Eksklusivt interview: Danny Trejo fylder 70

At man skal ikke skue hunden på hårene, er Danny Trejo et godt bevis på. Den mexicansk-amerikanske birolleskuespiller, som fylder 70 år i dag, har ellers fremragende forudsætninger for at illudere barsk latinobørste. Danny Trejo tilbragte store dele af 1960'erne bag tremmer for væbnet røveri, og hans karakteristiske, hærgede fjæs skyldes dels et heftigt stofmisbrug, som han lagde bag sig i 1969, og dels alle de tæsk, han indkasserede i sin tid som fængselsbokser.

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Ved en tilfældighed havnede Danny Trejo i filmbranchen i midten af 1980'erne. Siden har han i mere end 100 biroller udfyldt nichen for latinamerikanske bøller så overbevisende, at han i dag hyldes som en kultfigur – især i kraft af hans samarbejde med instruktøren Robert Rodriguez, der gerne caster Danny Trejo som en slags maskot i sine film. Det var også Rodriguez, der i 2010 gav Trejo hans livs første hovedrolle som den fåmælte machohelt Machete i filmserien af samme navn.

> Læs også mit interview med Robert Rodriguez

Jeg sad til bords med Danny Trejo i Venedig, da ”Machete” havde verdenspremiere, og jeg måtte sande, at Danny Trejo bag sin garvede læderhud og bistre apparition er en lun, venlig, ydmyg og jordbunden bessefar - eller som Jessica Alba udtrykte det, en rigtig ”softie”. Især husker jeg, hvordan Danny Trejo under gruppeinterviewet skulede fascineret over mod min notesblok og spontant afbrød et svar for at udtrykke, hvor imponeret han var over denne danske journalists pertentlige, gnidrede håndskrift:

”That's amazing, that writing! Wow.”

Tillykke med de 70 år, Danny Trejo!

Danny Trejo at Venice Film Festival 2010

EXCERPTS FROM MY INTERVIEW WITH
Danny Trejo
(Venice 2010 – all rights reserved © Brian Iskov)

Danny Trejo on being typecast as a heavy:
I've always worked, but always as the bad guy. And people say, arent you afraid of being stereotyped? Come on, look at me! I dont look like a good guy (laughs).

I've watched guys sitting in gyms wasting their life waiting for that good guy part. Me, I wanna work, and Robert [Rodriguez] knows that. I'll play a tree if you want me to. And if you want me to put fruit on it, maybe I want more money. But I don't really pick and choose. Bad guys are easy for me, I just show up.

Danny Trejo on his violent background:
[Film violence?] None of it is real. Maybe the facial expressions are, but if it was real, someone would be dead. I've been exposed to violence. I always say, the first half of my life was a character study.

I was lightweight and welterweight champion [in San Quentin prison]. When I came out, I couldn't get a boxing licence because of the violence that I had on my record. So I became a drug counsellor.

Danny Trejo's film debut as a boxer in "Runaway Train" (1985)

Danny Trejo on his way into the movie business:
My first movie was ”Runaway Train” with Jon Voight. I got on by accident. I was a drug counsellor, and one of the kids I was working with asked me to come down and hang out with him because he was afraid he was gonna use. And I ran into a really good friend of mine from my past in the penitentiary called Eddie Bunker, who was a writer. Me and Eddie knew each other since 1962. My uncle bought a robbery from him in '62, that's where I met him. Then I met him in San Quentin, and again when he'd written the screenplay to ”Runaway Train”. He adapted it to American cinema because it was [originally written by] Aiakawa [Akira Kurosawa]. He asked me if I wanted a job training Eric Roberts how to box, and Andrei [Konchalovsky, the director] saw me and put me in the film.

Danny Trejo on taking Robert De Niro to a prison:
I always ask the leads in my movies whether they wanna go to juvenile hall or penitentiary to talk, because we always do that. [Robert] De Niro [who played opposite Trejo in ”Machete”] has been the only guy to go to the pen with me. He drove 60 miles to talk to a bunch of kids in prison. And it's amazing because he is not a public speaker. The interview guys know! And he talked for maybe a minute and half, and then he waited to shake everybody's hand. These guys, from 14 to 25, all murderers. They were so quiet and respectful, it was unreal. The prison guards got scared. Robert just captivated them.

Danny Trejo in "Machete" (2010)

CPH PIX: Terry Gilliam om "The Zero Theorem", Monty Python og Twitter

Jeg kan godt lide Terry Gilliam. Den farverige amerikaner er altid boblende fuld af humør, vanvidsideer og drilske stikpiller til mainstream Hollywood. I interviews er han forrygende veloplagt, som jeg opdagede, da jeg mødte ham i Venedig i 2005, og Terry Gilliam kæmper så indædt for at realisere sine galmandsværker – som man så det i dokumentaren "Lost in La Mancha" (2002) om hans forheksede evighedsprojekt "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" – at man dårligt kan andet end at holde af manden.

> Brødrene Grimm og Kaptajn Kaos: Mit interview med Terry Gilliam (2005)

Til gengæld har jeg det tit lidt svært med Terry Gilliams film. Hans seneste påhit, fremtidskomedien "The Zero Theorem", vises i aften og på torsdag, 10. marts, på CPH PIX, og trods sjove ideer hist og her er den som helhed en lidt anstrengt affære. Filmen, der havde verdenspremiere på sidste års Venedig-festival, kommer ikke i biografdistribution herhjemme.



Stemningen fejlede som sædvanlig intet, da Terry Gilliam indbød til Q&A om "The Zero Theorem" i Venedig. Trods sine efterhånden 73 år er det gamle Monty Python-medlem stadig en tornado af kåd, drenget energi, som klukker henrykt over egne og andres skæve indfald. Her er nogle af højdepunkterne.

Tweeting is an ugly, ugly habit. My mother told me, if I tweeted, I would go blind.

- Terry Gilliam, Venice 2013

I try very hard to be mediocre, but you need a lot of money to be mediocre.

- Terry Gilliam, Venice 2013

I got rid of them, they were holding me back, they were destroying me!

- Terry Gilliam on the Pythons, Venice 2013

NOTE TO FOREIGN READERS: The following are excerpts from Terry Gilliam's Disaronno Q&A at the Venice Film Festival 2013. "The Zero Theorem" is showing at this year's CPH PIX festival in Copenhagen.

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Terry Gilliam (left) at the Venice Film Festival, September 2013 | photo © Brian Iskov

TERRY GILLIAM OM DEN FARVERIGE FREMTID I "THE ZERO THEOREM" - OG FARERNE VED TWITTER
Terry Gilliam on the bright, poppy future in "The Zero Theorem" and the dangers of Twitter:

"Brazil" was rather dark, and I thought [for "The Zero Theorem"] we'd make a happy place where people play at work, where people can be eternally young and juvenile, and nobody has to pay attention to the real world. Just like all of you sitting here today. Just bringing your world alive.

It was important that it was a happy world with lots of shopping, lots of fun, and there was one man [the Christoph Waltz character] who was uncomfortable in that world and just trying to escape it. He wants to know the meaning of life, of his life, and I'm trying to encourage people to find the meaning of your life. Alone. Don't tweet, don't use the web. Go away, be alone and find out who you are.

The future is working backwards now. It has reached us before we have reached it. We're all living in the future and don't realise it. And we're trying to encourage everyone to believe that every day is the present, neither the past nor the future. Live for the present - it only exists for about one second every day. It's so fast, the present, that there's no time to tweet!

Melanie Thiérry in "The Zero Theorem" (2013)

TERRY GILLIAM OM SIT VERDENSSYN
Terry Gilliam on his world view:

I find the world a wonderful place, I find it really exciting. It's beautiful. I'm just more interested in the potentially negative problems of our society, and I like drawing attention to that. So hopefully we can change it for the better.

TERRY GILLIAM OM NUTIDENS HOLLYWOOD 
Terry Gilliam on Hollywood today:

The things that I'm interested in making movies about, the studios don't want to make. I don't want to have any more robots beating up sea creatures, there's enough aliens in the movies, enough people running away from big explosions. I think it's more interesting to look at the real world, occasionally, and try to make an interesting and hopefully funny and moving film.

TERRY GILLIAM OM AT LAVE FILM PÅ SMÅ BUDGETTER
Terry Gilliam on making low-budget films:

The first thing you need is a lot of very talented friends who will come and work for next to nothing. Then you have to go to Bucharest, where it's one of the cheapest places in Europe to work. What basically happens is, because of these restrictions, you have to find interesting solutions, and those interesting solutions are usually more original than my original ideas.



TERRY GILLIAM OM ARVEN EFTER MONTY PYTHON
Terry Gilliam on the legacy of Monty Python:

The curse of Monty Python was with me for a long time. We learned to be funny, we learned to work in skits, and it took a while to actually start to develop confidence to do what I wanted to do, and not do [it] the way we made Python. Monty Python was wonderful, it was fantastic. But it was also limited in the way we looked at the world. It was always satirical, it was never romantic or tragic, it was never those. Eventually I started making movies that were probably what I feel about the world as opposed to only being comic about the world.

We were very lucky with Monty Python, it was a specific time in the U.K., when the BBC was very laissez-faire. If they said, "Go and do something", you were able to do it. They gave us six-seven shows, and they worked. So they gave us more, and we developed our skills, our confidence and also our fanbase, the public. So we were successful. And we were incredibly lucky to have very wealthy, successful pop stars financing our movies. Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Pink Floyd, eventually George Harrison. So it was a very privileged position to then do exactly what we wanted to do, and surprise, surprise, the films were successful. And because I co-directed "Holy Grail" with Terry Jones, my name was on the screen saying "Directed by". That's the only thing you have to do, to get your name on the screen saying "directed by", and you're a film director!

Then I had to learn to direct films after that, and eventually I learnt [that] and realized I was better than the rest of the group. I got rid of them, they were holding me back, they were destroying me!

TERRY GILLIAM OM AT TEGNE OG ANIMERE
Terry Gilliam on drawing and animating:

The only time I draw now is birthday cards for my family and anniversary cards for my wife. And sometimes the Christmas card. If I continue on this downward path of lower and lower budget films, eventually I may have to go back to graphical illustration!



TERRY GILLIAM OM HANS FORHEKSEDE DRØMMEPROJEKT "DON QUIXOTE"
Terry Gilliam on his jinxed dream project "Don Quixote":

When I make a film, it's like we go into the ocean, and the storm's crashing, and everything breaks. And then, when we finish it, we go back into the little harbour, and we think about making Don Quixote again. Sometimes the boat goes out, and sometimes it sinks, and sometimes it might go forward, and we can get into the storm with the Don Quixote boat. But not yet. I think it's been six [of these "storms" to date]. Maybe seven.

TERRY GILLIAM OM SIN GÆSTEROLLE I DEN KOMMENDE "JUPITER ASCENDING"
Terry Gilliam on his cameo in the upcoming "Jupiter Ascending":

The Wachowski siblings asked me if I would play a part, because there's a scene that's sort of an homage to "Brazil", so they needed a bureaucrat, and I get to play [one]. And I get to work with Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, and I do all the talking. And I thought it would be interesting to be a part of a film that has a budget bigger than 150 billion dollars!

CPH PIX 2014: William Friedkin - guldkorn fra Venedig

Så er der CPH PIX igen! Fra i dag, 3. april, og til den 16. april kan filmfans i København og udvalgte provinsbyer gå på opdagelse i programmets 150 film fra alle verdenshjørner og i alle genrer. De fleste af filmene bliver kun vist i danske biografer ved denne ene lejlighed.

> Se hele CPH PIX' program for 2014

Weekendens æresgæst på CPH PIX er den amerikanske instruktørveteran William Friedkin, bedst kendt for sin fremragende politithriller "The French Connection" (1971) og gyserklassikeren "Eksorcisten" (1973).

William Friedkin | pr-foto

William Friedkin besøger København under festivalen og vil personligt introducere en række visninger af sine film. Friedkin giver desuden en masterclass i instruktionens kunst lørdag 5. april i Dagmar Teatret, hvor Nicolas Winding Refn agerer ordstyrer.

I forbindelse med CPH PIX har Cinemateket valgt William Friedkins "Frygtens pris" (Sorcerer, 1977) som månedens film i april. Den desillusionerede thriller, som tidligere er filmatiseret af Henri-Georges Clouzot i 1954 som "Le salaire de la peur", blev totalt overset ved premieren i 1977, til dels fordi en lille film ved navn "Star Wars" havde premiere samme dag.

Nu får "Sorcerer" en ny chance i en digitalt restaureret kopi, som havde repremiere på Venedig-festivalen sidste år. Her modtog William Friedkin ved samme lejlighed en ærespris, og dem kan han åbenbart ikke få for mange af, for i morgen, fredag 4. april, venter der ham en æres-Robert til gallaforevisningen af "Frygtens pris" i Dagmar.

Biograftrailer for "Frygtens pris" (1977)

At 78-årige William Friedkin er en benhård Chicago-bisse, der ikke stikker op for bollemælk, demonstrerede han i Venedig. Friedkin var i hopla til sin  pressekonference og nød tydeligt både opmærksomheden og muligheden for at provokere den forsamlede verdenspresse. Herunder kan du læse mange af hans guldkorn fra Venedig-seancen på engelsk.

(Og et PS: Min lille aktie i Friedkins danmarksbesøg er, at jeg overleverede CPH PIX' personlige invitation til ham efter pressekonferencen i Venedig!)

NOTE TO FOREIGN READERS: The following are excerpts from William Friedkin's press conference at the Venice Film Festival 2013. Mr. Friedkin is currently guest of honor at this year's CPH PIX festival in Copenhagen.

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WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM AT VINDE EN OSCAR FOR "THE FRENCH CONNECTION" I 1972
William Friedkin on winning an Academy Award for "The French Connection" in 1972:

Yesterday I met a gentleman in passing, who said to me: "How does it feel to have won an Academy Award over Stanley Kubrick?" And I said, "Well, The French Connection was funnier than A Clockwork Orange!" That's how it must have happened. (silent pause) Shall I repeat that? It sounded funnier when he said it.

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM "FRYGTENS PRIS"
William Friedkin on "Sorcerer":

If there's one film I'd like to be remembered for, it's "Sorcerer". Because "Sorcerer" is the film that came the closest to my vision. Of any film I've ever made, the result is the way I first saw it in my mind's eye.

"Sorcerer" is a metaphor for the nations of the world that can't get along. And if they don't get along, if they can't find a way to respect one another's culture, and to respect the nature that God has given us, they will explode.

[The making of the film] had a lot of problems, physical problems. About 50 people who worked on the crew, including me, got malaria, gangrene, were sick, ill for months afterwards. So it was a difficult film to make, but I think we're all lucky if we're able to make cinema.

"Eksorcisten" (1973) | pr-foto

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM STADIG AT VÆRE MEST KENDT FOR "EKSORCISTEN"
William Friedkin on "The Exorcist" still being his best-known film:

I'm grateful that people like any film that I've made. I like "The Exorcist" too! It's a very powerful film about the mystery of faith, and the power of Christ. I think that's the only film I've made that is about such important subjects as the grand mystery of faith and the power of Christ. And it's not metaphor. It's direct. I believe in the power of Christ. And I understand that faith is a mystery, that a man in his early 30's walked the earth in Jerusalem and in the diaspora in a robe and sandals, and he spoke on hillsides and seasides, in the streets and in the synagogues of the day.

He wrote nothing, there's no writing in the hand of Jesus'. There are no pictures of him. We don't know of any paintings that were made of him at the time. His words have come to us from other people. Yet, over the last more than 2000 years, trillions of people have believed in this person. I find that incredibly mysterious and important. I can't say that I fully understand it, but I find it extraordinary.

We know more about the afterlife of Christ than we know about the life of the young man, Jesus. And everything else about Jesus except his birth and death, everything else is part of the mystery of faith. And that's what "The Exorcist" is about. The mystery of faith and the power to heal the sick.

"Jeg syntes, det var uhyggeligt. Det er nok en af de værste oplevelser, jeg nogensinde har haft. Du kan eddermame tro, han er en strid banan" 

– Connie Nielsen om at arbejde for William Friedkin på filmen "The Hunted" (2003)

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM AT VÆRE HÅRD MOD SINE SKUESPILLERE
William Friedkin on giving his actors a hard time:

Here's what I do as a director. I work very much like a psychiatrist. I've never been in psychiatry, really. But as I understand psychiatry, you talk about yourself to a psychiatrist, and you reveal a lot of yourself to this psychiatrist. I do this with actors. I'll sit with them before we go to make the film, and I'll get from them the things that make them happy, or sad, or frightened, or courageous. Or tragic, even.

> Læs også: Connie Nielsen taler ud om William Friedkin

I was difficult with Gene Hackman [in "The French Connection"], because his character was difficult. He was playing a very hard, tough guy, who was angry. Hackman himself did not have this anger, but he had it within him. And I tried to get to it every single day. He was more angry at me than he was at the drug dealer! This is what I intended. And it's one of the reasons why I think his performance is so good. It's not that I told him how to do it, it all comes from him. But I had to help him get to the sense-memory to provoke that emotion.

Gene Hackman i "The French Connection" (1971) | pr-foto

With Linda Blair [in "The Exorcist"], I asked her, what was the most tragic time in her life. And she said, when her grandfather died. So I constantly used this knowledge this knowledge that I get from them as a kind of sense-memory. Because that's what the actor does. The actor or actress brings forward sense-memories of their own to play their character. And I work with opera singers this way too. They have to remember what it was like to be happy or sad. Because even though they are playing another part, it's still them. It's them being happy, them being sad, evil or good.

So I will use little suggestions like this to provoke them into sense-memories that allow them to portray these characters, when those emotions are called for. Because that's what an actor is doing. Not just reading lines and memorizing them. They are portraying emotions, and you have to provoke these emotions in the character.

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM SIN FILMSMAG
William Friedkin's taste in movies:

I haven't seen a new film in a very long time. But I love the films, for example, of the Coen brothers in America. And I love the films that I've seen of Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino in Italy.

I mostly watch films that I've seen before, on Blu-ray. I'll tell you what I watch a lot now. Still, "Citizen Kane", "All About Eve", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "8 ½", "The Band Wagon", "Singin' in the Rain", "Diabolique". All the films of Antonioni, "La Notte", "L'eclisse". Especially "Blow-Up". I watch these films constantly. I watch foreign films from many other countries.

Ever heard of a film called "A Serbian Film"? You heard of it? You've seen it? It's pretty great, isn't it? You don't like it? I think it's great. Anyone who doesn't like "A Serbian Film" can leave right now!



WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM NUTIDENS HOLLYWOOD
William Friedkin on Hollywood today:

I think the studios have a problem, yes. But the point is, everything implodes. Even ancient Rome. Everything implodes. I think there will be some sort of studio system for a good long time to come in Hollywood. The studios today are primarily distribution organizations. They originate and make very few films in the Hollywood studios.

To them, it's about, making money. And they're making a lot of money. They spend a lot, but Hollywood today is like a big casino. It's like a big place where you gamble, and you put all the chips on one number, one card, one turn of the card. Hollywood studios could make a thousand films for what they spend on one.

I couldn't make a film like "Bug" (2006) or "Killer Joe" (2011) with a Hollywood studio. You have to have somebody wearing a spandex suit with leather on his chest, flying around the world, saving the world from evil. You have to have somebody who can kill vampires or zombies, you know. I don't want to do that, I don't even want to watch it, to be honest with you. The kind of stories that attract me cannot be made for a major studio. No way. You'd be surprised in the days of "The Artist" (2011), most of the studios didn't want to make that. It's too far out, too edgy.

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN OM FILMKUNSTENS ROLLE I SAMFUNDET
William Friedkin on the role of cinema today:

It was Bertold Brecht, the German playwright, essayist and poet, who said: "Art is not a mirror to be held up to society. Art is a hammer with which to reshape it." That's the role of cinema. To help people find a way toward acceptance of who they are, and who everyone else is, and to respect that.

There's no doubt in my mind that the world right now, today, is on the edge of extinction. Just open your own newspapers or websites or whatever. America threatens Syria. Iran threatens Israel. Russia threatens anybody else. Everybody's threatening everybody today in a way that I haven't experienced since the second World War. Only now, the weapons are nuclear, and all it takes is one madman to end the whole thing.

Everything's not okay. There is nobody flying around in a spandex suit with a letter on his or her chest and saving the world. There is nobody. There is no Superman. There is no Batman. There are only ordinary human beings, like me, like you. And I think the only real solution that could possibly come along is if the world again comes up with a Gandhi, or an Anwar Sadat, or a Martin Luther King junior. Or somebody who is ready to stake their lives on peace and compromise. Without that, you know ...

We all need leadership, because we all have governments. We can't just do what we want to do; we have a government that makes laws about what we do. When I see our government provoking or threatening another country, I'm ashamed. So I think it is a major, major role for cinema to search for a way for people - even people who don't necessarily like one another - to find a way to come together.

Cary Grant & Eva Marie Saint i "Menneskejagt" (North by Northwest, 1959)

WILLIAM FRIEDKINS RÅD TIL UNGE FILMSKABERE
William Friedkin's advice to young filmmakers:

What is my advice to young people? If you're in a cinema school, leave immediately! Leave cinema school, go out, get a small camera, make your film, edit it at home, put it on a website, and do it yourself. Don't worry about criticism. Just let the audience see your work, free of any critical appraisal. This is the great gift to young cinema people today, and that's what I would advice them to do. Nobody can teach you how to do cinema. It is something that you learn by doing, and by seeing. Because cinema begets cinema. My films are passable because of what I have seen in the works of others.

All a young person has to do to learn how to make a film is watch the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Just see his films, not just the suspense films or "Psycho", but see how he handles every kind of scene. Comedy, romance ... He made the most romantic film I've ever seen, in "North by Northwest". The scene with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, they just look at each other, [and] the chemistry between them is so powerful, so beautiful, and it was provoked by Hitchcock. Hitchcock was asked by James Stewart when he made "Rear Window", "Hitch, what do you want me to do when I see the guy murdering his wife in the apartment across the way? How do you want me to react?" And Hitchcock said, "Oh, do what you always do!" And that's what he did.

007-biler i London: Brie besøger "Bond in Motion"

Endnu en gang lokker London med en lækkerbisken til James Bond-fans som undertegnede. Udstillingen "Bond in Motion", der åbner på London Film Museum i dag, fredag den 21. marts, byder på verdens største, officielle samling af originale 007-transportmidler!

Over 100 effekter, heraf 16 af de originale biler fra James Bond-filmserien, kan opleves i London Film Museums rummelige udstillingslokaler. Dertil kommer et udvalg af de motorcykler, flyvemaskiner og både, som Sean Connery og hans efterfølgere har benyttet i rollen som agent 007.

"Bond in Motion" kan også fremvise en montre med rekvisitter, hvoraf nogle er gengangere fra "Designing 007"-udstilingen på Barbican i 2012, mens andre aldrig har været udstillet før (f.eks. kan man nærlæse Bonds evalueringspapirer fra "Skyfall"). Museets beskedne øvre mezzanin er forbeholdt originale storyboardtegninger og skitser, hvoraf de ældste daterer helt tilbage til "Agent 007 jages" (From Russia with Love, 1963).

Goldfingers Rolls-Royce Phantom III løftes på plads | Foto © London Film Museum

Endelig indeholder "Bond in Motion" flere eksotiske kuriosa såsom Bonds begravelsesleje fra "Du lever kun to gange" (You Only Live Twice, 1967) og den cellokasse, der fragter James Bond og Kara Milovy over den østrigske grænse i "Spioner dør ved daggry" (The Living Daylights, 1987). Og så vil det muligvis berolige fans af Bonds legendariske Aston Martin DB5, at den model, som gennemhulles af Silvas bøller i "Skyfall" (2012), er en ufatteligt detaljeret miniature i skala 1:3, fremstillet ved hjælp af en 3D-printer!

Jeg havde den store fornøjelse at deltage i udstillingens pressedag tirsdag 18. marts, hvor jeg fik skudt nogle snapshots og sludret med et par garvede Bond-medarbejdere i form af stuntinstruktøren Vic Armstrong og special effects-eksperten Chris Corbould. Tilsammen har de to herrer arbejdet på 16 Bond-film. (Interviewene vil være at læse i Børsen den 11. april.)

Maryam d'Abo, Barbara Broccoli, Naomie Harris, Caterina Murino og Michael G. Wilson på pressedagen | foto © 007.com

Pressedagen blev i øvrigt invaderet af en privat reception for EON Productions, der er produktionsselskabet bag 23 af de hidtil 25 Bond-film. Sjældent har denne 007-nørd været mere starstruck, end da jeg pludselig stod omringet af Naomie Harris (Miss Moneypenny), Maryam d'Abo (Kara Milovy), producenterne Barbara Broccoli og Michael G. Wilson, scenografen Peter Lamont og, ikke mindst, designgeniet Sir Ken Adam i egen tudsegamle person!

Smagsprøver fra "Bond in Motion":

Det ældste køretøj på udstillingen "Bond in Motion" er skurken Auric Goldfingers stilige Rolls-Royce Phantom III fra 1937 (med sort læderindtræk). Det er dén, som Bond skygger på de schweiziske landeveje i "Agent 007 kontra Goldfinger" (1964). Bilen skyder en topfart på 148 km/t. og vejer tæt på 3,6 tons.

Rolls-Royce Phantom III | Foto © Brian Iskov

En ofte overset godbid blandt Bond-slæderne er den Mercury Cougar XR7 fra 1969, som Diana Rigg river rundt på isen under stockcar-ræset i "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (Agent 007 i Hendes Majestæts hemmelige tjeneste, 1969). Tre biler overlevede indspilningen af den voldsomme sekvens, og man kan stadig se ridserne i lakken på det udstillede eksemplar.

Mercury Cougar XR7 | Foto © Brian Iskov

Og sådan her tager en Aston Martin DBS sig ud, efter at Bond (eller rettere hans stuntkører) har kastet den rundt på en øde landevej i "Casino Royale" (2006). Chris Corbould fortalte mig, at DBS'en var så velafbalanceret fra fabrikkens side, at den nægtede at slå en eneste kolbøtte for stuntholdet. Corboulds teknikere måtte installere en nitrogenkanon under bilen for overhovedet at få den til at løfte sig fra asfalten. Så lykkedes det til gengæld også stuntkøreren Adam Kirley at vælte Aston'en syv gange rundt om sig selv, før den holdt op med at rulle. En verdensrekord, ifølge Guinness!

Aston Martin DBS | Foto © Brian Iskov

Til lands, til vands - og i luften. Den britiske oberstløjtnant Ken Wallis, som døde sidste år, opfandt og konstruerede enmands-autogyroen Little Nellie i 1962. Den gadget-fyldte maskine fik sine fem minutter i rampelyset, da Q udleverede Nellie som samlesæt til Sean Connerys 007 i "You Only Live Twice" (1967). I virkeligheden var det Wallis selv, der fløj sit hjertebarn hen over Japans vulkanlandskaber og legede kispus med SPECTREs helikoptere.

Little Nellie | Foto © Brian Iskov

Little Nellie (detalje) | Foto © Brian Iskov

Acrostar BD-5J fra "Octopussy" (1983) stod opført i Guinness Rekordbog som "verdens mindste jetfly" i over 25 år, og det er vitterlig ikke ret stort, når man står ved siden af det (3,6 meter langt, svarende til en Renault Twingo). Flyet blev designet af Jim Bede i 1971 og fløjet i filmen af J. W. "Corkey" Fornoff. Bemærk styregrejet: Det ligner mistænkelig meget et cykelstyr!

Acrostar BD-5J | Foto © Brian Iskov

Acrostar BD-5J (detalje) | Foto © Brian Iskov

"The Man with the Golden Gun" (Manden med den gyldne pistol", 1974) huskes bedst for scenen, hvor James Bond kører en AMC Hornet ud over en sammenstyrtet bro i Thailand og skruer bilen 360 grader om dens længdeakse, før den lander på alle fire hjul på den modsatte flodbred. Spiralhoppet, som blev udført i ét take af Loren "Bumps" Milligan, var det første stunt i filmhistorien, som blev udregnet ved hjælp af computere. Såvel Bonds AMC som Scaramangas transformer-flyvebil af samme mærke er dog kun repræsenteret på udstillingen i form af storyboards og produktionstegninger.

Skitse af modificeret AMC Hornet | Foto © Brian Iskov

Det absolut sejeste og mest berømte af Roger Moore-æraens transportmidler er uden tvivl hans Lotus Esprit S1, der kunne transmogriffe sig selv om til en ubåd (en effekt, der blev skabt med en blanding af modeller og bilskrog med dykkere indeni). Lotusen fra "The Spy Who Loved Me" (Spionen der elskede mig, 1977) gik under kælenavnet "Wet Nellie" som et kærligt nik til den førnævnte Little Nellie. Noget ufortjent er denne ikoniske 70'er-øse gemt af vejen i det fjerneste hjørne af udstillingen.

Lotus Esprit S1 | Foto © Brian Iskov

Afdelingen for søgående fartøjer rummer desuden Blofelds knap så elegante enmandsubåd, Bath-o-Sub, fra "Diamonds are Forever" (Diamanter varer evigt, 1971 - ikke afbildet her) samt et par deciderede undervandsslæder fra "Thunderball" (Agent 007 i ilden, 1965) og remaket "Never Say Never Again" (1983). Sidstnævnte film blev lavet uden for nummer af et rivaliserende filmselskab, og endnu i dag anses det for helligbrøde at nævne dens titel i korridorerne hos EON Productions!

Diverse undervandsgrej | Foto © Brian Iskov

Bondolaen, den idiotiske luftpudegondol fra "Moonraker", er gudskelov ikke med på "Bond in Motion". Men det er til gengæld et andet, næsten lige så fjollet befordringsmiddel. Der er tale om Q's krokodille-ubåd fra "Octopussy", hvis klaustrofobiske glasfiberskrog med elmotor lige akkurat har plads til én person i vandret tilstand (Roger Moore, hvem ellers!).

Nørdfaktum: Filmholdet importerede også en rigtig, levende krokodille til sekvensen i "Octopussy". Men under optagelserne stak kræet af og gik i hi under kulisserne på Pinewood Studios. Den dukkede først frem igen to uger senere!

Crocodile submarine | Foto © Brian Iskov

> Læs også min fotoreportage fra "Designing 007" på Barbican
> Hør Filmnørdens Hjørnes store James Bond-podcast (2012)

Udstillingsfakta

"Bond in Motion" er en videreudbyggelse af den udstilling, som tidligere har kunnet ses på Beaulieu National Motor Museum. Udstillingen på London Film Museum fortsætter året ud og formentlig også ind i 2015.

London Film Museum ligger få minutters gang fra undergrundsstationen Covent Garden. Entre til udstillingen koster £14,50 (ca. 130 kroner) for voksne og £9,50 (85 kr.) for børn. Særlige familiebilletter for to voksne og to børn under 16 år sælges for £38 (250 kr).

Museet har åbent alle ugens dage kl. 10-18; lørdage og søndage dog til kl. 19. Det anbefales at bestille billetter på forhånd via londonfilmmuseum.com.

Fra udstillingens Bond-logo-fotoservice

"Gravity": 3D Blu-ray-anmeldelse

En gang imellem – og især på festivaler – har vi filmjournalister det privilegium at gå en ny film i møde uden at vide noget som helst om den. Det skete for mig i august 2013, da jeg satte mig til rette i Venedig-festivalens premieresal for at se åbningsfilmen, Alfonso Cuaróns ”Gravity”.

Det var første gang nogensinde, at denne film blev vist offentligt, og eftersom jeg ikke havde opfanget nogen hype forud for denne verdenspremiere, anede jeg ikke, hvad jeg gik ind til.

Måske på grund af de manglende forventninger ramte ”Gravity” mig som en forhammer i mellemgulvet. En intens, voldsomt knugende og frem for alt fysisk medrivende biografoplevelse af stor visuel skønhed blæste mig bagover, og jeg følte siden, at jeg havde været vidne til en form for ur-film; en overlegen orkestrering af billede og lyd, der var inde og røre ved noget grundlæggende, sanseligt og primalt i filmmediet.



I dag, syv måneder og syv Oscars senere, har ”Gravity” konsolideret sin status som et skelsættende værk på flere fronter. Det er sjældent set, at en af årets største biografsucceser er en 80 % computeranimeret hybrid, der parrer katastrofefilmens troper med et intimt kammerspil for to personer. Læg dertil en kærkommen blockbuster-minimalisme i kraft af filmens overkommelige spillelængde på 90 minutter, der udfoldes i noget nær realtid. Endelig skiller ”Gravity” sig ud ved at have en voksen kvinde – 49-årige Sandra Bullock – i en bærende næsten-solo-rolle.

Først og sidst har den mexicanske instruktør Alfonso Cuarón med ”Gravity” begået en teknisk kraftpræstation, der på linje med ”Avatar” (2009) banker solide hegnspæle ned i mediets udviklingshistorie. Anført af det britiske effektfirma Framestore måtte holdet bag ”Gravity” opfinde en række helt nye teknologier for at kunne forløse Cuaróns vision.

"Space in Gravity feels so real in part because we get to see it in such long stretches. And because it feels so real, we invest even more deeply in Bullock’s performance and the reality of her predicament. We believe that she — and we — are really there. The long takes are a huge part of why." - John August

Alfonso Cuaróns brug af ubrudte indstillinger (af op til 12 minutters varighed) er et inspireret kunstnerisk valg, der ikke blot suger tilskueren ind i filmens taktile 3D-rum, men også formidler universets forunderlige skønhed, rædsel og isolation bedre end få andre film siden ”Rumrejsen år 2001” (1969). Ophævelsen af tyngdekraften – og dermed retningssansen – sætter det virtuelle kamera fri til at glide op, ned, rundt og sågar ind og ud af Sandra Bullocks hjelm-POV.



Den lystfyldte fornemmelse af vægtløshed forplanter sig til seeren, men kan på få sekunder skifte fra vægtløs ballet til rædselsvækkende, mareridtsagtig gru, når rumskraldet suser brat ud af det sorte verdensalt og hvirvler faretruende tæt forbi linsen. I disse scener brillerer også Glenn Freemantles lyddesign, der veksler mellem hæsblæsende aktivitet og spøgelsesagtig stilhed – i øvrigt i fuld overensstemmelse med de fysiske realiteter i termosfærens lydtomme rum.

Efter den mesterlige første times åndeløse jerngreb taber ”Gravity” desværre højde. Det er efterhånden bredt accepteret som et faktum, at manuskriptet er det svage led i ”Gravity” – og i særdeleshed den stadig mere bastante symbolik, som Alfonso Cuarón og hans medforfatter, Jonás Cuarón, tvinger ned over den ellers simple fortælling. Bullocks figur, den utrænede astronaut Ryan Stone, er således udstyret med en skematisk baggrundshistorie, der pædagogisk udstanses i overtydelige replikker hen mod filmens klimaks.

Den banale genfødselsmetaforik virker desuden som en irriterende helgardering. der føles påklistret og aldeles unødvendig: Det primale, eksistentielle overlevelsesdrama i filmens enkle set-up – frit fald gennem det ydre rum! – er rigelig stærkt i sig selv.

"Gravity": med og uden Framestores visuelle effekter

Under førstevisningen i Venedig blev min jubel over ”Gravity” gradvist afløst af irritation over, at Cuarón senior og junior absolut skulle sabotere deres eget storværk med en så rørstrømsk og forfladiget finale. Heldigvis synes fejlene at skæmme helheden mindre ved de gensyn, som ”Gravity” i høj grad indbyder til. Og uden at have testet filmen på et telefondisplay – den ultimative lakmustest for en udpræget biografplevelse som ”Gravity” – må jeg konstatere, nu hvor filmen er ude på blu-ray, at den heldigvis ikke falder til jorden (undskyld!) i hjemmebiografen. Især hvis man som jeg har mulighed for at projicere den op i 3D.

Alfonso Cuarón og Mark Singers yderst afmålte klippetempo er perfekt afstemt til 3D-teknikken. Kørt igennem en Optoma-projektor fungerer blu-ray'ens 3D-konversion af ”Gravity” så lydefrit, at man lynhurtigt glemmer, man sidder med et ekstra sæt briller på. Blu-ray'ens 5.1-surroundspor formidler fint dynamikken i det spændende lyddesign, men kan naturligvis ikke helt kan hamle op med Atmos-oplevelsen i Imperial (hvor ”Gravity” gik så længe, at den indspillede halvdelen af sine samlede, danske biografindtægter i denne ene biograf!).

I Venedig sad jeg flere gange under filmen og måbede: ”Hvordan fanden har de lavet det der?” ”Gravity” nærmest skriger på omfattende ekstramateriale, og blu-ray'ens længe ventede kig bag kulisserne skuffer absolut ikke. For eksempel varer det generøse bonusstof tilsammen dobbelt så længe som selve hovedfilmen.

Det primære ekstramateriale, "Gravity: Mission Control" (106:36), er inddelt i mindre featuretter, som kan afspilles separat eller i forlængelse af hinanden.

”It began with a story” (16:21): Dette første kapitel understreger kun alt for tydeligt, hvorfor manuskriptarbejdet var et af de få områder, hvor ”Gravity” ikke gjorde sig fortjent til en Oscar-nominering. Alfonso og Jonas Cuarón forklarer velvilligt deres tanker bag historien, men man bliver endnu hurtigere træt af deres pladder om ”rebirth” og livets mange ”adversities”, når metaforikken som her skrives med versaler for de tungnemme på bageste række. Det er i den grad on the nose.

”From the get-go, when we decided to do a film in space, the metaphorical value of space was very obvious. You have a character who is drifting, following her own inertia. In one hand, she has life, she has planet Earth, human connection. On the other side, she's drifting towards the void. We wanted to do a film about adversities and the possibility of a rebirth. With rebirth, I'm talking about knowledge. Having a new knowledge of yourself after an experience. And obviously, part of that rebirth is the acceptance of death. That is the biggest experience of knowledge that we want to obtain, the acceptance of death. It's something that we talked about, Jonás and I, when we were writing the script. We see a character that, first of all, lives in her own bubble. Literally lives in her own bubble. And she needs to shed that skin, she needs to come out of the bubble in order to begin her process. Like metaphorically, you tell people they have to put their feet on the ground and just keep on going.” 

- Alfonso Cuarón i Venedig, 2013

Alfonso Cuarón, Sandra Bullock og George Clooney i Venedig 2013 | pr-foto

”Initial challenge: Long shots and Zero G” (10:12): Her får man bl.a. at vide, at Cuarón lod sig inspirere til de lange indstillinger ved at se NASAs videooptagelser fra rigtige rummissioner. Desuden forklares konceptet ”mikrogravitet” med en fiks lille animation, og vi ser Tim Webber, Framestores VFX-maestro, afprøve NASAs berygtede Vomit Comet (vægtløshedssimulatoren kendt fra ekstramaterialet til Ron Howards ”Apollo 13”).

”Previsualizing Gravity” (11:38): Hvor de store blockbustere (alt for) ofte henter effektholdet ind i optagelsernes sidste fase, hvorefter de forventes at halse af sted for at nå premieredatoen, er hele ”Gravity” i praksis præprogrammeret fra første til sidste billede. Alt er simpelthen lagt fast i præ-visualiserings-stadiet i en sådan grad, at skuespillerne skal tilpasse deres bevægelser til effekterne og ikke omvendt. Featuretten går også i detaljer med den famøse og banebrydende opfindelse ”Light Box”, som gjorde filmens vanvittigt komplicerede indstillinger mulige.

”The hues of space” (10:41) kan tjene som anskuelighedsværktøj for alle, der betvivler, hvorvidt cheffotografen på en overvejende computergenereret film (”Life of Pi”, host-host) har ret til at blive honoreret med en Oscar. For uanset hvor mange pixels der dominerer billedet på lærredet, er det stadig cheffotografen Emmanuel ”Chivo” Lubezki, der har truffet de afgørende valg om filmens komposition og lyssætning (som i øvrigt i dette tilfælde er smuk, varieret og fotorealistisk).

Et fjollet påskeæg afsløres i ekstramaterialet: Alfonso Cuarón og cheffotografen Emmanuel Lubezki (begge i rumdragt) "spejler sig" i Clooneys visir i denne scene!

”Physical weightlessness” (7:48): Et kig på, hvordan avancerede snoretræk og gode gammeldags dukkeførere bidrog til illusionen af vægtløshed ved at rive Sandra Bullock rundt på settet.

”Space tech” (13:02): Og hvis nogen undrer sig over, at ”Gravity” tillige vandt Oscar for bedste scenografi, mindes der her om, at samtlige af de 2000 virtuelle rekvisitter i ISS er designet fra bunden!

”Sandra and George: A pair in space” (9:37): Fis og ballade på settet med Bullock og Clooney.

”Final animation” (15:01). Udvalgte nørdfakta: Tre millioner stjerner ses på himlen bag Bullock og Clooney i filmen. Den endelige rendering af ”Gravity” fylder 500 terabyte. Og det tog computerne tre måneder at vende op og ned på seks minutter af åbningsscenen, efter at Alfonso Cuarón ombestemte sig.

”Complete silence” (12:13): Rart at se, at Steven Prices oscarvindende, immersive musik også får sin egen featurette. Her erfarer man, at dele af partituret blev fremført på glas og bearbejdede menneskevokaler i stedet for synths.



Længere nede i blu-ray-menuen dækker paraplytitlen "Shot Breakdowns" (36:48) over fem ekstra featuretter med overskydende interview, som alle er lige så spændende og informative som hoveddokumentaren. Hvem har f.eks. skænket det en tanke, mens de så ” Gravity”, at både Sandra Bullocks og George Clooneys visirer er 100 % computeranimerede?

• Behind the visor (6:50)
• Fire in the international space station (5:42)
• Dr. Stone's rebirth (7:54)
• The sound of action in space (7:55)
• Splashdown (8:24)

I programmet "Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space" (22:28) redegør Ed Harris' fortællestemme ganske overbevisende for, at rumskrald også i virkeligheden er et farligt og i nogen grad upåagtet problem.



”Aningaaq” (6:53) er Jonás Cuaróns pudsigt tænkte, men lidt ligegyldige kortfilm, der skildrer dr. Stones radiosamtale med grønlandske Aningaaq fra dennes jordiske synsvinkel. Filmen kan også vises med introduktion af Alfonso og Jonás Cuarón (i alt 10:11).

Endelig er ”Film festivals” (1 sides tekst) en helt igennem overflødig opremsning af de festivaler, hvor ”Gravity” har været vist.

Gravity 3D. USA/Storbritannien 2013. Instruktion: Alfonso Cuarón. Spilletid: 91 minutter. Dansk blu-ray-udgivelse: 4. marts 2014. Distributør: Warner Bros. Entertainment. ”Gravity 3D” blu-ray er venligst stillet til rådighed af Warner Bros. Nordic.

HVIS DU VIL VIDE MERE OM "GRAVITY":

> Brie og Casper anmelder "Gravity" i Filmnørdens Hjørne #85
> The Camera's Cusp: Alfonso Cuarón Takes Filmmaking to a New Extreme With Gravity - langt interview med Alfonso Cuarón (New York Magazine)
> Spændende interview med filmens 3D-supervisor Chris Parks (ScreenDaily.com)
> Alfonso Cuarón: Long takes and realism - blogindlæg (JohnAugust.com)