{ art & other musings }

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Tree of Life



Written & Directed by Terrence Malick

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On what it's like working with Terrence Malick..
The Rough Cut Interview with Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line); 1999

"He is an extremely kind, kind man. You would see an extra walk along and he would treat the extras as well as he would treat me or Sean Penn or Nick Nolte or anybody. As far as a director is concerned, he's like a farmer. He likes to make sure the soil is tilled right and we're, like, his crop. He really takes care of his crop. He works real hard. He works from, like, 4:30 in the morning till 12 at night, and it's never done. And he's always calling you up and saying that, "Well, let's work on your accent a little bit more." He's got this way about him that's wonderful. He's a great listener; [he] doesn't forget a name. You could be some complex five-syllable name and he'd remember [it]. He's extraordinary that way. As far as a director and his techniques, no two days were the same. One day you could come out there and it'd be real intimate and another day he's giving you line readings. I enjoyed not knowing what he was going to do. One day he'd say, "Jim, we don't have a scene yet put down today, I don't have anything written, but maybe I know something needs to be done there between you and Sean (Penn), and so we're gonna try our best to figure it out." So, we'd sit down and thoroughly think through a scene that's not even there yet. It could be real controlled chaos, some days. He likes to keep the actors around him, like we're paints. Some of the guys would complain. Maybe we're up a hill and have to hike and it'd be like 40 minutes away from where our trailers were, so he needed us right there. But it was really hard because of the heat -- you know, 100 degrees every day, humidity was real hard -- and he'd keep you by him like you were a paint and that's how he did it. And then, when he was done, he'd just kind of painted this piece of art, this film."

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Memoirs of a Geisha


Memoirs of a Geisha
Directed by Rob Marshall
Written by Robin Swicord (screenplay) and Arthur Golden (book)
Produced by John Deluca
Starring: Ziyi Zhang

on preproduction...
Rob Marshall: "...its sort of a documentary, sort of authenthic style...I saw it as a fable. We did an enormous amount of research so we would know from where to depart. And I only felt we needed to depart from the reality of this world in order to serve this story. And it's told through a child's eyes and it was important to really see it that way."

John Deluca: "That was the one blessed freedom Ron gave all of the creative team was that he wanted us to do the research as if we were filming a documentary but then let it go and let our own artistic sense come in."

RM: "That's all we can really do as artists--is your own impression of the world."

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Chris Cunningham



While he has a knack for getting adult fingers wagging, the desire to tap the fears and free imagination of childhood is at the heart of Cunningham’s creative process. He explains: “When I draw, whatever comes out is what comes out naturally. I don’t see it as ‘dark’. You’re trying to work instinctively, to make stuff as you would when you were 12.”

(BBC Interview; Skye Sherwin 17 June 05)