(46) Book Review: "My Lunches with Orson" edited by Peter Biskind (2013)

My Lunches with Orson edited by Peter Biskind (2013).

It took me a while to finish the last thirty pages or the last two conversations of the book, it was neither because the book got boring, nor because the conversations were not engaging, it was only because I knew the ending of it - Orson Welles will die. After acquiring such engaging, delightful, humorous and witty friends - Orson Welles and Henry Jaglom - it seemed unfair and hard that I will have to leave them sitting in Ma Maison by their lunch table. But it has come to that - the book is finished. This is The End. I am left in awe that for a quite some while I had two intelligent, shameless and captivating lunch chums.

I have no doubt that after reading this book quite a few directors are grinding their teeth, because now not only they have to compete with Welles as a filmmaker, but also as a brilliant raconteur outside of the film set.

From 1983 till 1985 Henry Jaglom, the director and friend of Welles, recorded his conversations with Welles over lunches at Ma Maison, the bistro in Hollywood. Not sure whether these recordings were Welles approved or not, because the "tape recorder was one of the only two things we [Jaglom and Welles] didn't speak about. The other was his [Welles] weight and its health implications." (Biskind 289), they reveal Welles unplugged, and it can be said with a certainty that throughout his life Welles stayed a first-rate raconteur and storyteller.

Orson Welles, 1977.

There is no need for a long introduction to Orson Welles (1915-1985), what he was and what he did, his work does the talking, moreover Welles was not only a skilled director, he was also a producer, an actor, a screenwriter, an author of essays, articles, plays and stories, and quite often he was joggling from one profession to other, often pressured for financial reasons. As Jean-Luc Godard remarked, "Everyone will always owe him everything." (Biskind 2). Now back to the lunch table, while I reveal for you some of my favourite moments from this enchanting book.

In the conversations with Jaglom, Welles is truthful, harsh, intimate, gives a revealing insight into a film industry, he is honest, rude and shocking, he has opinion on and about everything and everyone. Despite all that, Welles was an unlucky wretch when it came down to selling his own work, that can be seen in the conversation where Susan Smith from HBO joins Welles and Jaglom's lunch table, as Welles himself admits "I'm a bad seller."

Remembering that Marilyn Monroe was born on this day, June 1, I must note, true or not, but there might'n be Monroe, as we know her, if not for Welles. He tried to promote her career by taking her to the parties and introducing her to people, as Welles notes in the 6th conversation with Jaglom:

I [Welles] would point Marilyn out to Darryl [Zanuck], and  say, "What a sensational girl." He would answer, "She's just another stock player. We've got hundred of them. Stop trying to push these cunts on me. We've got her on for $125 a week." And then about six months later, Darryl was paying Marilyn $400,000, and the men were looking at her - because some stamp had been put on her.

In the first conversation Welles talks about "such a thing as physical  dislike" in which he states how much he dislikes Woody Allen physically and how Allen has "the Chaplin disease" - a particular "combination of arrogance and timidity", later in the same conversation Welles describes Brando's neck being "like a huge sausage, a shoe made of flesh" and reveals that he is a racist and dismisses Spencer Tracy as "one of those bitchy Irishmen", and states how he prefers Irishmen from Ireland over Irish-Americans:

Seven hundred years of bitter oppression changed their [Irish] character, gave them that passive meanness and cunning. All I can say is what Micheál Mac Liammóir said when we were making Othello, and I asked him, "Describe the Irish in one word." He said, "Malice." Look, I [Welles] love Ireland, I love Irish literature, I love everything they do, you know. But the Irish-Americans have invented an imitation Ireland which is unspeakable. The wearin' o' the green. Oh, my God, to vomit!

After living for a year in Ireland and now visiting for the last two years, I felt particularly excited, when I got to know that Welles has met William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and other "famous Gaelic nationalists"; who knows maybe he walked around Coole Park and maybe I have walked where he once walked.

This is only a dip in the first forty or so pages of the book, I have to stop now, before I re-tell you all of the stories. Every conversation will make you laugh, cry, yell, smile or argue back, it definitely won't leave you apathetic. So next time, when you sit down to a lunch table use this opportunity to get closer to a legend, Orson Welles, in the best part he has ever played - Orson Welles.

(45) Penny Dreadful (2014-): "Enter freely and of your own free will!"*

Penny Dreadful (2014-).

Quite some long time ago after watching Dark Shadows (2012) and once again being impressed by Eva Green I checked her IMDb page to see whether there might be some film or TV series with her that I haven't seen. At a time there were quite a few films in pre- and post-production, as well as a TV series Penny Dreadful, for which synopsis were more than fascinating. Thus every few months I wrote down reminders, so that I wouldn't forget about it. Now with a shimmering zeal in my eyes I can tell you, my dear reader, that it is only one month left till the premiere of Penny Dreadful.

The term 'penny dreadful' comes from mid-nineteenth century Britain, when demand for literature increased. The penny dreadfuls were a cheaper alternative to mainstream fictional works. It was a type of British fiction that featured serial stories, which came out over a number of weeks, and, accordingly, each part of the story cost but one old penny. They were called 'penny dreadfuls' because of their cheap nature and poor and 'dreadful' quality, nevertheless, they were popular publications and met the desires of the working class. Penny dreadfuls were not the most enlightening literature, however, they increased the literacy level in the industrial Britain. As creator and executive producer of the new TV series John Logan asserted in one of the behind the scenes video on Penny Dreadful blog: "What did Victorian's do?", as one might suspect, they didn't have TV, radio, internet or cinema, so "They read penny dreadfuls or they went to the theater."

Just like penny dreadfuls were serial stories, so is the Showtime eight episode TV series Penny Dreadful, which will contain different literary characters. From synopsis (Showtime homepage):

Some of literature's most terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and iconic figures from the novel Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of Victorian London. Penny Dreadful is a frightening psychological thriller that weaves together these classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama.

The TV series is set in 1891 in the time of Victorian society. Logan chose to set the series in this time period

not because it would be cool visually but because the Victorian era reminds me of right now ... They were on the cusp of the modern world … grappling with the very elemental question of what it means to be human. I sit down at my computer and I don't understand any of the new world zooming toward us. We're on the cusp of the same thing now: There's frightening dissonance and excitement for unchartered waters. We will pull these characters from where they're comfortable into unchartered waters, and, to me, that makes good drama. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Penny Dreadful is produced in Dublin, Ireland, created by John Logan, and stars Eva Green (The Dreamers, Cracks, Dark Shadows), Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, Hot Fuzz) and Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor).

Open up your organizers and mark it down - the new TV series Penny Dreadful will be premiered on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

For US viewers it will be broadcast on Showtime.
For Ireland and UK viewers it will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic.

See the full trailer below:

For more information and behind the scenes videos visit Penny Dreadful production blog.

*Bram Stoker, "Dracula".

(44) Short Film Sunday #29: A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan (2012)

A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan (2012).

Good evening, my dear readers, it is nice to write to you again. It has been a while, so Short Film Sunday is back, for today, who knows what will happen next Sunday or during the week. I know that I still owe you all a review of one certain book, it will come as a surprise at some point this year. I hope you are all doing well and have been busy in a good sense. Now back to the short film.

Today's short film will be existential and created in a way that would not be too common in a digital era - a cutout animation - it is one of the earliest forms of animation. In some ways it reminds me of Chinese shadow theater. For a while now I have been reading, flicking through, buying and carrying around Penguin's Great Ideas books, and Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus is next on my list after Immanuel Kant's An Answer to the Question: 'What is Enlightenment?'.

Therefore it only seemed suitable to introduce myself with the main idea of The Myth of Sisyphus before I start the reading, and what a better way to do it if not by watching an animation? Kati Rehback's created cutout animation A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan tells the story of Sisyphus, who has been punished by gods, and Ivan Denisovich, who has been sentenced to spend 3653 days in a Soviet prison camp. The short is based on the writings by Albert Camus and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, both works use existentialism to criticise existing orders and modes of society. The simplistic style of Rehback's cutout animation portrays both stories in a simple, yet in a captivating way, which highlights the monotony of Sisyphus rolling the rock up the mountain or Ivan's days in the Soviet prison camp.

That is some food for thought, enjoy my dear reader and hope to see you some time soon!

A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan from Kati Rehbeck on Vimeo.