By Bill M
By Bill M
Okay - you've had your retrospectives, you've made your investments, you've expanded your artistic horizons as far as you can (ie. run out of broken crockery and gullible dealers, etc.), it's time for something new. The movies! Why not? Julian's working on one now - hey, it can't be that hard. Contemplating the move from the studio wall to the big triplex screen? Here are a few things you might want to bear in mind.
1) MOVIES HAVE ACTORS IN THEM
It's a drag, but you can't get around it. If you want people to plunk down hard-earned dollars to see your movie (as opposed to stumbling past it in some museum's back gallery, while searching for the rest room), you're going to have to use actors. Actors are handfuls to begin with. What's really irksome is you can't just stick them in front of your camera and expect them to get the job done, you have to direct them. This is something they evidently neglected to tell Robert Longo. If you want to see the appalling spectacle of an actor left to his own devices, check out poor Keanu Reeves in JOHNNY MNEMONIC. Bertolucci got one of Keanu's best performances out of him by having him sit very still and look good in dark makeup. As Johnny, Keanu is wearing the outfit (white button-down shirt and Art-Nerd black suit) famous from Longo's early paintings, and he is flailing - literally, loudly - in space. This worked fine for the folks stuck in Longo's white canvas void, because they weren't being asked to carry a movie. Keanu, bless him, is trying, but he doesn't have a clue. Neither do the other hapless actors choking on bits of scenery around him, because Longo hasn't given them any help. Apparently, with his prep work in ads and videos (acting unnecessary), he doesn't know how.
Film Clip
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David Salle, on the evidence of SEARCH AND DESTROY, is in the same boat, but he at least has been canny enough to round up the usual indie-film suspects. Stick Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper in front of a camera, and chances are, given a decent piece of material, they will at least hold your attention by doing something interesting (their one five-minute scene together was the main reason to see TRUE ROMANCE). Of course, even your hardy art-house perennials have their off days. John Turturro in SEARCH is so over the top that he seems to be acting in an alternative universe, and lead actor Griffin Dunne has a bad case of the Keanus - he's shouting and twitching and YOU DON'T KNOW WHY!!
Helpful Hint: It's possible that a successful director in Hollywood may own some of your work. Give 'em a call! Hang out on the set, shoot the shit over cocktails - you might pick up a valuable tip or two on dealing with those pesky actors.
Film Clip
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