ooc; Don't mind me, these are just some notes
I watched the Imaginarium again today, this time with the commentary subtitles on, and there were some interesting things about Tony. I'm putting it here since I want to have them in a place where I won't lose them, haha.
I like this idea of a white knight arriving to save the Imaginarium, but he is pretty filthy by now, so it's a pretty raggedy-looking white knight, a man of mystery. (Tony's first awake scene)
One of the things that I have to say, 'cause I've read a couple reviews which, as usual, are pretty ill-informed, commenting about Heath's accent. That it shifts from Australian to British and around the world. Well, that's what he was doing. We were trying to establish a chameleon character, somebody who can sound whatever he needs to sound like to whoever he's talking to. So if it's Australian, fine. If it's Cockney, fine. If it's posh English, he... And that actually provided us with an easier way into the voices of Colin, Johnny, and Jude when they took over, so the accent could be different. So if you read reviews saying he couldn't do an English accent, it's absolutely bollocks. He had a perfect one.
Now, these bricks, these strange things. I think the Russians, we discover, hang him. These bricks actually have something to do with a Russian import-export company. I've never worked out myself what the symbols on his forehead are, except that they are on those golden bricks, so they may have just been logos for this company that the Russians had scrawled on his forehead as a warning to others who cheat them or cross them.
This scene is a really important scene because it was the scene that Andrew finally, finally captured the strength and the essence of his character because when we were in rehearsals, Heath was right into his Tony character, and Andrew and Heath were friends, but Tony, as Heath was portraying him in the rehearsals, was a complete asshole. And Andrew, who was less experienced and very nervous, was completely confused and bemused by... "What's going on?" His good friend Heath is being really shitty towards him, and he couldn't work it out. I kept explaining, "That's Heath in character, that's not Heath." And what Andrew did was try to ad-lib, and not just ad-lib, but make his character more aggressive to counter Heath's aggression. And I said, "That's not gonna work because he will always defeat you. And what you have to do is understand the character's about magic, and about joy, with a sense of humour. And it was when we were shooting this scene that Andrew just suddenly came alive and did it. And it was wonderful to watch how he plays through this scene, always laughing, always smiling, always pulling a little trick.And the Tony character does not know how to deal with that. It's an absolutely crucial scene. And I love watching both of them because they just make this scene sparkle. (Pipe scene)
**I lvoe watching Heath's reactions during this scene. There's something so snake-like and cynical. He actually strikes me, this aspect of Tony, it's probably worse than Mr. Nick, as a character. He can pretend to be interested, but he's only there to take, to suck up information that will be useful to him, and Andrew is just pouring his heart out. (When Tony is asking Anton about the Imaginarium after escape) (personal note- LOOOOL TONY'S WORSE THAN THE DEVIL AS A CHARACTER AHAHAHA)**
I think watching Heath's performance is just extraordinary 'ccause each scene he's a slightly different person.
(when they almost get caught kissing) There is just something wonderfully sleazy about Heath here.
(when he;s talking to Parnassus about changing the show) Now, what's funny about Heath's voice in this scene is that he's taking it right up into his nose. Heath had this wonderful voice. He could actually control it brilliantly, modulate it. But right now he's sucked it up in his nose, and he's really a little slimebag.
(Price on your dreams speech) When we were doing this scene, I kept saying to Heath, "I thought, you're finally doing Casanova the way you wanted to do it in the film and hadn't been allowed to." There's something about the Venetian carnival mask. And then he's moved into another accent, another voice. (Personal note- I'm beginning to feel like I've lost this aspect of Tony, and I really want to work on that. It's challenging for me, since I am NOT suave and charming myself. Then again, maybe I SHOULDN'T try to re-up this element of his character so much, because I'm not sure this Casanova, charmy-charm would swell up and be appropriate so much in a place like the Keep. When things get shitty, Tony seems to flee- we don't see it blatantly all that much, but it seems to be quite implied, and I just get that feeling about him. But he can't flee the Keep, so he's like... like a trapped animal or something. He has that "oh god get me out of here" instinct tugging at him that he can't act on. So, self, figure out whether the flirty, charming element would come out in Tony in this situation.)
(Tango scene) What I love is, we're now into a world where her imagination has decided that Tony looks like Johnny, and yet Tony's imagination is at work here, seeing all these temptations in te form of Valentina all around him. And yet, he is stuck with this aged lady. I always thought Johnny looked like a terrible lothario.
**The snake had just seemed right, that a river is always snake-like, and Mr. Nick would eventually try to threaten Tony, make him hesitate in his activities, but ultimately is unable to. There's something about Tony that is just un-grabable. ** (Personal note: Has my Tony lost that un-grabable quality?)
Now, the pipe. A lot of people have very different ideas about this pipe and what it is, and I've gotta make it clear. Basically, it was an idea from the 19th century because when people were hung in the 19th century, they didn't use the drop, as a modern hangman does, where your neck is broken. You were... The rope was put around your neck,the horse or the wagon would be kicked away, and you would just dangle, and you might dangle for a long time as you strangled to death. And there were some people who actually realized if you could get some kind of tube down your throat that would keep your windpipe open while the rope was tightening, you might actually survive. And there were cases where people would pass out, and the hangmen thought they were dead, and they were later resuscitated. So that's what the pipe is about. It's not magical, it's actually a physical reality. But not encouraged to be tried at home, children. Please, don't.
I think the trick with Parnassus is, is he telling us the truth? Is Tony like Parnassus? Is that was Parnassus sees in Tony, his younger self, a con man? (Parn telling Val story of her birth)
And now we've got this strange shot of Heath up on top of the wagon. I have no idea what he was doing with his hands, but he looks totally devilish, I think.He is truly... Tony is the evil character in this film, the modern man who can be anything, a man who may even believe in his own rightness and righteousness, but is always manipulating, always twisting. (personal note: For some reason, this bit GETS to me. It fascinates me. I feel like I need to look at it deeper, if only to satisfy my own curiosity.)
And I think Heath, in this scene, is quite extraordinary 'cause he actually does become totally Mephitophelian, I think, with hairs flapping around. He's still got bits of the makeup on from the eariler scenes. There's something just so strange about him, and convincing and manipulative. He's a very bad man. The thing about Heath that was interesting is no matter how bad he was in these scenes, you always liked him. You still kind of trusted that he would be all right. ("Initiation into the rites? scene with Parn) (Personal note: Look more into this, too. MAGNETISM.)
And I think these shots of Colin in this post-coital state are just wondrous. This is a man who knows he's trapped, and doesn't know whow to get out of this nightmare that he;s allowed to happen. And, strange enough, it was Valentina who was the aggressor in this whole thing. And I love the fact that it's now in her imagination. Her imagination is slightly coloured by her father's because she's in a boat that her father described to her.
She's on a beautiful river. And this whole last sequence is about who's imagination is winning at any particular moment.And unless people understand that, what is going on, the whole thing probably becomes very confusing.
And I thought the thing with Anton discovering that Tony's charity is selling organs of Third World children was so low, so foul, so horrible, we had to go there.
(as his world falls apart)*** And there's no thickness to his world. There's a little thickness at the base of his world, but the rest of it is very, very thing, like a film set. (Personal note: Tony. Is. Shallow.)***
I love Tom here, pulling out the bowtie. I don't know why he wants a bowtie from Tony, but obviously, it means something. I think, as Mr. Nick, he's still trying to work out how this guy works, and how he's so successful. And he doesn't have answers.He's not a Devil with all the answers.
I like this idea of a white knight arriving to save the Imaginarium, but he is pretty filthy by now, so it's a pretty raggedy-looking white knight, a man of mystery. (Tony's first awake scene)
One of the things that I have to say, 'cause I've read a couple reviews which, as usual, are pretty ill-informed, commenting about Heath's accent. That it shifts from Australian to British and around the world. Well, that's what he was doing. We were trying to establish a chameleon character, somebody who can sound whatever he needs to sound like to whoever he's talking to. So if it's Australian, fine. If it's Cockney, fine. If it's posh English, he... And that actually provided us with an easier way into the voices of Colin, Johnny, and Jude when they took over, so the accent could be different. So if you read reviews saying he couldn't do an English accent, it's absolutely bollocks. He had a perfect one.
Now, these bricks, these strange things. I think the Russians, we discover, hang him. These bricks actually have something to do with a Russian import-export company. I've never worked out myself what the symbols on his forehead are, except that they are on those golden bricks, so they may have just been logos for this company that the Russians had scrawled on his forehead as a warning to others who cheat them or cross them.
This scene is a really important scene because it was the scene that Andrew finally, finally captured the strength and the essence of his character because when we were in rehearsals, Heath was right into his Tony character, and Andrew and Heath were friends, but Tony, as Heath was portraying him in the rehearsals, was a complete asshole. And Andrew, who was less experienced and very nervous, was completely confused and bemused by... "What's going on?" His good friend Heath is being really shitty towards him, and he couldn't work it out. I kept explaining, "That's Heath in character, that's not Heath." And what Andrew did was try to ad-lib, and not just ad-lib, but make his character more aggressive to counter Heath's aggression. And I said, "That's not gonna work because he will always defeat you. And what you have to do is understand the character's about magic, and about joy, with a sense of humour. And it was when we were shooting this scene that Andrew just suddenly came alive and did it. And it was wonderful to watch how he plays through this scene, always laughing, always smiling, always pulling a little trick.And the Tony character does not know how to deal with that. It's an absolutely crucial scene. And I love watching both of them because they just make this scene sparkle. (Pipe scene)
**I lvoe watching Heath's reactions during this scene. There's something so snake-like and cynical. He actually strikes me, this aspect of Tony, it's probably worse than Mr. Nick, as a character. He can pretend to be interested, but he's only there to take, to suck up information that will be useful to him, and Andrew is just pouring his heart out. (When Tony is asking Anton about the Imaginarium after escape) (personal note- LOOOOL TONY'S WORSE THAN THE DEVIL AS A CHARACTER AHAHAHA)**
I think watching Heath's performance is just extraordinary 'ccause each scene he's a slightly different person.
(when they almost get caught kissing) There is just something wonderfully sleazy about Heath here.
(when he;s talking to Parnassus about changing the show) Now, what's funny about Heath's voice in this scene is that he's taking it right up into his nose. Heath had this wonderful voice. He could actually control it brilliantly, modulate it. But right now he's sucked it up in his nose, and he's really a little slimebag.
(Price on your dreams speech) When we were doing this scene, I kept saying to Heath, "I thought, you're finally doing Casanova the way you wanted to do it in the film and hadn't been allowed to." There's something about the Venetian carnival mask. And then he's moved into another accent, another voice. (Personal note- I'm beginning to feel like I've lost this aspect of Tony, and I really want to work on that. It's challenging for me, since I am NOT suave and charming myself. Then again, maybe I SHOULDN'T try to re-up this element of his character so much, because I'm not sure this Casanova, charmy-charm would swell up and be appropriate so much in a place like the Keep. When things get shitty, Tony seems to flee- we don't see it blatantly all that much, but it seems to be quite implied, and I just get that feeling about him. But he can't flee the Keep, so he's like... like a trapped animal or something. He has that "oh god get me out of here" instinct tugging at him that he can't act on. So, self, figure out whether the flirty, charming element would come out in Tony in this situation.)
(Tango scene) What I love is, we're now into a world where her imagination has decided that Tony looks like Johnny, and yet Tony's imagination is at work here, seeing all these temptations in te form of Valentina all around him. And yet, he is stuck with this aged lady. I always thought Johnny looked like a terrible lothario.
**The snake had just seemed right, that a river is always snake-like, and Mr. Nick would eventually try to threaten Tony, make him hesitate in his activities, but ultimately is unable to. There's something about Tony that is just un-grabable. ** (Personal note: Has my Tony lost that un-grabable quality?)
Now, the pipe. A lot of people have very different ideas about this pipe and what it is, and I've gotta make it clear. Basically, it was an idea from the 19th century because when people were hung in the 19th century, they didn't use the drop, as a modern hangman does, where your neck is broken. You were... The rope was put around your neck,the horse or the wagon would be kicked away, and you would just dangle, and you might dangle for a long time as you strangled to death. And there were some people who actually realized if you could get some kind of tube down your throat that would keep your windpipe open while the rope was tightening, you might actually survive. And there were cases where people would pass out, and the hangmen thought they were dead, and they were later resuscitated. So that's what the pipe is about. It's not magical, it's actually a physical reality. But not encouraged to be tried at home, children. Please, don't.
I think the trick with Parnassus is, is he telling us the truth? Is Tony like Parnassus? Is that was Parnassus sees in Tony, his younger self, a con man? (Parn telling Val story of her birth)
And now we've got this strange shot of Heath up on top of the wagon. I have no idea what he was doing with his hands, but he looks totally devilish, I think.He is truly... Tony is the evil character in this film, the modern man who can be anything, a man who may even believe in his own rightness and righteousness, but is always manipulating, always twisting. (personal note: For some reason, this bit GETS to me. It fascinates me. I feel like I need to look at it deeper, if only to satisfy my own curiosity.)
And I think Heath, in this scene, is quite extraordinary 'cause he actually does become totally Mephitophelian, I think, with hairs flapping around. He's still got bits of the makeup on from the eariler scenes. There's something just so strange about him, and convincing and manipulative. He's a very bad man. The thing about Heath that was interesting is no matter how bad he was in these scenes, you always liked him. You still kind of trusted that he would be all right. ("Initiation into the rites? scene with Parn) (Personal note: Look more into this, too. MAGNETISM.)
And I think these shots of Colin in this post-coital state are just wondrous. This is a man who knows he's trapped, and doesn't know whow to get out of this nightmare that he;s allowed to happen. And, strange enough, it was Valentina who was the aggressor in this whole thing. And I love the fact that it's now in her imagination. Her imagination is slightly coloured by her father's because she's in a boat that her father described to her.
She's on a beautiful river. And this whole last sequence is about who's imagination is winning at any particular moment.And unless people understand that, what is going on, the whole thing probably becomes very confusing.
And I thought the thing with Anton discovering that Tony's charity is selling organs of Third World children was so low, so foul, so horrible, we had to go there.
(as his world falls apart)*** And there's no thickness to his world. There's a little thickness at the base of his world, but the rest of it is very, very thing, like a film set. (Personal note: Tony. Is. Shallow.)***
I love Tom here, pulling out the bowtie. I don't know why he wants a bowtie from Tony, but obviously, it means something. I think, as Mr. Nick, he's still trying to work out how this guy works, and how he's so successful. And he doesn't have answers.He's not a Devil with all the answers.