|  An
Emily Blunt Interview with Martin Scorsese – Producer of
The Young Victoria
Let's
face it, period films can be a drag. Prim and proper and generally
a snorefest - unless Jeremy Northam appears - for him we male-loving
of the species will suffer through.
Another
exception to the rule is if the film is handled by a real pro
producer-wise. And, frankly, who's better than Martin Scorsese
in the medium of film period? Not a helluva lot of 'em.
So,
perhaps, The Young Queen Victoria, is gonna be swell.
The
cast is grand, that hottie director, Jean-Marc Vallée,
is wielding the shots, and film lovers around the globe get giddy
with child-like glee when we hear of any project Martie's hand
is dabbling in.
As
an early holiday present to all, here's
a few questions with the master himself - cool I know. Then be
gettin' yourselves out to see this stunning film with, ahem, a
fine actress...
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EM:
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, first mentioned the idea
for a film on Queen Victoria to Graham King. What was your initial
reaction when Graham told you about it?
MARTIE:
I was intrigued. Over the years, I’ve become more and more
interested in history – reading as much as I can. And the
idea of a film that is really about the acquisition of power,
the young life of a woman who took the throne at the age of 18,
and who eventually became not just the Queen of England but a
ruler who left such an indelible mark on her own time that an
entire era was named after her – that’s what really
struck me.
EM:
What kind of approach does a director need to take to a period
film in order to bring in a young, contemporary audience?
MARTIE:
I suppose that you need to make the past present – that’s
the best way of putting it. Of course, the past always is present,
and the deeper you go into a given period, the more alive it becomes
for you. It’s all in the details: the texture of the weave
in a fabric, the temperature of a room, the light, the writing
implements, the kitchen, the cuisine. It’s the social history,
the kind of thing that puts you within the context of the characters
and their historical framework. The filmmakers’ job is to
take their own excitement and work from it, bring it to the screen.
Which Jean-Marc and Julien have done with The Young Victoria.
They’re both enormously talented in extremely different
ways, and I think they made a great creative team. And the actors
– Emily Blunt, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany,
Jim Broadbent, with whom I had such a good working experience
on Gangs of New York…they all did a tremendous job.
EM:
What’s your view on feature films and historical accuracy?
How much poetic license should filmmakers allow themselves? Is
there a line which shouldn’t be crossed?
MARTIE:
In the days of the studio system, a lot of lines were crossed
historically, particularly when it came to American history. For
instance, I like They Died with Their Boots On as a Raoul Walsh/Erroll
Flynn picture, but as a biography of General Custer it’s
a complete fantasy. In the 70s, you started to see a kind of corrective
to this way of falsifying history. You could say that up to about
1960, filmmakers felt an obligation to “print the legend,”
as one of the characters says at the end of The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance by John Ford. And then, it went the other way. For my
generation, it was necessary to go the other way, to expose what
was behind the curtain of public record. There was more harshness,
greater accuracy, greater scrutiny of the historical record. Now,
I think some of the excitement of the older, more fanciful films
has come back, but the respect for history has also increased.
So, I’m not sure if there’s a line that can’t
be crossed. I just think that you have to have a sense of history
as your starting ground.
EM:
Do you like multi tasking – ie you’re filming a contemporary
crime thriller and discussing a period love story at the same
time.
MARTIE:
Do I like multi-tasking? I’m not sure, but I find myself
doing it. Frequently.
EM:
You’re interests are clearly wide ranging – the Harrison
documentary following on your work with the Stones to Shutter
Island to producing a film about an 18 year old Queen of England.
Is there a genre of film that you feel you haven’t tackled
yet and would like to?
MARTIE:
It would be interesting to do a western. A war film. If it was
the right material.
EM:
Has your approach to the work changed over the years, do you think?
In Berlin last year you said that the anger you felt as a younger
man was still there but it was channelled more now. Could you
expand on that?
MARTIE:
I think it’s happened for me in the way it happens for many
people. I’m not as prone to outbursts as I was when I was
younger. Or, I can have more of a sense of humor about it now.
I can see things from a different angle. What’s changed?
Having a young child has certainly shifted my perspective.
EM:
What makes your professional relationship with Graham King work
so well?
MARTIE:
Graham and I can speak frankly to each other. Frankly, but respectfully.
That’s valuable to me. He understands the way I work.
EM:
You’ve long been an admirer of British cinema. Would you
ever make a film here in the UK?
MARTIE:
British cinema has always meant a lot to me. We’ve been
working over the years on a film about it, and I find that I’m
constantly viewing and re-viewing British films, and discovering
new ones – the Powell-Pressburger pictures, but other movies
too, like Green for Danger, or that remarkable silent Asquith
movie A Cottage on Dartmoor, which I saw for the first time a
couple of years ago, or Thorold Dickinson’s movies. Watching
British films as I grew up has been a great influence on me. It’s
extremely rich, varied, and unusual. If I had the right story
to tell, of course I’d shoot a picture in England.
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