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Angelina Jolie at the premiere of "Beowulf" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 5, 2007. |
Set in a magical era, replete with heroes and monsters, one exceptional man, Beowulf (Ray Winstone), emerged to save King Hrothgar’s (Sir Anthony Hopkins) ancient Danish kingdom from annihilation by an ungodly creature, leaving the people in a constant state of panic and fear. After destroying the overpowering demon Grendel (Crispin Glover), the legendary six-foot-six-inch Viking incurs the wrath of the beast’s ruthlessly seductive mother (Angelina Jolie), who will use any means possible to ensure revenge.
In ridding the kingdom of this savage beast, Beowulf gains fame and fortune for himself. Great riches and overwhelming temptations are thrown at him, as he succeeds to the thrown. How he chooses to handle his newfound power will forever define his fate as a warrior, champion, leader, husband and man.
Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis tells the oldest epic tale in the English language with the most modern technology. With Real D, Dolby Digital 3D and IMAX 3D, Beowulf delivers an unparalleled experience that transports you to the age of heroes, as envisioned by New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Roger Avary. Ray Winstone, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and Crispin Glover, along with Gaiman and Avary, spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about this new technology.
MediaBlvd Magazine> What was it like to work with Robert Zemeckis?
Anthony Hopkins> It was confusing, at first, because we had to do these weird gestures, and all that. I wasn’t quite sure what the purpose was because we were in a room with no costumes or scenery. And, I was a little late coming in, maybe a day after everyone else. But, there was so much energy coming from Bob Zemeckis. It was such a positive energy that it made it so easy, and everyone had a great sense of fun with it. I was just very pleased. It was all together a wonderful experience. I’m really proud to be a part of this great movie.
Ray Winstone> Bob is one of these guys that is the reason we landed on the moon. That is where he takes film. Every film he makes is some new thing he’s invented. It was great for me, and everyone, to actually go to work and be in something that was going to be the first of its kind. And, the technology is only going to get better. People say that making this film was very much like theatre, but I found it more like the ultimate cinema, without the cuts. You were there, playing out the scene. Like theatre, you were allowed to carry a scene on and become engrossed within the scene. I loved the speed of it. There was no time to sit around. Your energy levels were actually kept up. There was no time to lose your concentration. So, for me, I actually really enjoyed this experience. I would love to do this again sometime.
Angelina Jolie> It was a great experience, that we all had. I think that the nice thing about it was that we all do films these days, and so much of it has become a business, and so much of it is about making these projects where people want to rush through things. You’ve lost touch with the artistic process and the fun of it. And, Bob is a real artist, and he loves it so much. He’s so enthusiastic and so original, and you really feel like you’re a creative person. You have fun with everybody else. I needed that, as an artist, so it was really great. I’m really grateful for the experience.
Crispin Glover> I had worked with Bob one time before, on the first Back to the Future film, about 20 years prior to working with him on this. And, it was interesting, working from one technology to this different technology, in terms of the style. Of course, he was a 20 years younger man, as I was myself, but I remember everything was very particularly storyboarded and there were very exacting things that had to be done, for working on Back to the Future, which was all excellent. And, I noticed a definite change in the style of how the direction was done because things were not so necessarily exacting. But, I liked more this way of working, where you were finding it as you were going through it. You kept going further into the thing, and finding more as you went along. It’s rare that I’m in a film that I actually like. I guess I shouldn’t say that, but it’s true. I’m really excited about this film. It feels like a strange hallucinogenic experience, but it has been an excellent one.
MediaBlvd> Neil and Roger, can you talk about working on this project for 10 years?
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Screenwriters Roger Avary & Neil Gaiman at the premiere of "Beowulf" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 5, 2007. |
Neil Gaiman> We wrote the first draft of the Beowulf script in May ‘97, so that’s 10 years this past May. And then, we started working on it with Bob at the beginning of 2005. Originally, he wanted to produce it, and then he contacted us and said, “I really want to direct it,” and talked us into it. The process of working on the script was basically me and Roger and Bob, sitting in a room, with Roger and I reading it out loud.
Roger Avary> Bob began as a writer, so he never had any bad ideas. He would say, “Okay, guys, this is a bad idea, but I’m just going to throw it out there . . .” And, he’d throw it out, and it was like, “That’s actually a fantastic idea!”
Neil> It was just incredibly easy and incredibly pleasant, except that he had these brilliant ideas that he wouldn’t tell us because he’d want us to discover them on our own. Occasionally, we’d say, “Okay, we’ve written this scene, and we’ve done it like this,” and he’d say, “No, you can’t do that because that room isn’t facing that way.” And then, he’d show us the design for the room, and we’d go, “Why didn’t you show us that before?,” and he said, “Well, you could have come up with something better.”
Roger> I wasn’t prepared for how collaborative he would be with us, how he drew us into the process, how excited and childlike he is, and how he’s constantly inventing new technologies to support his ultimate dream, as a style of directing. We would walk into the editing room and he’d be like, “Oh, look at what we just made.” It was the Z-cam, which was a virtual camera that you could move around the editing room and, as you moved it around, you would see what the camera angle would be, on the screen. I think what excited me was the amount of passion that he had.
MediaBlvd> Angelina, the movie says that the myth is preferable to the truth. With your highly publicized life, do you think that’s true?
Angelina> I try not to think about my public life. I focus on my private life. That’s just the best way to live.
MediaBlvd> The character you play is described as the mother of a monster. How do you see her?
Angelina> I was excited I got a call that I was going to be working with Bob Zemeckis, and I was pretty much saying yes to anything they wanted me to do. Then, I was told I was going to be a lizard. Then, I was brought into a room with Bob, and a bunch of pictures and examples, and he showed me this picture of a woman half painted gold, and then a lizard. I’ve got kids, so I thought “That’s great. That’s so bizarre. I’m going to be this crazy reptilian person and creature.” I was very excited. Then, I met with Crispin and we had a great time, and just amazing scenes. And then, I saw the poster, and a few other things, and I realized I’m not just a lizard. But, it was just great. She’s one of those fun characters. She’s evil, she’s temptation and she’s very fun to play. And, I got to work with great actors.
MediaBlvd> Was one of the attractions to doing this the result of the short work schedule? How are you able to balance all of these different aspects of your life, both public and personal?
Angelina> This was a two and a half day shoot for me, and I was three months pregnant. We did the mapping of my body before then. But, it was a pleasure. And, yes, the fact that it was short, made it that much easier because I didn’t have to work too much. I just try to balance things and not work too much. Brad [Pitt] and I take turns working. It’s not that hard.
MediaBlvd> Neil and Roger, what was the motivation for the changes to the original story?
Neil> The biggest motivation was creating a film that would be satisfying as a story. Beowulf is a remarkable, powerful story. It’s the oldest story in the English language that we have. But, it’s always been considered incredibly problematic, from a literary and critical point of view, in that it starts with young Beowulf coming in and rescuing the Kingdom from Grendel and Grendel’s mother, and then we cut in 50 years later, when he fights the dragon and dies. That’s the poem. What we were trying to do was keep the events of the poem, while giving the events a reason to have happened. As we wrote it, we tried to be very faithful to the poem and to the characters in the poem, whilst assuming that maybe there were things that were happening off stage, and that maybe some of the things that were being told had eroded over time, or sometimes people may have lied.
Roger> If you read it, keep in mind that it existed as an oral tradition for maybe 700 years before it was written down. And, when the Christian monks put it down onto the document, they added their own flare to the storytelling, along with their elements of Christianity. We looked at the existing translations and realized that there were hints and elements of the story that had to have been left out.
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Sir Anthony Hopkins at the premiere of "Beowulf" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 5, 2007. |
Neil> For example, when Beowulf goes off to fight Grendel’s mother, he heads down into that lair, all on his own, disappears, is gone for eight days fighting her, and comes back with Grendel’s head. Eight days is an awful long time to fight a monster, and why didn’t he bring her head back? And so, we are actually very faithful to what happened. We’re just implying that maybe there was other stuff that happened as well.
MediaBlvd> What do the actors think about the changes to the original story? What did you know about the story before doing this film?
Crispin> I just think it was very playable. In the story, Grendel doesn’t speak, and he speaks in the film. And, on top of that, psychologically, they delve into the characters. I do think they’re being faithful to the original story structure, but they’re getting into the depth of it, which really isn’t a violation.
Ray> I told Robert Zemeckis that I knew the story, but I didn’t. Where I went to school, we read about Al Capone and things like that, so Beowulf was very new to me. All I knew about Vikings was from watching Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas. In a way, that was a good thing because I read the script not knowing the story. It seemed to me, when I read it, and I spoke to the boys about it, that it’s a modern story as well. It’s about ambition, greed and hate, and then love, and that finding what you really wanted was there all the time, right in front of you. It reminded me of Hollywood, and the ambition in people. That’s exactly how I approached it. And, Neil and Roger said, “That’s exactly what we thought.”
Anthony> I hadn’t read the original because I’m very lazy. I tried to read it, but I’m a little dyslexic sometimes, and I fall asleep very quickly. But, I read the script and I liked it very much. So, I was called into Bob Zemeckis’ office, and we just had a chat. He said, “What sort of accent do you think you would use for Hrothgar?” I said, “Well, I’m Welsh, and Welsh is a pretty old language.” It’s Celtic. And, we were the Irish who couldn’t swim. So, I said, “I’d like to play it Welsh. I’ve played Welsh before.” He said, “Can you give me an example?,” so I did a little bit, and it felt comfortable because it’s my own language. I can understand those fighting, drunk Welsh people because I was one myself. I felt comfortable playing this drunken, lecherous man.
Angelina> I had read it years and years ago, and I hardly remembered it. I think I read it half asleep as well. But, it’s one of those great stories that you remember the themes of, and never forget them. When I read the script, it wasn’t fresh enough, in my mind, to compare it to the original story, though.
MediaBlvd> Angelina, what did you think about this particular time period for women?
Angelina> I feel it’s tough to ask me that because my character is certainly not restricted by her time. She was quite powerful and capable, even though she was stuck in a cave. She’s quite a different character, and certainly not a woman of the period.
MediaBlvd> Has this wet your appetite for more animation?
Angelina> I would certainly love to do more. I wouldn’t call this animation because we were physically doing all of these things, and every single gesture is ours. Everything is acted out, exactly by us, even where our eyeballs move. They were mapped exactly. It is our performances, and we had these scenes together. I do think that is important to state because it’s exciting that it’s not regular animation, and it’s different.
MediaBlvd> How did this performance capture technique liberate you as actors?
Anthony> It is freeing and, paradoxically, it opens you up. I remember the first day I was working, it was an entrance and I had to be sitting in a throne, being brought in, completely
smashed out of my mind. You don’t actually have to have a beard or costume because they have done all that in the computer, so what you see on screen is what they photographed prior to that. They take all the information about gesture and facial expressions, and you do feel a bit of an idiot, standing there with these helmets on. I thought the only thing to do was just jump in the deep end, and do it. Sometimes, on film, I think the most mind-boggling thing is when you have two weeks rehearsal before you start filming. I would rather have my fingernails pulled out than do that because it’s so boring. I really don’t like rehearsing. And, on this, you just had to be ready. What you throw out there is what they’re going to put in the camera, so you have to have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to do. You are on the set and you’re actually confronting each other, and you are virtually so naked. You don’t have any of what a movie set is usually like, or a costume. You have no references. In a way, having no references, you have no mask, so you have to create this performance, as you go through it. It’s really quite electrifying. You think, “Oh, I’m free. I can do whatever I like. What are they going to do, put me in jail?” And then, to find out that it’s going to take another two years before they get it all up there on screen is really something else. I can’t even remember what we did much because it was such a long time ago.
Crispin> When we were performing it, I didn’t know if it would have nuance, or if it was going to feel like I was watching myself, or not. It’s a very strange experience watching it because you can feel yourself, in all the performances, and you can feel that it’s good acting underneath it, as well. That’s what surprised me, and what’s very exciting about it, at the same time.
Ray> The first day I came onto set, I was standing there in this wet suit, with this crash helmet thing on, and you stand there and feel naked. You really do feel vulnerable. And then you think, “All right, are we going to do this or not?” I remember the first take I had done was with Brendan Gleeson, on this mechanical ship, being thrown around in a storm, trying to hang on, and do the lines. It was just that fear of actually letting yourself go. You felt really stupid. I’m a 50-year-old man. I thought, “Oh, Jesus I can’t do this.” But, I think I’m like that on every film. I never know whether I’m going to be able to do it or not. You become a little bit scared, and then you have to find something deep down inside you that goes, “You know what? Fuck it, I’m going to do it. Let’s have it.” Once you get over that barrier, you really do start to enjoy it. I didn’t know what to expect, when I first saw the film in 3-D, and I just sat there with my mouth open the whole time. It just blew me away. What I really loved about the film was the fact that, without the effects, without the 3-D and without all the gizmos, it’s a great story. The story holds up. Very rarely, do you see films, or special effects movies, that have a straight story that will live forever. That is what I’m very proud of the film for. It’s really freeing, once you have done it. I would love to do it again.
MediaBlvd> Crispin, how was it possible to do your acting work with such a horribly deformed face?
Crispin> I didn’t know, until I watched it, if there would be nuances, or if you’d be able to feel stuff. I was very pleased that I was able to feel that, especially with the other actors, whose faces I could recognize more readily. But, in terms of just the initial thoughts of what I was playing, Robert Zemeckis had good thoughts, particularly about the violent scenes, in terms of what Grendel was going through, and that everything that he was dealing with was painful. He had terrible problems and it hurt him very much. Of course, when you’re acting, you’re not necessarily thinking about what you’re looking like, as much as what you’re going after.
MediaBlvd> How did the rest of the actors feel about how they looked on screen with this new technology?
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Ray Winstone at the premiere of "Beowulf" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 5, 2007. |
Angelina> I got a little shy. I didn’t expect it to feel as real. Especially because of the type of character I play, it was kind of funny at first. There were certain moments where I actually felt shy, and called home, just to explain that the fun movie that I had done, that was this digital animation, was in fact a little different than they were expecting. I was really surprised that I felt that exposed. But, I love my tail.
Ray> I loved it. It’s really weird because Beowulf is 6'6", or something like that, with an 8 pack. My wife loves it. She thinks it’s great. I look at the picture and think, “I’m the only one who doesn’t really look like me,” until you see the film move. And then, you start to recognize yourself. The big thing for me was movement. I’m 5'10", and I’m an older man now, so it’s about playing a warrior who is 6'6", and the way you move with that kind of bulk on you. That was something I really thought about, before the film. And then, I had to get older without becoming too old because I still had to be a warrior and fight a dragon. My wife pulled out a picture of me, when I was 18 and boxing, and I didn’t have the 8 pack, but it looks like me. And, they had no pictures of me beforehand. I don’t know how they brought that out. It’s great because it opens so many doors. You can play someone who is five years of age. You can play anything you want to play.
MediaBlvd> This is a story about a mother and a father, in a Greek cultural sense. Which mythical stories did you love when you were a child or teen?
Roger> I grew up with the Arthurian legends, read to me by my father. And, after being given Beowulf in high school, and looking at the cover, I said, “It’s a guy with a sword and there’s a dragon.” Then, I cracked open that cover, 25 years ago now, and suddenly realized I couldn’t understand what I was reading. It wasn’t until many years after high school that I realized it had to be read out loud. Beowulf is, in some ways, the progenitor of so many other myths that came after.
Neil> Not to mention The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was hugely influenced by Beowulf.
Roger> And, was probably the first great defender of Beowulf.
Neil> For me, it would have been the Norse legends and Marvel comics, at more or less the same time. I discovered those comics as a 7-year-old, and thought, “These things are so cool. Who is this guy called Thor, knocking around with a hammer?” And then, I found a copy of Tales of the Norseman, and read all those Norse tales until the pages fell out of the book, and really loved that stuff, as a kid. I actually discovered Beowulf first as a comic. It was a terrible comic, in which he wore one of those horned helmets, and the horns were so wide, he could not have ever gotten through a door. So, I went out and found a copy of the Beowulf translation because I was interested in what material they based the comic on. That was how I discovered it, and I just thought of it as an amazing story.
Crispin> I really like the ancient Greek religion stories. There’s a lot of fun in all of the Gods and Goddess that get angry and upset, and have very human qualities. I make my own books, that I’ve published, and I’ve read a lot of Joseph Campbell, and I think the way that these guys have worked with what they call the mono-myth, or the heroes’ journey story structure, they’re having fun with it. There’s an organic quality to how they’re playing with the structures that’s really a lot of fun, in the way that those ancient Greek religious stories are a lot of fun as well.
Ray> Growing up in the 60's, I was born in ‘57, so it wasn’t so much books for me, it was cinema, and things like Jason and the Argonauts, A Man for All Seasons, The Lion in Winter and Zulu. I love history, and I really got history. So, my books were cinema, and cinema was great. I think one of the greatest films ever made was A Man for All Seasons. It doesn’t have much action, but it’s a great script and great words. That’s when great films can be books for kids that don’t read that much. I wasn’t a great reader as a kid, so my stories came through cinema.
Angelina> It was Treasure Island for me. I loved that. When it comes to film, I love Lawrence of Arabia and The Traveler. I loved reading Winston Churchill’s works. I love the stories of his early life and his adventures, and the history in that.
Anthony> A book I read, when I was 12 years of age, was Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, which was a great Victorian novel. It was a legend and fable, and a beautifully written story. When we were doing Beowulf, I thought, “What a great power this technique of making a movie has become.” I would love to see some of the great Shakespeare stories told this way. I know that makes people yawn, and I know that people are scared stiff of Shakespeare, but it would be interesting to take some of those great plays, like King Lear and Macbeth, which were fables and epics of their own kind, because you can do limitless things with them. They could be very powerful, in this kind of medium. There are all kinds of possibilities.
MediaBlvd> Angelina, even though you shot with a green screen in a motion capture suit, what was the most challenging thing for you to do?
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Crispin Glover at the premiere of "Beowulf" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 5, 2007. |
Angelina> Bob will make you do weird things. For the swimming, we had to figure out something I could be attached to, at the waist. I had a harness, but it was on something with wheels. It was bizarre. I was swimming with my upper body, being rolled around Crispin, and trying to pretend I was swimming. Same with the flying. We hooked me up with wires and flew around. I had something where I flew around Crispin for a bit. I was hooked up and being moved.
MediaBlvd> Angelina and Crispin, was there another language that the two of you were speaking?
Angelina> It’s Old English. We had more of it. It was actually great, but I think it went over a lot of people’s heads. But, it was fun to learn and it was beautiful
Crispin> My character speaks only in Old English. We had a professor that we got to sit down with, who helped figure out what was actually said in Old English. It was written in modern English, and then it made sense for Grendel to be the one that speaks completely in Old English. And then, Grendel’s mother speaks a hybrid of modern and Old English.
MediaBlvd> Angelina, how did you feel about the box office for A Mighty Heart? People said that it was a disappointment. Does that surprise you?
Angelina> Of course not. It’s not a disappointment to me, at all. It’s a film that I feel strongly about, that Mariane Pearl feels strongly about, that Daniel Pearl’s parents feel strongly about, and that people who saw it, appreciate. I don’t see why it’s a disappointment, in any way, other than box office dollars, which should mean very little to art.
MediaBlvd> Are you going to be taking some time off soon?
Angelina> I have one more month on The Changeling, and then I’m not doing anything.
