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KAZOO's "SNS Eigojutsu" Movie Corner (21) 
 Reflections on My Interview with Director Julian Schnabel and Actor Willem Dafoe
  - NHK E-Tele "SNS Eigojutsu" (aired 2019/11/15) | CINEMA & THEATRE #025
Photo: ©RendezVous
2022/06/27 #025

KAZOO's "SNS Eigojutsu" Movie Corner (21)
Reflections on My Interview with Director Julian Schnabel and Actor Willem Dafoe
- NHK E-Tele "SNS Eigojutsu" (aired 2019/11/15)

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KAZOO
Translator / Interpreter / TV commentator

Overview


1.Prologue

The other day, I interviewed director Julian Schnabel and actor Willem Dafoe for the show. The pair was in Japan promoting their film At Eternity’s Gate, which depicts the final years of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh.


2.First Impressions

For my interviews for the show my wardrobe has always been some combination of suit and tie. This is for two reasons: to show my respect for my interviewee, and to make a good impression as an interviewer. As At Eternity’s Gate is a film about a painter written and directed by a painter, my stylist Scarlet chose a Ferragamo necktie with a pattern that would speak to a painter.

In the end, though, nothing would have prepared me for Schnabel’s entrance: he arrived wearing pajamas covered in a white bathrobe with green stripes, sunglasses, and flip-flops. It turns out Schnabel is known for the loungewear look, wearing a similar ensemble out in public and when attending events.

I exchanged greetings with Schnabel and Dafoe, and we all took a seat. As the staff and crew around us scrambled to get things ready, I made my usual spiel describing what our show was about. I then started debating in my head whether I should start off by asking him about his dress or begin with my first question as planned. Then suddenly, Schnabel broke the ice, gesturing toward my tie and saying, “You made some serious decisions there about your clothes today. Looks like you’ve got a bunch of emojis. In fact, you could use those and invent some new emojis for them." I laughed and replied, “I was looking for the opportunity to wear this tie, and thought, it’s now or never."

At Eternity’s Gate
Finding no inspiration or recognition as an artist in Paris, Van Gogh moves to the commune of Arles in the south of France. There, he moves into the Yellow House and roams the countryside, capturing the beauty of the landscapes on canvas. When he gets into some trouble with the locals, his younger brother Theo, an art dealer, convinces Paul Gauguin to go to Arles to stay with his brother. As the two begin living together, Van Gogh is inspired anew to explore his artistic vision, but eventually Gauguin decides to leave. Dafoe is captivating as Van Gogh in the final years of his life, and the director and cinematographer capture the artist’s vision and mental state through their unique visual aesthetic.


3.Director and Loungewear Enthusiast Julian Schnabel

Julian Schnabel (1951-) is an American painter and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the 80s as a neo-expressionist painter with his signature plate paintings, which were done on canvases strewn with shards of broken dishes. He made his debut as a filmmaker in his 40s with the biopic Basquiat.

Basquiat
Schnabel wrote and directed this biographical drama about the postmodernist/neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Before Night Falls
This biographical drama is about the life of Cuban writer and poet Reinaldo Arenas. Arenas’s homosexuality brought him into conflict with Cuba’s communist government. After spending time in prison, he fled to the United States in 1980. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 and died of an intentional overdose of drugs and alcohol in 1990.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
This biographical drama is based on the book of the same name written by Jean-Dominique Bauby, journalist and former editor of the French fashion magazine Elle. After suffering a major stroke, Bauby wakes up to find himself suffering from locked-in syndrome—where his mental faculties remain intact, but he is physically paralyzed and unable to speak.


4.The Versatile Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe (1955-) is an American actor. He started his career as a member of an experimental theater company and started appearing in films in the 80s. He became internationally famous for his role in 1986’s Platoon. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate.

Platoon
This American war film was directed by Oliver Stone and is based on his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam. The film won Best Picture at the 59th Academy Awards and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama.

Spider-Man
This 2002 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name is credited for redefining the modern superhero genre. Dafoe portrays the villain Green Goblin.

The Florida Project
This drama follows a six-year-old girl living with her single mother in a motel in Florida near Walt Disney World. It depicts people suffering from the aftereffects of the 2008 recession and subprime mortgage crisis.


5.A Different Take on Van Gogh

Van Gogh is the poster boy for the mentally unstable artist, just as famous for cutting off his own ear as he is for his paintings. When the painter Paul Gauguin told Van Gogh he intended to move out of their shared room and away from Arles, tempers flared, and Van Gogh threatened Gauguin with a razor. Later, Van Gogh returned to his room, cut off his own ear, wrapped it in a piece of paper, and handed it to a prostitute the pair knew in a nearby brothel.

Van Gogh, who was never famous as a painter during his lifetime, would shoot himself two years after the infamous ear incident and die of his wounds. He is revered today as the quintessential tortured artist unappreciated in his time.

A recent biography, however, has suggested that Van Gogh did not commit suicide, but instead was killed. Experts have disputed the theory, but the mystery surrounding Van Gogh’s death remains. When I asked Schnabel why he had chosen to depict this theory, he pointed to how creatively productive the artist was for the last few months of his life and said, “It doesn't sound like he was depressed when he was doing that. He ordered a bunch of paint the day before he died. It doesn't sound a guy that wants to kill himself."

Later on in the interview, I attempted to ask him about the struggle of an artist, saying, “The film shows Van Gogh struggling with the lack of recognition..." Schnabel replied, “Where in the movie does he actually struggle with lack of recognition? In a sense he's never talks about that." In Schnabel’s eyes, Van Gogh’s communion with nature and the degree to which he was engaged with his work make the case that in a certain sense, he was a very rich man.

That’s also supported by the many shots of Dafoe trekking across fields and forests and other natural landscapes as he tries to find what to paint. In one scene set in autumn in the twilight hour, Dafoe stops in the middle of a field, sets his painting equipment down, and lays on the ground face-up. He grabs a handful of dirt and sprinkles it on his face. The expression of bliss on Dafoe’s angular, infinitely watchable face is worth the price of admission alone.


6.More True Than Literal Fact

At the end of the interview, I asked Schnabel and Dafoe for a selfie, and then asked the director, “Do you have any favorite Van Gogh quotes?" Not missing a beat, he answered:

How to achieve anomalies, inaccuracies, and re-fashionings of reality to so what comes out of it are lies, but lies that are more true than literal fact.

At that point, my time was up, and I didn’t get the chance to ask him for clarification. It seems clear to me, though, that this quote summarizes Van Gogh’s thoughts on the value of painting as an art form. Painting—and by extension, all of art—is able to capture a side of reality that is not present in photorealism.

This quote also sums up Schnabel’s approach in At Eternity’s Gate, whether it’s the fact that he depicts a rapturous artist swept away in nature’s embrace rather than a tortured soul, or whether it’s his alternative take on the artist’s death.

Van Gogh died at the age of 37, but in this film he is portrayed by Dafoe, who is in his 60s. The fact that there’s not a moment in the entire film where the viewer is made conscious of this age gap speaks to Dafoe’s embodiment of the artist’s essence, as well as to Schnabel’s direction. By the time I was shaking his hand on my way out of the room, Schnabel’s bathrobe looked more to me like a philosopher’s robe.


7.My Wardrobe for This Interview

Tropical patterned necktie by Salvatore Ferragamo

Tropical patterned necktie by Salvatore Ferragamo
BigBrother lent me this vintage necktie.

Brown suit by GlobalStyle

Brown suit by GlobalStyle
For more about this item, see FASHION & SHOPPING #023.

Orange contrast collar shirt by Takashimaya

Orange contrast collar shirt by Takashimaya
For more about this item, see LANGUAGE & EDUCATION #013.

Orange socks by Tabio

Orange socks by Tabio
For more about this item, see FASHION & SHOPPING #027.

Chukka boots by Red Wing

Chukka boots by Red Wing
For more about this item, see LANGUAGE & EDUCATION #004.

M-27 by 999.9

M-27 by 999.9
For more about this item, see CINEMA & THEATRE #005.

CINEMA & THEATRE #025

Reflections on My Interview with Director Julian Schnabel and Actor Willem Dafoe


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