Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

other man in her life. Pitt embodies such “equality” of

female desire, subjectivity, and self-identification, as well as

a moral instruction that women cannot act on their own

desires without repercussion. Screenwriter CALLIE

KHOURI welcomed his presence in the film in an interview

with Bernie Cook: “Brad had a tremendous impact on the

film because he’s just so damn beautiful. And it really did kind

of take it into the realm of fantasy ...again, if you flipped it

and had two guys and they picked up a woman, if would have

to have been the female equivalent of Brad Pitt. It would have

been extremely appealing to men. I think women looked at

Brad in that same context, a sexual fantasy figure. He served

several purposes. Good for the plot, easy on the eyes.”

JD was an important figure in Thelma’s process of

development. Khouri told David Konow that “[The fact]

that Thelma would get to have one insanely fulfilling sexual

experience [with JD] before the end was really important to

me . . . She was in an awful marriage with a guy who didn’t

care about her much, I never imagined the sex with them

was that great, and he [JD] was probably her first one. There

was a whole world goin’ on out there that she didn’t know

anything about.” Even though JD eventually makes off with

the women’s money, he unwittingly provides the catalyst for

Thelma’s change of character, as she transforms herself from

a naïve innocent into someone responsible for her own des-

tiny. The sex scene involving JD and Thelma (described by

Pitt himself as “the six-thousand-dollar orgasm”) was appar-

ently very difficult to shoot, with Pitt being concerned about

what his mother would think.

Pitt’s role in Thelma & Louise has been identified as rep-

resentative of “a particular shift in thinking about masculin-

ity,” as well as changing conceptions of sexualization and

objectification, female agency, and volition. While he was ini-

tially presented as the ideal sexual object—youthful, attrac-

tive, self-conscious, and eager to please—Pitt’s JD signifies a

more complicated masculine celebrity, perpetually youthful

(and therefore somewhat unformed), elusive, and feminized.

In the Ridley Scott-produced film THE ASSASSINA-

TION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD

(2007), Pitt plays the eponymous central character in a per-

formance that according to director ANDREW DOMINIK

“captures all the nuances and brings such authority to the

part that you understand why people claimed Jesse James’s

mere presence could fill a room with warmth or tension.”

Scott himself applauded Pitt’s performance as “a true char-

acter study that, on the surface, carries none of the usual

trappings of a leading man ‘hero.’ It really demonstrates

Brad’s maturity and depth as an actor.” In another interview

with the British film magazine Empire Pitt described James’s

life as very contemporary in the sense that he had to con-

tend with being a celebrity: “I was surprised to see how

much of a quotient of tabloid media was alive and well at

that time. They were operating with sensationalism, and not

much has changed.”

While James appears a devoted family man, frequently

seen playing with his two children, Pitt suggests that an

undercurrent of violence lurks beneath the apparently mun-

dane exterior. This is especially evident when he believes that

he has been betrayed by members of his gang—first Ed

Miller (Garret Dillahunt) and later Dick Liddil (Paul Schnei-

der). He takes each of them out riding on a horse: although

James does not say much, his silence speaks volumes. Miller

rides on ahead of James in terror at what will happen next;

but James soon puts him out of his misery by shooting him.

Although Dick’s life is spared, he is made well aware of the

potential risks of deceiving James.

As the film unfolds, James experiences rapid changes of

mood. Although a considerable celebrity, he is also a very

lonely man who mistrusts everyone around him, something

that eventually affects his state of mind. As he sits by the fire

with Bob Ford (CASEY AFFLECK) and Charley (SAM

ROCKWELL), he tells the two men what he will do in the

next bank-robbery. Suddenly he grabs Charley by the neck

and holds him at knifepoint; and then bursts out laughing.

For once the narrator’s (HUGH ROSS’s) description in the

screenplay is unfailingly accurate: “Jesse was increasingly

cavalier, merry, moody, fey, unpredictable. He camouflaged

his depressions with masquerades of extreme cordiality,

courtesy and goodwill towards others.” In many ways, he

welcomes death as a merciful release from torment.

Pitt’s performance won him the Best Actor Award at the

Venice Film Festival. Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times

believed that “the casually charismatic aspect of Jesse James

(described by novelist Hansen as someone who ‘ate all the

air in your lungs and the thoughts right out of your mind’)

is second nature to Pitt, but there is also an air of unsettling

mystery around James and, as the film progresses, expres-

sions of darker things as well.”

References

“About the Production” [The Assassination of Jesse James], http://

party931.com/common/movies/notes/54706-1-full.html (accessed

12 August 2008); Amy Dempsey, The Unofficial Brad Pitt (Bristol

UK: Parragon Book Service, 1996); Andrew Dominik,“The Assas-

sination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Final White

Draft Screenplay dated 17 August 2005, www.simplyscripts.com/

oscar80.html (accessed 5 February 2009); David Konow, “Sisters

Are Doin’ It for Themselves” (Interview with Callie Khouri), Cre-

ative Screenwriting 8, no.5 (September 2001); Callie Khouri, inter-

viewed by Bernie Cook in Thelma & Louise Live!: The Cultural

Afterlife of an American Film (Austin: University of Texas Press,

2007), 187; Brad Pitt, “Just Like Jesse James,” Empire 222 (Decem-

ber 2007): 28; Kenneth Turan, “The Assassination of Jesse James by

the Coward Robert Ford,” Los Angeles Times, 21 September 2007,

260

■

PITT, BRAD (1963– )

www.calendarlive.com/tv/radio/cl-et-jesse21sep21,0,5224342.story

(accessed 8 February 2009).

Bibliography

Brian J. Robb, Brad Pitt: The Rise to Stardom (London: Plexus Pub-

lishing Ltd., 2002), 47–61; Cynthia Fuchs, “What All the Fuss Is

About: Making Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise,” in Thelma & Louise

Live!: The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film, ed. Bernie Cook

(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007), 146–67; John Hiscock,

“Brad Pitt: What I Share with Jesse James,” Daily Telegraph,14

December 2007, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/

3668742/Brad-Pitt-What-I-share-with-Jesse-James.html (accessed

8 Febuary 2009); Susan Knobloch, “Interplaying Identities: Acting

and the Building Blocks of Character in Thelma & Louise,” i n

Thelma & Louise Live!: The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film,

91–122.

PLAYTEN, ALICE (1947– )

Born Alice Plotkin in New York City, Playten’s screen cred-

its include The Pirates of Penzance (1983).

Cast as Blix in LEGEND, Playten wore a mask which

Scott described as being modeled on Keith Richards of The

Rolling Stones. She occupies a central role in the early part

of the film, but fades away as the action centers more on

Darkness’s (TIM CURRY’s) conflict with Lily (MIA SARA).

The most interesting aspect is her relationship with Dark-

ness; while being wholly based on fear, it leaves plenty of

room for trickery. The first time we see the two of them is

inside the Great Tree, where a nervous Blix is beckoned closer

by his master. One of the long, curved nails of Darkness’s

hand comes rather too close to Blix’s nose and, as Blix’s nose

is similar in shape to the nail, the effect (according to

Matthew Aitken) resembles a perverted version of Michelan-

gelo’s “Creation of Adam.” However the only “creation” that

binds the two together is that of fear, which is created when-

ever Darkness comes on the scene. His evil, oppressive nature

is emphasized later on when Blix dares to usurp his authority

(having vanquished one unicorn and put the other to flight).

Darkness not only cuffs Blix around the head, but reduces

him to a quivering heap of jelly as he reasserts his rule.

References

Matthew Aitken, “LEGEND: Ridley Scott (the Remnants of a Mas-

terpiece),” Legend: Frequently Asked Questions, www.figmentfly

.com/legend/different4i.html (accessed 25 April 2008); Ridley Scott,

interviewed in “The Making of Legend” (2002 documentary

directed by J. M. Kenny), included on Legend: The Ultimate DVD

(Los Angeles: Universal Studios, 2002).

POLK, MIMI (– )

Also known as Mimi Polk Gitlin, she started working with

Ridley Scott on LEGEND, where she ran a small develop-

ment company. She was associate producer on SOMEONE

TO WATCH OVER ME, production associate on BLACK

RAIN, and full producer on THELMA & LOUISE, 1492:

CONQUEST OF PARADISE (where she is listed as Mimi

Polk Sotela), WHITE SQUALL (where she is listed as Mimi

Polk Gitlin), MONKEY TROUBLE, and THE BROWNING

VERSION.

For 1492: Conquest of Paradise Polk found the original

treatment by ROSELYNE BOSCH “very interesting ...she

had clearly done her research and her approach was to tell

the truth about Columbus—his obsessions, what he did in

order to try and fulfill his dreams: both the positive and the

negative results for the pursuit of this quest.”

Having worked for PERCY MAIN (the feature film

development company Scott established in 1980), which

later morphed into SCOTT FREE, she left the company in

1996 and became an independent producer.

Reference

Pressbook, 1492: Conquest of Paradise (Los Angeles: Paramount Pic-

tures, 1992), 3.

POSTER, STEVEN (1944– )

Steven Poster was born and raised in Chicago, and was first

interested in still photography. He first filmed commercials

and documentaries, and then worked in a second unit pho-

tographer on BLADE RUNNER.

Poster’s experiences with Scott were almost uniformly

favorable. He recalled in an interview that he did additional

photography on Blade Runner. Then Scott hired him to shoot

several commercials and tests for LEGEND before being

hired as director of photography on SOMEONE TO WATCH

OVER ME. In an interview with American Cinematographer

published soon after the film’s release, Poster emphasized the

fact that the production used familiar NEW YORK locations

so as to underline the conflict going on within Mike Keegan

(TOM BERENGER’s) mind. Poster later recalled in a conver-

sation with Bob Fisher that “it [filming in New York] was a

wonderful, intensely creative experience. He [Scott] was very

supportive and amazingly collaborative.” He admired Scott’s

“intensity and his ability to see what he wanted in a frame at

any given moment. Ridley has an ability to change everything

in every shot and make it flow and have continuity. It drives

script supervisors crazy, but it works. He has that kind of an

eye and that kind of a mind that allows him to create and

build every shot separately.” In a third interview with Ron

Magid, Poster recalled that unlike Scott’s earlier films, Some-

one was “not a very large budget film . . . I think he wanted to

make a much simpler movie.” The key to working with

Scott, Poster believed, “was the ability to give him just about

any look he wanted as soon as possible ...I find it a very

exciting process of discovery with Ridley, a very creative

process where we’re sharing ideas back and forth.”

POSTER, STEVEN (1944– )

■

261

Poster’s work is most evident in the series of memorable

images that pervade the film—from the shot at Win Hock-

ings’s (Mark Moses’s) chic club, where the celebrities enter

in blinding white light, with the silhouettes of the photog-

raphers at the back of the frame, to the shot of Mike in

medium close-up in the subway, with the lights of the train

flashing on his face, to the gilded interior of Claire Gregory’s

(MIMI ROGERS’s) apartment with its beautiful drapes and

ornate furniture, and (most memorably) the shot of the

Manhattan skyline at the beginning of the film, described

thus in the script: “the ultimate object of man’s desire and

fulfillment, Oz, the city unfolding itself before and beneath

us, till dazzling shafts of light sizzling up—kleig lights—stab

our eyes and bring us down into their blinding brightness.”

Poster received an ASC (American Society of Cinematogra-

phers) nomination for Best Cinematography for this film.

References

Bob Fisher, “A Conversation with Steven Poster, ASC,” International

Cinematographers’ Guild, www.cameraguild.com/interviews/chat

_poster/poster_interview.htm (accessed 7 June 2008); Howard

Franklin, Danilo Bach, and David Seltzer, “Someone to Watch Over

Me” (revised 4 December 1986), www.imsdb.com/scripts/Someone-

To-Watch-Over-Me.html (accessed 9 June 2008); Ron Magid,

“Someone to Watch Over Me: A Story of Love and Terror,” Ameri-

can Cinematographer 68, no.10 (October 1988): 57–58; Steven

Poster, “Something To Watch ...Is Something to See,” American

Cinematographer 69, no.4 (April 1988): 58–59.

POSTMODERNISM

BLADE RUNNER’s status as postmodern text has been

debated by several critics including Giuliana Bruno and

Varun Begley.

Bruno argues that the film “posits questions of identity,

identification and history.” In a postmodern age, memories

are contained in photographs which, as the film argued,

might be real or constructed for ideological purposes. Con-

sequently, viewers “like the REPLICANTS, are put in the

position of reclaiming a history by means of its reproduc-

tion.” As a result, “a simulacrum of history is established.”

This might be true on one level; but the film refuses to judge

as to whether “history” (as depicted, for instance in

Deckard’s past life) is actually “real” or a “simulacrum.”

Viewers are left to make up their own minds.

Begley believes that Bruno’s reading contains “a

strangely traditional hermeneutic practice”; although it con-

centrates on the supposed “death of the author” associated

with postmodernism, it nonetheless suggests that Scott

might be “the author of postmodernity.” Begley contends

that the film actually combines postmodern and modern

elements—the modernist elements include “the juxtaposi-

tion of the old and the new, the DYSTOPIAN vision of the

urbanized future, the persistent doubling of copy and orig-

inal epitomized in the two heroes and their two distinct nar-

ratives, and the anguished redemption of the human

through heroic suffering, sacrifice and disalienation.”

References

Varun Begley, “Blade Runner and the Postmodern: A Reconsidera-

tion,” Literature/Film Quarterly 32, no.3 (October 2004): 187, 191;

Giuliana Bruno,“Ramble City: Postmodernism and Blade Runner,”

in Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction

Cinema, ed. Annette Kuhn (London: Verso, 1990), 193.

Bibliography

Michael Boughn, “Representations of Postmodern Spaces in Black

Hawk Down,” West Coast Line 39, no.1 (2005): 5–16; Nick Lacey,

“Postmodern Romance: The Impossibility of (De)Centering the

Self,” in The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fic-

tion Classic, ed. Will Brooker (London and New York: Wallflower

Press, 2005), 190–203; Kevin McNamara, “Los Angeles 2019: Two

Tales of a City,” in Productive Postmodernism: Consuming Histories

and Cultural Studies, ed. John N. Duvall and Linda Hutcheon

(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 123–36; Gloria

Pastorino,“The Death of the Author and the Power of Addiction

in Naked Lunch and Blade Runner,” in Science Fiction, Critical Fron-

tiers, ed. Karen Sayer and John Moore (Basingstoke and New York:

Macmillan Press Ltd., 2000), 100–15; Rolanda Romero,“The Post-

modern Hybrid: Do Aliens Dream of Alien Sheep?” in The Effects

of the Nation: Mexican Art in an Age of Globalization, ed. Carl Good

and John V. Waldron (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001),

196–213; Vivian Sobchack, “Postfuturism,” in Liquid Metal: The Sci-

ence Fiction Film Reader, ed. Sean Redmond (London and New

York: Wallflower Press, 2004), 220–27.

POWELL, IVOR (– )

Powell began his career as a publicist and second assistant

director working on films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey

(1968) and Carry on Doctor (1969).

He worked as Scott’s associate producer on THE DUEL-

LISTS, ALIEN, and BLADE RUNNER. He persuaded Scott

to direct Alien: many of its design ideas were based on sto-

ryboards Scott had created for TRISTAN AND ISEULT,a

follow-up to The Duellists that eventually came to nothing.

He told Mike Childs and Alan Jones that “the space suits, for

example, were based on Samurai armor, including colored

pieces.

Powell also claimed responsibility for the film’s ending,

by suggesting that the alien should be front-lit so that the

audience could see yet not see it. This greatly increased the

film’s shock effect. Following the success of Alien, Powell told

Childs and Jones that he was enthusiastic about the possi-

bilities of filming Tristan and Iseult in the belief that it con-

tained “fantasy elements placing it in a category near Alien.”

262

■

POSTMODERNISM

Once again the project failed to materialize; and Scott went

on to direct Blade Runner.

Powell was heavily involved in the financing and the

script-writing of the film. According to Phil Edwards and

Alan McKenzie he worked hard to secure the services of SYD

MEAD and DOUGLAS TRUMBULL, as well as collaborat-

ing with Scott on making most of the important script deci-

sions. It was Powell’s idea that Scott should borrow footage

from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) for Blade Run-

ner: PAUL M. SAMMON suggests that Kubrick obliged by

giving Scott free access to The Shining’s wilderness shots

(which had been filmed from a helicopter).

Powell recalled that the experience of working on

Blade Runner was an ambivalent one. He felt “disappointed

with the disjointed narrative, mainly caused by us not

being able to shoot all of the sequences that we wanted to.”

On the other hand he admitted to Sammon that it had a

significant impact on audiences: “[I]t feels like BR implic-

itly warns us that the twenty-first [century] will probably be

the most dangerous century that mankind has ever faced . . .

it does seem that the tail of the electric sheep is now wag-

ging the dog.”

References

Mike Childs and Alan Jones, “Ivor Powell: Associate Producer,” in

Mark Patrick Carducci and Glenn Lovell, “Making Alien: Behind

the Scenes,” Cinefantastique 9, no.1 (October 1979): 32; Phil

Edwards and Alan McKenzie, “The Blade Runner Chronicles: Ivor

Powell,” Starburst 50 (October 1982): 26–30; Paul M. Sammon,

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, 2nd ed. (London: Gol-

lancz, 2007), 303, 473–74.

PROVENCE

Scott had previously filmed in FRANCE when he made THE

DUELLISTS.For A GOOD YEAR he returned there—specif-

ically to the Provence region. Provence itself dates back to

600 BC, when Phocaean Greeks settled in Massalia, now

modern-day Marseilles on the Mediterranean coast, and the

region’s most populous city. Scott has owned a house there

for many years; in 2005–2006 he chose to film A Good Year

there. Scott used quaint villages and other locations scattered

throughout the hills and valleys of the Luberon valley. Those

included Gordes (four days at Cafe Renaissance, dubbed

Fanny’s Café in the film), Cucuron, Lacoste, Avignon, and

Menerbes (where author PETER MAYLE used to reside, and

whose former house is still a popular stop on guided tours

that frequent the village). The company also spent three days

at another local vineyard, Chateau Les Eydins, which dou-

bled for the home of the story’s gruff vigneron, Duflot

(DIDIER BOURDON).

Scott said, in an interview with Emanuel Levy, “Lon-

don’s a great place to live, [but] Provence is [also] a fantas-

tic place to live. Is it better? No, it’s different. For me, I live

in Provence ...because I live in London. So, I need one to

have the other.”

Reference

Emanuel Levy, “Good Year: Interview with Ridley Scott,” www

.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=3485 (accessed 12 August

2008).

PSYCHO

US 1960 r/t 109 min b/w. Production Company: Shamley

Productions. Producer/Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Writer:

Joseph Stefano, from the novel by Robert Bloch. Production

Designers: Robert Clatworthy, Joseph Hurley, and George

Milo. Director of Photography: John L. Russell. Music:

Bernard Herrmann. Cast: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates),

Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), Vera Miles (Lila Crane), John

Gavin (Sam Loomis), Martin Balsam (Milton Arbogast), John

McIntire (Sheriff Al Chambers).

Although Scott does not attribute any direct influence,

Harvey R. Greenberg argues that there are specific parallels

to be drawn between Hitchcock’s classic shocker and ALIEN.

Most viewers rushed to see Psycho on a dare in the belief that

they would experience a new dimension in terror; the same

thing happened when Alien premiered in 1979 (with the

famous tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream”). Psy-

cho is affected by “the taint of cannibalism”: Norman Bates

(Anthony Perkins) and his mother feast upon each other’s

egos. Mrs. Bates’s withered frame provides evidence of the

result; the ghastly image of her skull, her lips pulled back

into a sepulchral grin, evoke an all-consuming orality. Such

cannibalism finds its way into Alien in the famous chestbust-

ing sequence involving Kane (JOHN HURT).

Other parallels are evident in the moment where Brett

(HARRY DEAN STANTON) looks for Jones the cat in the

NOSTROMO’s store-room. Through subjective camera-

work, the gates seem to advance towards him, suffused with

menace—just as the doors of the Bates house seem to move

towards Lila Crane (Vera Miles) as she investigates the mys-

tery lurking behind them. The adult alien is photographed

so obliquely in the original 1979 release of Alien that its

shape can only be guessed at. When it descends upon Brett

it resembles a huge tube; during Lambert’s (VERONICA

CARTWRIGHT’S) death we only see its tail crawling round

her legs. Most of the close-ups concentrate on the alien’s

head and jaws, designed by H. R. GIGER—its skull, cruel

lips, and teeth dripping saliva. This bears a strong visual

resemblance to Norman Bates’s skull in Psycho.

Like Psycho, Alien is a prime example of what Green-

berg called “cruel cinema,” that offers a pessimistic view of

“sacrosanct American values . . . notably of family life, and

. . . the social contract under capitalism.”

PSYCHO

■

263

Reference

Harvey R. Greenberg, “Reimagining the Gargoyle: Psychoana-

lytic Notes on Alien,” Camera Obscura 15 (October 1986): 90, 92,

105.

PUTTNAM, DAVID (1941– )

Producer and studio executive who was created a life peer in

1997.

David Puttnam began his career as a photographer’s

agent, which led him into producing low-budget British

films such as That’ll Be The Day (1973), Stardust (1974),

and Bugsy Malone (1976), for which he also wrote the

music.

THE DUELLISTS was the first production for Put-

tnam’s own company Enigma Productions, which later pro-

duced Oscar-winning hits such as Chariots of Fire (1981). By

employing Ridley Scott—who hitherto had only worked on

commercials and in television—Puttnam was taking some-

thing of a gamble. However, Puttnam himself had worked

in advertising, so he was well aware of Scott’s capabilities (as

well as those of others with an advertising background such

as Alan Parker and Hugh Hudson).

264

■

PUTTNAM, DAVID (1941– )

QUICK, DIANA (1946–)

A former president of the Oxford Union at Oxford Univer-

sity, Diana Quick first came to the notice of the filmgoing

public in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).

In THE DUELLISTS, Quick plays the cameo role of

Laura, D’Hubert’s (KEITH CARRADINE’s) girlfriend, who

encounters him after one of his battle campaigns and wonders

where he has been. Despite his experiences in battle, D’Hubert

is still keen to continue his feud with Feraud (HARVEY KEI-

TEL), prompting Laura to state rather bitterly that “nothing

cures a duellist.” Laura herself has fallen on hard times: her

husband—a soldier—has died of typhus; and now all she can

do for money is to beg and “strike up friendships.” She asks

whether she can return to Feraud; Feraud does not reply, and

Laura finishes the sequence by running away, exclaiming that

this time D’Hubert will kill him. Once again we are made

aware of how Feraud’s and D’Hubert’s preoccupation with

the duel renders them impervious to human suffering.

■

265

RADIANT WASHING POWDER

GB 1970 Commercial r/t 30 sec b/w. Production Company:

RSA Films for J. Walter Thompson. Director: Ridley Scott.

A little boy homes come with his hands dirty, his hand-

kerchief bloodied, and his face filthy. His mother makes him

take off his shirt, and puts it in to soak and wash in Radiant

washing powder. Next day the son, wearing the clean shirt,

stands opposite his father; just for a joke, the father tells the

little boy to hit him softly on the cheek. The little boy does

not listen to him, however: when the father’s back is turned

the son hits him hard on the nose, making it bleed profusely.

The mother sighs, and then smiles, as she realizes that this

occasion provides her with another chance to use Radiant—

“for the whiter white.”

A serio-comic story designed to show how “Radiant’s

action is thoroughly biological. In the soak, in the wash,

cleaning, brightening, bringing out the total brilliance of the

whiter white.” The advertisement provides a good example

of Scott’s use of natural light to create a mood; at one point

the father and son are shown standing next to a pair of spot-

less net curtains while the morning sun streams in to illu-

minate their newly cleaned shirts. This technique has been

frequently used in Scott’s films, notably in the third duel

sequence taking place in the stables in THE DUELLISTS.

The commercial is voiced by IAN HOLM, later to appear as

Ash in ALIEN.

RAINES, CRISTINA (1952– )

Cristina Raines (birth name Tina Herazo) was born in

Manila, the Philippines. Her early films included Sunshine

(1973) and Nashville (1975).

She was cast as Adele, D’Hubert’s wife in THE DUEL-

LISTS because of being KEITH CARRADINE’s current girl-

friend. Scott recalled in the “Director’s Commentary” to the

film’s DVD release that he asked Carradine whether she

wanted to play the role; the actor replied that, as she was

going to accompany him on set anyway, she would be more

than willing to accept.

Adele has a minor role within the film as the loving

wife; the source of security in D’Hubert’s life who persuades

him that the duel itself is ultimately futile. However, D’Hu-

bert fights the duel (even though it seems ludicrous to do

so), as Feraud casts aspersions on his HONOR.

Reference

Ridley Scott, “Director’s Commentary” to the 2000 release of The

Duellists by Paramount DVD in the “Special Collector’s Edition”

(London: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2000).

RAPE/REVENGE FILMS

Often identified by critics as challenging phallocentricism.

Examples from the last three decades might include Blood-

sucking Freaks (1976), Carrie (1976), Fatal Attraction (1987),

and Heathers (1989).

Joy McEntee identifies THELMA & LOUISE as a good

example of the genre; for her the film “illustrates why rape-

revenge abstains from tackling the ‘law’ proper in the mod-

ern political context: the institutions which house systemic

corruption—the judicial bureaucracy and the police army—

are just now too big.” Hence the two women have to enact

their own form of justice by taking revenge on those men

who seek to abuse them.

Reference

Joy McEntee,“Ladies, Bring a Poisoned Plate: Cinematic Represen-

tations of the Vengeful Woman,” Media Information Australia 72

(May 1994): 41.

Bibliography

Jacinda Read, “Popular Film/ Popular Feminism: The Critical

Reception of the Rape-Revenge Film,” Scope 11 (June 2008):

www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/reader/chapter.php?id=3 (accessed

3 August 2008).

RATTIGAN, TERENCE (1911–1977)

British dramatist who dominated the West End of London

in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He went out of fashion

with the coming of the so-called “Angry Young Men” in the

theater in the mid-1950s but has retained his popularity to

this day, not least as a writer of dramas of narrowly reclaimed

opportunity.

266

■

The Browning Version was first performed in 1948 as

part of a double bill (Playbill) with Harlequinade. This has

now become one of the most popular one-act plays in the

repertoire on both sides of the Atlantic, and deservedly so. It

has the characteristic Rattigan theme of the power of the

weak over the strong, the power of the good-natured school-

boy Taplow over the dry, unpopular disciplinarian Crocker-

Harris, once a brilliant Greek scholar, now merely the teacher

of classics to the Lower Fifth at a minor private school. The

play has a wonderful double climax as Taplow gives the

teacher a copy of Robert Browning’s version of the Agamem-

non as a leaving present; Crocker-Harris finds this so affect-

ing that he breaks down in front of the boy. That is the first

climax; the second occurs right at the end, when Crocker-

Harris insists on making his farewell speech in front of the

entire school (although he has previously ceded this right to

Frank Hunter, a more popular teacher). Despite a lifetime of

failure, Crocker-Harris has at last summoned up the courage

to admit his failings in public. The play was adapted as THE

BROWNING VERSION (1951) with Michael Redgrave in the

title role and Jean Kent as his wife and remade by Scott in

1994, with MIKE FIGGIS as director.

It is not surprising that Scott found this play suitable for

filming, as it focuses once again on familiar preoccupations

in his work such as the relationship between LOVE VS.

DUTY. Crocker-Harris is trapped by his desire to be

accepted by the school, by the boys and by his society, and

needs to rediscover his sense of dignity.

Bibliography

Sean O’Connor, Straight Acting: Popular Gay Drama from Wilde to

Rattigan (London and Herndon, VA: Cassell, 1998), 188–201.

RAWAT, NAVI (1977– )

Born in Malibu, California, Rawat starred in six episodes of

24 and thirteen of The O.C. before becoming a regular mem-

ber of the cast of NUMB3RS.

As the mathematical genius Amita Ramanujan, Rawat

offers a perfect foil to Charlie Eppes (DAVID KRUMHOLTZ)

as someone who can match his academic ability, yet contin-

ually looks for him to show his affection. As the series devel-

ops, so Charlie’s attitude towards her changes, so much so

that the two contemplate moving in to the Eppes family

house, with Alan Eppes (JUDD HIRSCH) finding a place of

his own. Nothing comes of the idea, however. In Series 3

and 4, Amita has a larger role within the action, as the cre-

ators Cheryl Heuton and Nicholas Falacci decided to give

more screen-time to the female characters.

Bibliography

Deepa Kamath,“The Many Faces of Navi Rawat,” Nirali Magazine

4 April 2005, http://niralimagazine.com/2005/04/the-many-faces-

of-navi-rawat/ (accessed 22 February 2009).

RAWLINGS, TERRY (1933– )

Born in London, Rawlings began his career as a sound edi-

tor, working with directors such as Ken Russell, Karel Reisz,

and Jack Clayton.

Rawlings’s last sound editing assignment was THE

DUELLISTS. His contribution can be seen in the way he uses

different sounds for the duels. The first of these has the two

sounds clanging together in a series of dull thuds, drawing

attention to how heavy the weapons actually are. As the duel

becomes more intense, so the thuds increase, leading into a

snatch of violin music, making us aware of the potential

danger facing both D’Hubert and Feraud. This is not just a

fight, but a fight to the death.

By contrast, the dawn duel scene takes place with

rapiers—thin swords that sound just like whips when

wielded by the two men. All we can hear on the soundtrack

are a series of bell-like rings as the two swords clash; noth-

ing much seems to happen until D’Hubert turns away

clutching his chest and collapsing to the ground. Again, the

sounds make us aware of how lethal each duel actually is;

they might be fought with different weapons, but either par-

ticipant is likely to die.

Rawlings next worked with Scott as a picture editor on

ALIEN. He exerted a significant influence over the film’s

choice of music, especially in the final scene, as he put

together a “temp track” to give Scott a better sense of how

the ending would play to an audience. Rawlings inserted a

movement from Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2

(“Romantic”) over the film’s end credits: Scott liked it so

much that he cut out the original score that JERRY GOLD-

SMITH had created for the end.

Rawlings worked again with Scott on BLADE RUN-

NER, where he was heavily involved in the editing of the

final print for the 1982 release. According to William M.

Kolb, Scott and Rawlings disapproved of Deckard’s (HAR-

RISON FORD’s) voice-overs, on the grounds that they

held up the narrative and prevented viewers from making

their own decisions about the characters and their

motives. Rawlings was also in favor of including Deckard’s

unicorn dream, a sequence that was eventually incorpo-

rated in the 1992 DIRECTOR’S CUT. The sequence origi-

nally began as a series of intercuts, designed to show

Deckard going through photographs and turning over the

memories stimulated by those photos in his mind. Rawl-

ings told PAUL M. SAMMON that: “He [Deckard] mulled

these images over and then shook the memories out of his

head.”

Rawlings was also heavily involved in creating the var-

ious versions of LEGEND for European and American audi-

ences, once it was decided by the distributors (Universal/

MCA) that the original version had to be cut to render it

more attractive to audiences.

RAWLINGS, TERRY (1933– )

■

267

References

William M. Kolb, “Script to Screen: Blade Runner in Perspective,”

in Retrofitting Blade Runner, ed. Judith M. Kerman, 2nd ed. (Bowl-

ing Green: Bowling State University Popular Press, 1997), 143;

Terry Rawlings, interviewed in Paul M. Sammon, Future Noir: The

Making of Blade Runner, 2nd ed. (London: Gollancz, 2007), 358.

THE REAL WHITE SQUALL

Ridley Scott based his film of the same name on the autobi-

ographical account of the incident The Last Voyage of the

Albatross by CHUCK GIEG. However, the account of Gieg

and screenwriter TODD ROBINSON was criticized by an

anonymous writer who posted his version online in 2007.

He claimed that “The only truth in the film is that the Alba-

tross did sink in a white squall at 3.5 N. 85 W. The problem

with the film is that Gieg’s book was written by a ghost

writer and the rights were bought by Hollywood ...The

Cuban gunboat incident never happened; the spearing of the

dolphin never happened; Albatross was actually boarded by

a group of Mexican marines at Progresso . . . Sheldon never

forced anyone to do anything they were afraid to do . . .

There was no court of inquiry . . . as was the agoraphobic

Gill Martin....Scott, [ROCKY] LANG, and Robinson

foisted a fraud on the critics and audiences.”

Reference

“The Real White Squall,” www.mrcranky.com/movies/whitesquall/

137.html (accessed 14 September 2008).

REDGRAVE, VANESSA (1937– )

Early film appearances include A Man for All Seasons (1966),

Camelot (1968), Isadora (1968), and Oh What a Lovely War!

(1968). Gained a reputation as much for her political activ-

ities as for her acting, which often put her into conflict with

her employers.

As Clemmie Churchill in the Ridley Scott-produced

film THE GATHERING STORM, Redgrave provides a

source of moral, physical, and emotional support for her

husband Winston (ALBERT FINNEY). Tall and angular,

with faintly graying hair, Redgrave comes across as the

dominant force in the MARRIAGE, even though she refuses

to become involved in her husband’s political activities. This

appears to contradict what she said in a preproduction

interview: “She [Clemmie] threw herself into politics with

him [Churchill] and, although they later had children, she

went through the vicissitudes of changing parties and his

losing all position of any power whatsoever. It cost him a

lot. Clementine was an extremely political woman.” After

many discussions with Mary Soames, Churchill’s only sur-

viving daughter, Redgrave “felt an enormous connection

with this lady [Clementine] who I never knew or never even

saw. Through the warmth in Mary’s voice and eyes and

what she told me about her mother, I came to feel an affin-

ity with Clemmie.”

It is interesting that Redgrave should have accepted the

role; in her 1991 autobiography she recalls that as a child she

was very much influenced by her nanny “and her worship of

Churchill.” However, her views about Churchill were to

change, once she learned in later life that her father, the actor

Sir Michael Redgrave, had espoused the socialist cause: “His

political experiences ...were ofcentral importance in shap-

ing his life, and mine . . . his political horizons were domi-

nated by the menace of Fascism, the horrors of Nazi

Germany, and the defeat of the Spanish revolution ...he was

certainly a socialist.” The BBC eventually banned him from

speaking on the radio on account of his political views; but

the protest (from listeners and filmmakers alike) was so

vehement that Churchill was forced to intervene and per-

suade the BBC to change its mind, even though his political

views were very different from Redgrave’s.

References

The Gathering Storm: Information Pack issued 17 June 2002 (Lon-

don: BBC, 2002), www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/

2002/06_june/17/gathering_storm_pack.pdf (accessed 24 Decem-

ber 2008); Vanessa Redgrave, An Autobiography (London: Faber and

Faber, 1991), 22.

REED, OLIVER (1938–1999)

Born in London, the son of Peter Reed, a sports journalist.

His uncle was Sir Carol Reed, the film director of classics

such as Odd Man Out (1946) and THE THIRD MAN. Reed

made his debut in British B-pictures such as Beat Girl (1959)

and comedies such as The Rebel (1960).

As much noted for his off-screen antics as for his film

performances, Reed’s finest films include the title role in

Hannibal Brooks (1968) and Ken Russell’s Women in Love

(1969). He described himself in a 1974 biography by Susan

D’Arcy as someone possessing “animal magnetism ...I have

no worries about the parts I play. Today I can play fathers and

uncles and airline pilots. And that is why I can play fathers

and uncles and airline pilots. And that is why I am confident

about life.” By the late 1990s, however, the leading roles had

dried up: Reed was now perceived as being unemployable, on

account of his excessive drinking and rowdy behavior. Rid-

ley Scott needed a lot of persuasion before he agreed to

employ Reed in GLADIATOR, so long as the actor promised

to stay out of trouble. Reed was offered the part of Proximo,

an aging former gladiator, and a $1 million fee. Reed

observed in the book of the film that he was playing “a glad-

iator trainer who in the past was a gladiator himself, and who

won his freedom ...I’m responsible for finding out if Max-

imus [RUSSELL CROWE] can fight, taking him to Rome,

and putting him into the big game. Proximo’s a wonderful

268

■

THE REAL WHITE SQUALL

character—but then, if you’re involved in something this big,

you have to believe that your character can compete with

everything else that’s going on. His performance is encour-

agingly low-key; a world-weary cynic who was once a gladi-

ator himself, and as a result is well aware of what will happen

to those who live life to the limits. The actor and the charac-

ter are as one: Proximo’s colorful life parallels that of Reed’s.

Oliver Reed died of heart failure some three weeks

before filming on Gladiator had been completed. He once

described himself to the journalist Cliff Goodwin as “only

an actor—not a priest beyond reproach. I am not a villain.

I have never hurt anyone. I am just a tawdry character who

explodes now and again.” This perhaps stands as a fitting

epitaph for his life.

References

Susan D’Arcy, The Films of Oliver Reed (London: Barnden Castell

Williams Ltd., 1974), 9, 11; Cliff Goodwin, Evil Spirits: The Life of

Oliver Reed (London: Virgin Publishing Ltd., 2001), 3; Oliver Reed,

quoted in Diana Landau, ed., Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley

Scott Epic (Basingstoke and London: Boxtree, 2000), 56.

Bibliography

Garth Pearce, “A Barbaric World . . . ” Total Film 41 (June 2000):

46–55.

THE RELUCTANT BANDIT

GB 1965 TV Series 5 ⫻ 25 min episodes b/w. Production

Company: British Broadcasting Corporation. Producer/

Director: Paddy Russell. Writer: Colin Morris. Production

Designer: Ridley Scott. Cast: William Mervyn (Carson),

Michael Balfour (Luigi), Maggie Fitzgibbon (Lili), William

Dexter (Robert).

A thriller first broadcast from 15 February–15 March

1965 about a British officer who serves in Sicily during

World War II, who returns there to find himself involved in

Mafia activity. Unfortunately the tapes of the production no

longer exist.

RENNER, JEREMY (1971– )

Born in Modesto, California, Renner made his name in

S.W.A.T. (2003) and 28 Weeks Later (2007). Cast as Wood

Hite in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE

COWARD ROBERT FORD, Renner welcomed the role:

although too old for the part he believed that “the character

Wood Hite is more of a screen presence and how he affects

other characters. The character’s main purpose for the story

is to instill paranoia in Jesse James. Just like every other char-

acter, he serves a specific purpose. As events unfold, Jesse

James’s paranoia causes him to only trust his blood. Since

there is a reward for Jesse and his brother Frank, Jesse knows

that Wood Hite, his cousin, will not turn on him.”

Reference

Ryan Parsons, “Exclusive: Jeremy Renner Talks Assassination of

Jesse James,” CanMag 3 May 2006, www.canmag.com/news/4/3/

3755 (accessed 7 February 2009).

REPLICANTS

The term used to describe those human beings manufac-

tured by the Tyrell Corporation in BLADE RUNNER.Orig-

inally titled “androids” in the original novel by PHILIP K.

DICK, they were renamed in line with screenwriter DAVID

PEOPLES’s wishes. He felt the term “android” was too rem-

iniscent of a comic book.

Peoples told Ian Nathan that the term originated from

a conversation with his eldest daughter, who was at UCLA

at the time of the film’s making, studying chemistry and

biology. She said that the creatures of the film had been

“replicated.” Either Peoples or his daughter said “replicant,”

and the idea stuck.

The film defines replicants thus: “a being virtually

identical to a human . . . they were superior in strength

and ability, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic

engineers who created them. Replicants were used off-

world as slave labor in the hazardous explanation and col-

onization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny . . .

Replicants were declared illegal on earth under penalty of

death.” Blade Runners like Deckard (HARRISON FORD)

are ordered to exterminate them—or “retire” them, as the

film puts it.

Reference

Ian Nathan, “Empathy Test: Screenwriter David Peoples on the

Meaning of Blade Runner,” Empire, August 2007, 110.

Bibliography

Ian Barns, “The Human Genome Project and the Self,” Soundings

77, nos. 1–2 (Spring/Summer 1994): 99–128; Nick Land, “Machinic

Desire,” Textual Practice 7, no.3 (Winter 1993): 471–82; Michael J.

Shapiro,“‘Manning the Frontiers: The Politics of (Human) Nature

in Blade Runner,” in In the Nature of Things: Language, Politics and

the Environment, ed. Jane Bennett and William Chaloupka (Min-

neapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), 65–84;

Jason P. Vest, “Double Jeopardy: The Sexual Dynamics of Blade

Runner,” in The Image of the Twentieth Century: Proceedings, 2000

Conference, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery,

ed. Will Wright and Steven Kaplan (Pueblo, CO: University of

Southern Colorado, 2001), 349–58.

REY, FERNANDO (1917–1994)

Born Fernando Casado Arambillet in Spain, and made his

debut in the 1939 Spanish film Los Cuatros Robinsons.Rey

worked with Luis Buñuel on The Discreet Charm of the Bour-

geoisie (1972), which earned him an award from the Cannes

REY, FERNANDO (1917–1994)

■

269