but is bereft of inspiration. He and Nicola decide to join
forces to find out who her murderer will be: he’ll get a great final
novel that will restore his legacy and she’ll be able to prepare for her
fate. The likely culprits soon make themselves known and couldn’t be
any different: obnoxious, sex-obsessed, working-class yobbo Keith Talent
(Jim Sturgess), whose dream in life is to be a darts champion, and
moneyed, upper-class, ridiculously handsome and unhappily married Guy
Clinch (Theo James).<br />
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LONDON FIELDS is a bold, experimental and
audacious movie that is truly ambitious. It recalls Richard Kelly’s
similarly polarizing SOUTHLAND TALES (2006) in its mixing of tones, genres and kinds of humor, and in its apocalyptic setting. The
film frequently overloads on such imagery, giving the film a frenetic,
fractured and startling feel reminiscent of U2’s Zoo TV. Guillermo
Navarro’s photography is beautifully rich in its color and also
noir-style touches. The soundtrack by ToyDrum is evocative and exciting.<br />
<br />
Amber Heard is a great, bewitching femme fatale in the movie and goes all
out with her performance. She’s one of the most beautiful and sexy
actresses currently working, yes, but she’s also one of the most
underrated. Billy Bob Thornton is of course pure class, delivering
a nuanced performance that always subtly reminds of us of the pain his
character is always enduring. Theo James has a persona and appearance reminiscent of Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett. Jim Sturgess’s
performance is so over the top that some viewers will hate it. It's quite hilarious and ballsy, and the role and the film in general is
another feather in Sturgess’s cap for challenging, off the wall choices.
Johnny Depp has a quite substantial, unbilled role as Sturgess’s
gangster associate and darts rival Chick Purchase, which is the best
character name of 2018 without a doubt. Typically, Depp is fantastic fun
as his bizarro character. Cara Delevingne has fun playing down her
looks to the nth degree as Sturgess’s wife.<br />
<br />
I’m a fan of
balls-out, go for broke, punch above your weight, die trying cinema, and
the director's cut of LONDON FIELDS is a beautiful looking and sounding movie,
with an impressive and very daring and sexual performance from Heard,
some accomplished and some off the wall acting turns from the supporting
cast, an intriguing setting and premise, and a tone and narrative that gives the film a unique identity all of its own. Granted, Cullen has tried to bite off more than he can chew. He was TOO ambitious. There’s too much
going on for the film to be totally successful. He hasn’t
made it easy on his audience, or himself. But one has to admire that level of passion, ambition and sheer balls. Viewers will be talking about how
much they loved, hated, kind of liked or were indifferent about this definitive cut of LONDON FIELDS for many years to come, and that is not the mark of a forgettable
movie. It’s the mark of a film that shot for the moon.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2019. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269535425664650035.post-1734336249814337512018-12-26T20:31:00.001+09:002019-02-12T12:32:49.613+09:00AN INTERVIEW WITH FRED WILLIAMSON <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fred Williamson, aka The Hammer, has been an action icon ever since he burst onto the screens in such '70s exploitation classics as HAMMER (1972), BLACK CAESAR (1973), HELL UP IN HARLEM (1973), THAT MAN BOLT (1973), BOSS NIGGER (1975), BUCKTOWN (1975) and THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (1978). More recently he appeared in films such as FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996), ORIGINAL GANGSTAS (1996), BLACKJACK (1998) and STARSKY AND HUTCH (2004). An ex-professional football player, Williamson is renowned for throwing himself into his action roles, and for his unflappable composure, sex appeal and physical toughness on and off-screen. Now 80 years old, Williamson shows no signs of slowing down, with a new adventure movie, NAZI DOOMSDAY DEVICE (aka ATOMIC EDEN), out now on VOD through Amazon and Vimeo. In the film Williamson is the head of a group of mercenaries out to find a secret weapon created by the Nazis during WWII. I spoke with Williamson about the film and his career. </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What attracted you the
most about your new film NAZI DOOMSDAY DEVICE?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I got involved with the
film because I was a friend of the director Nico Sentner. I always
try to help fellow actors or directors because I know how hard it is
to be noticed in this business. I read the script and saw that the
person he wanted me to play was in line with the image I have in all
my films. Money wasn’t the motivation since there was none. Helping
a friend was my motivation.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What impressed you the
most about working with Nico?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nico is a good director
and with more experience he will become a better director.</span></span></div>
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What was it like
working with the cast, which includes Lorenzo Lamas?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Working with the cast
was interesting. There were only two or three really professional
actors in the film, but they did a good job. It made me work harder
to make the film believable.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You are now 80 years
old, but you look much much younger. What is the secret to staying in
such great shape?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What!! You mean I’m
80? There must have been a mistake at the hospital. I feel the same
as when I was 30. It must be my black jelly bean diet - not the
colored one but the black only. That’s my story and I’m sticking
to it.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What did you learn
from your career in football that came in useful when you came to
Hollywood and began acting?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I learned from
football is that hard work pays off, and also that fans are fickle.
Live by your own assessment of yourself not the praise fans lay on
you 'cause it can change like the wind.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How easy a transition
was it for you when you began acting?</i> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was no
transition I had to make to become an actor, only to learn the trade,
as I did to become a football player. The only negative I experienced
was the so called big sport stars before me had failed at becoming
Hollywood stars and I knew I would be viewed the same way. It was my
confidence that came thru to allow them to give me a chance.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ioak62Fhmw/XCNeGkBDgCI/AAAAAAAAErs/FA0fhUTELoQkaM6rDEASEBQx3gob5HqngCLcBGAs/s1600/Fred%2BWilliamson%2BStar%2BTrek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="304" height="175" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ioak62Fhmw/XCNeGkBDgCI/AAAAAAAAErs/FA0fhUTELoQkaM6rDEASEBQx3gob5HqngCLcBGAs/s200/Fred%2BWilliamson%2BStar%2BTrek.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Star Trek. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Did you look to Jim
Brown as an example of how to mold a career?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I never had any
conversations with Jim Brown until I had done a tv series (Julia) and
the movie M*A*S*H (1970). Being in the right place at the right time, I was
at a resturant when someone walked up to me and said. ''Are you the
Hammer?'' I said yes. He said ''I’m doing a film. I have a football
game in it. Would you put the game together, cast real football
players and play a role?'' The film was M*A*S*H and the guy talking
to me was Robert Altman.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's almost thirty
years since you acted in the Star Trek episode The Cloud Minders (1969).
What is your strongest memory of the experience?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Star Trek happened the
same way. I was approached by someone with the same question, and I
said yes. They said ''We need someone to beat up Captain Kirk''. I
said ''I’m the man''. This happened while I was still playing
football.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1o8z31NrgU/XCNeueCiwwI/AAAAAAAAEr0/YG7clmGp60wsY06g3aC-G02KemelxEFVwCLcBGAs/s1600/Hammer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="236" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1o8z31NrgU/XCNeueCiwwI/AAAAAAAAEr0/YG7clmGp60wsY06g3aC-G02KemelxEFVwCLcBGAs/s200/Hammer.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After you made HAMMER,
did you realise that you now had a strong persona that you could
capitalise on?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was not the
beginning of my strong persona. That came the day I was born. When
the doc held me up and slapped my bottom, I peed on him.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You were one of the
kings of the blaxploitation genre in the 70s. Did you feel a
responsibility to portray strong role models for black audiences?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My approach to the
movies is what I’m talking about. I just played me. I was lucky
that fans enjoyed this character, so it was no big stretch for me to
portray these cool and tough characters. My approach had a longer
span than the other black actors in the 70’s because they fell for
the 'Let’s get Whitey' payback movies. In my movies I kicked every
one's ass. Black. White. Colored. Pink. Purple. Yellow. If you were
the bad guy, you had to go down. Therefore my films did not fit into
this so called Blaxploitation era. They tried, but the genre didn’t
work. This era only lasted about four years, then it went away. But I
didn’t.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lMHxW2KfTPQ/XCNfCRQ0n5I/AAAAAAAAEr8/w_l24b-OUGYlrKXBv2Sk1xefbY9y9loEQCLcBGAs/s1600/Black%2BCaesar%2BA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lMHxW2KfTPQ/XCNfCRQ0n5I/AAAAAAAAEr8/w_l24b-OUGYlrKXBv2Sk1xefbY9y9loEQCLcBGAs/s200/Black%2BCaesar%2BA.jpg" width="140" /></a><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What did you best
enjoy about working with Larry Cohen on the three pictures (BLACK CAESAR, HELL UP IN HARLEM, ORIGINAL GANGSTAS) you made
together?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I learned from Larry
Cohen that guerilla film making is a lot of fun.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What inspired you to
make the move to directing? What did you learn from some of the
directors you worked with?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I started to direct,
produce and write for many reasons, but probably the main one being
that at that time in the 70’s it was 'Kill the black within 5
minutes of the film, then spend the rest of the story with the white
guy avenging his death'. I thought 'Forget my death being avenged.
Let me avenge HIS death'. That was not to be, as we had no black
heroes at that time, so my goal was to give my fans a hero regardless
of the color.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You always threw
yourself into your action scenes. Did doing so many action scenes
come with any physical cost?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being physical is part
of my being me. 10 years of pro football certainly prepared me for
any lumps and bruises I get from making movies. I have no stunt
double because all the stuntmen that are black are much smaller than
me, so I very happy to do my own stunts and double me. Good fun.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6WLe4NmNrok/XCNf3xGTQtI/AAAAAAAAEsI/3d_WiWbWQ3wkled9TkXxZN6jn223tiAWwCLcBGAs/s1600/Fred%2BWilliamson%2BDusk%2BDawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6WLe4NmNrok/XCNf3xGTQtI/AAAAAAAAEsI/3d_WiWbWQ3wkled9TkXxZN6jn223tiAWwCLcBGAs/s200/Fred%2BWilliamson%2BDusk%2BDawn.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How does it feel to be
loved by directors such as Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino?
How was working with them on FROM DUSK TILL DAWN?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Quentin and Rodriguez
are both great. You know what makes great directors? The ones that
listen to the key actors they hired. Great ideas sometimes come from
the actors about their characters. These two guys listen and digest
these ideas and sometimes add their own touch which makes it better.
That’s how it should work. Making FROM DUSK TILL DAWN was a lot of
fun. All that stuff that happens in that movie could never have been
written as a script. It was Robert and Quentin's ideas that kept the
movie going at its fast pace, along with ideas from the professional
cast.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Does it surprise you
that your legacy continues to grow?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everything I approach,
I do so with the attitude to be the best, and so far so good.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What other projects do
you have coming up?</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next projects are a
sequel to ORIGINAL GANGSTAS and I am preparing to shoot an action
film in Italy with Enzo Castellari directing. Hopefully it
will happen soon but fingers and toes crossed may help. </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">NAZI DOOMSDAY DEVICE can be rented or purchased on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KZQTLDT" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a> and<a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/nazidoomsdaydevice" target="_blank"> Vimeo</a>. </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I</span>nterview</i> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by Paul Rowlands. </span>Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2018. All rights reserved.</span></span></i></div>
Paul Rowlandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211390452226132481noreply@blogger.com0