With the State of the Union upon us, Bill Pullman recalls his roles as Commander-in-Chief; trans actress Daniela Vega plays a groundbreaking trans role; Rachel Morrison is the first woman nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography.
'A Fantastic Woman' star hopes it generates empathy toward trans people
The film “A Fantastic Woman" is Chile’s official submission for the Oscar’s Foreign Language category this year.
It's also one of the films we saw at Telluride Film Festival that really left an impression, thanks in large part to the performance of newcomer Daniela Vega.
Directed and co-written by filmmaker Sebastián Lelio, the story follows Vega as Marina, a trans opera singer who is in a loving relationship with an older man named Orlando. Most of Orlando's family won’t acknowledge their relationship or even her existence. To avoid spoilers we’ll just say that a chain of events forces her to face the very harsh disapproval of Orlando’s family.
Like the character she plays, Daniela Vega is trans and she is also a singer. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, The Frame's John Horn sat down with Vega who spoke through an interpreter. Below are some highlights from that conversation.
Interview Highlights
On how much the character of Marina is similar to Daniela:
I feel that we are both resilient women, we are rebels and we actually try to live a dignified life. And we love handsome men. And we both sing opera! But Marina is a lot more elegant than I am. She is more settled than I am. And I would actually say that she's more sophisticated even with her gestures. I think I'm more Latina than she is.
On the primary differences between opera and acting:
I think the main difference between acting and opera is that with opera, you're actually trying to trigger emotions with your voice. And when you're acting in theatre or in movies, you're trying to create emotion through your gestures. But the interesting thing here is that both of them aim to do the same thing- which is just to create emotion.
On the debate over whether trans characters should only be played by trans actors:
I have two different ideas when it comes to this situation. For me as an actress, playing a trans individual is already my job. That is what I do. And I've played masculine and feminine roles in movies before and in theatre before. And of course there are actors like the ones you just mentioned [Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry" and Jared Leto in "Dallas Buyers Club"] who've also done it. And again, as an actress, it's something valid. So the bigger question is– if there are people out there who are trans, and who are actors already, why are we not getting more of the trans roles in the movies? And not just in movies. Why don't you see trans police? Why don't you see trans pilots? Why don't you see many trans doctors? There is a public and a private life for all of us. And you may be trans privately and not in public. But the thing is, when you make something visible, it makes it a reality, a fact.
On how "A Fantastic Woman" can help create empathy:
I think what the movie is trying to do is to make the viewers reflect on what is happening with empathy. Instead of measuring how much empathy there is in the world, we are trying to get the viewer to understand where the empathy is. And you may only find it in your own heart. And that's not so far away, right? Let's love each other more.
"A Fantastic Woman" is being re-released on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles and New York.
Rachel Morrison: The cinematographer behind 'Black Panther' and 'Mudbound'
UPDATE: On Jan. 23, Rachel Morrison became the first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography.
The movie “Mudbound,” co-written and directed by Dee Rees, is set in post World War II Mississippi. Two farming families — one black, one white — are struggling to make ends meet at a time when Jim Crow laws were still on the books. Part of Rees' vision was to hire a heavily female crew.
The woman responsible for "Mudbound's" striking cinematography is Rachel Morrison. Her break-out film was “Fruitvale Station” which cemented a strong partnership with filmmaker Ryan Coogler. Though she was unable to shoot his follow-up, “Creed,” Morrison did shoot his upcoming “Black Panther” movie.
That makes Rachel Morrison the first woman director of photography of a big budget superhero movie. She came by The Frame recently to talk about her career behind the camera...
ON FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE CAMERA:
I was probably five when I first picked up a camera. My mom had an Olympus OM-10 that she carried around to document our family photos. And I just always loved it. I did photography in summer camp, I did it in high school. The only hard decision I've had to make was whether to go towards photo or film. And I ultimately realized that the type of photo I was interested in was actually photo journalism. And it's a very individualist career. Whereas film is a very team-driven medium. So that's why I chose film.
I think "Sound of my Voice" was the first film where suddenly I could point to something I had done that I was proud of and say, Look at this piece of work. And that's probably what led to "Fruitvale Station," which was the real break.
ON HER PARTNERSHIP WITH RYAN COOGLER:
I love the team aspect of filmmaking. Maybe on some level I was seeking out a film family. I've had a good amount of loss in my life and I don't really have an immediate family, so I think maybe there was something there. Ryan's become the brother I always wanted but never had.
"Creed" was just the worst timing in the world. I was supposed to shoot "Creed," and obviously these things take a long time to come together. I'd been trying to get pregnant and have a family. "Creed" came together and was due to shoot January to March. And I was due to have my baby in February. So it was hard — for both of us. But Maryse Alberti did an amazing job. I was also really happy that she was Ryan's choice — that he went with an amazing [director of photography] who's been doing this for a long time, who has done some incredible work, and that I didn't get replaced by a 65-year-old white dude. That was probably 19 of the 20 choices the studio gave him.
ON THE DEFICIT OF FEMALE CINEMATOGRAPHERS:
I've never understood why there aren't more female cinematographers. People ask all the time and it just doesn't make sense to me. This industry is all about empathizing and channeling emotion into visuals. It's everything that women do well. I've never understood what was ever seen as a deficiency and why it's become this complete inequity, statistically speaking.
ON CAPTURING "MUDBOUND":
I thought it was incredibly timeless [but] it wasn't as relevant as it has become. Trump hadn't even announced if he was going to run at that point. So, I think I was part of the naive America that didn't know just how much racism and sexism was going on. But it moved me. It really did. And it's a period film, which is a gift to a cinematographer. We didn't want to glorify the period. I think so often with period films everything's the golden age of this or that.
I think Dee and I were able to articulate that we wanted mud to be a character. And we wanted the elements to be a character. I remember discussing how we wanted to contrast The American Dream with the American reality. So just enough beauty and inspiration to understand why people would sacrifice everything for more land, or something greater. And then [depict] enough grit and harshness to realize that it's not always what it seems to be.
ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF "BLACK PANTHER":
It's a real testament to Ryan that he got me on "Black Panther." And especially since I hadn't done "Creed," it's a testament to both Ryan and to Marvel. Ryan the one who said, This is my DP, and wouldn't back down from that. Both Ryan and I feel an incredible amount of pressure. For him, it's a chance to make the movie he wishes he saw as a child — the first black superhero movie. And for me the pressure is, of course, being the first female DP of a superhero film. It's similar. I want to show people that it can be done and to come away with recommendations for the future. Not so much just for me, but so other studios go ahead and hire more female DPs to shoot their $150 million movies.
Actor Bill Pullman on what it takes to play the President
When the annual State of the Union address is delivered before Congress on live television, in no other time are U.S. presidents so clearly asked to essentially “perform” the task of the president in front of an audience.
Television networks and radio stations across the country — including KPCC — will carry President Trump's speech live, and the pundits will no doubt scrutinize how he performs.
We don’t know how he’s preparing today, so we asked an actor who’s played the president to tell us how he got in the mood to play the orator-in-chief. Bill Pullman has actually played the president three times — in the short-lived TV comedy, "1600 Penn" (created by former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett), and, more dramatically, in the sci-fi movies “Independence Day” and “Independence Day 2.”
Interview Highlights
On preparing for the role of the president:
I, of course, didn't see myself as presidential. First thing I said [about “Independence Day”]: It's a comedy. No, it's not a comedy it's science fiction. But I thought to myself: Well, science fiction can be funny sometimes. I just didn't really [have] the gravitas of president. Little did I know that it didn't take a lot of gravitas. Eventually we all learned that.
I got nervous, because then I thought, This is kind of like playing Hamlet. You know, every actor in the theater at some point has the capability of doing Hamlet. What is your Hamlet? You're gonna do the president, what is your president?
On the speakers and speeches that influenced his work:
[I got] "100 Great Speeches" on CD. And, it was really great for me to listen. I didn't really need to see other actors playing [the president] in movies, but to listen to good speeches was a really clarifying thing. And most of the important speeches are really not that well-delivered — like Mario Cuomo's speech at the Democratic Convention of a "city on a hill."
That and Robert Kennedy's [impromptu] speech when was informed that Martin Luther King had just been shot. And it was two minutes, I think, from when he had heard that and when he got in front of the microphone. You can feel it in the energy when you hear him announce to the crowd that King has just been killed, you hear the crowd gasp.
For him to be able to articulate what he did, which was basically: I know how people felt about him. And those that felt very strongly about him feel like they've lost a brother. And he said, All's I know is that I have lost a brother. Then you really know you're in the present moment and he's looking for words. He's not reading a text that he's orating. That was a good one to listen to for a science fiction movie.
On his on-set experience:
It was great to not have to insist that I'm the president, [to] have everybody already deferential. I didn't want to be a guy who's making everybody in the room listen to him. I wanted them all to be listening to me.