ARTICLES - INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO - 2003-7
James: What about working with Velma, Catherine Zeta-Jones?
Renee: That was something else. Who knew? I guess they knew in
Europe. But who knew over here? She sings from the bottom of her feet,
you know. It旧 unbelievable to watch her. She旧 so in her glory, she
was so in her bliss on that set every day. To watch someone who is so
joyful in that experience was..it was just enrapturing. I loved it.
James: When Richard Gere was in that chair, he described the experience,
which he had just concluded, as the best experience of his life. Now tell
me about working with Richard. You sat in his lap for a whole number?
Renee: Not a bad day at work.
James: When Richard was here, he said the extraordinary innovation in
this film was the way in which the musical numbers, which are
considered an anathema in Hollywood films, were achieved. It starts with
the first frame, which is a push from a close-up to an extreme close-up of
Renee旧 fantastic eyes, and that goes into the 静?of Chicago, and there
we go. We now know it旧 from her point-of-view, and the musical
numbers are her dreams. I think Chicago opens a door through which
many people may be able to go. This and Moulin Rouge have brought the
musical form back to the foreground. This means the world to me.
James: And now for the questionaire invented by the best talk-show host
ever, Bernard Clivot. Renee, what is your favorite word?
Renee: For its context, I would say honor. And for the way it sounds:
corn.
I観 not kidding. For some reason, that word has always made me laugh.
James: What is your least favorite word?
Renee: Betrayal.
James: What turns you on?
Renee: I guess that great expression that is motivated by passion and truth.
James: What turns you off?
Renee: Dishonesty, gluttony, lack of empathy, lack of compassion and
conditional kindness.
James: What sound or noise do you love?
Renee: My dog旧 tail on the floor. When she drinks water.
James: What sound or noise do you hate?
Renee: Like, bored sigh. That one makes me sad.
James: What is your favorite curse word?
Renee: Oh, fuck. That旧 my favorite one. And goddammit is another one,
but fuck is the one that I probably use more than my mother would like
me to.
James: What profession, other than yours, would you like to attempt?
Renee: Ultimately, one day, I am gonna have to put pen to paper and put
it out into the world.
James: What profession would you not, under any circumstances, like to
participate in?
Renee: I wouldn急 want to lie. If I had to lie in something, I wouldn急
be interested in that.
James: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you
Renee: Come on in, come on in. That渇 be nice.
James: Ok, come on in to your school. Here are your students.
Renee: Thank you.
Student: Hi, I観 Elizabeth, third-year playwright. Thank you so much for
being here with us and for being so generous.
Renee: Oh are you kidding? I観 thrilled! It旧 the coolest thing.
Elizabeth: I観 wondering if you渇 be willing to share with us how you
挙e been able to maintain your selfness and your strength, moreover your
sense of self, in this business?
Renee: Whoo, that旧 all I now how to be, you know? Um, it旧 not
always easy, and you歓l see that it旧 not always easy, because there旧
a lot of unnatural scenarios that you歓l find yourself in, really
unnatural.
And you歓l be challenged with, um, trying to find a gracious way out of
certain situations, that you haven急 quite developed the skills to process
just yet. So, I観 learning as I go. Um, I観 learning the importance of
boundaries, uh, I know who I am in my core, and I know what
旧 important, and I know what makes me happy, and there are certain
things
about my constitution that are non-negotiable. Um, fame and celebrity,
and all of the complications that that involves, and what it supposedly
brings to your life in terms of privelege and excitement, I挙e never
valued. So um, I can kind of stay here and be comfortable with it, and I
have to, because if I put my toe in the water of something that feels
disingenuous to me, that feels like a compromise to me in any way, it旧
kind of like Clockwork Orange. I get a really bad, uncomfortable reaction,
and I have to retreat. But I観 learning to, I観 learning to, um, process it
better. It旧 all a learning thing. You歓l see, you歓l see.
Student: Hi Renee. My name is Julian. I観 a first-year actor. It just
seems like you can do it all -- sing, act, dance - and I was just wondering
what you thought might be a weakness that you虐e trying to overcome,
and what you虐e doing to correct it?
Renee: That旧 it, what we just talked about now. I観 not good at fame
at all, not good at it. It gives me a stomachache, 螋uz it, um, I don急
know, it feels disingenuous so many times to me. I have the greatest life.
I
mean, creatively I never expected to be part of so many things that matter
so much to me, and that are so satisfying, and that you learn so much
from, and that, you know, as creative people, you understand. I mean, to
be able to express yourself in so many different ways with so many
talented people, it旧 beyond my dreams, honestly. Um, so it comes from
that, and as a result of that, and I should be really grateful, but I観 not
very good at it. I観 trying to get better about caring about things that are
completely beyond my control. So, big weakness. Big, big, big, big, big
weakness.
Student: Hi Renee, I観 Joel. I観 a first-year actor. One of the things, I
think we would all agree, is a blessing, is that we get to have these
evenings with a wide variety of people who have lots to share with us.
Renee: Yeah, yeah! I watch the show and I think, 嘆ow that旧 a class.? It旧 an incentive to come to school, isn急 it?
Joel: Absolutely. You talked about the transition from Austin to LA. I観
curious to hear your process, how you got to the point where you made
that transition?
Renee: I wanted to be sure of why I was doing it, and that I loved it. That
旧 the first thing. Why am I doing this? Because then, you know what
your boundaries are, and you虐e not in any danger of becoming
somebody that you don急 like, because different scenarios will be
thrown your way. You need to be a professional. You need to be aware of
your place in the bigger picture, because it旧 not just about you and your
dream. That旧 really nice, but it gets commodified from the outside, and
you have to be aware of how and what your plan is to keep it pure on the
inside, 螋uz when you hop off the bus and you挙e arrived, nobody cares.
Um, they wanna know how they can make money off of what you can do,
and what you have to offer, so you have to find where you虐e
comfortable in that. You have to find out what matters to you, and what
your personal journey is going to be in terms of what you find satisfying
from acting, from writing, from directing. Why虐e you doing it? Are you
doing it 螋uz you wanna get what you think comes as a result of that?
Um, celebrity, applause, validation, money, um, a certain lifestyle of
privelege in some circumstances. 茘uz it旧 not real, I歓l tell you. That
it旧 not real, not real at all. Um, things that seem like luxuries on the
outside, become things that are imperative so that you can live your life
safely, um, with some semblence of normalcy. You have to know who
you are, and once you虐e aware of those things, you know how better to
protect them. That旧 when I knew I could go, because I knew that
certain things are non-negotiable, they虐e just not negotiable. I観 not
taking my clothes off, and I観 not compromising my core of my essence
because I want a job, because I歓l get another job, that pays me or not,
that I観 going to love just as much, or not. But I観 going to maintain
my dignity. At the end of the day, that旧 all you got.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 210.59.146.10
Renee 近期熱門文章
PTT偶像團體區 即時熱門文章