Text/Liu Ying Weibo @ Dragon King Well that does not go to the sea
Edit/Lu Zheng
Swedish origin, Finnish birth, Berlin life... Elmer Bäck is not at all like the blonde, unsmiling Nordics one might think of. On the contrary, this guy with curly hair and not very neat teeth is more like a big grinning child, always showing his cheerful and outgoing side between words. He was not a screen star in the usual sense of the word, and audiences outside Europe knew little about him. At the Berlin Film Festival in February this year, he contributed a stunning explosion performance in the new work of The Englishman Peter Greenaway, "Eisenstein in Guanajuato", presenting in front of the audience the little-known South American encounter of Soviet film director Eisenstein, and became a topical figure at the film festival.
Eisenstein in Guanajuato follows Sergei Eisenstein's 1931 travels in the Mexican city of Guatojuana, which Peter Greenaway described as "ten days to subvert Eisenstein." In the magical lands of South America, the 31-year-old master completed the enlightenment of life about death and sex. It is a video essay on the emotional journey of the pioneers of Soviet cinema, and an encyclopedic experiment in hallucinations. Amid the dazzling visual bombardment, Elmer Bäck's spectacular performances breathe life into this Mexican.
In the film, Eisenstein is a complex individual with multiple personality aspects, a childlike atmosphere, a combination of clumsiness and genius. He was an eloquent theoretician, a radical revolutionary, a playful tourist, a shy secret lover... Elmer Bäck plays a young master who ventures around with his messy hair, showing off his imperfect body, transforming Eisenstein's unquenchable excitement when he first arrived in South America into a dance of limbs and a burst of language in a blunt, dazzling Grinavian style. Guided by a local guide, Palromino, he visits the brightly colored cemetery, talks at a salon of local celebrities, wears a skeleton mask to a Death Day parade, and loses his virginity in a beautifully photographed, humorous sex scene. Elmer Bäck confesses his joy at working with Peter Greenaway, but he doesn't shy away from initially being afraid to play Eisenstein. Perhaps it was the Mexican sunshine that stimulated the huge energy in his body, he shocked Berlin with a lively performance, and "Deep Focus" writer Liu Ying first talked to him about the front and back of his career in front of the stage.
Q: You studied theater, and now your main job is mostly concentrated on the stage, how did Peter Greenaway find you in the first place?
Elmer Bäck: I graduated from the Helsinki Drama Academy in 2007 with a degree in acting, and then I started the Nya Rampen (Swedish for "New Stage") troupe with my best friend, mainly for some experimental plays, and five years ago we moved to Berlin. In addition, I have occasionally starred in some movies and TV series, and in 2011 I made a TV series called "The Spiral", which was very popular in Europe. Karin S. de Boer happened to be the executive producer of both Spiral and Eisenstein in Guanajuato, and it was she who recommended me to Peter. Peter wanted to find someone who looked a little bit like Eisenstein to play the role, but it wasn't easy, and he had spent years casting. I tried two shots in Copenhagen and Berlin in the summer of 2013 and managed to get the role.
Q: How did you feel when you knew you were going to play the monumental character of Eisenstein?
Elmer Bäck: Peter was an admirer of Eisenstein, and Eisenstein was like an old friend of his, and they were together for a long time. Working with Peter is already a big deal for me, and I love his movies so much. As for "playing Eisenstein in Peter's films," I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I forgot about anxiety. From the very beginning, however, the film's positioning was clear that it was not strictly Eisenstein's biopic, but an artistic recreation of a talented artist. My task was not to recreate Eisenstein, but to portray Eisenstein from the perspective of Peter Greenaway. Peter was a very creative director, the script was extremely well written, and after reading it, I immediately had a mental number of what to do with Eisenstein. During the shooting, I basically followed my intuition.
Q: Are you nervous about working with your idol, Peter Greenaway?
Elmer Bäck: Anyone who has seen his films should think he's weird and difficult to get along with, and I used to think of him as a devil who would scream on set. But when I really started shooting, I found out that it wasn't like this, he was an energetic perfectionist, which is true, but he has a lot of respect for everyone and is a real British gentleman! He's a fake artist, I mean, you don't know what he's done, but as soon as he gets to the set, he's created the whole mood and environment for you.
Q: Did you do a lot of preparation before you started shooting?
Elmer Bäck: Yes, I read four biographies of Eisenstein, of which Marie Seton wrote the most nuancedly because she was an Eisenstein contemporary and a friend and collaborator of his. Of course, I also read a lot about the history of the Soviet Union, from the Russian Revolution all the way to the politics of stalin, which was very helpful for understanding Eisenstein's character and ideas. I also learned a little Russian, although the script was changed in the end and was not used.
Q: Eisenstein is a nag in this movie, how do you remember such a long line?
Elmer Bäck: It's hard, but it's part of the preparation. Before I went to Mexico, I had basically nibbled on the script. I forced myself to jot down monologues that were sometimes three or four pages long, because that was the only way I could get into the characters. Again, Peter's script is really, really good, and I'm like I'm enjoying a masterpiece, so it's not so painful to memorize. But there are so many historical figures involved that sometimes I don't really know what these people are doing, and I have to rely on Google and Wikipedia.
Q: Also specially trained English with a Russian accent?
Elmer Bäck: Haha, I found some video material on the Internet that had Eisenstein himself appearing, which was rare. Then he specifically imitated the way he talked and walked.
Q: Is this the craziest character you've ever played so far?
Elmer Bäck: I've played a lot of "normal" roles and done a lot of experimental performances, so I don't know if I can describe this role as one of my craziest experiences, but I'm sure it's the performance I've enjoyed the most so far. Eisenstein in the movie is so smart and so naïve, he's very sensitive and curious about anything. Peter wrote of him as a man who thought he could go to heaven and earth, a combination of personalities that was difficult to express but fascinating. As an actor, sometimes we get a very limited role, the space is too small, in Peter's case, but it is the opposite, I am completely free. And personally, I feel that I, like Eisenstein, am an extremely sensitive but energetic person, and in a way, I am attracted to the character's personality.
Q: How long has the crew been in Mexico?
Elmer Bäck: In January 2014, we went to Mexico for 25 days, shooting at high intensity. Some of the rest of the indoor plays were completed in Helsinki after a gap of five months.
Q: Is this your first trip to Mexico?
Elmer Bäck: Yes, like Eisenstein, he first set foot on Mexican soil at the age of 33.
Q: Did you feel the collision of two cultures like he did?
Elmer Bäck: Of course, the Culture of South America is really amazing, especially their attitude towards death, and the closeness to "death" just makes their "life" more vivid. As shown in the movie, they celebrate death, and Guanajuato has a death day parade every year. I also tried to understand the shock of Eisenstein's first visit to Mexico in the 1930s, starting from my personal observations. I was fascinated by this culture, and after filming, I went to Mexico alone and spent a month traveling through the country.
Q: The movie is basically a confrontation between you and Luis Alberti (who plays Eisenstein's Mexican tour guide Paromino in the film), which includes large sex scenes. How did the two of you develop this intimacy with each other?
Elmer Bäck: I only met Luis Alberti when I got to Mexico and rehearsed for only two weeks before filming started. Of course, during this time, we messed around all day and trusted each other.
Q: "Broken Place" is the most important scene in the movie, it is not only a momentary passion, but also symbolizes the turning point of Eisenstein's life, a crucial node. The photography and performance of this scene is really impeccable.
Elmer Bäck: Yes, the highlight is cut by Peter in the middle, and the whole film is based on this axis, symmetrical back and forth. He designed every detail of the scene very precisely, including the bed, props, the respective positions of the bodies, and when we should say our lines. But we only rehearsed once. The reason I don't want to rehearse repeatedly is that if I memorize every second, I will indeed be more confident when I perform, but I can't play the shyness, clumsiness, and nervousness that Eisenstein had when he broke through at the age of 33. In this kind of scene that is both nude and same-sex passion, the actor is physically and mentally vulnerable, and this feeling is exactly what the role needs. So, I decided not to waste my form on rehearsals, and we were sure to go through the filming.
Q: How much did your previous stage and theater experience help your performance in this movie?
Elmer Bäck: That was so helpful. The film is very unrealistic, Eisenstein is a person who likes to perform on his own, and many of the scenes in the film are simply tailor-made for theater actors. Peter is a very theatrical film director, and all he wants is "performance", a big ups and downs, obvious body language, and so on. Photographer Reinier van Brummelen has worked with Peter several times, and he is also the kind of person who likes to improvise on the spot with a handheld camera, often taking a close-up first, taking two steps back and shooting another, without any fixed framing. It's a lot like a sports camera on a theater stage, and I've had a lot of experience with that.
Q: Was the berlinale world premiere the first time you saw the finished film?
Elmer Bäck: I saw the first cut once when I was doing the post-production, when the sound was a little out of sync, the color grading of the picture was not complete, and Berlin watched the movie completely.
Q: The audience response was very enthusiastic!
Elmer Bäck: Sitting in the same arena with the audience, to be honest I was a little nervous, I really liked the film, but I don't know how they would react. Moreover, it is quite embarrassing to see my naked body on the big screen. But everything went well during the screening, and I could see that the audience liked it. When I made it, I thought it was a very radical film, full of energy in terms of visuals, performances, and language. After sitting in the theater from beginning to end, I found its humorous and warm side again.
Q: What's next?
Elmer Bäck: After the film, I went back to theater. At the end of March, Nya Rampen will perform in Paris, followed by a summer European tour. Peter plans to make at least one more film about Eisenstein about his experiences in Switzerland in the 20s, and I'll certainly be on camera. Maybe he'll take a short trip to Hollywood later. There are also some business cooperation that are under negotiation and are not convenient to disclose. However, this cooperation with Peter is really a gift of my life.
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