Boxoffice-January.2000

. as
: their
. "My
Cover - _
ROCKIN' ROBBINS
Writer-Director Tim Robbins Recreates
„
the 1930s American Art Scene in "Cradle Will Rock
by Annlee Ellingson
ical.' Certainly. I've heard it before, but I
would really question whether that's an
accurate description of me or my films.
films are humanist films," he
continues, talking to BOXOFFICF. from
his cell, cabbing it to his Manhattan
home after a hard day at the office. "My
films are films about compassion, love
and joy. They don't have anything to do
with politics."
Still, it's difficult to deny that there's a
common thread. "Bob Roberts" parodied
the very political process, and
Man Walking" catalyzed discussions
on a hot-button topic, most likely
because of—-rather than in spite of—the
care with which Robbins told all sides of
the story, refusing to make a martyr out
of a murderer.
"Dead Man Walking' is right clear
down the middle on the [capital punishment]
issue." he declares. "It's fair to
everybody. It doesn't conde
f"Dead
30 BOXOFFK E
"TX Tiih just three teature film body. People are given dignity, whose Flanagan, which was the history of the
\/\/ credits to his name, writer- opinions I don't agree with. I take pains Federal Theatre. Being a theatre major
T V director-producer Tim and make efforts to do this." a
in college and to not have learned that, .1I
Robbins (who occasionally moonlights The same is true of "Cradle Will was shocked."
an actor as well) has already established
a respectable and diverse oeuvre. tive with about 20 principal characters. funeral procession for a wooden dummy w.
Rock," a complex, multi-layered narra-
I "Arena" led him to a story about
In 1992 he made "Bob Roberts." a satire The title refers to Orson Welles' (Angus "The casting company and the audience *
about an extreme right-wing Senatorial Macfadyen) historic non-production of of 'Pinocchio' staged this mock funeral
candidate whose folk songs charm the Marc Blitzstein's (Hank Azaria) eponymous
musical. Banned from performing says. "I just loved the message and said,
march in protest of the budget cuts." he
constituency. Three years later came
"Dead Man Walking." his even-handed and barred from their theatre on opening
night, the cast and crew of "The the movie. That's another part of the
'Well, we definitely have to have that in
examination of the death penalty, which
garnered him an Oscar nomination for Cradle Will Rock" led their audience ending.' And I started filling in back
best director and star Susan Sarandon, through downtown New York City to from there.. ..I pretty much knew my
Robbins' long-time companion, a win put on the show in an abandoned theatre end. I knew my ending, and then I just
for best actress. And this Christmas, sans props or costumes.
had to fill in the first two acts."'
Disney will release "Cradle Will Rock," Meanwhile, Nelson Rockefeller (John One of the challenges on "Cradle"
Robbins' account of the censorship that Cusack) commissions Mexican artist was casting contemporary actors in roles
took place in the 1930s on the eve of Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a of known historical figures. "The best
|World War II and the Red Scare.
mural in the Rockefeller Center. you can do is kind of imagine what people
were like," Robbins says. "Withr
But don't call his films political. He Unhappy with the final
J product, he
f doesn't like what that implies. "I think locks Rivera out of the building and Orson Welles and John Houseman and
I that if you were to ask any person in destroys the painting.
Nelson Rockefeller and others we had
I America what they thought of politics Other subplots include WPA employee
Hazel Huffman's (Joan Cusack) somewhat close, but we weren't doing
pictures, [and] it was important to get
I or politicians, that's probably one of
least favorite subjects and least efforts to shut down the Federal Theatre Legends in Concert in Vegas. We didn'i
favorite people," Robbins contends. "So Project because of allegedly un- need look-alikes. What we needed reallyl
i I feel like I've been kind of marginalized,
or an attempt has been made to
these people— what I imagine their spir-
American themes in some of its produc-
were people who were close in spirit to]
marginalize me, by using the word 'politits
must have been like, their personali-
tions and the head of the WPA Theatre
Hallie Flanagan's (Cherry Jones)
defense of the Federal Theatre in front
of the Dies Committee in Washington.
And Mussolini's mistress Margherita
Sarfatti (Sarandon) sells her country's
greatest works of art to Rockefeller and
his cronies to raise funds for the war in
Europe.
The
concept for "Cradle Will
Rock" began gestating the first
time Robbins heard about the
play's infamous opening. "It all started
with the story of that performance that
evening," he says. "I was [intrigued] by
the heroic nature of it. So I started
working backwards, filling in the people,
trying to figure out a way to arrive at the
climactic ending."
As he began to research, the theatre
buff stumbled across othe. equally captivating
images from the era. "The next
book I read after all the research on 'The
off the climactic scene, the ultimate per-
formance of "Cradle Will Rock." "That
le Will Rock' was 'Are: rena' by Hallie
WJF
ties,
their energy.'"
Welles proved particularly difficult to
cast. "It was absolutely impossible to
find someone 2 1 years old to play Orson
Welles," Robbins remembers. "Because
that was the age he was at. That was his
real age. There is not a 21 -year-old actor
with the command of the language, the
deep rich voice, the incredible brilliance
and precociousness that I imagine
Welles to be. There's no one. That's
tribute to Welles, in a way. It makes you
understand why he was able to achieve
what he achieved at such a young age.
He truly was special. He was brilliant.
So Angus [Macfadyen] was absolutely
dead-on perfect in the role, but he also i
10 years older than Welles was at the
time."
Without talent such as Macfadyen's,
Robbins would have been unable to pull