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Cinema: Close-Up
Christian Bale Discusses “Reign of Fire”
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eign of Fire” pulls off a pretty neat trick, managing to be both medieval and futuristic. This sci-fi fantasy stars Christian Bale in the central human role, although the film’s computer-generated dragons routinely upstage him. Bale plays a London fire chief whose construction-engineer mother accidentally awakens a slumbering dragon in modern-day England. For the next 20 years, the beast’s rapidly breeding offspring decimate most of the planet. Teamed with a hotshot American dragon slayer, played by Matthew McConaughey, Bale’s character must defeat the beasts to save humanity. The Welsh-born Bale shot to prominence at 13 with his starring role in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film, “Empire of the Sun.” Since then, the 28-year-old actor has jumped with surprising ease between Shakespeare, musicals and even the depraved thriller, “American Psycho.” Q. How did you maintain such a high level of energy on the “Reign of Fire” set to play such an intense character? A. That’s my job, you know. With any kind of movie, even much smaller, character-driven pieces, you still have to rise to the occasion. It’s just essential, really, and for this movie it was really important that the characters are engaging and interesting enough to carry you through it.
We are asking an audience to look at dragons, to believe in them, so you have to make sure that there’s a sort of dirtiness and a reality to the setting and the characters involved. That was the main concern for me in making this movie. I hadn’t seen a decent dragon movie before, one where they’re not singing or talking. Q. Was it tough at all keeping a straight face when Matthew McConaughey was playing his wildly overzealous character? A. Well, I think it’s always a good idea to not take ourselves too seriously. As I see it, in my job you really have to deny yourself an awful lot of reactions that you would normally have. There are so many scenes where you have to be emotional or whatever, and you may really not feel like that at all. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have laughs. Of course you do, and sometimes real big ones. Q. Was there a moment like that which was just too funny to stay in character? A. If you just think about the initial concept: What are we looking at? We’re looking at thin air. Before seeing the movie, I had seen artists’ renderings of the dragons, but on the set, I’m staring at nothing, essentially. Is this a job for a full-grown man? Really? No, it’s not at all, but heck I enjoy it anyway. Q. So you take pride in staying in character. Which of those straight-faced moments are you most proud of? A. There’s one that ended up in the movie, a
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By Joey Berlin fight sequence between myself and Matthew. I didn’t realize it while we were filming it, but I really get trounced in the fight. We decided, the both of us, to really just go for it in hopes of not having to do too many takes. A few punches were landed, but the principle one was his head-butt to me. He head-butts me very, very hard in that scene and I dropped on the spot. Then I got back up and we kept swinging, and we got through the scene. It ended up fantastic. Q. Not every actor who starts as young as you manages to keep a career going. What is your secret? A. Firstly, I think I was very nicely spoiled with the character that I played in “Empire of the Sun.” It was a character part rather than a generic teen-ager role. I never had any parts which relied upon being the high school guy or anything like that. In my mind, that’s the primary reason, because there wasn’t any time when I went from being the cute kid to suddenly sort of an ugly adolescent, and unnerving people with that. Q. Are you confident that you can play any role, or do you get scripts that you know are wrong for you? A. Absolutely. There have been a number of times when I’ve gone to meet a director for a script, but I’ve said to them, “I love it, this is fantastic, but I’m not the right person for this.” But I do want to meet with them and talk about it because I find that enjoyable. I’m very inter-
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ested in how scripts develop and all the preparation before a movie gets made. Q. Your character in “Reign of Fire” reenacts a scene from “Star Wars.” You must have been thinking, “I cannot believe I get paid to do this!” A. I think that every day that I’m on the set, really, sometimes because I’m enjoying it and other times because I’m really not. It’s at the same time a fantastic profession and a really, truly silly one as well, when you look at it with clear eyes. But, yeah, that was really enjoyable. I’ve still got the “Star Wars” figures from when I was a kid and everything. I had played that scene many times before, as a child.
Cinema: Review
Road to Perdition
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ubtlety is not one of Sam Mendes’ strong suits. The British director, who garnered a name for himself mounting stage productions, showcased his unabashed taste for the dramatic with an impressive and auspicious screen debut in “American Beauty.” Mendes’ 1999 Best Picture-winning ode to suburban dysfunction was an uncanny combination of overwrought symbolism and affecting storytelling. From the over-the-top but impressive performances (namely Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening dove into their characters with a bit too much
By Rachel Deahl gumption at times) to the lingering auteur shots which seem to announce the film as Oscar material (it’s hard to know whether to appreciate Mendes’ shot of that dancing plastic bag or write it off as ostentatious bullshit), “American Beauty” used its clichés successfully and created a provocative final cut. In his sophomore effort, “Road to Perdition,” Mendes proves that he is a man of consistency, offering up another overwrought yet stirring film. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, “Perdition” is a heartfelt story about fathers and sons set against the backdrop of 1930s gangland violence. Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan, a stoic hitman/family man who works for a powerful Irish mob boss named John Rooney (Paul Newman). Ruling over his “family” with wisdom and compassion, Rooney looks after Michael as if her were flesh and blood while maintaining a troubling relationship with his own son, Connor (Daniel Craig). A more calculating version of Sonny Corleone, Connor is greedy and unpredictable (always a dangerous combination in the mafia). Connor’s maverick nature, and
disregard for seemingly everyone but himself, comes to the fore after Michael’s son witnesses “a job.” Hiding in the back seat of his father’s Buick, thirteen-year-old Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), sneaks off and watches as Connor and his dad gun down one of their former associates. Seizing on the mishap as a reason to take out his father’s beloved surrogate son, Connor attempts to kill Michael and his family but manages to only wipe out his wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and youngest son. What ensues is an unusual road trip as Michael Sr. and Jr. go on the lam, with Hanks’s hitman trying to avenge the deaths of his family and make a new life for his son without falling victim to the sniper who’s been put on his tail (Jude Law playing a mangy-looking killer who photographs his victims while they’re dying). Slow going in its early parts, “Perdition” picks up steam rather quickly and Mendes manages to work his film into a powerful drama about what it means to be a father and what it means to be a son. Much of the mafia business here looks familiar but Mendes draws momentum from the parallel and over-
lapping relationships between his two central two father-son teams: the Sullivans and Rooneys. Shot with the similarly showy style he demonstrated in “American Beauty,” “Perdition” is pieced together like a slide show of still-life paintings. And while Mendes shows little control with his camera (his direction is as grandiose as his storytelling), the effect is often no less striking for it. From slow zooms to silent hits (in one of his more flashy shots, Mendes displays the aftermath of a gunshot wound to head in a slowly moving mirrored bathroom door), Mendes deserves credit for offering up distinguishing images of common screen fare. Aside from the flashy camerawork though, the most memorable elements of “Perdition” come through in its simplest moments. Monologues about loyalty, retribution and family (often delivered by Paul Newman, who gives one of the finest performances of his older years), hit home as Mendes manages once again to use his overt direction to create a quietly powerful film.