On July 31, local time, the British Film Association said that director Alan Parker died in London at the age of 76 after a long illness. Madonna was so saddened by the news of Ellen Parker's death that she posted on social media in mourning, saying that she was one of the best directors she had ever worked with, "In the movie 'Mrs. Peron', he taught me a lot, prompted me to break through myself, and made this movie!" Thank you! >>> 76-year-old director Alan Parker, who directed "The Wall" and "Mrs. Perón"
One of Madonna's social media illustrations, the two people on the set that year.
Alan Parker is an all-rounder who is also a writer, director, and producer. He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Director twice for Midnight Express and Mississippi On Fire, and won the British Academy Film Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. His films have different themes and like to try different types of works to keep their creations fresh. However, he is particularly obsessed with works with musical themes, such as "Dragon Snake Bully" (1976), "Lost Wall" (1982), "Madame Perón" (1996) and so on. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had worked with Mrs. Perón, was saddened to hear of Alan Parker's death, commenting that he was "one of the few directors who really understood musical theatre".
Alan Parker wrote 14 feature films in his lifetime, the last of which was The Life of David Gore in 2003 starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. In 1995, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II and knighted in 2002. In recent years, he has spent a lot of time painting and enjoying the joy of the world more.
Crossover director from advertising
Alan Parker was born on 14 February 1944 in Islington, a working-class area of London, the only child in a family. His mother, Elise, was a seamstress, and his father, William, was a delivery man for the Sunday Times and later a painter.
Alan Parker's first job as an advertising copywriter after entering the society, after a few advertising agencies, he came to the well-known CDP advertising agency. "My ambition is not to be a film director, I just want to be the creative director of CDP... It wasn't until all of a sudden that TV advertising became more and more important and companies changed. "In the 1960s and 1970s, Alan Parker was in the best of cdp advertising, and he was lucky to be a part of that world.
Stills from "Two Little Guesses", with Alan Parker as the screenwriter.
During the cdp, Alan Parker was encouraged by the producers of Chariots of Fire (1981) to write the script for the British youth film Two Little Guesses (1971), which was produced by David Putnam, and Alan Parker later became the director of "Dragon Snake Bully" and "Midnight Express", which were also produced by Putnam, and the two became lifelong friends.
Although he worked on the screenplay, Alan Parker did not immediately enter the film industry, but founded the Ellen Parker Film Company, still producing advertisements. As time went on, he became more and more involved in the entertainment industry. "When I first moved from advertising to the world of cinema, I think I was particularly sensitive to film criticism, which in a way we didn't 'stand up' — like a bunch of vulgar salesmen selling an intellectual property certificate that doesn't stand up to scrutiny," he said in a 2017 interview. ”
One of the few directors who really understands musicals
Alan Parker did not produce much film, directing 14 feature films in his lifetime, 6 of which were self-written scripts. He is particularly good at filming musical films, including Dragon Snake Bully (1976), Fame (1980), Wall of Mystery (1982), Dreamcatcher (1991), And Madame Belon (1996). He once said, "If you can combine music and imagery, it will be very powerful."
Poster of "The Wall".
One of Alan Parker's most prestigious works, The Wall is an adaptation of the eponymous music album by the famous rock band Pink Floyd, which echoes the music of Pink Floyd's 1979 "Wall" suite from beginning to end. In a sense, the film is the MTV of "The Wall" and is regarded as the founding father of today's MTV. Originally Alan Parker only intended to make the film, with a live-action version directed by Michael Serrizen and an animated version directed by Gerald Skaf. The two failed to form a unified vision for the project, so Alan Parker replaced Michael Serrizen as director. Various conflicts arose between Alan Parker and screenwriter and composer Roger Waters during the film's filming, increasing the level of disgust for the final work, calling it "the most expensive student film ever made."
In 1996, Alan Parker made the film Mrs. Perón, which tells the life of Evita Verón, the second wife of former Argentine President Juan Perón. Before casting, the famous singer Madonna wrote a long letter to director Alan Parker, saying that she was the best candidate for the role, comparing her life to that of Mrs. Perón: both lost their parents when they were young, both came to the big city at a young age, had no money and no friends, but succeeded. The letter also included a MV copy of her music single "Take a Bow". In the end, Madonna became "Lady Perón" as she wished, changing costumes 85 times, wearing 39 hats, 45 pairs of shoes, and 56 pairs of earrings, more than Elizabeth Taylor changed in the movie Cleopatra in 1963, which is why Madonna was included in the Guinness Book of World Records that year.
Stills from "Madame Perón".
Alan Parker recalls that when he arrived in Buenos Aires, the argentine capital, he quickly realized how important Mrs. Perón was to the Argentine people. Fearing that he would tarnish Mrs. Perón's reputation, locals scribbled "Madonna and Alan Parker go home." However, the film won five awards, including the Oscar for Best Cinematography and Best Original Song, and also made Madonna win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical Comedy, which became its highlight moment. The film's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, commented that Alan Parker was "one of the few directors who really understands musical theatre".
Once the movie becomes expensive, it has to serve those people
In the late 1970s, when Hollywood was in the midst of its most seismic transformation since the collapse of the studio system, there was a widely talked-about trend that seemed to fit well with the New Hollywood Order — the arrival of a group of British film directors who honed their skills in the elite world of British television advertising. Compared with their American counterparts, British TV advertising has more sophisticated technical visual skills.
Alan Parker is an "intruder" who "broke" into Hollywood from the British advertising elite, and his British advertising brothers also include Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Adrian Lane and others, who have developed their own styles after coming to Hollywood, "Alien" and "Blade Runner" established Ridley Scott's status as a science fiction master; "Top Gun" made Tony Scott a Hollywood A-list action director; "Love You For Nine and a Half Weeks" and "Fatal Temptation" made Adrian Scott a master of science fiction. Lane has always explored the issue of the emotional and moral boundaries between men and women.
Stills from Birdman.
While several British directors with advertising backgrounds share some common visual characteristics, such as a penchant for fog, diffuse light, and cleverly shooting some of the dark side, Alan Parker seems to have gone further in this regard, preferring to push the limits of aesthetics. His films often have a powerful technical sheen, a quality of beautiful craftsmanship but untouched. Over time, this quality becomes more and more prominent.
The poster for "The Wall" is a twisted face with a bloody mouth as if it were roaring. The film's narrative methods are avant-garde and bold, jumping, interspersing, flashbacks and other narrative techniques subvert the tradition, coupled with the strange sound and light effects, 15 minutes of animation interspersed with it, so that the audience can experience the multi-meaning themes of war alienation, sex and violence, institutional confinement, etc. Even in the present, the film is still very avant-garde in aesthetics.
1984's Birdman uses a circular narrative to tell the story of a teenager who dreams he can transform into a bird, joins the army because of the outbreak of the Vietnam War, and is eventually hospitalized for losing his mind on the battlefield. Although it is a war theme, Alan Parker is unusually anti-war theme, focusing on the psychological damage caused to the protagonist after the war, and the subject matter is not left behind.
"I've been a director since I was 24 years old, and whether it's with producers with different perspectives or production companies, every day is a battle, every day is tough," he says. Still, Alan Parker has spent his life fighting for his rights to make movies the way he wants to, "I have absolute control over my job, and even though I work in a very difficult area of the Hollywood machine, they don't interfere with what I do, so if my film is good or unpopular, it's not someone else's fault, it's my fault." ”
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao
Edited by Wu Longzhen Proofreader Wu Xingfa