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November 07, 2005
Today's producers don't give a damn about pretty girls, the mystery of cinema: Dean Tavoularis
73-year-old retired production designer Dean Tavoularis is receiving a tribute exhibition, "The Magician of Hollywood", reports Kathimerini. Coppola has said that you have “the soul of an architect.” Do you find the work of a set designer akin to that of an architect? I believe that if you describe the two arts you’ll find that they have a lot in common. The nature of set design is linked to architecture. It is pretty obvious in a film if the set designer knows anything about architecture or not. ... How was your experience of working with Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders? Back then production companies were smaller and more human. The difference was not in the fact that they were European. [Arthur] Penn had a lot in common with them. The atmosphere was just more familiar. Anyway, movies were made by Europeans who emigrated to New York and then Los Angeles. Back then, producers loved beautiful women, they lived on the edge, and within this way of life, they occasionally made brilliant movies. Today, producers are graduates of the Harvard School of Business, they don’t give a damn about pretty girls, about the mystery of cinema; they can’t see it and they don’t care. All they care about is how much they’re going to make at the box office and off the DVD... Whatever has to do with money. You can’t make films with this way of thinking."... We could say that while technology can be helpful, it also kills a film’s personal look? I’m not saying that we should get rid of technology. It’s just that some people abuse it. In “Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain,” for example, they used special effects but with substance and moderation. There was a reason, a meaning to it. On the other hand, “Matrix” or “Spider-Man” are studies on the use of technology; they don’t use it simply to make the narrative more attractive, like in “Amelie.” [More at the link.]
Posted by pride at November 7, 2005 11:46 AM
Comments
His comments reminded me that one day, after watching too much Turner Movie Classics, I remarked that Hollywood actors were once far more attractive.
Posted by: lindenen ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 7, 2005 06:54 PM
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