Savage Messiah: Ken Russell > Savage Messiah: Ken Russell
Ken Russell in The Times on Tuesday 2008
Iain Fisher:
Nothing by Ken today (well it is yesterday now) in The Times
Iain Fisher:
Ken in The Times today, 25 Nov 2008.
Interestingly the paper version of the article is titled Love, hate, envy, esteem- it's all in the game while the on line version has a different title, using a quote from the text Most directors get into bed with their actors, metaphorically speaking
Ken talks of Valentino, then shifts to writers. On Valentino, with star Rudolf Nureyev "…Rudolf … much worse was the massive backhander that nearly knocked the lovely Michelle Phillips off her feet when she attempted to offer him some advice. That was the moment when he lost the respect of the entire crew."
Then on the writer of Altered States: "…Chayefsky had a finger in every pie from sets to script, which I simply had to tolerate. But when he walked on to the set of what was meant to be a boozy party in an Italian restaurant on our first day of shooting and told the cast to stop acting so drunk... I'm very patient until I'm not at all. Not only did he alienate the actors but also the production company, which sent him 3,000 miles back to New York."
On long time collaborator Melvyn Bragg: "But Chayefsky is the exception that proves the rule. Generally speaking, I get on well with writers and have from the early 1960s to the present day. I'm thinking of Melvyn Bragg…. I last saw him a few nights ago at a preview of my present off-Broadway play, Mindgame, when I told him I'd give my eyeteeth to direct his masterpiece new novel Remember Me. …But enough of the past, what of the future? Well, someone I've never met but would certainly like to meet and who I actually envy is Danny Boyle. I loved the baby crawling on the ceiling in Trainspotting, join his children in wondering how on earth he made London a deserted ghost city in 28 Days Later, plunged into the sun in Sunshine and was blown away by his new powerhouse Slumdog Millionaire. He's a rebel after my own heart! "
BoyScoutKevin:
I'm not surprised that Busby Berkeley was one of Russell's influences. What did surprise me was that when Russell mentioned Berkeley, he did not mention "Lisztomania." When I see one of Ken's films, that's the one that I associate with Berkeley.
As for the differences between stage and film . . .
In film, the director--seemingly--seems be able to direct where the viewer looks through the use of the camera. In stage, while the director can somewhat direct where the viewer looks, the viewer can look here and there, and not necessarily where the director wants the viewer to look.
Iain Fisher:
Nothing by Ken in The Times yesterday 18 Nov 2008.
Iain Fisher:
Ken writes in The Times today, 11 Nov 2008 about his 10 influences. Usually when Ken does something like this it seems arbitrary, but this time it is well thought out and sincere, especially the last one. The influences are
The Movies
“…Mum was a real film fan, taking me along with her to the cinema at least three times a week till it was time to start school…”
The Conker Tree
“…the big conker (horse chestnut) tree at the end of the garden, which became a galleon if I'd just seen The Black Pirate, Sherwood Forest after Robin Hood, or a cathedral after a screening of The Hunchback of Notre Dame…"
Busby Berkeley
“…I was mesmerised by the magnificent movies of Busby Berkeley: 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, et al. Art deco in dance of a high order, unashamedly inspiring several numbers in my screen version of The Boyfriend. ..”
Jean Cocteau
“La Belle et la Bête, which had my daughter Molly, then 6, and myself in tears the last time I saw it”. Ken includes a quote from Cocteau “An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”
Amelia and the Angel
Ken mentions La Belle et la Bête which inspired his early home movie Amelia and the Angel.
Sir Huw Wheldon
As always Ken mentions Huw of the BBC Monitor films as a major influence in his career.
Classical music
“…The day I heard Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto on the radio, while vegetating at home after being invalided out of the Merchant Navy, was the day that led me to the discovery of classical music, which changed my life...” This is the piece that Richard Chamberlaine plays in the concert scene of The Music Lovers.
The Roman Catholic Church
“…one of my greatest influences of all - the Catholic Church… I went for instruction from the Poor Clares in Portobello Road and after six months' Bible-bashing, I was sent to a local priest for baptism. “Have you anything to say before you take this enormous step?” he asked as I faced him across the font. “Well, to tell you the truth, Father,” I stammered, “there are times when I just don't believe.” “Join the club,” he replied. I did, and I never looked back…”
Skiddaw mountain
“…Skiddaw, Coleridge's “God made manifest”, as he called his favourite mountain in the Lake District. Perched above Keswick like a mighty bird of prey with a five-mile wingspread, it seems poised, ready at any moment to take wing, fly down Derwentwater, up the Borrowdale Valley, over Castle Crag and into infinity, drawing the whole world up into its wake…”
The Other
And finally he mentions Elise his wife “…who pervades my every thought and deed. Everything I do, to quote Ludwig van Beethoven, is “für Elise”. If love is a tree, I live in its shade"
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