Skin: Kelly Reichardt on the evolution of female directors: “Not much has changed”

Skin: Kelly Reichardt on the evolution of female directors: “Not much has changed”

Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams engaged in the creative process and collaborated on fantastical reflection on art, the problems of traditional fictional biography, and acting with cats and monkeys, in a wide-ranging press conference the Saturday after the world premiere. in Cannes. competitive film Show.

In the film, Williams plays Lizzie, a sculptor from Portland who nervously prepares for an exhibition while managing to distract family and friends. Hong Chau, John Magaro, Judd Hirsch, Marian Plunkett and Andre 3,000 participants.

Williams’ late pregnancy required all journalists present to wear the mask, but the conversation was remarkably casual and intimate, likely reflecting the ease with which Williams and Reichardt, who made four films together, had.

Said Reichardt Show It originally started as a biographical project about Canadian artist Emily Carey, but changed after a visit to Vancouver. “We thought Emily Curry was a very dark artist, and so we went to Canada and found that she looked like the lightning bolt of Canadian artists,” the director said. The project then became a portrait of a truly unknown artist working at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts in Portland (which closed in 2019).

“We wanted to do this for a regional artist with lower stakes, and it’s more about the day job,” said Reichardt.

Jonathan Raymond, who is co-writer Show According to Richard’s script, most of the artist’s stories in the film focus on “telling success or failure, but the process of making art doesn’t work that way…art is made for many different reasons”. This rise and fall is really a fantasy.

Instead, Raymond said that he and Reichard wanted to incorporate Liz’s art in the context of her relationships with the people around her.

We all have family, we all have friends [and] “The question arises of how and why you make art when so many people around you are suffering,” he said. “[But] Art is born from the struggle to be with people.

Williams uncovered several animal-based questions, one of which focused on her onscreen relationship with Ricky, a bag that has several scene-stealing moments. Show (Reichardt revealed that Ricky was actually playing with a two-cat temper.)

One thing about working with animals, Williams noted, is that “they don’t know the camera is on.” [so] They are always in the moment and they demand the same from you. “They can really show you an actor.”

His most impressive acting relationship with a nonhuman, he said, was with a primate.

“I once worked with a monkey [on Oz the Great and Powerful] “Which really impressed me,” Williams said. “This monkey has to teach acting. Talk about being. ”

Reichardt revealed that the art is done by Lizzie Show It came from Portland artist Cynthia Laht, and two other artists, Michelle Degree and Jessica Jackson Hutchins, also contributed to the film.

The film’s strong focus on women, which is a common theme in much of Reichardt’s work, was only touched upon briefly at a press conference when a reporter asked Reichardt, who last week became one of the first filmmakers to receive the ‘ famous Karos D’ in Cannes. . Or an award for her life’s work, how much the director has changed in the world of women.

“Ash obviously hasn’t changed much, otherwise you’re not going to put my victory in the context of being a woman,” Reichardt said bluntly.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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