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Show Sidney Lumel makes films aboul power By Terr;. Orrr.e Tribune Staff Writer PARK tors t w o ( tr.e Ti.ii to must d.rer ee,j before a re f,;m ,1 atyut to rtpen and you feel hue sou re talking to a man hose child is being born in the next room Talk to Sidney Lumet two weeks before Power his new film starring Richard Gere and Julie f hristie opens and vou find yourself talking to a man full of calm and confidence "1 m confident only because I like what I ve done.' sa,d the director in an interview here last weekend ' I m not confident about how it s going to be received " ITj -- . Ir. far t. ;t often that r Through his f..rr.-- . Lumet r.a-- . '.me to be referred to ai a poht.rai d.re tor a f.lmmaker who pol.t.rui are man.fest in hn work 'I don t consider myself one" be said about the political tag ' It is the human dilemma that draws me to a f.lrn Tame Prince of the City ' It is a very personal dilemma for the Treat ' Attends rea.i Williams character Will.ams plays blows the whistle on departmental corruption, but then finds himself treated as the culprit instead of the hero J But it is also a very political film I guess the sense of politics in my movies comes from the fact that the people are often engaged in work that has consequences A cop's job has consequences A political media consultant s job has conse" quences Strong Feelings That is not to say that there aren t issues raised tn his films about which he has strong personal feelings "I think there are some very dangerous things happening in this counwhich try For instance, the fact we touch on in Power that the voting population keeps shrinking Getting elected is becoming a completely dehumanized process It's mechanical It's done through the television set I think the way the electoral process is working right now is frightening for democratic institutions " Lumet has some strong feelings about how the film business is going right now as well. The same dehumanizing process he sees gnawing at politics is chewing equally hard on the movie business. "It's very upsetting. You find an awful lot of companies now that actually poll for their subject material. It's insanity. There are big pictures a New York cop who Premiere Lumet was in Park City attending the United States Film Festival Last Sunday, he spent two hours talking about his film career one which spans 30 years and includes 32 films in a seminar about his films That ' evening Power'' was one of the festivals premieres Lumet is known for making films about issues. In ' Serpico' and ' Prince of the City" it was police corruption. "Fail Safe" explored the possibilities of a catastrophic accident with nuclear warheads "The Verdict" was about ethics in the legal profession. In "Power." Richard Gere plays a media wizard who molds the images of political candidates both in the United States and South America. "It is about people who exercise power that no one has given them." said Lumet about the new film "It is about the political media consultant and what his work allows him to do in an electoral process. He was never elected himself, yet he is the determining factor in creating the image of a candidate or of someone who is in office already. As too often is the of case, the image is - three-quarte- t orr.e out wn a Ltt something for the youth rr.amet a little some tr.ir.g for the oiler fo.ks a l.ttle some thing l f the rom fan And they ve been put together on the bas.s of this wi. I r..t this market and tr.at will hit that market Part of the problem ai Lumet see, it is that motion picture companies are becoming entities of larger cor porate conglomerates Corporate Structure ' I think being part of the larger corporate " structure has never helped anything Despite his feelings about the movie industry. Lumet has been very fortunate He has found steady work, and has been able to make films which reflect his own ideas and opinions One "I do feel lucky." he said can t be naive about tt A certain number of movies have to succeed or you don t get job offers I've had enough successes to keep working knock on wood and fortunately I ve never become too wrapped up in what will be successful and what wont I don t know anything about there are executives who get that paid a lot of money to know that sort of thing So I stay w ith my job and let them worry about if it makes money or not You know the old saying. Thank God for a hit It will give me the money to make three more " flops.' When Lumet's name is mentioned, it often is in the same sentence with "Network," his 1976 film starring Peter Finch. William Holden and Faye Dunaway about television ethics. "I wouldn't say that it was the closest picture to me in terms of my personality, he said about "Network. "But it is one of the closest pictures to me in terms of affection. "I think it is perhaps the best script I've ever done. Paddy Chayefsky was just a great writer and I miss him terribly. Network- was a very difficult picture for me to do comedy is hard for me, and 'Network' was based on its laughter. The story's dark underside came out because you were laughing, and then you had to stop and ask, 'What am I laughing at? This isn't funny.- That was Paddy's bril- - On todays Weekend cover The Weekend cover today tures director Sidney Lumet, Film Festival and a screening of his latest film, "Power. Terry Orme interviews him on this page. fea- - who was in Park City to attend the U.S. i.ar.e but it had to be d.w ton:!) nfc.r h was c arr.-- t x 'd- .o' l bar t l.dn Tr.h if.f January U friday 0 M , rr do Dim t ( om-di-- VV , t j ben took.r.g bam at re-whan began in 1977 w.n ' Twelve Angry or.e tendi to that this man d, reeled lame forget W Ur V ujrsk'x , r L . r ' :r- M--- sue h as Tre light-hearte- 'A, " and G arbo Tj.h Kven for me. a d.et of rr.y km! of mov.es would get boring he sail I need a relief I need other kinds of muscles You can get something out of every movie, no matter what its ' about I lovecomed.es I warn t very good at them when I began but I m getting better now The Wiz wsrr.v first musical I did some things wd; and screwed up other th.r.gs badly I hope I get another chance It's a question of learning a.s rnur h as you can about your profession. continued the director about chousing diverse projects You can t let your self get typecast Actors arent tne only ones that happens to " One thing that is consistent in the films of Sidney Lumet is the high quality of performances he gets from his cast Such actors as Henry Fonda Katharine Hepburn. Jason Robards Ralph Richardson. Al Pacino Treat Williams. Paul Newman. Rod Steiger and many more have done some of their best work under his guidance Lumet is a director who does not subscribe to the popular axiom that yO percent of directing is casting V o.h Hard "Ninety percent of directing isn't any one thing I work a great deal with my actors. When you cast your film correctly. that's when the work begins. You can't even begin to work if you have made a casting mistake We work very hard on performances We rehearse hard and the actors know that demands are going to made on them." Lumet had first cast Burt Rey nolds as the media consultant in "Power. When Reynolds became ill, Lumet went after Gere The actors performance in "Blood-brothers.- " the 1978 film about inner-citconstruction workers, convinced Lumet of Gere s talent. "It's interesting with Richard." d y Sidney Lumet has directed films as diverse as Twelve Angry Men, "Network and "The Wiz. His latest is titled Power. said Lumet about his star his best work is character work, when you don t use him as a leading man but create something very d.fferent from what he is himself Because he is so good looking he s always been thrust into the leading man roles It's l.ke Paul Newman Paul is basically a character actor Another trademark of Lumet is that he has been able to work with a number of distinguished writers Daniel "). ChayeUky. K L Duotorow Dav.d Mamet The Verdict "i. Peter Schaffer Kquus and others Collaborative Form Perhaps the reason Lumet is able to attract such talented collaborators lies in his strong belief that filmmaking is a collaborative art form. Asked if he considers himself an "auteur, ( i the author of his film he responded. "None of that crap "I won t even take the billing 'A Sidney Lumet Film' It's ridiculous The whole role of the director has been over emphasized The French have been hurt enormously by it. I was over in Paris when they did a retrospective of my work and they were complaining. 'We have no writers And I said. You killed them off. "Every director would get on every script and rewrite it and improvise and change and on and on. In the United States, all the best writers want to write for movies. David Mamet wants to write for movies. William Styron wants to write for movies. Norman Mailer wants to write for movies That's because we treat the writer with some respect." JL TE TheTcreationsToffourimindishouldlbe 00MGQ,GIE90(3!EDCD(IiHil2Ga,D TS. M TS5K :) POST 1 EK EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT! MISS IT. DONT TORI I loved It. The R J?3 (M SENSATIONAL. Bex Reed, NEW J dancing is - Jol Slyl, GOOD MORNING AMERICA , i iy flMM'Sjey Q ooui stbtoJ 1 p'-0- , br lit; i3 I rpG13l , THESE THEATRES AND I ROLL E Y CORNt RS RE GUIDE FOR SHOWTIMES NOW PLAYING MIDVALLIY CHLCK Tut AT AT il r a. Cl a1 rrtnnCMflTt ' aT 4JC DUPHI HOMS v "M--- MIOVAUl! lAMiKtlN'IM (Mil 1M ATP) I, Him rj CXX t T,,l ,M,IS IWTHl) I I ilPNtRS fop SHOWTIMIS FOR SHOWTIMES! i' TOtQPifE "j'g1 t. CHECK THEATRE GUIDE SYLVESTER STALLONE brilliant. WOW!" ABC-TV- NOW PLAYING AT Vt,M UA THESE THEATRES CENTRE CHECK THEATRE GUIDE FOR SHOWTIME fPGl NOW PLAYING AT THESE THEATRES TROLLEY SQUARE CHECK THFATRE GUIDF FOR SHOWTIMES S A v ai w J 1111 |
