Viggo is Fantastic
‘I find films that have overtly edited stuff quite hard to watch sometimes. I love action sequences, but when you can feel the editor in the frame that’s what takes you out of it. I think the main aim of our job is to be as invisible as possible.’
‘‘I find films that have overtly edited stuff quite hard to watch sometimes. I love action sequences, but when you can feel the editor in the frame that’s what takes you out of it. I think the main aim of our job is to be as invisible as possible.
‘‘A good film for me is where I still lose myself in it and I’m not watching the cuts. Occasionally though, a cut will catch my eye and I’ll go ‘wow, that’s a little genius there’.’’
He cites The Revenant asa recent example of a film that boasted terrific editing.
‘‘The cut-to-cut relationships were amazing, the way that guy [Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki] moves his camera was incredible. But I have a total problem with the story, which to me is more important. At the end of the day, it comes back to story, story, story. If what you are watching is a good story – it’s been well edited.’’
Looking forward to next weekend’s New Zealand film and television industry gathering, the Big Screen Symposium in Auckland, Price believes the importance of an event like that can’t be downplayed. ‘‘It brings everyone together in a relaxed environment. I think the morning tea and in-between bits can be as important as sitting and listening to someone speak.
‘‘It also provides an incentive to bring high-quality industry professionals to this country, which actually helps our people to think a little bit outside of the box.’’
This year’s Symposium guestlist includes American producer Heather Rae (Frozen River), US writer Jon Raymond (Wendy and Lucy), Australian filmmakers Cate Shortland (Somersault) and Tony Krawitz (The Kettering Incident), Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In the Mood For Love), and Kiwi documentarian Pietra Brettkelly (A Flickering Truth). Previous Symposiums have attracted Jane Campion, Rachel Griffiths, Taika Waititi, Peter Mullan, David Wenham, and famed Korean director Park Chan-Wook.
‘‘I think one of the problems we face is that we are a small industry here, with a small pool of money controlled by a small number of people,’’ says Price.
‘‘It can become a bit of a closed loop sometimes, and you see people who go off and do great things overseas don’t always come back.
‘‘Things like this are great sort of refresh buttons for people. It’s been great just having to think about the work that I do in preparation for my masterclass. I do things quite intuitively most of the time.’’
Planning on having quite a lot of interactivity, Price says he’ll be showing a variety of editing work, and ‘‘basically throwing up things that have come up for me in edit suites’’.
‘‘Little ideas and the various different ways to attack different projects – because there are no rules.’’
Simon Price will present an editing masterclass as part of next weekend’s Big Screen Symposium at the University of Auckland’s Business School. For more information, see bigscreensymposium.com
is now available on TVNZ OnDemand.
Cleverman December 7 is a special date on the calendar in the Ross household.
That’s when writer-director Matt and the rest of his family celebrate Noam Chomsky Day.
The octogenarian American philosopher, social critic, and political activist’s birthday is commemorated with cake and quotations, says 46-year-old Ross.
‘‘Basically, I bribe my children with a piece of cake or some sort of sweet, because that draws them to the table. Then we blow out candles and everyone is required to read a passage or two of their choosing from anything Noam has written. It can be about linguistics or politics or anything.’’
Cake type is flexible, he admits, limited only by whatever his wife, a former chef, ‘‘wants to conjure up’’.
‘‘My son wanted a Baked Alaska one year – that was challenging.’’
It’s one of the very few Ross family rituals that are also part of the very different household portrayed in his latest feature film, Captain Fantastic. Which is just as well because what the Cash family get up to in the forests of the Pacific Northwest probably would go down so well in suburban Berkeley, California.
Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) lives off the grid with his six children, preferring a rigorous physical and intellectual education to traditional schooling. But when a tragedy befalls his wife, he’s forced to engage with the ‘‘corporate, consumerist culture’’ he so despises.
While at one stage toying with the idea of hiring someone else due to timing, Ross admits he really only had eyes for Lord of the Rings trilogy star Mortensen to play Ben.
‘‘I’ve admired him since he was in [Sean Penn’s 1991 film] The Indian Runner, and I’ve followed his work for years. I think he brings an integrity, gravitas to everything he does, and that his choices as an actor speak volumes.
‘‘I also believe that the lead actor is in some ways the public face of the movie so, for me, this was a statement of artistic intent, aligning myself with him.’’
With Mortensen’s intergrity extending to extensive promotion for each project he’s involved him, finding shooting dates that suited both of them proved difficult, but finally, after one false start, everything aligned. Then it was up to Ross and his leading man to work out how to make their story ‘‘credible’’.
‘‘The character and the world are a real one, it’s not a parallel universe.
‘‘The Cash family might be living in an extreme way, but it’s not one that people don’t actually live. We had discussions about how the compound and shelter they lived in would look and how we would see them hunt, fish.’’
The final, key piece of the preproduction puzzle involved bringing all the actors in for a ‘‘boot camp’’.
‘‘We taught them various techniques. All the kids went on a wilderness survival camp where they learned to identify edible plants, build shelters, create fires, and basic tracking skills. Viggo had bagpipe lessons and the two teenage girls took a class in butchering.
‘‘The purpose of all of this was not for them to become experts, but rather for them to bond and be introduced to the world of the film. I also wanted the others to be able to look to Viggo as a father, a friend, and a mentor.’’
It might just be Ross’ second feature as director, after his 2012 debut 28 Hotel Rooms, but as an actor he’s worked with some of the most respected in the industry including Martin Scorsese, Mike Newell, Terry Gilliam, Whit Stillman, and George Clooney.
Has he been influenced by anyone of those in particular?
‘‘Not on a conscious level. I think any time you work with someone you’re either learning how to be, or how not to be. I can identify things I’ve learned, but I don’t really go ‘this is what Marty does, so I’m going to do that’.
‘‘One thing that was meaningful to me as an actor though was when I was working on Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney.
‘‘He was pretty vocal about how on his directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, he had been very uncollaborative and felt very rigid and predetermined in his way of doing things. So on Good Night ,he decided to be much more exploratory and open. I definitely witnessed that.
‘‘He directed with a gentle hand. I don’t know if I consciously emulate that, but it’s much closer than anything else to my directorial style. I like being open to everyone’s ideas – I can always say I don’t like them later,’’ he chuckles.
The resulting ‘‘collaborative’’ film has been well received, with Ross winning a directing award for Captain Fantastic at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Just as important to him though is the approval of his 13-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son.
‘‘I think they’ve seen it six times, the last of which was in the UK at Somerset House, with around 2000 other people. I think they are kind of done with it now, but maybe a few months will go by and they’ll turn it on again.’’
And what about Noam Chomsky? Has Ross had any indication of what he thinks of the film, or the promotion of Noam Chomsky Day?
‘‘My only interaction with him was during the filmmaking process, when someone from our team talked to someone who works for him in order to clear us to use a couple of his quotations. The way he responded was indicative of the human being that he is, no lawyers, just ‘please quote me correctly’. I thought that was succinct and very legitimate.’’
Captain Fantastic
Simon Price
(M) opens in cinemas nationwide on September 22.