‘IF YOU LISTEN TO THE FANS - YOU ARE DEAD’
The French Conner: ion
Mr Monica Belluci, VINCENT CASSELL, talks to Paul Dale about Iraq, Jennifer Aniston, hip hop, capoeira and becoming seriously Derailed.
e work together"."
‘No I‘m just here to have a chat with you.‘
‘So we work together. y'es'." (iiggling. \‘incent (‘assell. best known here for his roles in [.u Iluinr'. l.‘.-lp/mrlenicnr. .S‘lrrr'k. Irreversible and ()i'i'un‘s 'Iii'r'li'i'. leads me into his hotel suite. Taller
and scrul‘f‘ier than I imagined. he wears the kind of
dark urban wear (combats. hoodie. crap black trainers) that hardly befits a 39-year-old lather land husband to one of the most beautiful actresses in the world). But (‘assell is the epitome of Gallic charm. answering questions with warmth. We‘re here to talk about his role in Derailed. a half decent l-‘uru/ stirriiiri'on-style thriller. the first linglish language film from Swedish director Mikael l'laf‘strom. maker of the excellent 2003 boarding school drama lz‘i'i‘l.
l half jokingly suggest that I see the film — with its plot hoodwinks and double crosses — as a metaphor for Bush‘s war on Iraq tit is a theory that the director dismissed half an hour earlier). His fieshy lids widen to reveal his striking blue eyes. and his half smile reveals this is clearly the type of tangential question (‘assell loves. ‘What the people who make movies think is not very interesting. So you saw that in it'.’ I think you‘re right. I think when you create something. everything is unconsciotis. and all your fears and all the things you‘ve been through lately. they somehow have an effect on what you see and how you interpret it. Most directors don‘t really know what they are doing. You know the filmmaker
40 THE LIST .‘ ~ '6 Fet‘ [3.36
(‘hris Marker? ch'.’ Well he has a saying: "You never know what you‘re filming. you think you‘re filming this. and then you realise you‘re filming something else.“‘
L’nwilling to play the celebrity fame game. (‘assell simply says of his co-star Jennifer Aniston: ‘She‘s a friendly. humble person who never carries any ego on the set. ()h and she is very discreet.‘ I point out that she‘s been box office poison since she left l-‘riwuls. He waves the question away in a show of actorly unity. ‘lt‘s very hard when you‘ve got such a success on TV. because the worst enemies of the actor are the fans. They think they own you. but if you think they‘re right. you‘re dead. You cannot work for them. you‘ve got to work for yourself and eventually the fans will follow.‘
(‘assell‘s passion for capoeira and hip hop is well known. so I ask if tises either to psyche up f‘or his hard man roles. ‘()f course l do. I‘m not like that all the time. it helped having RZA. who is a god. a mastermind. and .\‘/.ibit on the set because we could swap moves and tunes. But the truth is my only real acting method is to have fun becatise that‘s how you create. My very favourite actors are Mastriaonni. (iian Maria \i'olonte. De Niro and Patrick [)ewaere and like them I see myself as more of an instinctive. physical actor than a psychological one.‘
Derailed is on general release from Fri 3 Feb. See review, page 43.
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THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
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* Grizzly Man Werner Herzog's brilliant. thoughtful. intelligent and respectful dOCUmentary about the life and times of grizzly bear actrvrst Timothy Treadwell. See review. page 41. GFT. Glasgow and Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh (from Fri 3 Feb).
* Walk the Line The man in black is back. courtesy of James Mangold's entertaining and endearing Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. See feature. page 16. and review. page 42. General release.
>|< Calvaire Devilishly gripping, blackly funny French horror film. A cult along the lines of Straw Dogs in the making. See review. page 43. Film/rouse. Edinburgh from Fri 3—Sun 5 Feb only.
* Lady Vengeance Following on from Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and O/dboy. Park Chan-wook completes his Revenge Trilogy with a work as poetic as it is bleak. Recommended. See review. page 43. Cameo. Edinburgh (from 70 Feb).
>l< Hidden Michael Haneke's astounding thriller is without a doubt one of the films of the year. GFT. Glasgow (from Fri i0 Feb) and Film/rouse, Edinburgh (ti/l Thu 9 Feb only).
* Brokeback Mountain Lee's heartbreaking Western. General release.
* Themroc Claude Faraldo's anarchic 1973 masterpiece makes its Psychotronic Cinema debut. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh (Thu 2 Feb only) and GET. Glasgow (Tue 7 Feb only).
=l= One Life Stand Welcome one-off screening and DVD re- release of May Thomas Miles' Scottish digital feature from 2000 about a mother's attempts to help her son become a model. See interview, page 44. GET, Glasgow (T hu 9 Feb only). DVD available from www. elementa/fi/ms. co. uk from Fri 70 Feb.