It's time to admit something: I have always loved heightened and melodramatic language in film. I'm not eager to admit it as I've long been seduced by the postures and trappings of realism and naturalism. I like what Mamet says about this topic, something about people going to see film and theater to hear things said that they would love to get away with in life. I think this is why I prefer Fassbinder to Cassavetes. Scorcese has always been a favorite, too. Of course it's his actions that are more operatic, but there are lines delivered by DeNiro - aka The King of the Mumbling Method Men - that may seem ordinary and naturalistic that are truly contrived. I'm thinking of his job interview in Taxi Driver - "Anytime, anywhere." Come to think of it, Taxi Driver is a great big fat lady of a melodrama. "You talking to me?" Come on, that's pure Kabuki. And I love it! As much now as I did when my mom and I used to act it out back in 1977. (How can I not be a melodrama fan if one of my fondest memories of childhood is imitating Travis Bickle with my mom?)
Another of my favorite films is Sweet Smell of Success, which was a box-office failure ironically. It's so heightened, it's borderline camp. Clifford Odet's rewrote Ernest Lehman's original screenplay. I love Odets, but whenever I assigned his plays at my acting studio, actor-students complained. Most of them were too intent on playing everything natural. Playing it natural usually means grinding everything to a slow, methodical (Aha! There's it is: method/methodical!!!) destruction of any dramatic tension. Odets's writing doesn't work that way. He understood it very well, "My dialogue may seem overwritten, too wordy, too contrived. Don't let it worry you. You'll find that it works if you don't worry too much about the lines themselves. Play the situations, not the words. And play them fast."
Now that I think about it, it's not only good advice at getting the seemingly preposterous to play, it's pretty truthful. In life, we often have to speak fast if we want to be heard. Maybe not in a town as laid back as Portland, but in New York for sure. If you want to get your two cents in, you had better be sharp and quick.
This month's short, Klepto, is a film without dialogue. I am trying to design the shots so that the tiny little movements of the compulsive thief's hands play on a grand scale. I'm looking to Sergio Leone for inspiration - all those moments of anticipation such as the beginning of Once Upon a Time in the West.
Next month's short, Friends of Bill, has a highly improbable set up with a lot of heightened language. I'll have to remember Odets's advice.
2007 is off to a good start. Getting my daily meditation and exercise. No fiction reading as yet, but I did put a collection of TC Boyle stories on my nightstand. My new camera is being used as I write on Holly & Grace's newest endeavor. I stopped by set yesterday and saw the camera with the Mini35 adapter on it. Jordan and I get to do a camera test with that tomorrow night after they wrap. I'm very excited to see the results. For those of you who might not know what a Mini35 is -- it's a device that allows 35mm cine lenses to be mounted to a digital camcorder. You get much improved optics and the power of selective focus.
What else? We're shooting Klepto next weekend, so I've been busy location scouting and storyboarding that. The walks I've been taking in the industrial area around Holgate have been inspriring. There's talk of a WalMart going in over there. Hopefully the significant oppostion to that will prevail.
And we booked a lucrative three-day, two-camera shoot for a director out of New York. It's some sort of teacher training CD-ROM. Not too painful. Perhaps even an opportunity to learn something.
I got to speak to Eric Edwards on the phone the other day, he seems to be a very nice man. He's shooting a short that the French invited Gus Van Sant to make to play at Cannes this spring. I was able to drop by the set for a brief visit yesterday.
Lastly, I saw Notes on a Scandal last night. Can't go wrong seeing that one. Pretty easy to get lost in the performances -- Dame Judi is amazing as always, Cate Blanchett continues to mesmerize and Bill Nighy is a gem.
A Big Pizza Pie,
Signore Direttore
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