In December, when the northern winds were cold and could not stand the cold, the spicy fish chose to fly to the southern tip of China for the first time to attend a party, the second Hainan Island International Film Festival. Compared with the first edition, in addition to the introduction of competition mechanisms and excellent screening lists this year, the master class activities carefully prepared by the film festival for everyone are still powerful.
The gold content of the guests invited to this year's master class is very high: there is the famous Iranian director Asha Farhati ("A Parting"), who won the Oscar for best director; there is Billy Auguste, a member of the "Cannes Palme d'Or" (only 7 in the world); there is the internationally renowned Japanese horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Tokyo Sonata"),and of course, the American actor who makes the atmosphere boil, Ethan Hawke.
Ethan Hawke
The organizing committee gave Hawke's event a very romantic title, "Chanting a poem called a movie." For him, it was a very apt description.
Ethan Hawke, who entered the film and television industry at the age of 13, is a very talented actor. With a unique temperament and precise grasp of the characters, Ethan Hawke's most famous masterpieces "Love in" series trilogy ("Love Before Dawn Breaks", "Love at Sunset and Dusk", "Love Before Midnight"), "Independence Day" and "Boyhood", etc., have won a large number of fans of literary and art films around the world.
In addition to acting, he is fluent in French and German and is particularly obsessed with music. Piano, violin, trumpet, he can control. This time, he came to the film festival to participate in the master class activities, and he also took the initiative to share his views on the new films, performances, productions, directors, and set environments that will be released with the audience.
▲Official photo courtesy of Hainan Island International Film Festival
Talk about classics
Love in the trilogy is the product of a sharp heart
As a famous work in the literary and art circles, "Love in the Trilogy" is still occupying the top 250 in Douban. In particular, the first part, which is similar to "Dinner with Andre", also occupies an important position in the coordinates of film history. Speaking of collaborations with the series' director, Richard Linklater, a genius known for his "talking streaks," Ethan generously shared many behind-the-scenes stories on the spot.
He said that when he first met Linklater, he was very young and not particularly famous at the time. At that time, Ethan, after experiencing the popularity of "Death Poetry Society", had already opened up popularity in the industry with many popular works such as "My Love and My Father", "Golden Snow Dog", "The Rest of the Sky", etc. The two met at Ethan Hawke's theater company and began a long-term friendship.
▲ "Death Poetry Society"
Talking about "Love Before dawn breaks" that later made the duo famous, Ethan said that during the filming of the film, the director did not make a clear distinction between the actors, but instead, "he hoped that we could participate in the screenwriting work together." As we all know, the most interesting part of "Love in the Trilogy" comes from its high-density and extremely lifelike text, which in turn challenges the creators' screenwriting.
Speaking of this part, Ethan believes that "randomness" helped a lot in the creation of the film at that time: "Actually we didn't have any plans before, just to start making and then start such a film." A magical connection and tacit understanding was established between the actor and the director, and after starting to perform, it felt like everything was a natural and natural thing. ”
▲"Love Before the Dawn Breaks"
This unique creative mode of "copying" life gives "Love in the Trilogy" a unique temperament. Many plays, everyone has a sharp mind, no need to deliberately prepare, while acting to know what to say next. A similar creative approach has been brought to "Boyhood", in fact, this 12-year film is almost the same period of the "Love in the Trilogy" brewing works. Both series adopt the practice of "time for space", which truthfully records the state of the actors in reality in the movie, so that the precipitation of the work is more meaningful and makes the film produce a very strong sense of reality.
Talk about creation
It's a lot of stuff but it can't be catered to
Whether acting or being behind the scenes, Ethan said he wouldn't adjust his creative style to a film's budget. In his opinion, others may change according to the subject matter, but they will not do it themselves. In explaining this "immutable", he gives a very vivid example.
"For example, if I want to cook dinner for 1 million people, because the number of diners is very large, I will try to make this dinner to take care of the tastes of most people." But if I only have two or three diners, I have to make my recipe as special as possible to satisfy them. ”
In other words, he doesn't deliberately pander to the tastes of a small audience. On the contrary, he understands very well the essence of cinema as a popular art–the appropriate addition of personality is acceptable without violating popular aesthetics. Of course, Ethan believes that personality doesn't mean you have to dictate to others.
Speaking about the awkward creative environment, Ethan points out that sometimes some of the directors he has worked with will show their confidence to those around them to show that they are confident. However, this kind of self-confidence does not help them better judge the situation at hand, because film is a complex and comprehensive art, and it needs to rely on different disciplines to cooperate with each other to create a classic.
"If as a director you don't have an open mind, see the shining points of others, but can't hear different, or even better than you, then you will most likely be blinded." 」 In addition, he also emphasized the way master directors deal with different opinions: "They always listen to the opinions of those around them when they face disagreements, rather than making decisions immediately." ”
▲"Training Day"
Facing the younger generation who are working on film, Ethan said that after working with big directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Richard Linklater, he became more and more aware of the importance of personality. He believes that the most interesting part of film art creation lies in its principle of non-uniformity, which means that there is more than one way to solve the problem. That being the case, finding the voice you need most is the one that is most conducive to creation.
Say new pieces
It is Kore-eda who communicates with my heart
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda has seen his international popularity rise again since winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year with "Thief Family". This year, his new film "The Truth" brought together actors from Britain, the United States and France, which became the opening film of the Venice Film Festival and was shortlisted for the main competition unit. In this master class, Ethan Hawke naturally chatted about this new film.
Recalling the filming process of "The Truth", Ethan admitted that it was difficult at one point. He highlighted the famous French actress Deneuve, saying that the other party was recovering from an illness during the filming process due to her age (re-admitted to the hospital last month due to a mild stroke). Talking about the audiovisual elements in the film, Ethan said that the use of musical elements in the film is very important. For Ethan, who is good at music, he compares music to a language, and said that although the occasional language reason for cooperation with French actors makes it impossible for the two sides to communicate more deeply, the common love of film has helped them overcome this problem.
▲"The Truth"
In addition to the main actors who help actors of different nationalities integrate into the crew, but also the director is Hirokazu Kore-eda. According to Ethan, during the breaks on set, the director often asked some very interesting questions around "Boyhood" and "Love in the Trilogy", which made him realize that he and the director were in touch.
For this time to come to China to participate in the film festival, Ethan Hawke even "amplified the move" at the master class site, indicating that when the conditions are ripe, he may come to China to shoot a kung fu film in the future! He revealed to the audience that he had always dreamed of making a Chinese kung fu film, and if he could, he might personally play an assassinated American CIA agent in the future, and the stage of the story would be set in China.
postscript
Although the day's masterclass was only a short one-hour event, Ethan Hawke shared as many of his stories from the audience in front of and behind the scenes.
He admits that he was once lost in a midlife crisis. Later, he decided to make two films on the subject of music ("Stay in the Heart", "Seymour Introduction") to buffer the frustration of this loss.
A biopic, a documentary, two films record the protagonists with extraordinary musical talent, but cannot succeed commercially. Compared with the group of people who have achieved fame, the ordinariness of small people always reminds people of the kind of unheated roles that Ethan played in his early years.
When everyone is cheering for the legend, there is always a corner that needs to be left for the forgotten. From obscurity to world-renowned talent, inseparability to the little people, perhaps Ethan Hawke in this impetuous society, leaving the audience with the last conscience.