Filmmaker Mike Leigh.
MIKE LEIGH:
THE LORD HIGH EXECUTIONER SPEAKS OUT
By
Alex Simon
Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the February, 2000 issue of Venice Magazine.
Mike Leigh was born February 20, 1943 in Salford, Manchester, England. The son of a doctor, Leigh went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Camberwell Art School, the London International School of Film Technique and Central School of Arts and Crafts. Moving from the stage, to TV and finally film, Leigh's distinctive film style—in which the commonplace is often tinged with the extraordinary—has been dubbed "social surrealism," or as Leigh prefers to call it, "heightened realism." He prefers to work without a script, writing the film as he rehearses with his cast, improvising and collaborating together.
A creative force in London's experimental fringe theater since the 1960s, Leigh earned critical acclaim for his numerous TV films investigating the vicissitudes of life among the "proles," notably the 1977 drama, Abigail's Party. After making his feature debut with Bleak Moments (1972), Leigh took a 17-year hiatus from theatrical films, working exclusively for British stage and TV. He returned to films, winning international attention with High Hopes (1988), a grim portrait of Thatcherite London. Leigh's low-key style and his knack for offbeat characterization and warm humor all enrich his surprisingly life-affirming 1991 comedy Life is Sweet, about a dysfunctional working class family. His next effort, Naked (1993), was a stark portrait of one man's (David Thewlis) journey into the bowels of his soul. Critically acclaimed in the US and at the Cannes Film Festival (where he was named Best Director and Thewlis Best Actor), the film was largely panned in England, with most reviewers citing what they saw as the story's misogynistic aspects. Secrets and Lies (1996) brought Leigh his first Oscar nomination as Best Director, for the acclaimed story of a simple, troubled woman (Brenda Blethyn) whose life becomes unraveled when the illegitimate daughter she gave up years before comes back into her life. Career Girls (1997) told the touching story of two college chums (Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman) reuniting after ten years with the story alternating between present reminiscing and flashbacks to their awkward time at university.
Leigh's latest might be his best film yet. Topsy-Turvy tells the story of Victorian-era composers William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, famous for operettas such as The Pirates of Penzance, and their strained personal and professional relationship. As they struggle to revive their sagging career, writing what would become their most famous work, The Mikado, we are treated to a blistering portrait of Victorian England in its waning days, when its grip on the world was slowly slipping away, like a dying buzz from a sloe gin fizz. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner lead a marvelous ensemble cast in the Sony Pictures Classics release.
Mike Leigh is an amiable gent with a dry, acerbic wit that one would expect based on his films. Here's a few of his thoughts on filmmaking, England, and the genius of Gilbert and Sullivan.
While this is true of all your films and how they capture a specific time and place, I came away from Topsy-Turvy with a feeling of what Victorian England tasted and smelled like. How do you bring this off?
Mike Leigh: Well, the key to it is research, really. We always do a lot of research. And what we don't do in my films is just research what is going to be on the screen. We research everything whether it's going to be on-screen or not, because we don't know what's going to be on the screen until the film is finished. With Topsy-Turvy, you name it, we researched it. We were in rehearsal for seven months, and I'd been reading on the subject for a good long time. But to answer your main question, it's partially the research, and partially the collaborative function of the way that we work on (my films). What's very important to realize is that it isn't just a matter of what the actors do, it's about what everybody does. That's why there's all those bits in the film about telephones and fountain pens, and all that. With the pen, for example, our production designer, Eve Stewart who is brilliant, got hold of an old fountain pen from the period and said "Could we work it in?" So that's kind of how it works.
How did you initially discover Gilbert and Sullivan?
I was taken to see their plays as a kid. The first was The Mikado in 1949. I was hooked from there! (laughs) What I like is that quite a lot of people have said "I hate Gilbert and Sullivan and I loved this film." That's about as nice a compliment as one could get, isn't it?
Jim Broadbent (L) and Allan Corduner (R) as the legendary Gilbert and Sullivan in Topsy-Turvy.
One of the wonderful things Topsy-Turvy shows is how theater was the one thing in that period which brought the classes together.
Yes, although on the whole theater was still a pretty middle class affair then. We talking about 1885, which was 15 years after the first Great Education Act. So on the whole, people in a theatrical company like that would have come from middle or lower middle class backgrounds. Working class would have been unlikely. In those days, working class people were hardly educated. So when you see the men in the chorus with their Northern accents, they were most likely lower middle class. Their dads wouldn't have been down in the pit working. They might have been the foreman, or clerks. It really wasn't until after the first World War that the class system was shaken up and working class people began to have a voice.
Let's talk about your background.
I was born and raised in Manchester. I have one sister. My father was a doctor in a very working class area. We lived over the surgery until I was 13. Manchester in the 40's and 50's was a very industrial city. This was before the clean air acts. My father spent a lot of time treating bronchial cases. I remember coming home from school and would go into the house through the surgery area. He was an old-fashioned doctor and didn't work with appointments. You just went and waited. I remember this room full of men all going (makes hacking cough sound). And that's what it was all about...Manchester now is a great buzzing, lively city and has been a center of the music scene in England, along with Newcastle. In the 50's, it was the deadest place in the world, just a complete bore. My generation couldn't get out quick enough.
You initially went away to RADA, right?
That's right. To be honest, though, my first love was always the cinema. At that time, in many provincial cities, there were huge numbers of local cinemas. Walking distance from where I lived, quite near Strangeways prison, there were probably 14 or 15 local picture palaces: little ones, big ones, with names like "The Empire," "The Capitol," "The Devonshire." The big one was called "The Rialto." They've all disappeared now. Now, the domination of Hollywood is such that every cinema in the world is showing the same films. In those days, it was much more diverse. Except that we only saw British and American movies, nothing else. Also, every program had two films on it: the A picture and the B picture. So if they'd let you, and if you could afford it, you could see movies all the time. I remember we used to wait outside the cinema where an 'A' film (adults only) was playing and beg people to buy our tickets for us and take us in. (laughs) So going off to be an actor at that time seemed a logical thing for a middle class kid, even though what I really wanted to do was make movies. I think it was the right decision, however. It gave me a terrific understanding of the craft. I went to RADA at a time when it was very old-fashioned and sterile and I rebelled against it, so it helped me find my own voice. Then I went to art school, and then to film school.
Did you get into films right away?
No, I started in the theater, sort of fringe, experimental theater. I also worked in the Royal Shakespeare Company, which was a great writing education as well as a theatrical education. Some great people were there with me: Ian Holm, Ian Richardson, Helen Mirren. It was exciting, but I wanted to make films.
A young Leigh, circa early '70s, lines up a shot.
Your first film was Bleak Moments.
Albert Finney backed the whole thing. Roger Ebert gave me one of the best reviews I've ever had for that film. Then I did a whole series of films for the BBC before I did High Hopes in 1988.
People tend to compare your work and Ken Loach's work (Raining Stones, Hidden Agenda) quite a bit. How do you feel about that?
I know Ken and like him and his work very much. We're both marginally bemused by the comparisons. I mean, yeah, we both sort of make films about the working class, but that's where the similarity ends. Our films are different stylistically, they're different politically. There is no question as to where Ken's objectives lie. My films tend to be more ambivalent and inconclusive, I think.
It's well-known that your films are virtually unscripted. Tell us about what the writing process is for you.
We do a great deal of improvisation and what we arrive at is very ordered and very disciplined, like a script would be. It's a combination of what is said, and what happens during rehearsal. We start out with a blank slate, really. Everyone takes part in the film not knowing what it's going to be. It's about doing everything you can to help make it come alive. And I begin by writing what's basically a very simple structure and taking it from there.
So for you, casting is 99.9%.
It's crucial. Very important. I always take my time when I'm casting. You've got to get it right.
What are some of the films that influenced you the most?
There are lots. Jules and Jim (1961) certainly. I saw that when I was about 20 and was in love with a woman who was in love with someone else, so it really hit home for me. Hobson's Choice (1954). Scrooge (1935). Various Ealing comedies: I'm All Right Jack (1959) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). Spartacus (1960). I love westerns. I saw every western and love to watch one on the box every now and then. I've seen probably every John Ford film, but never really thought about it in terms of who directed it, because that just wasn't something you thought of in those days. The other thing is that there was another kind of cinema then that doesn't exist anymore: the news theater. They'd run a continuous program of newsreels, some Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Cops, that sort of thing. That was the big thing then, the essence of film...I remember thinking as a kid 'Wouldn't it be great if there could be a movie that showed people as they really were, or life as it really was?' Then all of the sudden, around 1959, there was this film: Room at the Top. And all of the sudden, there was the world of Lancashire and Yorkshire that I had grown up in, and it was very exciting to see the world of my street up there on the screen.
Since your films are so much about character, how do you feel about the a lot of the so-called "mainstream" films that aren't about character?
Well, I enjoy seeing a lot of different kinds of film. But I've sort of run out of steam with out-and-out commercial films that have nothing to say. There was a time when I'd happily sit through any film. But I think I've reached the stage where there are certain films I can do without. I feel a very clear distinction between what I see, and what I make. If I only saw films like the ones I make, then I'd either see no films at all, or only my own films. Every once in a while, I'll find a film that I feel is a soul mate, like The Straight Story (1999). It's not quite a film that I'd make, but it's close in its spirit and its soul. I really admire it, especially when those two old guys go to the bar and recall WW II. Then there are movies like The Truman Show (1998), a movie I'd never make in a million years, that I thought was very, very good and exciting to watch.
Any advice for first-time directors?
Don't compromise. Don't let anyone tell you what to do. Just get on with it.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Mike Leigh: The Hollywood Interview
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Jules Verne Film Festival wraps up with tributes to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and PLANET OF THE APES
by Terry Keefe/Photography by Gregory Weinkauf
The Jules Verne Film Festival came to a close this weekend in Downtown Los Angeles. The Hollywood Interview was on the scene along with Gregory Weinkauf of Ubercine. Saturday saw a tribute to Ron Moore, creator of the 2000's version of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series, which is about to begin its final season. Series star Edward James Olmos, who plays Commander Adama on the series, presented the Jules Verne Achievement Award to Moore, and promised that "the world is not quite ready for what the conclusion of the series is going to be!" The evening included a screening of the final episode of the previous season of BATTLESTAR, along with a teaser reel of some highlights from the upcoming season. And yes, that is a replica of Gort the Robot from the original THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (above), in the lobby of the Edison, a combination night club/lounge in Downtown Los Angeles. The Edison was the perfect venue for a festival with the name of Jules Verne in the title. Designed by Andrew Meieran, The Edison was once the location of Downtown Los Angeles' first private power plant, and some remnants of that history still remain, such as the huge Westinghouse breakers (?) which are in the private party room where the GALACTICA event spilled over into after the awards ceremony. With electrical coils vibrating in the walls, gothic-style, high ceilings, and the art deco decor, the Edison makes you feel like you're walking into the opening of a steampunk fantasy. A vibe reminscent of parts of THE MATRIX, DARK CITY, and BLADE RUNNER (and hey, Edward James Olmos - "Gaff" in BLADE RUNNER - was in fact there!) 
[Vintage power equipment and a flat-screen showing BATTLESTAR! The Edison is officially the epicenter of cool in Los Angeles.]
[ABOVE: Edward James Olmos, Ron Moore, and Festival Creators Frederic Dieudonne & Jean-Christophe Jeauffre.]
Sunday evening saw a special 40th Anniversary Screening of the original PLANET OF THE APES, with an award being presented to actress Linda Harrison, who played Nova in the film. And, as you can see below, the years have been kind.
[Linda Harrison, along with Festival Creators Frederic Dieudonne & Jean-Chrisophe Jeauffre]
For more information on The Jules Verne Festival, check out their website at http://www.julesvernefestival.com/. For fans of sci-fi in the Los Angeles area, this event is simply a must-attend. Creators Frederic Dieudonne & Jean-Christophe Jeauffre have impeccable taste in programming and a seemingly magic touch in getting some of the coolest figures in modern entertainment history to appear. Previous guests have included George Lucas, James Cameron, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Stewart, and Stan Lee.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The Return of the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival! October 24-26 in Downtown Los Angeles
by Terry Keefe/Photography by Gregory Weinkauf
This weekend marks the return to Los Angeles of the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival. If you missed our coverage last year of the event, we have to reiterate that this is consistently the greatest film festival on earth for fans of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as nature documentaries, and, heck, science in general. And if you're in any of those categories and in the Los Angeles area, you must get yourself to downtown this weekend. The event is put together and hosted by Frederic Dieudonne & Jean-Christophe Jeauffre, both filmmakers themselves, who come to L.A. each year to produce the event. The European installment of the festival has been running in Paris for the last 15 years. A general theme running through the festival program every year is that it honors the spirit of adventure epitomized in the work of Jules Verne. So, in addition to the spotlights on various famed creators who would also be very much at home at Comic-Con, there is also a large screening and awards segment of the festival dedicated to documentary filmmaking, specifically films about nature and exploration.
Last year's event included tributes to William Shatner, Stan Lee, Ted Turner, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and the cast & creators of "Heroes," all of whom attended in person. The Shatner event at the Shrine Auditorium was sold-out and included the historic sight of Shatner being presented his award by none other than Patrick Stewart. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that both Star Trek captains have appeared on stage together. And to top it off, the evening was MC'd by Malcolm McDowell, whose character of Soran killed Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. So, Kirk, his noted replacement, and his killer: together for the first time! Fan heads nearly exploded.
William Shatner gets his award from Patrick Stewart, as Malcolm McDowell looks on.
That same evening included an exclusive preview screening of the restored Director's Cut of Blade Runner, attended by actors Sean Young, M. Emmet Walsh, Joanna Cassidy, and William Sanderson (J.F. Sebastian in the flesh!). Later in that same week, the night of tribute to Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee was highlighted by the awards presentation from actor Doug Jones, who played the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2, as well as Abe Sabian in the Hellboy films. Jones quoted some of the Surfer's famed flowerly dialogue from the original 1960s run of the series, scripted by Lee. 
Stan Lee along with Festival Creators Jean-Christophe Jeauffre & Frederic Dieudonne. Both Festival Creators are accomplished filmmakers themselves. Jeauffre directed the documentary WHALES OF ATLANTIS, narrated by the great Christopher Lee. Dieudonne directed the documentary EXPLORERS: FROM TITANIC TO THE MOON, which stars James Cameron and Buzz Aldrin.
Check out the website for more information and to purchase tickets at http://www.julesvernefestival.com/
Monday, October 13, 2008
ANJELICA HUSTON: The Hollywood Interview
Anjelica Huston in CHOKE (above).
by Terry Keefe
Anjelica Huston has often been described as regal. And she is. With her classic, almost aristocratic features, height, and powerful screen presence, she could have easily been typecast playing queens and warriors earlier in her career, because she's the type of woman who you would follow into battle, certain she could lead you to victory. But Huston can also play warm and accessible in manner, the near opposite of imperial, and consequently, has a penchant for bringing to life dark, and sometimes twisted, characters, who are also highly sympathetic. A great example of this combination of Huston's iconic screen image and her ability to supplement it with a very relatable persona is in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, where the trio of brothers played by Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson are on a trip through India, with the intention of finding their long-lost mother, Patricia, played by Huston. The mother character doesn't appear until well past the midpoint of the film, but it's the type of role which requires instant star quality times 10, or the air would have been let out of the narrative. Huston walks out to greet her sons, and with very little dialogue, you're quickly aware why they would travel across the world to track her down. Or follow her into battle. She has that much personal power. And when that same mother abandons her sons in the morning, not for the first times in their lives either, you can't hate her any more than they can. Because Huston has simultaneously managed to make the deeper motivations of Patricia extremely understandable as well.
It's all a long way from the early days of her career, when she was famous, certainly, but largely due to the fact that she was born into Hollywood royalty, the daughter of legendary filmmaker-actor John Huston, and also because she was a longtime companion of Jack Nicholson. An early starring role in the John Huston-directed A Walk With Love and Death in 1969, when Anjelica was just a teenager, had been poorly received by critics. Considerably smaller roles followed for much of the next decade, although Huston also found success as a model, working regularly with the likes of photographer Richard Avedon. A supporting role as the lion tamer Madge in Bob Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1981, drew more positive attention, but it was in 1985, when she appeared in Prizzi's Honor, also directed by her father, that her acting career finally began to take off, particularly after Anjelica won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film. She was into her thirties at this point, a time when, unfortunately, many Hollywood actresses start to see their careers slow down. Her journey was just heating up, but then, Anjelica Huston has never been the conventional version of anything.
Which makes her a good fit for the defiantly unconventional world of Chuck Palahniuk in Choke, her latest film project, and the second Hollywood adaptation of a Palahniuk novel, the first being 1999's Fight Club. Directed by Clark Gregg, also an actor who is perhaps best known as the Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Iron Man, Choke centers around the downwardly-spiraling life of Victor Mancini, played by Sam Rockwell. Victor is a sex addict who attends sexual addiction support meetings largely as a way to hook up, and who supplements his income by pretending to choke in restaurants, allowing patrons to perform the Heimlich on him, and then essentially becoming sponsored by them. You see, Victor has learned that once someone saves your life, they feel responsible for it, and he's managed to get many of his rescuers to send him money on a regular basis. Not that the cash doesn't have a positive purpose, of sorts, as it goes to pay for the care of Victor's mother, Ida, played by Huston, who is suffering from Alzheimer's in an expensive hospital.
It seems like one of the prime challenges of adapting the work of Chuck Palahniuk to film is finding the right tone, both in the script and the execution. Because you really could take a book like Choke and make a completely absurd dark comedy from the material, or you could go for something far more dramatic and bleak.
Anjelica Huston: He really is an interesting writer to interpret because anything is possible. The lines are very kind of finely drawn..so they could be ludicrous, or they could be credible. And I think, that's part of the attraction of working on his material...how to sort of make the ludicrous credible, and vice-a-versa.
On the topic of interpretation, the film of Choke creates a similar tone to David Fincher's adaptation of Fight Club, in terms of balancing the humor with the drama. Tonally, they feel like they're from the same universe. But, visually, whereas Fincher went hyperkinetic with the look of the film, Clark Gregg has chosen to allow the performances and the story to drive Choke. His camera work is very straightforward, and you could almost call the film character-driven.
I think with Clark being an actor, he went more for the character in the piece, and for the humanistic moments. Which I think is a good thing, too, because it softened some of the harsher aspects of the material...which is not lovable, it's far from lovable. But I think, you know, there's a fine line between repulsive...and something else. And it shouldn't just be repulsive, it has to be thought-provoking, and it has to push the edges...but it can't just be horrible. It can't just be disgusting, even though there are, in fact, everything but bodily fluids in this movie. You don't want to send people howling from the theater, and on the other hand, you have to negotiate this very dangerous edge of what will make people run from the theater, and what will, in some way, attract them, and lure them, and hypnotize them.
How were you able to find the center for Ida's character? Or did you find one? Because she's so many things at once.
Mostly, for me, it was finding sort of who Ida was as a young woman, more than anything. There's that young, vibrant, kind of alive, radical Ida -- and then there's the older, washed-out version, and I think the washed-out version is like someone took young Ida and put her in bleach, you know --put her in the washing machine and just took all the color out of her. And just left this reactionary, fussy, angry shell of a woman. It seemed to me that Ida was initially a radical and she really thought she was doing the right thing by young Victor, by warning him against other people...people who might want to take advantage of him. And these are all ways, of course, to hold him closer, ever closer, to herself [laughs]. But I think, insofar as she's revealing herself to him, she's telling him her truth. It doesn't matter, really, whether or not it's The Truth. It's Her Truth, and I think she really means the best by him. I found her rather sympathetic. I felt like she really does feel that it's she and Victor against the world. She's training him to be a stronger, better person, in her mind. It's a rather exciting and terrifying adventure they're on. And those scenes were so fun to play. One thing that I wish could've been emphasized more was the fact that she's a glue-sniffer, and that this woman was basically an addict, on top of everything else. And that's why her brain has rotted before her time. I've read a few reviews, where I don't think they really got the fact that, you know, Ida has actually fried her own brain.
This was a low-budget shoot, indie to the point where you brought your own wigs for the various age-changes.
Right, nobody talked to me initially about how we were going to do the age-changes. And I had a wig that I'd had from a show that I did sometime in the '80s, I think [laughs]. And I said, "Well, maybe, you know, maybe you could use this." Because I didn't know how they were going to achieve this effect without a wig-maker there. So I brought them that wig, and then there was the question of what to do to in the scenes of Ida as a younger person...and I felt that she shouldn't look that much like me, that it should be kind of a radical departure. And it just so happened that the hairdresser in the movie had purchased a double's wig, a kind of vinyl wig in a cheap wig-store, somewhere in the Bronx, I think, for my stand-in, for the scene where I attack the cop. And I saw it in the makeup room, and said, "Hmm. Maybe that would be interesting for Ida!" Not that it looked the least bit plausible or real, but because I felt it might be good as part of Ida's disguise.
It could be completely plausible that Ida's disguise would not be completely plausible.
Exactly [laughs].
There are a lot of parallels between Ida and Lilly in The Grifters, in the way they both manipulate their children, expose them to criminal behavior, and leave them damaged as adults. But, and this is definitely a case of everything being relative, Ida is the far better mother of the two.
Yes, she is. Ida, at least... she's running amok of the law, but there's a sense of love where Ida's concerned in the writing, and, I hope, consequently, in the playing. In The Grifters, that poor woman, Lilly, she was a completely lost cause. She was like a fox that bites off its own leg, to leave the trap. But they are, I think, cut from the same basic cloth.
You've played quite a few memorable mothers with problems, but they're each very different. They're memorable as characters first and foremost.
Good. I hope so [laughs]. I mean, it's a woman's fate, I guess, at a certain age, to be cast as a mother, and then as a grandmother. But these are all, I think, very interesting people, and that's what I like playing. I like playing character, and I'm happy that I'm thought of for those characters. And remember that I've also already played the craziest mother, although I thought she was a great mother...Morticia Addams [laughs]. She was a wonderful mother to play, because everything is about the antithesis of what it should be. "Oh, you're looking so ill, so pale. How wonderful!!"
Let's talk a bit about Sam Rockwell as Victor in Choke. I can't really imagine anybody else really playing this role as well. He's able to say these demented Palahniuk lines and then be lovable at the same time.
Right, he's brilliantly sweet and then also scatological. Sam's amazingly talented. He's one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He's very involved with his work. In his time between shots and stuff, he'd always listen to Chuck reading the book on tape. He's a joy to work with, and he's extremely accessible emotionally. I felt like our characters of Victor and Ida had a whole lot in common, a whole lot of days spent together. And sometimes that can be hard, to create a whole lifetime between two characters, when you actually barely know the other person. But I never thought for a minute that there that I didn't know who Victor was. Or that Victor didn't know who Ida was.
Is that primarily a chemistry thing, or is it more preparation?
Chemistry, I think, largely. But preparation too, because when you come onto the set, you're in character - not necessarily speaking in accents between takes - but you should know who you are. You don't come on set wondering who you are. As far as all that's concerned, Sam is perfectly prepared, he knows who he is, he knows what his task is. There's no messing around.
You went right from Choke to doing your first episodes on "Medium." [Huston appeared as the character of Cynthia Keener on a number of “Medium” episodes this past season, and received an Emmy nomination for her work.]
I also managed to get sick that last weekend in New York on Choke. I flew on the Saturday. And I had to learn nine pages for the shoot on Monday. I was really very worried [laughs], because it was a lot of lines and I had been beating myself up pretty well on Choke, but it all was okay. Patricia Arquette is fantastic, and she was so sweet, and she said, "You know, the secret of this show is that, they make it work. They cut it together, and they make you look good!" I said, "I don't know if that's going to be possible!" [laughs]
Let's talk about some of your earlier films and your work with one of your regular collaborators, Wes Anderson. We spoke about finding the right tone on Choke. If there was ever a film that could have easily gone off the rails in terms of tone, The Royal Tenenbaums, with its mixture of comedy and pathos, not to mention a huge cast of actors, and diverse characters, would be it.
I always thought of Tenenbaums as this little sort of New Yorker cartoon come to life, with that same very earnest tone. Wes created this sort of semi-fictional, suspended little family. All of the characters are living their lives quite seriously. It's not played for laughs, but at the same time, it's situational comedy. Wes is a very precise director. Very, very precise. And I think he's even gotten more precise as he's advanced as a film director. He knows very, very clearly what he's looking for, and can't be second-guessed. For example, I remember one day when we were working on The Life Aquatic, and I had something like one line in the afternoon in the house. My husband had just arrived to come and see me, and I said, "Oh, I'll be out by lunch. This is nothing, this is a breeze." I was still there at eight o'clock at night. This bloody line, that Wes was not satisfied with. I don't know, ultimately, whether it was me, the line, his mood, what it was, but he wasn't satisfied. We did multiple takes. And you start to feel, like, you know, "Is there something inherently wrong with me? Am I a dreadful actress?" All of that stuff goes through your head. But it's because Wes has it in his head what he wants, and he's not going to leave until he gets it. Surprisingly, he has a lot of endurance. He's a very skinny guy...almost concave, very bony, and we were out at sea with Bill Murray. Bill was chattering and freezing. The Italian seas in December are no joke - it is cold out there! But Wes was totally intrepid. He's one of those people like those explorers you used to read about, who go to the Antarctic, and they look like mosquitoes or something, but they come back alive. [laughs] How do they do that? That's what Wes is. He's incredibly strong under fire. The kind of guy who won the war.
Returning to The Grifters, one of the things that I love most about the film is that it's never specific about the time period it's happening in. It feels like the present day, for the most part. The cars are all modern. But then there are the little noir touches, like the way your character of Lilly pronounces "Los Angeles," which feel like they're from a much earlier era.
[Does the Lilly Dillon pronunciation of Los Ang-hel-lees] Los Angelese. [laughs] That was actually all [novelist] Jim Thompson. Straight out of Jim Thompson. I didn't know that I was even up to play that character [when I first heard about it]. I was in New York, and my agent in New York, Boaty Boatwright, had asked me to dinner, and Stephen Frears was there. We'd met in Los Angeles a month before or something. We walked together down Broadway, and he started to tell me why I wasn't right for this part in this movie, The Grifters. I think at that point, Melanie Griffith was slated to play Lilly Dillon, and he was telling me really why I wasn't right for it, but I hadn't read the script, and I didn't know why I wasn't right for it. And although I don't like being wrong for something, I wasn't all that concerned because I didn't even know I had been considered on any level. But then, a couple of weeks later, when I was in Los Angeles, I got a call from my agent, who said, "Oh, Stephen wants you to read for The Grifters. And Marty Scorsese's in town and could you go over to the Chateau Marmont and meet with them." I said, "When?" And it was that afternoon. I had a red silk dress, a very thin Italian red silk dress. I put it on, and I thought, "This character should be a bleached blonde. I don't look right for this character, but I'll go anyway." So I went to the meeting, talked to them, and Stephen looked at me for a long time. Then he said, 'What if...what if you were a blonde?" [laughs] And so, we were exactly on the same page, and we started to talk about that. They had this hairdresser there who pulled some blonde wigs out of a bag, and he started to make me up like Lilly Dillon. And we took some photographs there in the hotel room, and I knew that I had the part. I was really concerned, because I didn't know Stephen's work that well, and, you know, there was a scene in which she's hit so badly by the Bobo character, that she evacuates in a corner of the hotel room. And I was like, "I don't know if I want to be the woman who evacuates in the corner of the hotel room!" So I went to see my agents, and my agent was then at William Morris, and [legendary agent] Sue Mengers was there, and I said "Well, I don't know about this scene." And she said, "Are you kidding? Shut up. Get out of here! You're going to go and do The Grifters. Don't even question it!" And then so I just went off and did it, and had an amazing time with those other actors. Johnny [Cusack] was great, Annette [Bening] was great. It was a really fine cast, and it was low-budget at its best. It was our little secret, and we knew it was great when we were working on it. We loved our lines. It was just fun to show up and say those lines every day, and be those people every day.
[Huston as Lilly Dillon in The Grifters.]
Your work as Maerose in Prizzi's Honor would earn you some of your first serious recognition, not to mention an Academy Award. Let's talk about the origins of that project.
Well, Prizzi's Honor started off with [producer] John Foreman, who had made The Man Who Would Be King with my father, in Morocco, and was something of a standard-bearer for me, although I never really knew why, because, up until that point, I'd never shown much talent, I don't think. But he had a film that he was making, a kind of B-movie at MGM called Ice Pirates, and Ice Pirates was about the search for ice on an alien planet, or the water, actually, because water has become the most precious thing in the world. Anyway, it was a bit of a dopey movie, but he gave me a really nice part, as the Greatest Swordswoman in the Universe [laughs], opposite John Matuszak. He came to me with a Richard Condon book called Prizzi's Honor, and said, "Would you like to read this, and tell me what you think of Maerose?" So off I went, and I read the book, and I was knocked out. It was fantastic. And I came back to him, and I said, "John, it's great. It's really amazing." And he said, "Yeah? What do you think about Nicholson to play Charley, and your dad to direct?" And I said, "Oh god, don't do that to me, please, please." He said, "Well, it's the only way we're gonna get it going. So, are you aboard? Are you gonna help me get these guys together?" I said, "Ah, I guess so." So we got the script to Dad, and to Jack. My father was living in Mexico at the time, and it was on the weekend. John called me up and said, "You have to get Jack to go and visit your father tomorrow." I said, "That's impossible. That'll never happen." And he said, "Well, it has to happen." And, so, somehow we got it to happen. We got Jack all the way to Puerto Vallarta to meet with Dad. And it wasn't just Puerto Vallarta. Dad lived out in an area that was only backed by the jungle, that you could only reach by boat, about an hour and a half from Puerto Vallarta -- so, you know, it was a big trek. So finally Jack makes his way there, and they hole up at my father's place, which was very beautiful, on the edge of a cliff, in the middle of the jungle. No telephones, nothing, just CB radio. And a satellite dish. Meanwhile, John Foreman shows up at my doorstep - I was living in Beverly Hills at the time - and said, "That's it, we're going to Vallarta. We have to keep Jack in Vallarta until he says 'Yes.'" And I said, "No, no, no, you don't understand. I'm not going to Vallarta. Because if I go to Vallarta, I'm gonna hear everybody's complaints about everybody else. I don't need to be there." John was furious with me, and he took off for Vallarta himself. He arrived at the airport to find Jack on his way back to California, with a pair of huaraches in one hand, having agreed to make the movie, thank God. So, then we set about doing it, and next thing we were in New York, and that was it. And casting...I have to say, the cast was so brilliant for that movie -- such a funny, crazy cast of people, from Bill Hickey to Annie Selepegno, my father's old Italian secretary, who was playing my Aunt Amalia and who could barely get a line of dialogue out. It was hysterical, hysterical -- we had such a funny time on that movie. And Jack would go off to the gaming parlors, the betting parlors, while I'd go off to church, hanging out with these characters in Brooklyn. It was great.
[Huston as Maerose Prizzi in Prizzi's Honor.]
No, it was hard. He was pretty hard on me. It was very important that I be good for him, and he was...I can't say that he was a taskmaster, but you just never...you wouldn't show up unprepared for my dad. I think part of working for my father, especially since we'd had a bad experience the first time out, was just working hard to be the best that I could be for him. I knew every line I had in that script before I ever walked on the set for the first scene. And I've kind of used that as a template for my work since then. That's why doing a job like "Medium" is difficult for me, because usually I like to know a whole script. On television, sometimes, you show up and they don't know what's going on in the next scene. [laughs] They don't know where your character is from. You don't know if you're good or bad or indifferent. So that can be a little bit confusing sometimes. I like to know my lines before I ever appear on set. I like to know my beats, and where my beats come, and what I'm aiming for in a scene, and what's happened before, and what's coming next. If a script is adapted from a book, usually I'll buy a paperback of that book and cut it up, and paste the relevant scenes in the back of my script, so I can always go back to the writing, if need be. That's helpful.
Did you dad impart any specific acting advice that you've held onto?
I think he tried to impart a few things. I don't know that it had a lot to do with advice. My dad always said to me, "Trust your instinct, it's good." He wasn't a format person. And I think the thing about instinct is that it can go to the left or right, but it doesn't follow a format. Instinct as an actor comes from what you give me, and that's so much what the actor's job is -- reaction, being able to listen to the other person. So if you're equipped with a good instinct as an actor, a lot of your work is done, because you're attuned to listening, you're attuned to looking for the signs in the other person. You're attuned to how you might feel in a situation like this, or if that happened to you. And it becomes less "if that happened" and more "that's happening, and I'm reacting, and I'm in it, and I believe it."
Read more!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Irena Salina: Keeping the FLOW Alive
Our talk with the director of the documentary Flow.
By Terry Keefe
[Filmmaker Irena Salina.]Flow takes on some pretty big corporate targets, something which likely didn't help the distribution prospects for the film in this day of the megacorporation. The potential risks of taking on entrenched power weren't lost on Salina, although she soldiered forward regardless. “I was at Sundance when the film projected for the first time, and I was thinking, 'What did I do?' I was a little scared. And I could have been safer and more careful in how I presented things, but I don't think I would have been comfortable doing that. I think it is up to us to force certain companies to be better.” Nonetheless, Flow has found its way into theaters and Salina has experienced a groundswell of support from audience members thankful to her for forcing this story out. Says Salina, “We're 70 percent water. People are very emotional about this, because when you talk about the business of water, you talk about the business of life. It's not a right or left issue, it's an issue of right or wrong.” Read more!
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN Updates
Hi, Terry here -
Earlier in the year, we talked with actor Benjamin McKenzie about his starring role in the upcoming film adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun, based on the play by Dalton Trumbo. Back in June, we also did a piece on the documentary Trumbo, based on the author's life.
Variety has just posted their positive review of Johnny Got His Gun, and more info on the film can be found at their MySpace page.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Early W. Reactions Are Coming In
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Stefan Forbes’ Boogie Man: Dissecting the Rise and Fall of Lee Atwater, Note by Poisoned Note
[George H.W. Bush and Lee Atwater in 1989.]
To understand today’s American political campaigns, it helps to know a little bit about the godfather of modern negative campaigning, a man who has been dead since 1991: Lee Atwater, who is also the subject of filmmaker Stefan Forbes’ new documentary Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story. As the campaign manager for George H.W. Bush in his 1988 Presidential Race victory over Michael Dukakis, Atwater orchestrated a strategy built on shameless smears, such as the race-baiting of the infamous Willie Horton ads, which nonetheless proved wildly effective in casting Dukakis as a far-left kook. Atwater unapologetically believed that politics was war, and that any tactics, the truth be damned, were appropriate to secure victory. He served as a mentor to both Karl Rove and George W. Bush, and illuminated the way to future victory and power…if you were willing to follow his slam campaign rulebook. Atwater was also a mass of contradictions, which is what makes him such a fascinating character and Forbes’ film such a compelling view. My first recollections of Atwater were seeing this little man in a blue blazer on the news footage of the 1989 Bush Inaugural, where he was bouncing around like a rock star playing the electric guitar on the stage (next to the new President Bush, also wielding a guitar) with a group of famous R&B Musicians, a routine which culminated in a James Brown-style split. Although former Secretary of State Jim Baker referred to Atwater at his funeral as “Machiavellian…in the very best sense of that term,” the first visual impression of Atwater reminded more of Michael J. Fox’s Young Republican character of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. Could one of the most powerful political operatives in America also be a rock and roll-loving goofball? Filmmaker Forbes, too, remembers that Inaugural footage as his introduction to Atwater. Recalls Forbes, “I saw him up there with some of the greatest R&B artists in American history and I was expecting to hear the second coming of Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a virtuoso, alright, but at spinning the press. As the elections of 2000 and 2004 occurred, I kept coming back to Atwater. I couldn’t believe that nobody had made a film about him. It was a classic American tale of a prankster, a guitar-picking antihero from the south who rises up to change American history. I was fascinated by how he did it and his ongoing influence on American politics.”
In order to get to the soul of the Republican Party’s one-time rock star, Forbes did extensive interviews with longtime friends and colleagues of Atwater, including Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins and Tucker Askew, a former Atwater aide who is now a senior advisor to the McCain campaign. What seemed to drive Atwater more than anything was a desire to win at all costs, must less so than social or ideological concerns. Growing up relatively poor in the South, Atwater was an odd fit with the Bush Family, who often seemed to treat him as one small step above the hired help. Moreover, he hardly seemed to share many of the concerns of conservative Christians, although his understanding of what they were searching for in a political candidate was fundamental to his greatest successes. As far as religion goes, it wasn’t until he was on his deathbed with cancer, which took him at the ripe age of 40, that Atwater “found God” and expressed sorrow towards everyone he had harmed during his political career, writing many of them personal letters. But there are some who were with him at the time who believe that even that 11th hour repentance and religious conversion were all classic Atwater spin, a final attempt to cast his image as he saw fit for posterity.
To Forbes’ credit, he keeps a fairly objective tone to the film, simply stating the facts of Atwater’s life without the trademark twistings of his subject. Says Forbes, “It’s ridiculous to blame all the sins of American politics on Lee. He wasn’t doing these things because he was evil but because he knew they worked. To blame him, ultimately, is a way for us to let ourselves off the hook and ignore our own complicity in the fate of the country.”
Friday, October 3, 2008
DVD Playhouse--October 2008
DVD PLAYHOUSE—OCT. 2008
BY
ALLEN GARDNER
THE GODFATHER: THE COPPOLA RESTORATION (Paramount) All three Godfather films have been meticulously restored and remastered under the supervision of Francis Ford Coppola, and the results are breathtaking, with the films looking, and sounding, as good as new. Fitting treatment for one of cinema’s most important, and enduring, franchises. Five disc set features a two-disc bonus supplement, crammed with hours of documentaries on the film’s production, audition footage, outtakes, and more. Commentary by Coppola on all three films. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL—SPECIAL EDITION (Warner Bros.) Masterful adaptation of James Ellroy’s crime opus about three L.A. cops (Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey) circa 1953 who find their lives turned upside down after their investigation into a massacre in a downtown coffee shop turns out to be anything but routine. Kim Basinger won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her turn as a savvy call girl with a golden heart. Fine support from Danny de Vito, David Strathairn, and James Cromwell. Director Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland took home an Oscar for their screenplay. Top-drawer across the board, a modern classic. Two-disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Music-only track; CD soundtrack; Five featurettes; Interviews; TV pilot; Interactive map tour. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (Paramount) Harrison Ford dons the fedora for the fourth time in this serviceable, but ultimately disappointing effort, which has Indy reuniting with old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen, cute as ever) taking on a spunky sidekick (Shia LaBeouf), and battling evil Russians (led by Cate Blanchett, who chews the scenery with aplomb) for the possession of a mythical crystal skull. Set pieces galore, but curiously devoid of energy, particularly from Ford, who seems to be phoning in most of his performance. One absolutely brilliant sequence, set on a nuclear testing ground, is worth watching just by itself. Overall though, one can’t help but sing “Where have you gone, Indiana Jones…?” Bonuses: Four featurettes; Game demo; Photo galleries; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CHAPLIN: 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Lions Gate) Robert Downey, Jr. is absolutely brilliant in Richard Attenborough’s biopic on the life and times of silent film great Charlie Chaplin. Uneven at times, but overall a beautifully-made, warts-and-all portrait of a true artistic genius. All-star cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Diane Lane, (Charlie’s daughter) Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Kline, and James Woods. Bonuses: Chaplin home movie; Three featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON (Criterion) Final film from Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu tells the gentle story of an aging man’s acceptance that the life and world he once knew has passed him by, heralded by the marriage of his daughter with whom he has been living. Beautifully shot in desaturated color, the film is a fitting swan song for one of cinema’s greatest voices. Bonuses: Commentary by Ozu scholar David Bordwell; Excerpt from French TV program on Ozu; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby1.0 mono.
IRON MAN (Paramount) Smart, kick-ass adaptation of the Marvel Comics classic about a cold-blooded industrialist (Robert Downey, Jr., great as always) who finds his scruples put to the test when he is betrayed by arms dealers, and decides to fight back using a rocket-powered suit of armor of his own design. Energetically directed by Jon Favreau, with fine support from Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrence Howard. 2-disc set. Bonuses: Deleted and extended scenes; 7-part documentary; Three featurettes; Downey’s screen test; Photo galleries. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THREE FROM MAX OPHULS Criterion releases three of the French directors finest works: LA RONDE, a sweeping tale about love and life among France’s different social strata; LE PLAISIR, based on a triptych of tales by Guy de Maupassant about the limits of spiritual and physical pleasure; and THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE…Ophuls’ most celebrated work, about an aristocratic woman (Danielle Darrieux) who sets off a chain reaction in Parisian society when she sells her earrings to pay off personal debts. All three films feature Ophuls’ signature sweeping camerawork, which influenced generations of filmmakers. Bonuses: Commentary by film scholar Susan White; Interviews with Ophuls’ family members, cast and crew members, film scholars. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
TOUCH OF EVIL: 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal) Three versions of Orson Welles’ masterpiece: the restored version from 1998, re-cut to Welles’ original vision; the theatrical version; and the preview version, created prior to the theatrical release, which incorporates some of Welles’ original requests. This tale of sleazy shenanigans south of the border is viewed by many scholars as the greatest film noir ever made. Charlton Heston stars as a Mexican (!) police Captain whose honeymoon with new bride Janet Leigh is interrupted by a car bomb. Welles is unforgettable as a walking metaphor for corruption and decay as the crooked border town police chief. Simply great. Bonuses: Retrospective documentary; Featurette; Commentary by Heston, Leigh, film scholars and restoration experts. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN COLLECTIBLE DVD GIFT SET (Sony) Mammoth boxed set of sci-fi master Ray Harryhausen’s finest work, with a collectible Ymir monster figurine included! Three Harryhausen classics: EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, and IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA arrive in 2-disc sets, featuring color and black & white versions of the films, as well as Harryhausen and visual effects experts; Dozens of featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew; Photo and ad galleries. All thee are widescreen, Dolby 5.1 surround.
THREE FROM HITCH Universal releases three classic Alfred Hitchcock titles to their Legacy Series: REAR WINDOW stars James Stewart as a photographer laid-up with a broken leg and a bored fiancée (Grace Kelly) who thinks he’s witnessed a neighbor (Raymond Burr) murdering his wife. VERTIGO again stars Stewart, this time as a former cop obsessed with the woman (Kim Novak) whom he thinks died due to his negligence. Finally, PSYCHO tells the creepy story of a woman (Janet Leigh) on the lam who stops at the wrong motel for the night, run by a creepy young man (Anthony Perkins) and his mysterious mother…All three are two-disc sets, and feature commentary by film scholars and restoration experts; Featurettes; Alternative scenes; Retrospective documentaries; Episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
TWO FROM MELVILLE Criterion releases two crime classics from French maestro Jean-Pierre Melville: LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE stars Melville regular Lino Ventura as a veteran underworld figure plotting a final bank robbery and the suave police inspector (Paul Meurisse) on his tail. Nail-biting suspense, with one of the best heist sequences ever put to film; LE DOULOS stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an enigmatic gangster who may, or may not, have ratted out a colleague recently released from prison. Full of twists and turns, and quite brutal for its time (1962). Bonuses: Commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau; Interviews with Volker Schlondorff and Bertrand Tavernier; Archival interviews with cast and crew; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Universal) Edward Norton takes over the big green suit as scientist Bruce Banner, a scientist who seeks a cure for the rage inside him that causes a monstrous physical transformation—one that military intelligence men like Tim Roth and William Hurt would like to use for their own purposes. Fun, smart, and a big improvement over the Ang Lee version from 2003. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by cast and crew; Alternate opening; Six featurettes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
BOY A (Weinstein Co./Genius Products) A young man (Andrew Garfield) is released from prison after committing a heinous crime when he was a boy. As he tries to rebuild his life, he finds the horrible act of his past continually coming back to haunt him. Powerful “kitchen sink” story pulls no punches, and was nominated for 7 BAFTA awards, with Garfield deservedly winning Best Actor. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE NEW WORLD: THE EXTENDED CUT (New Line) Terence Malick’s epic treatment of the romance between Capt. John Smith and the Indian princess Pocahontas during the early days of the American colonies is breathtakingly beautiful on every level, but is absolutely lifeless otherwise. The extended cut, with 30 minutes more footage, just gives us more of what we had too much of to begin with! Fine cast also includes Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LEATHERHEADS (Universal) George Clooney (who also directed) stars as the captain of a struggling amateur football team in the 1920s who thinks he’s found his meal ticket in the form of a college superstar (John Krasinski). Amiable screwball comedy set in the infancy of pro football is enjoyable, but leaves you almost the minute you turn away from it. Still fun to watch, with a cast that looks like it was having equal giggles in front of the camera. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Four featurettes; Commentary by Clooney and producer Grant Heslov. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE ALICE FAYE COLLECTION, VOL. 2 (20th Century Fox) Five films from the song and dance queen of Hollywood’s golden age: ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE, HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE, THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST, HELLO FRISCO HELLO, and FOUR JILLS IN A JEEP are all pretty interchangeable as far as plot (lots of set-ups for Alice to break into song with a handsome leading man), but are great fun as touchstones late ‘30s and early ‘40s entertainment. All are full screen, Dolby 2.0 mono.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (New Video) Animated delight based on the Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, telling the story of rebellious, imaginative Max, who is sent to bed without supper. When he falls asleep, he sails off to a world inhabited by weird creatures and becomes the king of all wild things - until he misses his real home. Also features five other animated versions of Sendak stories, set to music by Carole King. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
OSS 177: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES (Music Box Films) French spoof of an actual James Bond-esque franchise that was a hit during the ‘60s in Europe. Jean Dujardin stars as intrepid secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117, who fights spies and dazzles the ladies in Cairo, circa 1955. As a more suave, competent version of Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau, Dujardin is aces, but it’s hard to parody a genre that is often a parody of itself. Bonuses: Featurette; Deleted scenes; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
PARANOID PARK (IFC Films) When a teenager is found dead in Portland’s infamous Paranoid Park, police investigate the local high school for possible suspects, forcing one young man (Gabe Nevins) into a moral dilemma. Another honest, disturbing take on adolescence from Gus Van Sant, shooting in his home town again, with master D.P. Christopher Doyle behind the lens. Full screen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (Universal) A struggling musician (Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay) gets dumped by the girlfriend (Kristin Bell) he worships for a huge rock star (Russell Brand) and follows them on their holiday to Hawaii. There he meets a local girl (Mila Kunis, very appealing) who helps him rethink his ways. Enjoyable to a point, but doesn’t know when to quit, either. Easily could have lost 20-25 minutes of footage and still been fine. Another exercise in thoughtful raunch from producer Judd Apatow. Available in unrated and R-rated versions, and on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted and extended scenes; Audition footage; Five featurettes; Commentary by cast and crew; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CHAPTER 27 (Peace Arch Entertainment) Disturbing look into the mind of Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon December 8, 1980. Jared Leto is remarkable as Chapman, a pathetic character of the Travis Bickle mold, but writer/director J.P. Schaffer hammers some things too squarely on the nose in his script (Lindsay Lohan’s character, named Jude, is greeted by Chapman multiple times with “Hey, Jude…”) and over-directs with a vengeance, with more shaky camera moves and rapid cuts than Michael Bay could provide at his most manic. A mixed bag, to be sure, but worth seeing for Leto’s amazing transformation into Chapman. Bonuses: Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CAPRICORN ONE (Lions Gate) Fun, cheesy ‘70s paranoid thriller about a reporter (Elliot Gould) who uncovers that a shot to the moon by NASA was really a hoax, filmed on a soundstage. With a cast that includes Telly Savalas, James Brolin and O.J. Simpson, what else can a viewer do but tie on their boogie shoes and get down? Written and directed by Peter Hyams. Bonuses: Commentary by Hyams; Featurette; Trailers; Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE FOOT-FIST WAY (Paramount) Tasteless, but quite funny comedy about an inept strip mall karate instructor (Danny McBride, who co-wrote) who thinks he’s the ultimate kung-fu fighter, until he finds that his wife has been cheating on him and realizes his life is a mess. He embarks on a journey to meet his hero: martial arts legend Chuck “the Truck” Wallace, with hilarious results. Bonuses: Commentary by McBride, director Jody Hill; Bloopers; Deleted and extended scenes; Alternate ending. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
MONDAYS IN THE SUN (Lions Gate) Javier Bardem stars in this drama that swept Spain’s Goya Awards, playing an unemployed shipyard worker who manages to help keep the faith for himself, and those of his friends, even as their circumstances get more dire. Finely observed film, in the neo-realist tradition. Bonuses: Commentary by Bardem and director Fernando Leon de Aranoa; Deleted scenes; Featurette; Storyboards. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
WATERSHIP DOWN (Warner Bros.) Animated feature based on Richard Adams’ allegorical best-seller about a community of rabbits whose warren is threatened. When a small group decides to flee and start anew, they must face new allies, foes and the biggest threat of all: man. Featuring voice talent from Zero Mostel, John Hurt, Denholm Elliott and Ralph Richrdson, this 1978 film isn’t for young children to be sure, but will pack a punch and shed a tear or two for teens and adults. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
HAMMER FILMS: 4 CREEPY CLASSICS (Sony) Four of the British horror factory’s best frightfests from the 1960s: THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL gives a new spin on the world’s most famous case of dual personality; SCREAM OF FEAR is a dizzying thriller that follows one woman’s descent into madness; THE GORGON is a hideous beast whose gaze turns men into stone; and THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB is a stylish and cautionary tale of blasphemy and greed. All include the original theatrical trailer, and are Widescreen, Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Warner Bros.) Beautifully-made adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic story about a handsome man (George Sanders) who never seems to age, whereas a portrait of him does. Won the Oscar for Best Cinematography of 1945, and features early turns by Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed and Peter Lawford. Bonuses: Commentary by Lansbury, historian Steve Haberman; Oscar-winning short and cartoon; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE LITTLE RASCALS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (Genius Entertainment) All 80 of Hal Roach’s original “Little Rascals” shorts in one set for the first time, restored and remastered on 8 discs. Terrific fun, and they’ve never looked or sounded better. Bonuses: Introductions and commentaries by film historians; 3 silent shorts; 3 featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
MARTINI MOVIES Sony releases a series of titles from the ‘50s through the ‘70s for the hep-cat in all of us: Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth star in AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD, with Ford investigating his brother’s murder in the tropics; THE GARMENT JUNGLE stars Lee J. Cobb and Kerwin Matthews in this tale of corruption set in New York’s “rag trade”; Richard Brooks directs Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn in $(DOLLARS), a high-spirited caper about a hooker and a con man who team up for a Hamburg bank heist; Sidney Lumet helms THE ANDERSON TAPES, starring Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon as an ex-con and his girlfriend, who realize that her high-end apartment building holds a king’s ransom full of loot. Nice early turn from Christopher Walken. Finally, THE NEW CENTURIONS stars George C. Scott and Stacy Keach as L.A. cops who live as hard as the beat they walk, in this fine adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh’s novel. All feature theatrical trailers and featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
ASIAN IMPORTS Genius Products/Weinstein Co. releases two more titles in their Dragon Dynasty series: THE REBEL is the biggest box office hit in Vietnamese history, a sweeping martial arts epic set in 1920s Indochina. Terrific mix of martial arts and historical drama. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Six featurettes; Photo gallery. FIST OF LEGEND stars the great Jet Li along with martial arts legend Yuen Wo-ping for what many connoisseurs believe to be some of the best fight sequences ever filmed. Li stars as a karate master who returns home to avenge his sister’s death. 2-disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; 5 featurettes; Deleted scenes; Trailer gallery. Both are widescreen, Dolby 2.0 stereo.
MUSIC TO THE EARS Some terrific profiles of musicians arrive on disc this month, starting with Weinstein Co./Genius Products’ release of LOU REED: BERLIN, directed by Julian Schnabel, a magnificent film documenting Reed performing his legendary 1973 album live for the first time. Bonuses: Two featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Koch Vision releases JEWEL: THE ESSENTIAL LIVE SONGBOOK featuring two discs, each featuring a different live performance, with over 45 songs. Bonuses: Interview with Jewel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. MVD releases THE BEATLES: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR MEMORIES, a look at the making of the band’s 1967 film, narrated by the film’s co-star, Victor Spinetti. Bonuses: Extra interviews with fans and participants. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. INSIDE BOB DYLAN’S JESUS YEARS takes a look at the renowned folk singer’s flirtation with Christianity and gospel music in the late ‘70s. A fascinating look at a complex, and ever-changing artist. Bonuses: Photo gallery; Featurettes; Soundtrack MP3s. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, Lions Gate releases CSNY/Déjà Vu, Neil Young’s look at the band’s “Freedom of Speech” U.S. tour. Terrific concert footage mixed with insightful interviews. Bonuses: Trailer; Bonus videos; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
DOCUMENTARY DAYS Some of the best new documentaries arrive on disc this month, starting with Image/ThinkFilm’s release of the Oscar-winning TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, Alex Gibney’s harrowing look into the torture and murder of an innocent Afghani taxi driver by U.S. forces. Incendiary and sobering. Bonuses: Commentary by Gibney; Outtakes; Extended interviews; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Magnolia releases BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER a funny, sad and telling look at how American’s obsession with body image has promoted steroid abuse among many pro and amateur athletes. Lots of nice personal touches from director Chris Bell. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Rock City Entertainment releases BARACK OBAMA: THE POWER OF CHANGE, a compelling and thorough documentary look at the wunderkind of American politics and his rise from humble beginnings to the United States Senate. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON follows six competitors training for the Chicago Marathon. Fascinating fly-on-the-wall look at an athlete’s process. Bonuses: Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Anchor Bay releases LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE, a sensational portrait of America’s most celebrated pornographer and proponent of the First Amendment. Bonuses: Interview with Flynt; Deposition footage; Commentary by filmmakers; Photo gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Kultur releases THE ROCKY HORROR TRIBUTE SHOW a record of a reunion performance in 2006 with new narration by the show's author, Richard O'Brien, featuring old cast members reprising their roles, and a few new faces, as well. Great fun for "Rocky Horror" fans. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! Some of television’s finest arrive on DVD this month, led by Time-Life’s release of THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR, VOL. 3, featuring 4 discs of the taboo-breaking show, which was constantly at odds with CBS’ network censors. Performances by Steve Martin, Donovan, The Doors, George Carlin, and more highlight this fascinating time capsule on 4 discs. Bonuses: Uncensored episodes with unreleased segments; “Pat Paulsen for President” TV special, narrated by Henry Fonda; Outtakes of Tommy Smothers and Paulsen’s interview with Robert F. Kennedy in 1968; Collection of censorship memos. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. A&E releases HORATIO HORNBLOWER: COLLECTOR’S EDITION, featuring the entire series of telefilms starring Ioan Gruffudd as a lad who joins the Royal Navy at the outset of the Napoleonic Wars. Thrilling spectacle, highly entertaining. 8-disc set. Bonuses: Interview with Gruffudd; Five featurettes; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Paramount releases CSI: THE EIGHTH SEASON, featuring William L. Petersen and his intrepid band of forensic cops solving crime. Bonuses: Five featurettes; Commentary by cast and crew; Bonus episode. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SEASON FIVE, features more adventures of Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy and their band of spies in thrilling tales of espionage. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE CULT OF CARTMAN: REVELATIONS features some of “South Park’s” finest epiodes, highlighted by the rotund Cartman’s words of wisdom. Bonuses: New animation. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE COMPLETE SERIES is a gorgeous boxed set featuring all 55 episodes on 16 discs of the 1987-90 series, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. Bonuses: Featurettes; Interactive game. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. BROTHERHOOD: THE SECOND SEASON continues the sordid goings-on in and around Providence, RI’s Caffee family, one brother (Jason Isaacs) a gangster, the other (Jason Clarke) a rising politician. Great stuff! Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Lions Gate releases SPEED RACER: THE COMPLETE CLASSIC COLLECTION, all 52 episodes of the first Japanese anime crossover series from the ‘60s, housed in a collectible Speed Racer model case! Bonuses: Featurettes; Bonus episode. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. 20th Century Fox releases THE SIMPSONS: THE ELEVENTH SEASON, all 22 episodes featuring commentary by cast and crew; Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Animation showcases; Sketch galleries. Full screen. Dolby 5.1 surround. MY NAME IS EARL: SEASON FIVE, features more zaniness from Jason Lee and friends on 4 discs featuring 18 episodes. Bonuses: Two featurettes; Gag reel; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Warner Bros. releases THE PEANUTS DELUXE HOLIDAY COLLECTION, featuring A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING and IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN, three holiday classics for the whole family. Bonuses: Bonus episodes; Featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Shout Factory releases SPORTS NIGHT: THE COMPLETE SERIES, Aaron Sorkin’s smart, funny take about life behind the scenes at an ESPN-like sports network. 8-disc set features 2 discs of bonuses, including: Interviews with cast and crew; Featurettes; Gag reel; Commentary by cast and crew. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, Acorn Media releases AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MYSTERY LOVER’S COLLECTION, containing five telefilms featuring Christie’s famous sleuths Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Tommy & Tuppence : THE SECRET ADVERSARY, THE AFFAIR OF THE PINK PEARL, THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, and THE PALE HORSE, the last of which is curiously set in swinging London of the ‘60s. Full and widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo and mono. GEORGE GENTLY: SERIES ONE, stars Martin Shaw as a Scotland Yard inspector in the 1960s who finds himself transferred to the North of England to solve crimes. Smart, well-acted and well-written. 3 episodes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. RAIN SHADOW: SERIES 1 stars Rachel Ward in this hit Australian series about a small farming town struggling to survive. Great “kitchen sink” realism. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE COMMANDER: SET 1, from the creator of “Prime Suspect,” follows veteran Scotland Yard inspector Clare Blake as she tries to mix her business and personal lives, oftentimes unsuccessfully. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. AFFAIRS OF THE HEART: SERIES ONE is adapted from the work of Henry James, set in the country homes of England, the palazzos of Venice, to the art studios of London. Starring a who’s-who of British talent: Diana Rigg, Ian Ogilvy, Jeremy Brett and others. 7 episodes. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
BLU-RAY TITLES Blu-ray technology offers a new standard in DVD viewing and the home theater experience: 1080p resolution; Lossless audio, which delivers the finest uncompressed digital sound available; and Smart Menu Technology, which floats on-screen during playback so you never leave the film. Just a few of the titles arriving on Blu-Ray this month include: Universal releases GEORGE A. ROMERO’S LAND OF THE DEAD, Romero’s fourth entry in his zombie series, featuring John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and Simon Baker, fighting undead that seem to have human-like intelligence. Bonuses: Commentary by Romero; Five featurettes; Audition footage; John Carpenter’s THE THING is an inventively gruesome take on the classic story of a remote outpost infected by an alien being that absorbs and reproduces its victims in human form! Truly scary stuff. Bonuses: Commentary by Carpenter and Kurt Russell. DAWN OF THE DEAD is a competent, but unnecessary remake of George Romero’s classic about a disparate group holed up in a local mall as zombies swarm outside. Bonuses: Commentary by director Zack Snyder, producer Eric Newman. Martin Scorsese’s classic CASINO tells the story of the Chicago mob’s take-over of Las Vegas in the ‘70s. Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone head a fine cast. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; Deleted scenes; Two featurettes. All are widescreen, Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround. Touchstone/Disney releases THE SIXTH SENSE, the creepy sensation about shrink Bruce Willis trying to help young Haley Joel Osmet with his dilemma of “I see dead people.” A classic! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Six featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. New Line/HBO release SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE—EXTENDED CUT, continuing the adventures of Carrie Bradshaw and her libidinous NYC pals. Bonuses: Commentary by director Michael Patrick King; Four featurettes; Additional scenes; 2 interactive features: Sex and the City: the City and Dish It! Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Sony releases Errol Morris’ documentary STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, a scathing look at the cover-up that went on in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. Bonuses: Commentary by Morris; 9 additional scenes; Blue-ray exclusive features: Two hours of new interviews; Panel discussion and press conferences. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN is a goof featuring Adam Sandler as an Israeli counterterrorism agent who tries to reinvent himself as a Manhattan hairdresser. Uh, yeah…Bonuses: Commentary by Sandler, cast and crew; Deleted scenes; 13 featurettes; Graphics-in-picture track. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. 20th Century Fox releases DAREDEVIL: DIRECTOR’S CUT a smashing, and dark, adaptation of the Marvel Comic, with Ben Affleck scoring big in the lead, and Colin Farrell holding his own as a psycho villain. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Enhanced viewing mode—takes you behind the scenes as you watch the film; Eight featurettes; Three music videos; Photo galleries. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround. Finally, Image Entertainment releases the stirring Discovery Channel documentary WHEN WE LEFT THE EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS, which charts the epic struggle that went into sending men into space. Six episodes. Bonuses: NASA films and film highlights; Extra interviews; Mission clips. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Warner Bros. releases Lawrence Kasdan’s directing debut BODY HEAT, a steamy film noir starring William Hurt as a not-too-bright lawyer seduced by femme fatale Kathleen Turner into murdering husband Richard Crenna. One of the best modern noirs! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; 3 featurettes. Vintage interviews with Hurt and Turner; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Wong Kar Wai: The Hollywood Interview
Filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, wearing his signature sunglasses.
WONG KAR WAI: ASHES TO ASHES
By
Alex Simon
Editor's Note: This article appears in the October issue of Venice Magazine.
Wong Kar Wai was born in Shanghai in 1956, and moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was five. He broke into the film business as a screenwriter, making his directing debut with As Tears Go By, in 1988. It was his 1994 feature Chungking Express (ironically shot very quickly during a break in post-production on Ashes of Time) that got him noticed internationally, with help from newly-minted wunderkind Quentin Tarnatino, who released it under his own banner, Rolling Thunder Pictures, in the U.S.
Wong went on to win the Best Director prize at Cannes for his 1997 Happy Together, with all of his subsequent features (In the Mood for Love, 2046, and My Blueberry Nights, his first English-language production) premiering at the legendary film festival. Wong served as President of the Cannes jury in 2006.
Wong Kar Wai has recut and restored his 1994 epic Ashes of Time, much as Francis Coppola did with Apocalypse Now: Redux, resulting in Ashes of Time: Redux, after discovering that not only were there several different versions of the film in circulation, some approved by him, some not, but the original negative and sound materials were in danger of rapid deterioration, after the lab in which they were stored in Hong Kong was suddenly shut down.
Ashes of Time: Redux is Wong’s definitive cut of this masterpiece, loosely based on Louis Cha’s famous marital arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, a four-volume tome that is the stuff of legend in Asia. Wong’s story is wholly original, telling the early years of the book’s two main characters, Dongxie (Lord of the East) and Xidu (Lord of the West). The film features a who’s-who of Hong Kong actors, including Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and the late Leslie Cheung. It is being released by Sony Pictures Classics, and arrives on U.S. screens October 10.
Wong Kar Wai sat down recently to discuss revisiting one of his earliest films, as well as the highlights of his remarkable career.
This is quite a different film from the one I saw years ago. Tell us why you decided to revisit it.
Wong Kar Wai: We were forced to revisit it, otherwise it would no longer exist. In ’98, when the film was four years old, the Asian financial crisis hit Hong Kong, and the lab where we stored it went bankrupt over night. We had very short notice to retrieve all the materials the night before the lab was shut down. The material was actually in pieces, with some parts actually missing. It was a blessing that we learned to store our films more carefully after that. So we retrieved all the missing materials from our Asian and overseas distributors, and that’s how it all began. We actually went to this warehouse that was so huge, it was like Indiana Jones! (laughs) There were thousands of prints of Asian films from modern times, going back to the early ‘20s. It was really amazing: the history of Hong Kong cinema under one roof.
So it was just poor storage, after only four years that accounted for the film being in such bad shape?
Yes, and it also tells you something about the state of the film industry in Hong Kong. In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was at its peak, and everyone was making films. But by the late ‘90s when the financial crisis hit, everything changed.
Tony Leung Ka Fai in Ashes of Time: Redux.
What’s different in this version?
We made several changes and added some new material, and the music is re-arranged, but I’m going to be vague about specifics, because I’d like the audience to discover that for themselves.
You have some of the biggest stars in Hong Kong cinema in this film, many of whom were just starting out in 1994.
Yes, and it tells you a lot about what Hong Kong cinema was like in the early ‘90s: all the talent, all the energy and all the amazing resources we had to make a film like this. This is the first film for Charlie Yeung, who’s now in the remake of Bangkok Dangerous with Nicolas Cage. So there you are. (laughs)
One of your stars, Leslie Cheung, committed suicide in 2003.
Yes, that was a great loss on many levels. When I look at the film, I realize it’s some of his best work. He was a very talented man, a great singer, which most Hong Kong stars are, singers as well as actors. Leslie was a very sensitive man, and was very hard on himself, but was very serious and very professional. It was a great joy to work with him. We were very close friends. I miss him very much. One thing I remember, since we shot the whole film in China, and a Chinese-Hong Kong co-production was a rare thing then, was that Leslie hated to fly. And we flew people to these remote parts of China on those small, private jets, which I know terrified Leslie, but he never complained, and did it.
The late Leslie Cheung (left) in Ashes of Time: Redux.
Was he such a sensitive soul that the rigors of life simply became too much?
It’s still “unsolved” to a large extent. The only concrete explanation we have is that Leslie suffered from severe depression. It was a very tragic night, when we got the news. I was shooting a segment of an anthology film called Eros with Gong Li that night, and we got the call before we had to go to location. Gong and Leslie had done Farewell, My Concubine together, and were very close friends, so that was a very, very tough night for many of us.
Maggie Cheung in Ashes of Time: Redux.
The other star of the film who is well-known in the States is Maggie Cheung. It was amazing to see her at that early point in her career.
I worked with Maggie since my first film, so our careers literally started at the same time. She was Miss Hong Kong at that point, and considered much more of an idol than an actress. Over the years, she has become very serious about acting and life in general. She’s interested in much more than just being a movie star, and is a very interesting, curious woman.
You were born in China, but grew up in Hong Kong. When did you fall in love with movies?
My mom is actually a crazy movie fan, so she took me every day to the cinema, which was a great education.
Was there one movie that did it for you?
Not really, although I remember the Christopher Lee vampire films, the Hammer films, had a real effect on me. It’s funny though, I’ve always avoided making horror films. (laughs)
So it was a mix of Asian and western cinema?
Yes, exactly. The great thing about Hong Kong is you have local productions that literally aren’t seen outside of Hong Kong, and then you have movies they bring in from all over the world. So I saw everything. I loved the martial arts films, too. What was your first martial arts film?
It was really two TV series: The Green Hornet, with Bruce Lee, and Kung-Fu, with David Carradine, that introduced me to the genre.
That’s funny, we were just talking about The Green Hornet. Bruce Lee was great in that.
Enter the Dragon was probably the first one I saw in a cinema, when I was about ten years-old.
A friend of mine, who was a student in Southampton, said he went to cinemas every week to watch that film, because he enjoyed the reactions of the crowd, which made him very proud, as a Chinese. (laughs)
Enter the Dragon was very easy for Westerners to relate to, because it was basically a James Bond film with marital arts, unlike Bruce Lee’s earlier films, which were very Asian in tone and their philosophy.
Bruce Lee, which a lot of people outside of Asia aren’t aware of, isn’t just a figure who’s renowned for his fighting skills in Asia, but also for his philosophy, which he learned from his master. We’re actually working on a project about his master now, called Kung-Fu Master, which is about Bruce Lee’s teacher, who was a Grand Master of Kung-Fu and marital arts.
You have a unique visual style, and I know you studied at art college. Are there any specific artists who influenced the color palate you use?
I think I’ve been influenced more by photographers, people like Robert Frank, than painters. I was very into photography at that point, which was my major. Photography is all about the moment, what some people call “the decisive moment,” and I think that’s what continues to interest and captivate me.
Trailer for Ashes of Time: Redux.
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