Alfred Hitchcock is famously reported to have said, "Actors are cattle." He could have called them worse. Cattle, after all, are thinking, breathing, living beings. Some of them even have personalities.
Hitchcock looks positively generous when compared to Michelangelo Antonioni who, on the set of The Passenger (1975), told his leading player that he regarded actors as "volumes in space," or something to that effect. Of course, Antonioni was talking to Jack Nicholson (above) at the time - one of the most talented and intelligent actors he ever worked with - so maybe he was just fucking with him.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Antonioni and Actors
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3 comments:
Antonioni certainly seems to go for that "volumes in space" quality with his actors, preferring them to stare vacantly into vacancy thus reflecting the ennui of modern life. Jack was probably trying to inject too much "Jack-ness" at the time and needed to be reminded he was there to channel the "emptiness" of an inner lanscape parallel to the African desert in which his character was a-wandering.
Ha! great point, Erich! (And I say this as someone who loves Antonioni -- but not Jack.)
Well put, Erich.
Speaking as a fan of both Michelangelo and Jack - and as one who believes The Departed suffers from way too much "Jack-ness."
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