Spectacular Scene From Leos Carax's Mauvais Sang, Feat. Modern Love by David Bowie

Spectacular Scene From Leos Carax's Mauvais Sang, Feat. Modern Love by David Bowie

Hal Hartley Q & A - Henry Fool

Hartley: I wanted to make a story about ambition, talent and influence. Everyone asks me about my influences: Who are my biggest influences? It's a complex question. How are we influenced? What do we take from a teacher and what was there all along that the teacher simply identified? There is a responsibility in having influences, just as there is being an influence.

So I wanted to tell a story about influence, both artistic and personal. I considered this possibility: What happens if your most profound influence is somebody whom you're kind of ashamed of or you'd be embarrassed to admit? Maybe the local pervert did more to shape your personality than anyone else or the criminal, or the ex-con. That struck me as very exciting.

SPC: "Henry Fool" seems more ambitious than your previous films. You've even described it as an "epic."

I've always thought about big stories. And I wanted to do something like a biography of a great, infamous person. I wanted it to reach over a long period of time and tell a story about the culture we live in. But I needed a person to serve as a catalyst.

"Epic" for me means a long story that treats a variety of themes by following the adventures of a particular person or group. The means at my disposal were not the high seas, the desert, or outer space, but a typical, loud, ugly American urban sprawl which seemed like the proper scope for my inclinations. I wanted a new modern myth -- something broad, but penetrating, that sketched in who we might be here and now. Henry himself is the personification of the inconvenient push and pull of events that cause us to become a community rather than a mob, whether we like it or not.

SPC:  Did you have in mind any literary models for "Henry Fool?"

Hartley: I actually drew from "Faust" and "Kasper Hauser." I didn't incorporate them entirely, but while reading those works they struck me as helpful starting points for shaping my characters. Because I wanted them to be mythic, broadly sketched characters, with all the layers of complexity intact.

I love that in "Faust," at a certain moment, Faust conjures Mephistopheles. And I think of Henry, in essence, as Mephistopheles. At the most desperate moment in Simon's day, he needs a friend really badly. And that happens, Henry materializes. It's as if Simon calls Henry into existence.

Simon fits into the Kasper Hauser archetype. Henry teaches him to speak, teaches him how to express himself. He teaches him how to yearn, how to want, how to desire, how to have ugly, messy needs. And then it goes haywire.

I also drew on the relationship between Joyce and Beckett. I didn't stay faithful to what I know about it. The fact that the younger was really enamored of the old man, and that the old man wasn't particularly honest with him all the time and, maybe even, used him in ways he didn't understand. But the younger one was happy to be used, too. What was most important for me as a storyteller was that we constantly suspect Henry's integrity, that he might just be full of hot air. But, nevertheless, even if he is full of hot air, he is having an effect. Henry is egotistical and admittedly perverted, but he never lies. And that's why I play with how much we can trust him.

SPC: On one hand, "Henry Fool" deals with spiritual, philosophical issues like art and its importance to society. On the other hand, the film plunges deep into the muck, with numerous references to bodily fluids. Why did you decide to go so deep into the scatological with your storytelling?

Hartley: It's just a desire. Maybe in my process of growing up and making films, I had never done that, so I decided to just roll up my shirt sleeves and try something completely different. I really wanted a loud, ugly beauty of a thing.

I wanted to be knee-deep in creatureal reality -- the blood, guts, urine, sperm, and spite of the common muck. And I wanted to amp it up to a comic book clarity. And this was a challenge for me because I usually shy away from the time consuming technical labor of stunts and effects (the puking was a lot of work). Sex -- the filming of sexual encounters -- is stunt work.

I wanted Henry to wallow in depravity. I needed him to be consistently and increasingly outrageous, because I had every intention of also showing him as possessing the highest human qualities. But I wanted these admirable aspects to be hard to see.

SPC: Normally you tend to hold back more with your storytelling.

Hartley: Yes, I think it's important to hold back on emotion. I don't really have a grand theory about it. If you show too much emotion, then it just gets watered down and there's no build. You have to keep the individual shots and the individual scenes carefully unemotional for the real emotion to be rendered.

SPC: People have characterized your work as controlled. You control the dialogue, the camera, the actors, the music. Did you feel in this film you opened up a little bit?

Hartley: Film is, for me, an art of composition. It's composed. Just as if I wrote a piece of music, I would compose the singing to correspond with the other instruments, and that's how I make films. It's never occurred to me that films could be anything else.

"Henry Fool" is just as carefully composed as any of my other films. But it's more obviously emotional, and that was a decision to make, to be more openly and clearly emotional. The story is kind of a response to the world around me. It was humming in a particular way and I said I've got to address this, now. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

SPC: In this film, Simon is the character who is most composed. Everyone else is acting out wildly.

Hartley: Yes, he displays some control. People are expressing themselves and doing things, but they're expressing, as in Warren's case, contempt, or in Fay's case, extreme desperation and low self-worth. And her mom is expressing very complicated emotions, too.

Simon's reticence is double-edged. I think he does want to participate in the world a little bit. But there's another side of that, too. His strength is an admirable thing. He has time to think about the actions he's going to make and the compassion he is willing to express.

I think for Simon the world is a really fascinating place. Whatever he has written, which we're really not privy to, is probably not an expression of desperation and loneliness. It's probably just a very clear-eyed look at the world, conveyed in a mode that's not easily recognizable. Maybe it's not clearly or easily sentimental or cynically intellectual. It scares some people, but some people love it.

Simon is, in fact, probably clear-sighted and strong. Impossibly strong. Frighteningly straight forward. Yes, I always imagine that whatever he has written is a frightfully accurate, clear-eyed view of his parents, his friends and the world as he sees it. He sees clearly, and that is why he is tongue tied. He has been struck dumb by the insight he possesses. Henry does not give Simon insight -- he gives him eloquence.

SPC: Why didn't you show Simon's work?

Hartley: Because films about artists always get it wrong when they show the art. And they let the audience participate in the judgment of the art, whether the art is good or bad.

I wanted to focus attention on how reaction creates value or non-value. This is not a story about what art is. It may be a story about what art seems like when it enters the world. But, for the most part, the artistic worth of Simon's poem is not the issue. The issue is the manner in which Simon's life changes as a result of knowing Henry and how that change begins to threaten Henry.

SPC: What about some of these characters along the sidelines of the story? You have Kevin Corrigan's character...

Hartley: Warren. My aspiration -- wrong-headed or not, was to create a broad but meaningful sketch of our culture and some of its current preoccupations, to leave a fossil of a particular time and place in America. I wanted to make a few little brush strokes, shading in, giving some definition to the country we're living in now, including its intolerance, desperation and fast pace. I found Warren's misguided foray into politics admirable. He wants to do something, be involved in something, but he blindly chose the wrong thing. Maybe he actually loves that guy that he's campaigning for. But he's too immature to understand what politics are. And when the guy loses, he becomes cynical and bitter.

SPC: But even so, you don't hate him.

Hartley: No, you don't. You've got to be careful with your characters. You have to love your villains when you're writing them.

SPC: You also show the world around, the business of art, the publishing world through this editor who basically rejects Simon's work without a thought, then suddenly has a change of opinion when he sees that it can work in the marketplace.

Hartley: Yes, and I think that's legitimate. I like that character. I mean, he doesn't compromise his integrity. He says exactly why he's there. He says, "Well, it's growing on me. I'm spending more time with the poem," whatever. But it was clear, he says, in so many words, "I'm not an idiot. This can make a lot of money."

SPC: Many of your films deal with men's yearning for women and their corresponding inability to form lasting commitments.

Hartley: If I may say so, I think most of my films deal with men who want a lasting relationship with a woman so badly that they invariably make it an impossibility. I have always been amused and enlightened by men who shoot themselves in the foot.

If the earlier films often included a tacit approval of loneliness as integrity, "Henry Fool" is flooded with the knowledge of our mutual neediness. We have to put up with each other somehow and invent new strengths from old weaknesses. But still, loneliness is not a sin for me. It is a quality of character I admire if it's not allied to narcissism and/or self-pity.

"Henry Fool" is about the accidents of commitment. Henry's commitment as a friend and teacher to Simon is simply the result of his need to pontificate wildly -- he needs an audience. And, of course, Henry never really commits to Fay. They are a train wreck of a couple. But I think they do love each other and their son. And that's why I love them both -- they are conspirators perpetrating an irreconcilable difference. And who said people who love each other should be able to get along?

SPC: How do you hope people will respond to this movie?

Hartley: I hope that they're alert. That they're moved and they're kind of more awake to each other and to the world. That's why I wanted Henry to be legitimately disgusting. I didn't want it to be too easy to like him. I mean, he's so bombastic, so funny and disgusting -- it's easy just to fall in love with this man. So he really had to have been in prison for something inexcusable. And not only that -- but he doesn't even apologize. And you can say, "Oh, he's just not really dealing with this." Or something like that. But whatever it is - it's ugly.

When we first showed it, a distinct nervous silence came over the audience when Henry tells Simon that he "was caught in flagranti delicto screwing a 13-year-old girl named Susan." It was a tense moment, and I would not have been surprised if someone had stood up and shouted, "Fuck you, Hal Hartley!"

Somehow, it would have been appropriate. I was spending all this energy making us like this disgusting guy and perhaps, now I had crossed the line; attempted a joke at the expense of innocence.

I was willing to risk that this would seem callous and cheaply sensational, perhaps even a pathetic and ill-advised attempt at titillation. The reason for it is Pearl towards the end of the film. I, myself, am repulsed by Henry in that moment with Simon, not because of what he has done, but because of what he is doing; making excuses, glorifying (by almost any standard) his basically sordid past

SPC: In anticipating that response from the audience, were you afraid that they were going to think that you were saying: "Accept what this guy has done!"

Hartley: We have no choice but to accept what he has done. The hard part is about how we judge him. We can only take him at his word. He claims this 13-year-old girl, named Susan, knew how to play upon his weaknesses which, he admits, are "deep and many."

This scene plays in direct relation to the scene with Pearl near the end of the film where this other 13 year-old girl attempts -- for very different reasons -- to play upon what she has heard are Henry's weaknesses.

I hope there is some fear in the audience that Henry is capable -- in that moment-- of making a horrible mistake.

The Great Acting Blog: "The Audition - A Short Script - Part 3"

INTERVIEWER

That's ok, don't worry, we got it. So, y'know, in your own time, take it from the top please - great face.

 

Silence as Tony prepares himself...

 

TONY

…..”This here land is my father's land”...

 

INTERVIEWER

Sorry, sorry to interrupt there Tony. It's great, what you're doing is great.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

But just on that first line, it needs to be “this here land is my father's land”, what you're doing is “this here land is my father's land”, do you see?

 

TONY

Right, ok, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

“This here land is my father's land”, it's very good, what you're doing is very good, and I know you've only had the script for a couple of days, but it needs to be “this here land is my father's land”, not “this here land is my father's land,” which is what you're doing.

 

TONY

(to himself)

“this here land is my father's land”, right yep, got it.

 

INTERVIEWER

Have you got that?

 

TONY

Right, yep, thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

Good. Lets go from the top again. In your own time please Tony.

 

TONY

.....”This here land is my father's land”.

 

INTERVIEWER

Sorry Tony, sorry to be such a stickler, but it's such an important speech. It's “this here land is my father's land”, do you see? The stress, the intention. You're saying: “this here land is my father's land”, what it needs to be is: “this here land is my father's land”, it's the meaning, do you see?

 

TONY

Rrriiiight, ok, yep, I thought you meant – no no, ok no, I've got it now. Yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

You've got it?

 

TONY

Yep yep yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok great. Lets go again.

 

TONY

From the top?

 

INTERVIEWER

Yes please.

 

Again, a silence as Tony prepares himself....

 

TONY

…..”this here land is my father's land”

 

INTERVIEWER

Hahahaha!...I think it's one of those days Tony, the tube was delayed or something, I get those days myself. Sorry, I know you're a very experienced actor, but it's “this here land is my father's land” - d'you see?

 

TONY

Rrrright. Yeah.

 

INTERVIEWER

Do you see the difference: “this here land is my father's land”, not, “this here land is my father's land”, if you put the stress -

 

TONY

Right.

 

INTERVIEWER

• in the wrong place, we lose the sense of the line.

 

TONY

Ok, yep – not sure what happened to me there.

 

INTERVIEWER

I know, it's probably one of those days, we all get 'em, I get 'em, we all get 'em, it just doesn't snap into place. But don't worry, you're doing well, and I know it's not easy.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

So, lets go from the top again.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

Lovely. In your own time please Tony.

 

TONY

…..”this here land is my father's land”.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, sorry Tony. Would you like a glass of water?

 

TONY

No, I'm fine, thank-you.

 

INTERVIEWER

Is it stuffy in here, would you like me to open a window or something?

 

TONY

No, I'm fine thank-you.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, because we need to work on this opening line. What you're saying is “this here land is my father's land”.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

What it needs to be is “this here land is my father's land”.

 

Pause, as Tony studies the script.

 

INTERVIEWER

Have you got that?

 

TONY

So, “this here land is my father's land.”

 

INTERVIEWER

Land (they overlap on “land”). Not, what you're doing, which is: “this here land is my father's land”.

 

TONY

“father's land” right right right. Got it.

 

INTERVIEWER

Got it?

 

TONY

“this here land is my father's land”, as oppose to “this here land is my father's land”

 

INTERVIEWER

(overlapping with Tony's 2^nd quote) “this here land is my father's land”.

 

TONY

Right right right right right right right right right, yep yep yep yep yep, got it got it got it got it got it - “this here land is my father's land”.

 

INTERVIEWER

“This here land is my father's land”.

 

TONY

(overlappIng from 1^st “land”) “land is my father's land”, got it got it got it.

 

INTERVIEWER

Have you got it now? “This here land is my father's land”.

 

TONY

Yep, got it got it, “this here land is my fathers land” yep yep yep yep yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

Brilliant.

 

TONY

Finally sinking into the old grey matter.

 

INTERVIEWER

Wonderful. So, if we can go again please.

 

TONY

Absolutely.

 

INTERVIEWER

From the top. And in your own time of course.

 

Silence...then:

 

TONY

”this here land is my father's land”.

 

 

INTERVIEWER

Sorry Tony, let me interrupt you. That was a really good try by the way, you're doing really well.

 

TONY

Ok....

 

INTERVIEWER

I'm just looking at your....'Cause, this isn't...you're a pretty experienced actor right?

 

TONY

Yeah.

 

INTERVIEWER

This isn't your first casting is it.

 

TONY

No.

 

INTERVIEWER

No, looking at your CV you've done quite a lot of stuff.

 

TONY

…..

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, no, that's fine.

 

TONY

…...

 

INTERVIEWER

Umm, ok, no, lets try once more. From the top.

 

TONY

Do you want me to -

 

INTERVIEWER

No no, lets just do one, in your own time.

 

TONY

So, it's -

 

INTERVIEWER

In your own time, Tony, please.

 

Long silence, as Tony prepares himself....

 

TONY

(Coughs)…..”This”...(Coughs)..”This here land, is my father's land”.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, lets....Well....that's great. Thank-you. Thank-you for coming in.

 

TONY

…...

 

INTERVIEWER

So, we're letting people know over the next couple of weeks. Obviously we've got other actors to see.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

Any questions?

 

TONY

Uhh, no, not at this point.

 

INTERVIEWER

Well, lovely, great, thanks. Thanks for coming in. All the best.

 

TONY

(rises)

No problem. Thanks. (turns)

 

INTERVIEWER

It's the other way. Thanks, Tony.

 

TONY

(turns the other way)

Thanks.

 

Tony exits frame and we hear his footsteps as he walks away.

 

TONY (cont'd, off)

Oh...forgot...(we hear his footsteps coming back, and he re-enters the frame and picks-up his bag, holding it up to indicate to the interviewer why he came back).

 

INTERVIEWER

Thanks, Tony.

 

TONY

Thanks.

 

We hear Tony's footsteps again as he walks away, then we hear the door open and close.

 

THE END

 

 

The Great Acting Blog: "The Audition - A Short Script - Part 2

THE AUDITION

 

A room.

 

 

INTERVIEWER

Hi Tony.

 

TONY

Hi.

 

INTERVIEWER

Thanks for coming in.

 

TONY

No problem.

 

INTERVIEWER

Please, take a seat.

 

TONY

(enters frame by sitting)

Thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

So, you got my email.

 

TONY

(showing some pages)

Yes, thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

Oh good, you got the script.

 

TONY

Yes, thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

What did you...did you have a chance to look at it?

 

TONY

Yes I did, thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

And what did you think?

 

TONY

Yeah, great, loved it. Plenty to get my teeth into.

 

INTERVIEWER

Oh great, you connected with it.

 

TONY

Oh yes, very much so.

 

 

INTERVIEWER

Oh terrific, that's excellent. Now, how I want today to work is: I think we should have a read, read the script, we'll work it a little bit, see what you come up with.

 

TONY

Right, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

So we'll read the script, then I'll tell you a little bit more about the production.

 

TONY

Right, great.

 

INTERVIEWER

A little bit more about the production, about ourselves, the company, etcetera.

 

TONY

Great, yeah.

 

INTERVIEWER

So, but first lets have a little reading, lets have a look at you.

 

Tony smiles, affably.

 

INTERVIEWER (cont'd)

See what you come up with.

 

TONY

Yep, great.

 

INTERVIEWER

And you said you had a chance to look at it.

 

TONY

Yes.

 

INTERVIEWER

Have you got any questions about it.

 

TONY

Nope, not at this point.

 

INTERVIEWER

Or would you prefer to plunge right in?

 

TONY

Yep, dive right in, see what we've got and then we can work it from there.

 

INTERVIEWER

Yep great, lets dive in, see what you've come up with.

 

TONY

Lovely, great.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok.

 

TONY

Great.

 

INTERVIEWER

So you've got the script.

 

TONY

Yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

You don't need me to give you a script.

 

TONY

Nope, got a script thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

Great. Which part did I give you?

 

TONY

As in which part am I playing?

 

INTERVIEWER

No, I meant -

 

TONY

Oh sorry.

 

INTERVIEWER

Which part of the script did I give you to look at.

 

TONY

Oh sorry.

 

INTERVIEWER

Which scene.

 

TONY

Oh sorry sorry sorry sorry – this one (turns pages toward interviewer).

 

INTERVIEWER

Which is that?....Oh crumbs, we gave you the “father's land” speech.

 

TONY

Yes.

 

INTERVIEWER

Crickey, The Big One.

 

TONY

Yes.

 

INTERVIEWER

Well, I'd love to see what you've come up with.

 

TONY

Great, yeah.

 

INTERVIEWER

And, you've looked at it, you're happy with everything.

 

TONY

Absolutely, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok...So, just relax. I want you to relax. Enjoy it.

 

TONY

Yep, great, thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

Enjoy it, ok, you're right for the part, dont worry about that, that's why you're in the room.

 

TONY

Great, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

So, dont worry about that, just relax, you don't need to worry about acting, or the character.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

You're in the room because you're right for the part, ok, you dont need to worry about characterization, doing a character, all that, just relax, be yourself, and, y'know, and, enjoy it.

 

TONY

Yep, lovely, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

So...yeah, lets, y'know, lets go for one.

 

 

TONY

Yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

Now, it is a lengthy speech.

 

TONY

Yep, it's a long one, but the way the writing is it doesn't seem long.

 

INTERVIEWER

Oh good.

 

TONY

So...

 

INTERVIEWER

So, you like the writing.

 

TONY

Oh yeah, I think it's really well written.

 

INTERVIEWER

Oh good, that is good. Now: Tony: I know you said you don't want to talk about the scene before you do it.

 

TONY

Well, I dont mind.

 

INTERVIEWER

No, no.

 

TONY

I don't mind talking about it, if, if...

 

INTERVIEWER

No no, I think we'll just go for it.

 

TONY

Right, yep, we can go for it or we can talk about it, I'm happy either way...

 

INTERVIEWER

We'll go for it, then maybe we'll talk about it after.

 

TONY

Right, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

How does that sound?

 

TONY

Right, yep, perfect, great.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, lovely. The only thing I'd say at this point is: the audience need to feel sorry for the character at this point.

 

TONY

Right, ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

They need to feel sorry for him, we need the character to be sympathetic.

 

TONY

Right, yep, sympathy, yep.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok?

 

TONY

Yep, great.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok. Let's go for one. Yes, it is a big speech, a lengthy speech, but as I said before, relax, enjoy it, I'm looking forward to your interpretation, to to, seeing what you've come up with. Ok?

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

Ok, great...You've got a great face by the way.

 

TONY

Thanks.

 

INTERVIEWER

Have you been told that before? You hear it all the time I bet.

 

TONY

Ha, ha.

 

INTERVIEWER

Great face. Anyway. The “my father's land speech”, now just before we start, I want you to look into the camera please.

 

TONY

(indicating the camera)

This one?

 

INTERVIEWER

Yes please, look into the camera, and I want you to tell us you're name, and what part you reading for.

 

TONY

Ok.

 

INTERVIEWER

In your own time please.

 

TONY

(into camera)

My name is Tony Wallis, and I'm reading for the part of Arthur...no, sorry, Peter, I'm reading for the part of Peter, Peter, not Arthur, sorry sorry sorry, Peter.

 

The Great Acting Blog: "The Audition - A Short Script - Part 3"

INTERVIEWER Sorry Tony, let me interrupt you. That was a really good try by the way, you're doing really well. TONY Ok.... INTERVIEWER I'm just looking at your....'Cause, this isn't...you're a pretty experienced actor right? TONY Yeah. INTERVIEWER This isn't your first casting is it. TONY No. INTERVIEWER No, looking at your CV you've done quite a lot of stuff. TONY ….. INTERVIEWER Ok, no, that's fine. TONY …... INTERVIEWER Umm, ok, no, lets try once more. From the top. TONY Do you want me to - INTERVIEWER No no, lets just do one, in your own time. TONY So, it's - INTERVIEWER In your own time, Tony, please. Long silence, as Tony prepares himself.... TONY (Coughs)…..”This”...(Coughs)..”This here land, is my father's land”. INTERVIEWER Ok, lets....Well....that's great. Thank-you. Thank-you for coming in. TONY …... INTERVIEWER So, we're letting people know over the next couple of weeks. Obviously we've got other actors to see. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER Any questions? TONY Uhh, no, not at this point. INTERVIEWER Well, lovely, great, thanks. Thanks for coming in. All the best. TONY (rises) No problem. Thanks. (turns) INTERVIEWER It's the other way. Thanks, Tony. TONY (turns the other way) Thanks. Tony exits frame and we hear his footsteps as he walks away. TONY (cont'd, off) Oh...forgot...(we hear his footsteps coming back, and he re-enters the frame and picks-up his bag, holding it up to indicate to the interviewer why he came back). INTERVIEWER Thanks, Tony. TONY Thanks. We hear Tony's footsteps again as he walks away, then we hear the door open and close. THE END

The Great Acting Blog: "The Audition - A Short Script - Part 2"

For background notes on the script, please visit The Audtion - A Short Script - Part 2. THE AUDITION A room. INTERVIEWER Hi Tony. TONY Hi. INTERVIEWER Thanks for coming in. TONY No problem. INTERVIEWER Please, take a seat. TONY (enters frame by sitting) Thanks. INTERVIEWER So, you got my email. TONY (showing some pages) Yes, thanks. INTERVIEWER Oh good, you got the script. TONY Yes, thanks. INTERVIEWER What did you...did you have a chance to look at it? TONY Yes I did, thanks. INTERVIEWER And what did you think? TONY Yeah, great, loved it. Plenty to get my teeth into. INTERVIEWER Oh great, you connected with it. TONY Oh yes, very much so. INTERVIEWER Oh terrific, that's excellent. Now, how I want today to work is: I think we should have a read, read the script, we'll work it a little bit, see what you come up with. TONY Right, yep. INTERVIEWER So we'll read the script, then I'll tell you a little bit more about the production. TONY Right, great. INTERVIEWER A little bit more about the production, about ourselves, the company, etcetera. TONY Great, yeah. INTERVIEWER So, but first lets have a little reading, lets have a look at you. Tony smiles, affably. INTERVIEWER (cont'd) See what you come up with. TONY Yep, great. INTERVIEWER And you said you had a chance to look at it. TONY Yes. INTERVIEWER Have you got any questions about it. TONY Nope, not at this point. INTERVIEWER Or would you prefer to plunge right in? TONY Yep, dive right in, see what we've got and then we can work it from there. INTERVIEWER Yep great, lets dive in, see what you've come up with. TONY Lovely, great. INTERVIEWER Ok. TONY Great. INTERVIEWER So you've got the script. TONY Yep. INTERVIEWER You don't need me to give you a script. TONY Nope, got a script thanks. INTERVIEWER Great. Which part did I give you? TONY As in which part am I playing? INTERVIEWER No, I meant - TONY Oh sorry. INTERVIEWER Which part of the script did I give you to look at. TONY Oh sorry. INTERVIEWER Which scene. TONY Oh sorry sorry sorry sorry – this one (turns pages toward interviewer). INTERVIEWER Which is that?....Oh crumbs, we gave you the “father's land” speech. TONY Yes. INTERVIEWER Crickey, The Big One. TONY Yes. INTERVIEWER Well, I'd love to see what you've come up with. TONY Great, yeah. INTERVIEWER And, you've looked at it, you're happy with everything. TONY Absolutely, yep. INTERVIEWER Ok...So, just relax. I want you to relax. Enjoy it. TONY Yep, great, thanks. INTERVIEWER Enjoy it, ok, you're right for the part, dont worry about that, that's why you're in the room. TONY Great, yep. INTERVIEWER So, dont worry about that, just relax, you don't need to worry about acting, or the character. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER You're in the room because you're right for the part, ok, you dont need to worry about characterization, doing a character, all that, just relax, be yourself, and, y'know, and, enjoy it. TONY Yep, lovely, yep. INTERVIEWER So...yeah, lets, y'know, lets go for one. TONY Yep. INTERVIEWER Now, it is a lengthy speech. TONY Yep, it's a long one, but the way the writing is it doesn't seem long. INTERVIEWER Oh good. TONY So... INTERVIEWER So, you like the writing. TONY Oh yeah, I think it's really well written. INTERVIEWER Oh good, that is good. Now: Tony: I know you said you don't want to talk about the scene before you do it. TONY Well, I dont mind. INTERVIEWER No, no. TONY I don't mind talking about it, if, if... INTERVIEWER No no, I think we'll just go for it. TONY Right, yep, we can go for it or we can talk about it, I'm happy either way... INTERVIEWER We'll go for it, then maybe we'll talk about it after. TONY Right, yep. INTERVIEWER How does that sound? TONY Right, yep, perfect, great. INTERVIEWER Ok, lovely. The only thing I'd say at this point is: the audience need to feel sorry for the character at this point. TONY Right, ok. INTERVIEWER They need to feel sorry for him, we need the character to be sympathetic. TONY Right, yep, sympathy, yep. INTERVIEWER Ok? TONY Yep, great. INTERVIEWER Ok. Let's go for one. Yes, it is a big speech, a lengthy speech, but as I said before, relax, enjoy it, I'm looking forward to your interpretation, to to, seeing what you've come up with. Ok? TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER Ok, great...You've got a great face by the way. TONY Thanks. INTERVIEWER Have you been told that before? You hear it all the time I bet. TONY Ha, ha. INTERVIEWER Great face. Anyway. The “my father's land speech”, now just before we start, I want you to look into the camera please. TONY (indicating the camera) This one? INTERVIEWER Yes please, look into the camera, and I want you to tell us you're name, and what part you reading for. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER In your own time please. TONY (into camera) My name is Tony Wallis, and I'm reading for the part of Arthur...no, sorry, Peter, I'm reading for the part of Peter, Peter, not Arthur, sorry sorry sorry, Peter. INTERVIEWER That's ok, don't worry, we got it. So, y'know, in your own time, take it from the top please - great face. Silence as Tony prepares himself... TONY …..”This here land is my father's land”... INTERVIEWER Sorry, sorry to interrupt there Tony. It's great, what you're doing is great. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER But just on that first line, it needs to be “this here land is my father's land”, what you're doing is “this here land is my father's land”, do you see? TONY Right, ok, yep. INTERVIEWER “This here land is my father's land”, it's very good, what you're doing is very good, and I know you've only had the script for a couple of days, but it needs to be “this here land is my father's land”, not “this here land is my father's land,” which is what you're doing. TONY (to himself) “this here land is my father's land”, right yep, got it. INTERVIEWER Have you got that? TONY Right, yep, thanks. INTERVIEWER Good. Lets go from the top again. In your own time please Tony. TONY .....”This here land is my father's land”. INTERVIEWER Sorry Tony, sorry to be such a stickler, but it's such an important speech. It's “this here land is my father's land”, do you see? The stress, the intention. You're saying: “this here land is my father's land”, what it needs to be is: “this here land is my father's land”, it's the meaning, do you see? TONY Rrriiiight, ok, yep, I thought you meant – no no, ok no, I've got it now. Yep. INTERVIEWER You've got it? TONY Yep yep yep. INTERVIEWER Ok great. Lets go again. TONY From the top? INTERVIEWER Yes please. Again, a silence as Tony prepares himself.... TONY …..”this here land is my father's land” INTERVIEWER Hahahaha!...I think it's one of those days Tony, the tube was delayed or something, I get those days myself. Sorry, I know you're a very experienced actor, but it's “this here land is my father's land” - d'you see? TONY Rrrright. Yeah. INTERVIEWER Do you see the difference: “this here land is my father's land”, not, “this here land is my father's land”, if you put the stress - TONY Right. INTERVIEWER in the wrong place, we lose the sense of the line. TONY Ok, yep – not sure what happened to me there. INTERVIEWER I know, it's probably one of those days, we all get 'em, I get 'em, we all get 'em, it just doesn't snap into place. But don't worry, you're doing well, and I know it's not easy. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER So, lets go from the top again. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER Lovely. In your own time please Tony. TONY …..”this here land is my father's land”. INTERVIEWER Ok, sorry Tony. Would you like a glass of water? TONY No, I'm fine, thank-you. INTERVIEWER Is it stuffy in here, would you like me to open a window or something? TONY No, I'm fine thank-you. INTERVIEWER Ok, because we need to work on this opening line. What you're saying is “this here land is my father's land”. TONY Ok. INTERVIEWER What it needs to be is “this here land is my father's land”. Pause, as Tony studies the script. INTERVIEWER Have you got that? TONY So, “this here land is my father's land.” INTERVIEWER Land (they overlap on “land”). Not, what you're doing, which is: “this here land is my father's land”. TONY “father's land” right right right. Got it. INTERVIEWER Got it? TONY “this here land is my father's land”, as oppose to “this here land is my father's land” INTERVIEWER (overlapping with Tony's 2nd quote) “this here land is my father's land”. TONY Right right right right right right right right right, yep yep yep yep yep, got it got it got it got it got it - “this here land is my father's land”. INTERVIEWER “This here land is my father's land”. TONY (overlappIng from 1st “land”) “land is my father's land”, got it got it got it. INTERVIEWER Have you got it now? “This here land is my father's land”. TONY Yep, got it got it, “this here land is my fathers land” yep yep yep yep yep. INTERVIEWER Brilliant. TONY Finally sinking into the old grey matter. INTERVIEWER Wonderful. So, if we can go again please. TONY Absolutely. INTERVIEWER From the top. And in your own time of course. Silence...then: TONY ”this here land is my father's land”.