Jordan Aubry Robison's Blog, page 5

An Actor Prepares: On Revenant, DiCaprio, and the Silly Things Actors Do in Order to Play Pretend

He risked hypothermia, he ate bison liver, and slept in an animal carcass. Or so actor Leonardo DiCaprio, claims. These are just of some of the stupid things he and other actors like him do when playing pretend. All in pursuit of Oscar glory. But will he finally get the golden statue named Oscar which has eluded him all the years? Does it really matter in the larger scheme of things. No, it doesn’t. And here’s why …

Revenant is the new Alejandro González Iñárritu film co-starring DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The movie takes place in the 1820’s. DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after he’s attacked by a bear. And by the looks of the trailer, this is going to be an intense film. Thankfully, it’s all fun entertainment. Of course, don’t tell that to Leo who slept in an animal carcass. Yes, that’s what I said. An animal carcass.

I thought risking my life for college was being tough. Boy was I wrong. I joined the military when I was seventeen precisely because I could not afford to go to college. The military offered me assistance. All I had to do was sign on the dotted line, give up a decade of my life and risk going to war so I could pursue my goal of an education. I used to joke with friends that I was willing to die to get a college diploma. I thought I was tough shit. I was so wrong. So very wrong. Leo is tough shit.

According to an interview Leo gave to Vanity Fair concerning the film Revenant, he remarks:

“I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly.” […] “I certainly don’t eat raw bison liver on a regular basis. When you see the movie, you’ll see my reaction to it, because Alejandro kept it in. It says it all. It was an instinctive reaction.” — Leonardo DiCaprio

This reminds of that famous exchange between actors Dustin Hoffman and the late Shakespearean actor, Laurence Olivier. They were both in the middle of filming the 1976 movie, Marathon Man. Hoffman, being a method actor, stayed up all night to play a character who has stayed up all night. Arriving on the set that morning, Olivier asked Hoffman why he looked the way he did. Hoffman explained to him what he was doing or order to achieve realism in his acting. To which Olivier replied, “Have you ever tried acting, my dear boy? Have you ever tried pretending to stay up all night?” This story is a favorite among acting geeks because it explores some of the different philosophies in acting. Method acting has only recently proved largely unnecessary. But it still has its defenders.

However, in 2004 Hoffman finally admitted this story was mostly taken out of context. Hoffman now claims that he was, in fact, out partying at Studio 54 the night before and that Olivier’s comment was a mild rebuke for his debauchery. Be that true or not, I prefer the story over what Hoffman is now saying. It certainly has more charm to it than the latter version.

Going back to Leo, how far is too far?

“Some other actor (in a movie directed by someone other than Iñarritu) might have faked it, using a green screen or other cinematic trickery, but that wouldn’t have made for nearly as strong an Oscar campaign. Ball’s in your court, Fassbender.” — Huffington Post

Sarcasm aside, this movie was plagued with problems due to the weather and a director who pushed his cast and crew to their limit. According to a July 2015 Guardian article: “While conditions were undeniably brutal, now Damian Petti, president of film crew union body IATSE Local 212, suggests that cast and crew may have been in real danger. He told the Hollywood Reporter that production executives ignored multiple warnings about safety concerns.” In a later article, the Guardian goes on to say, “Crew members say the production suffered extensive delays due to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s determination to shoot only in natural light, and Iñárritu’s preference for filming in chronological sequence. There were also issues with a lack of snow on location in Canada, and the production has now shifted to Argentina in search of the white stuff. One worker described conditions on set to the Hollywood Reporter as ‘a living hell’.”

In February 2014, camera assistance Sarah Jones who was working on the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider was struck and killed by a train on location in Georgia. The director and producer were not given permission to film at those train tracks, but did it any way. An accident that could have easily been avoided but wasn’t. This same director pleaded guilty and is now serving jail time. Jones’ parents, who attended the trials said they hoped the jail sentences would encourage Hollywood to improve safety on the set. [Reference]

Although no one died during the making of Revenant, it is rather disturbing that a director like Iñárritu is allowed to continue in the way he has. Is it because he recently won an Oscar for his film Birdman? It seems the lessons of Sarah Jones’ death have already been forgotten.

In the land of pretend and make believe is any of this really necessary? We praise actors as if they were superheroes. As if they actually did the things they pretend to do on film and television. In a recent award acceptance speech, Jerry Seinfeld makes several good points on this:

Seinfeld goes on to call awards in general, stupid. Comparing awards to one big jerk off: “Awards don’t mean a god damn thing.” It’s a brutally honest and hilarious speech but a necessary speech for the entertainment industry and mabye the whole world. This is all pretend. There is no need to kill onself in order to make a film. “Why do we care so much about actors in this culture?” Jerry asks. He goes on to make fun of people praising someone for pretending to be a famous person. “Playing dress-up and pretend is not genius, ladies and gentlemen,” Seifeld says. Simply said: There is no need to give actors the same reverence one would give to Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis, or Malala Yousafzai.

I have no doubt The Revenant will be a great and entertaining film. Tom Hardy and Leonard Dicaprio and amazingly talented actors. Iñárritu will no doubt go down in history as one of the greatest film directors to ever live. I cannot wait to see the end product. Thankfully no one died to make this film. But boy, did they try.

Originally published at www.jordanaubryrobison.com on October 27, 2015.

Back to the Future Day

When I opened my browser yesterday morning I found myself bombarded with numerous references, memes, gifs, photos, commercials, etc., … all because today was Back to the Future Day. A made up holiday to celebrate the day when the film’s fictional characters Marty McFly and Doc go to the future in Back to the Future II. In the film the future date they travel to is October 21, 2015. Yesterday for us. Just another day for most of us.

But something didn’t feel right. Something felt manufactured. It felt forced. As if everyone was jumping on the cool factor of Back to the Future. Where was all the passion before? Was it all being saved up because of this made-up holiday where I still had to go to work? Or was it yet another way for the corporations to market and manipulate an already all to willing populace?

What is Back to the Future and why does it deserve a day?

If you were born in the eighties and early nineties in the United States, then you’ve probably seen this movie at some point or another. Be it in the movies theatre or be it on TV; or maybe you rented it the DVD, or VHS. If you weren’t living in the United States around the eighties or nineties then there is a high chance you haven’t seen the film at all. Seeing how this film is a now considered a must-see classic — I highly recommend you see it. You will thank me later. Should you not like the film after viewing (you must not fall asleep while watching Back to the Future), then we have nothing else to discuss. Move along now. Move along.

Adam Clark Estes from Gizmodo was feeling the same way as me. He immediately noticed corporations capitalizing on a day for a commercial film which people like myself feel an emotional connection. And why wouldn’t advertisers try to evoke this passionate reaction? Steve Jobs was famous for arguing it was better to try to create an emotional response to something Apple sold to its customers rather than focusing on the utility of a computer, smartphone, or portable music player.

In Estes’ article, he impolitely puts his middle finger at tweets from JetBlue, Olive Garden, and Charmin for trying to do what now makes logical sense in today’s world of marketing. However, Estes point was that it this was too forced. Instead of creating a positive emotional response it instead suggested a negative one. I cannot speak for all person, but for people like me and Estes, we just weren’t happy with this.

“Fuck the litany of senseless tweets from companies trying to capitalize on the movie reference. Fuck the companies like Pepsi and Nike who are miraculously still squeezing relevance out of their product placements, decades after the film’s release.Fuck the marketers trying to trick you into thinking you can buy a functional hoverboard. Fuck the PR people who’ve sent a million pitches in a half-hearted attempt at using Back to the Future Day as a peg for their client’s own shitty products. And for good measure, fuck the bloggers who are all writing the ‘What Back to the Future II Got Right About 2015’ post and dropping SEO-pandering tags like “World Series” into their code. Fuck all that noise.” — Adam Estes of Gizmodo

Yet from this fake holiday good things can come our way. For instance, Nike is finally making self-tying shoes. The same ones Marty McFly wears in Back to the Future II. The question is how much will they actually cost and will the actually work? The other good news? The proceeds made from this Back to the Future shoe will go toward Michael J. Fox’s, the actor who portrayed Marty McFly, Parkinson’s Disease foundation. That’s a good thing. I am sure most people know that Fox has been living with Parkinson’s disease since 1991. Though, he did not come public with the disease until 1998, when he was no longer able to hide the symptoms.

Even I was tickled by a commercial from Toyota which reunited Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd discussing things which came true and didn’t come true in the Back to the Future II’s for 2015. Remember, the film was released in the 1980s. It’s amazing to see how advertising has changed in my life time. This commercial was from Toyota, but at no point were the two actors in the a Toyota. Or near one. They were in a diner discussing fax machines. But, Toyota.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVebChGtLlY

I’m still not sure why I felt uncomfortable with all the Back to the Future nonsense from yesterday. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been a huge fan of the trilogy since I saw them as a child of the eighties. I convinced my father to get me the trilogy on VHS, which had an extra VHS tape about the making of the Back to the Future trilogy. Hosted by Kirk Cameron. This was before he was super religious.

I love Back to the Future. I will always love Back to the Future. Maybe I felt left out? I think I was going through a small amount of shock. If I had known there was this much love for Back to the Future then maybe I would have been more vocal about it. Maybe.

Oh well, Happy belated Back to the Future Day!

Originally published at jordanaubryrobison.squarespace.com on October 22, 2015.