The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

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19 Atom Egoyan Persona In speaking to director Atom Egoyan, it’s easy to become lost in interpretations of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. Even Egoyan admits it’s impossible to decode everything in the film—which makes it so special for him. Egoyan says, “It’s not designed to be completely digested at a conscious level; it can’t be. There are many sequences that may be taking place in the imagination. . . . That’s what makes the film exciting. It both invites and resists interpretation. I think that there are certain ideas and themes in the film that are clearly at work, but the specific interpretation of a scene is left quite elusive.” Atom Egoyan, selected filmography: Calendar (1993) Exotica (1994) The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Ararat (2002) Where the Truth Lies (2005) Chloe (2009) Persona 1966 Directed by Ingmar Bergman Starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann 175
176 Atom Egoyan How would you describe Persona to someone who has never seen it? Egoyan: In some ways, it’s the quintessential art movie in that it is, on first viewing, quite mystifying and yet, at some level, deeply seductive. It is both simple and impenetrable. And it’s full of an unyielding sense of psychological complexity. It’s one of the most astonishing films about transference ever made. It’s probably the most self-referential work I can imagine. How would you describe the basic plot, if we can even apply that word here? Egoyan: The plot is almost melodramatic. It’s about a famous actress (played by Liv Ullmann), who loses her voice and falls into complete silence, and the nurse who is assigned to look after her (Bibi Andersson). The nurse finds that she has discovered an ideal listener in this silent actress. She begins to spill out the details of her life, and we understand that the dynamic between the two women begins to completely shift and blur, and eventually merge. Tell me about your experience with the film. When did you first see it? Egoyan: I saw it at an extraordinary point in my life because I was raised on the west coast of Canada, and we did not have access to art movies at all. I was seeing a pretty steady stream of Hollywood fare. I was interested in theater as a kid, but I never really saw anything that would lead me to believe that film could be anything other than a very formulaic Hollywood product. And then, I stumbled upon Persona late one night on television; we had a French television station on the west coast. To be honest, I used to kind of troll that station for an occasional glimpse of nudity in movies. [laughs] I was fourteen at the time. I was hooked on Persona from the first images: a projector being set off and the arc light coming to life and then a very fragmented sequence of very powerful images—Christ’s hands being nailed into the cross and a strange puppet play. It was like nothing I’d ever seen. Finally, there was an image I remember identifying with: a young boy reading. He then turns around and faces the camera. The next shot was an unforgettable composition of him raising his hand over the projected image of his mother’s face. I remember just being really moved by that, feeling that I was about to enter into an
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Danny Boyle on Apocalypse Now Kevin
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-P
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Contents Introduction … vi 1 Edga
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Introduction Movies are personal to
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viii Introduction For me, a sevente
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2 Edgar Wright How would you descri
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4 Edgar Wright an extremely gory Ri
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6 Edgar Wright going on. People are
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8 Edgar Wright Wright: The thing th
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10 Edgar Wright And then the deadpa
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12 Edgar Wright when a director has
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14 Rian Johnson How would you descr
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16 Rian Johnson [laughter] So there
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18 Rian Johnson The Godfather, and
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20 Rian Johnson creates the beauty
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22 Rian Johnson Johnson: Oh God, ar
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24 Rian Johnson As a filmmaker it
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26 Danny Boyle Starring Martin Shee
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28 Danny Boyle Boyle: [laughs] It h
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30 Danny Boyle on the ground, they
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32 Danny Boyle shooting schedule; h
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34 Danny Boyle And, as a filmmaker,
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36 Danny Boyle nonsense. But, it se
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38 Danny Boyle Boyle: Oh yeah, it
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40 Bill Condon How would you descri
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42 Bill Condon Condon: Oh, I think
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44 Bill Condon that great ending. I
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46 Bill Condon And then there’s a
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48 Richard Kelly Terry Gilliam call
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50 Richard Kelly access passes to t
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52 Richard Kelly Kelly: It makes it
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54 Richard Kelly they are not seen
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56 Peter Bogdanovich Texasville (19
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58 Peter Bogdanovich How did it cha
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60 Peter Bogdanovich everything the
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62 Peter Bogdanovich And you were p
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7 John Dahl A Clockwork Orange John
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66 John Dahl For example, I would s
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68 John Dahl way around. Art consis
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70 John Dahl Dahl: It’s interesti
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72 John Dahl My only other criticis
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8 Henry Jaglom 8½ Henry Jaglom cha
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76 Henry Jaglom was going through.
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78 Henry Jaglom out of control. A g
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80 Henry Jaglom Over the years, I
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9 Brian Herzlinger E.T.: The Extra-
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84 Brian Herzlinger during the scen
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86 Brian Herzlinger that world brou
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88 Brian Herzlinger You met Spielbe
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90 Brian Herzlinger And he says,
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92 Brian Herzlinger in theaters bec
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10 Alex Gibney The Exterminating An
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96 Alex Gibney one was political in
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98 Alex Gibney There’s one scene
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100 Alex Gibney you’ve had to do
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102 Alex Gibney I would say that th
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11 Kimberly Peirce The Godfather Pe
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106 Kimberly Peirce and he gets him
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108 Kimberly Peirce Have you ever r
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12 Steve James Harlan County U.S.A.
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112 Steve James later. It’s so tr
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114 Steve James an outsider. She ha
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116 Steve James out there, which wa
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118 Steve James James: Sure. It was
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120 Steve James give-and-take, then
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122 Steve James 28 Up and The Times
Page 133 and 134: 124 Austin Chick Can you tell me ab
Page 135 and 136: 126 Austin Chick Chick: Yeah, I mea
Page 137 and 138: 128 Austin Chick Chick: The very fi
Page 139 and 140: 130 Austin Chick But this does have
Page 141 and 142: 14 Guy Maddin L’âge d’or Guy M
Page 143 and 144: 134 Guy Maddin a movie myself. My m
Page 145 and 146: 136 Guy Maddin It has a great shape
Page 147 and 148: 138 Guy Maddin Maddin: Oh my God, i
Page 149 and 150: 140 Guy Maddin shooting things, I l
Page 151 and 152: 142 Guy Maddin to the way we love.
Page 153 and 154: 144 Guy Maddin see that the spicy,
Page 155 and 156: 146 Michel Gondry How you would des
Page 157 and 158: 148 Michel Gondry You’re right. I
Page 159 and 160: 150 Michel Gondry I think they have
Page 161 and 162: 16 Michael Polish Once Upon a Time
Page 163 and 164: 154 Michael Polish because he was u
Page 165 and 166: 156 Michael Polish I’ve heard it
Page 167 and 168: 158 Michael Polish aspects of filmm
Page 169 and 170: 17 Arthur Hiller Open City Roberto
Page 171 and 172: 162 Arthur Hiller movies like that,
Page 173 and 174: 164 Arthur Hiller hope I put in thi
Page 175 and 176: 166 Arthur Hiller Coburn character
Page 177 and 178: 168 Pete Docter How would you descr
Page 179 and 180: 170 Pete Docter Docter: Yeah, I had
Page 181 and 182: 172 Pete Docter Tatum O’Neal was
Page 183: 174 Pete Docter meaning of the scen
Page 187 and 188: 178 Atom Egoyan It’s been suggest
Page 189 and 190: 180 Atom Egoyan old quote about sto
Page 191 and 192: 182 Atom Egoyan That had a huge inf
Page 193 and 194: 184 Atom Egoyan Bergman was working
Page 195 and 196: 186 Atom Egoyan always find that im
Page 197 and 198: 20 Gurinder Chadha Purab aur Pachhi
Page 199 and 200: 190 Gurinder Chadha blond hair and
Page 201 and 202: 192 Gurinder Chadha My films are fr
Page 203 and 204: 194 Gurinder Chadha Even now, as I
Page 205 and 206: 196 Richard Linklater Raging Bull 1
Page 207 and 208: 198 Richard Linklater I’ve been i
Page 209 and 210: 200 Richard Linklater To see someon
Page 211 and 212: 22 Jay Duplass Raising Arizona Jay
Page 213 and 214: 204 Jay Duplass superbly executed
Page 215 and 216: 206 Jay Duplass camera, similar to
Page 217 and 218: 208 Jay Duplass And Moonstruck is t
Page 219 and 220: 23 John Woo Rebel Without a Cause a
Page 221 and 222: 212 John Woo I was pretty strong—
Page 223 and 224: 214 John Woo —but the role went t
Page 225 and 226: 216 John Woo Mean Streets came out
Page 227 and 228: 218 John Woo Scorsese’s violence
Page 229 and 230: 220 John Woo That’s one of the pe
Page 231 and 232: 24 John Landis The 7th Voyage of Si
Page 233 and 234: 224 John Landis That’s funny, bec
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226 John Landis People have a misun
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228 John Landis completely dazzles
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230 John Landis Casablanca or Citiz
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25 Kevin Smith Slacker For director
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234 Kevin Smith very clever, very f
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236 Kevin Smith place I’d really
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238 Kevin Smith Smith: The benefit
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240 Kevin Smith What was your react
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242 Chris Miller When did you first
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244 Chris Miller at the same time.
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246 Neil LaBute The Soft Skin 1964
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248 Neil LaBute if anyone, is short
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250 Neil LaBute most passionate mom
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252 Neil LaBute LaBute: Yeah, well,
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254 Neil LaBute Such a small portio
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256 Neil LaBute If I remember right
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258 Neil LaBute Lachenay moves arou
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260 George A. Romero The Dark Half
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262 George A. Romero I’ve never h
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264 George A. Romero Pressburger an
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266 Frank Oz How would you describe
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268 Frank Oz Tell me about that dis
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270 Frank Oz There’s a story abou
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272 Frank Oz coffeehouse. That was
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274 Frank Oz know what I’m doing.
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276 Frank Oz It’s amazing how you
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30 John Waters The Wizard of Oz The
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280 John Waters And then, the seldo
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282 John Waters countries—maybe t
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Acknowledgments First, thanks to th
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Index A accidents, on-set, 148-149
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288 Index Coutard, Raoul, 257 Cowar
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290 Index Hoop Dreams, 117, 118, 12
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292 Index My Beautiful Laundrette,
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294 Index special effects, 223, 224
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