Indiewire’s Peter Knegt talks to Sam Mendes about the dizzying expectations awards season heaps upon a film:
“For me, I’ve learned that the best thing you can be doing when a movie comes out that is awards-eligible is doing something else,” said Mendes. “At the moment, I’m rehearsing for a new play and I’m totally immersed in that. And I’ve made another movie since ‘Road.’ Obviously I care deeply about the film and I really, passionately want it to succeed, but I’ve learned if you want something too much it’s the worst thing for it. You overload it with hopes and expectations.”
Mendes learned this when he made “American Beauty,” which came out of nowhere to win Oscars for best picture, director, actor and screenplay. “I had absolutely no clue that I was making a movie that would get anywhere near the Academy Awards, let alone win. So for me, the process is to get back to that level of disengagement. It’s better to be disengaged. Don’t sit on the internet all day. Don’t read the bloggers or the critics. Just let it be. It’s gonna be what it is and what it does is what it’s gonna do whether you read those things or not. I’m just a passenger. I like to be working on something that’s creative and artistically fulfilling. Fun that it is, the awards circuit is neither of those things.”
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Well, gotta go. Bye!
Sam Mendes is a gifted director for the stage. I’m seeing his productions of The Cherry Orchard and Winter’s Tale in March at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I think he’s smart to just move on and get immersed in his work.
Don’t sit on the internet all day. Don’t read the bloggers or the critics.
Sam? Oh Saaaaaaaaaaaaam? Come baaaaaack. We promise we’ll be nice this time… [sharpens knife]
Which begs the question…
… are we actually read by these people?
T.
I think we are probably being read by these people, otherwise how are they going to talk about it without knowing about it. And, why do you think all these blogs and websites are filled with FYC ads everywhere? Because, probably, “these people”, read us
Attention “those people”:
NO Doubt please.
YES to The Dark Knight and Ben Button
There I’ve said it.
T.
Come back!!!
Hey, those people
I want to add to Tufas’s list:
no Clint Eastwood please, we only need one batman this year.
Don’t forget WALL-E! Best motion picture of the year.
VOTE FOR WALL-E!
David Denby manages to eloquently express many of my feelings about Revolutionary Road in his New Yorker review; he also manages to write a non-review of Gran Torino.
I found Denby’s review of RR puzzling because he chose it as one of his 10 best but almost makes you not want to see the film.
I found his putting it on a 10 best list puzzling, even more so now after reading the review. Bizarre. Maybe he didn’t like that many movies this year. (Benefit-of-the-Doubt-Dept.)
Well Anthony Lane doesn’t seem to like anything so I couldn’t take his 10 best list in The New Yorker seriously.
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