paul morrisey

News from Nowhere

Interview

GF How did you get to choose Montauk as the location for your movie?

Paul Morrisey Montauk (Long Island) is one of so many resorts alike on the Atlantic Coast. It was easy for me to shoot there , where I have spent so much time in the house that belongs, in my film, to the charactere payed by Viva.

GF How was it to shoot in such a deserted place -despite its astounding landscape- after having worked several times in New York?

PM For this kind of film it was ideal.

GF You've made a very precise statement about your directing style in NEWS FROM NOWHERE: could you tell us more about the “old Hollywood lonely character” you intended to refer to ? Is it something like Bogart, i.e. the archetype of the “non-Method” actor?

PM What you call my style is spontaneous and has been the sam over all my films.Yes, I am interested by the individual in acting as well as in the their stories of my films.

GF Could you tell us more about the beautiful music score?

PM It is beautiful and somehow was allways the music that illustrated my life in Montauk. Gabriel Faurés's "La Berceuse de Dolly", originaly written for two pianos and later reorchestrated for symphonic orchestra 

GF Does the title refer in any way to William Morris's book? I mean: what you picture is private lives being torn apart, bodies of immigrants being used as tools or “working flesh”, but, at the same  time, we have the attempt of the women to transform Demian's character into sort of a “common ownership". In NEWS FROM NOWHERE, you don't see or feel any big cities, any monetary system or class systems, therefore you start to trust this “nowhere” could possibly turn into something else, something better, something utopistic, instead of what it seems to be on the surface.

PM No, the same title. You'll notice that the other immigrants are in the background. In my story, I am interested in an individual.

GF It seems like your character is that of a messiah for the women of the film, but also as a narrative tool to let us know more about the male characters who had to do with these women (lovers, husbands, surfers, etc). How did you get into such a difficult role, where you had to under-act instead of over-act, in order to be like a SILENT something that causes a psychological chain-reaction? 

Demian Gabriel Paul gave me a lot of freedom to play the character so I went trough the lines and prepared for it .That was it. I always liked this kind of roles, I'm lucky I did it. The character, like you said, is used as a narrative tool and  regarding mystical analogy I leave it up to you...

GF Did you feel a bit like a modern version of Joe Dallesandro in NEWS FROM NOWHERE?

DG I do not see anything close to the parts Joe was offered more than 35 years ago. Being directed by Paul brings you to be yourself, make the character yours, that is what I did. Thanks to him.

GF You actually seem to not have different reactions while moving from a situation to another: is your character supposed to act that way, like keeping himself away from almost everything, trying just to not be USED as flesh?

DG Is the characters way to not get emotionally involved with other people. Is his way to protect himself . Shutting down his emotions makes him less vulnerable to be USED. You don't know much about his past, but  you know he comes from a poor country where nobody cares about anything. He has built a “protective shield” to survive in the “Jungle”.

GF How was it to play the role of a caretaker who couldn’t care less about what’s going on around him? He’s not bad, he’s not the villain, ok, but still, he says that people are or “tontos” or not “reliable” or “weird”, like the paintress, or that he doesn’t like children: it seems like your character is always about to explode, but never getting to do so… How difficult was to do that as an actor?

DG It's true...Because of his past he doesn't believe that people do what they love at work. He's used to that. Although he would love to spend his life on the beach doing  “yoga” and “fishing”. That's more important than any other occupation. How difficult was to do that as an actor? It wasn't difficult.

GF As for your acting and the need of under-acting instead of over-acting, did you refer to some actor of the past?

DG I never thought I had to copy any other actor, even the ones I admire. To play the part I just looked into myself and used my own criteria to approach and become that guy.

11:09:2010