1859 Sept | Oct 2012_opt

what i'm working on
Ventures
photo by Doane Gregory
RIG R R
S I P S S
photo by Andrea Lorimor
photo by Andrea Lorimor
there efi oet he o e o ere
made to work in movies?
No, rather, it was an evolution. Through my work and exploration of the arts, I was
fortunate to discover what I should be doing, and how I could apply all my experience
and interests to my role in filmmaking.
You log thousands of miles traversing the globe, working
th Alt tor he o hoe to oet r
house in Estacada. Why here?
I have lived and worked in Oregon for periods of time over the past forty years,
and Nina and I have lived in Estacada for seventeen. I’m blessed to have a life full
of travel, typically on the road eight months a year. But life in Oregon provides a
focus and grounding that I rely on and treasure. We enjoy a rich quality of life in
the Northwest, surrounded by landscape that nurtures and inspires.
One of the most interesting questions you say you’ve ever
been asked came recently, from an Estacada High School
student who wondered whether you live your life through
the filter o fil ht o tell her
To take just one example, I asked her if she perhaps recognized ways in which her
concept of love and romance had been formed through movies. I’ve no doubt that
modern consciousness has been largely shaped by cinema.
o ho h fil he or le
I believe that film, like all art, has the ability to transform self and society. Film
has the capacity to engender empathy, to allow people to see commonality
where they had previously only seen difference.
I’m blessed to work at something that I love—being part of telling stories, entertaining
people, and hopefully inspiring and sometimes challenging them. I
travel widely, and have the chance to go backstage into peoples’ lives and jobs,
and to experience richness, beauty and diversity of life in our time. I know that
cinema has enriched my life beyond words.
o rerle oee o ll o th oing
right” must happen to make a good movie. What is an
ele o tht or fil
Howard Hawks on what makes a good movie: “Three great scenes, no bad ones.”
A good movie begins with a good script. But everything else that goes into its
making has to be spot-on as well. Every decision, large or small from everyone
involved, contributes to how well it is realized. Not an easy feat.
And then to be successful, it has to be distributed and marketed well. I’ve done
two indies that enjoyed significant success. While making Crash and The Artist,
all those involved who brought their talent, commitment and passion to the
projects sensed that we were making films that just might be very good. But both
films’ paths to recognition were against incredible odds.
For your work on The Artist, you received an Academy
Award nomination, and you won the César (the French version
of the Academy Awards). Was your job more challeng-
ee t let fil
We did a tremendous amount of testing and research, the most important of
which was watching film of the era. There are such beautiful movies from the
teens and ’20s. I’d been quite familiar with the work of Chaplin, Keaton and
others, but was introduced to masterpieces by Murnau, Vidor, Lang, and Von
Sternberg.
We tried to emulate styles of films from the period, certainly. But one of the
things I was most keen to have my team see and appreciate was the fun that
those pioneers of film were having. They were inventing the language of cinema,
and at the same time inventing the business—how films were made. I encouraged
everyone who worked with me to identify with that spirit of playfulness
and inventiveness.
What’s next for Laurence Bennett?
I just got back from three-and-a-half weeks in Italy, scouting locations and assembling
a crew for a film with my friend, writer-director Paul Haggis. Third
Person (Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde) comprises three stories about relationships,
each set in a different city: Rome, Paris and NYC.
To read the extended interview with Laurence Bennett,
go to 1859magazine.com/Bennett.
1859 oregon's mAgAzine SEPT OCT 2012 6