Thursday, November 24, 2005
Walk the Line
I went to a screening at the DGA of "Walk the Line", with a Q&A with James Mangold after. First, the film. I liked it, the performances were outstanding, Cash's music kicks ass. But it fell short of a truly great film for a few reasons. The first is the eerie similarity to "Ray". Cash is tormented by the death of a brother, cheats on his wife, even goes through the same type of drug withdrawal. Isn't there another way to film the inevitable slow fade, sweaty I'm-kicking-the-drugs scene? The other problem I have is one I have with many biopics - the filmmakers rarely portray the subject's drive to be famous. It's always like they "fell" into whatever made them a superstar. Johnny Cash is shown singing with his mother in a cotton field, playing guitar in the Army, and gazing longingly at a recording studio in Memphis. But he just doesn't seem to have the drive to make it in a really tough business. He succeeds by singing for Sam Phillips, who then puts him on the road with a young Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. But unlike "Ray", I never saw Johnny Cash's burning desire to be a famous singer.
But we do see his burning desire for June Carter, and that story elevates the film. Reese Witherspoon has her own special "movie star" glow that lights up the screen, you just can't take your eyes off her. It's no wonder that Johnny Cash fell so hard for June, and the two actors have intense chemistry. I loved the filmmaker's choice of playing up Johnny & June's stage performances. It's in front of the lights and the people that they were able to tell each other how much they loved each other. The love story eventually eclipsed the music biopicness of "Walk the Line", and it's a better film for it.
Alexander Payne interviewed James Mangold after the film. He said he studied "East of Eden" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" for inspiration. He wanted to cast a modern James Dean to play Cash - a tormented, ferociously talented actor. Joaquin Phoenix delivered that kind of performance. Mangold said that Phoenix said to him "This part is what I've worked my entire career to play", and unlike actors who can say that in back-to-back meetings about different films, Mangold felt that Phoenix was completely serious. Mangold met Witherspoon at a party shortly after he started working on the project. He didn't know about her Memphis upbringing, but it worked perfectly for the part. He put the actors though 3 months of singing bootcamp with T Bone Burnett which turned them into Johnny and June.
When they opened up the session for questions, the first person had the nerve to ask Mangold "Did Joaquin Phoenix use the death of his brother and his drug use as fuel for this part?" Mangold handled his answer extremely well, saying that he had the great fortune of working with 2 actors who are at the top of their craft. They know themselves, they know their work, and they don't need a director to stir up any emotions for them. Mangold thinks it's detrimental for a director to play shrink with actors, to manipulate their emotions to get a performance. He says the actors see through it in a second, and it ends up making them feel like they are in therapy rather than acting. So he trusted Phoenix to make his own method for the role. As far as he knows, Phoenix didn't use that experience for this movie, but even if he had Mangold wouldn't have asked him about it. That's classy.
"Walk the Line" is a film worth seeing, if only to catch 2 of the finest actors of our generation in peak form.
But we do see his burning desire for June Carter, and that story elevates the film. Reese Witherspoon has her own special "movie star" glow that lights up the screen, you just can't take your eyes off her. It's no wonder that Johnny Cash fell so hard for June, and the two actors have intense chemistry. I loved the filmmaker's choice of playing up Johnny & June's stage performances. It's in front of the lights and the people that they were able to tell each other how much they loved each other. The love story eventually eclipsed the music biopicness of "Walk the Line", and it's a better film for it.
Alexander Payne interviewed James Mangold after the film. He said he studied "East of Eden" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" for inspiration. He wanted to cast a modern James Dean to play Cash - a tormented, ferociously talented actor. Joaquin Phoenix delivered that kind of performance. Mangold said that Phoenix said to him "This part is what I've worked my entire career to play", and unlike actors who can say that in back-to-back meetings about different films, Mangold felt that Phoenix was completely serious. Mangold met Witherspoon at a party shortly after he started working on the project. He didn't know about her Memphis upbringing, but it worked perfectly for the part. He put the actors though 3 months of singing bootcamp with T Bone Burnett which turned them into Johnny and June.
When they opened up the session for questions, the first person had the nerve to ask Mangold "Did Joaquin Phoenix use the death of his brother and his drug use as fuel for this part?" Mangold handled his answer extremely well, saying that he had the great fortune of working with 2 actors who are at the top of their craft. They know themselves, they know their work, and they don't need a director to stir up any emotions for them. Mangold thinks it's detrimental for a director to play shrink with actors, to manipulate their emotions to get a performance. He says the actors see through it in a second, and it ends up making them feel like they are in therapy rather than acting. So he trusted Phoenix to make his own method for the role. As far as he knows, Phoenix didn't use that experience for this movie, but even if he had Mangold wouldn't have asked him about it. That's classy.
"Walk the Line" is a film worth seeing, if only to catch 2 of the finest actors of our generation in peak form.
