Sunday - January 29, 2006
Blacks, whites and grays
Thank you for that welcome, Kipleigh. All good
things, right back to you.
Right off, I gotta say what a truly rare privilege it is to work with a writer/director as stunningly both skilled and talented, and as heartful, as James. As we delve into pre-production and the rehearsal process, it's intriguing to find that James is not only a true visionary and but also genuinely collaborative -- that rare combination of qualities reserved only for the most brilliant.
I'm excited.
I've long been a lover of golden era music, art, film and fashion, and if it weren't for my self-appointed task of bringing vintage sensibility to present day, I'd ascribe to myself the adage of being born in the wrong era. So what a treat it was to read the script and see that someone was singing the song that I sing -- metaphorically, even. I felt that way regardless of whether I was to be cast or not. But when I got the news that I get to play on this incredible playground, I exhaled for the first time in about a week.
Truly original, non-mainstream, quality filmmaking can be an arduous task in a zip code where "15 minutes" is all many people seek, and plasticity is status quo; it's a world that's all but bereft of soul, not only in entertainment but in life. It's a culture where we're tragically expected to drown out the voice of our hearts, if only for survival. James is taking that world, which is seemingly lacking in artistic merit, conscience or consequence, and translating it into noir -- dripping with style and fraught with conscience.
The simplicity of the film's message is only accentuated by the fact that it's set against a backdrop of uttermost complexity. The intellectual labyrinth the film invites us into is fascinating; the possibilities and implications it presents are mind-boggling and would be enough, in and of themselves, to chew on for quite a while. Yet it's safe to say that the primary journey of Yesterday Was a Lie will be that of the right brain. More on this later...
I'm honored to be aboard as we explore the blacks, whites and grays of both noir and the human heart.
Right off, I gotta say what a truly rare privilege it is to work with a writer/director as stunningly both skilled and talented, and as heartful, as James. As we delve into pre-production and the rehearsal process, it's intriguing to find that James is not only a true visionary and but also genuinely collaborative -- that rare combination of qualities reserved only for the most brilliant.
I'm excited.
I've long been a lover of golden era music, art, film and fashion, and if it weren't for my self-appointed task of bringing vintage sensibility to present day, I'd ascribe to myself the adage of being born in the wrong era. So what a treat it was to read the script and see that someone was singing the song that I sing -- metaphorically, even. I felt that way regardless of whether I was to be cast or not. But when I got the news that I get to play on this incredible playground, I exhaled for the first time in about a week.
Truly original, non-mainstream, quality filmmaking can be an arduous task in a zip code where "15 minutes" is all many people seek, and plasticity is status quo; it's a world that's all but bereft of soul, not only in entertainment but in life. It's a culture where we're tragically expected to drown out the voice of our hearts, if only for survival. James is taking that world, which is seemingly lacking in artistic merit, conscience or consequence, and translating it into noir -- dripping with style and fraught with conscience.
The simplicity of the film's message is only accentuated by the fact that it's set against a backdrop of uttermost complexity. The intellectual labyrinth the film invites us into is fascinating; the possibilities and implications it presents are mind-boggling and would be enough, in and of themselves, to chew on for quite a while. Yet it's safe to say that the primary journey of Yesterday Was a Lie will be that of the right brain. More on this later...
I'm honored to be aboard as we explore the blacks, whites and grays of both noir and the human heart.