Quote of the Day

"He had a real awareness of the frame that he was going to be in, his body within that frame, and the meaning of his body in that frame. When I asked him about the dance thing, he doesn’t make big claims for him for himself in that regard. But I do think it’s informed something about the way he thinks. In a way, it could sound like it’s an outside-in process, but it’s not quite that either. It’s not quite a technical thing of, “If I look here, or move my body this way, or do this with my face,” but there’s a bit of that. There’s an awareness that’s very hard to explain. I think there’s also a whole other layer of magic which is just indefinable.

... It just said: “Tomas comes into the bedroom, he undresses, they make love.” It was the shortest scene in the whole script. It’s not the only scene that’s like this, but it was like an improvisation in the sense that we didn’t know how it would go. It was discovered in the moment, and Ira let it just play out more or less in real time. I was like, “Wow, this is going on a long time!” But then I just sort of relaxed into it, and cool, we’re just like filming this like these two people are having sex. This is the length of the sex that they’re having. That was great. It felt completely essential to the story. Not gratuitous or exploitative or anything else like that. I always think that, of course, there should be a sex scene if you’re discussing intimacy between a long-term couple. It seems to me such an important part of life. I thought it was really important, and I think Franz felt the same. We were all adults who really liked—I think loved—and trusted each other.

... It’s one of those things, there was just a really beautiful dynamic between me and Franz. I can’t speak for him, but I just loved working with him. There was a love between us of some kind that was real."

How could I not quote the entirety of Ben Whishaw talking about what it was like working with Franz Rogowski -- and specifically filming a sex scene with Franz Rogowski? This comes via a chat with the actor at Slant on the making of Ira Sachs' Passages -- read the entire thing here. I actually had no idea Rogowski had a dance background but now that I do that makes total sense, and not just because he's got the insane muscular body of a dancer. The way Rogowski moves on-screen is so specific, so notable, that this information clicks right into place.

Anyway Passages, which got an NC-17 rating because of said sex scene (and here is a good piece on that controversy), is out this week -- here is my review of the movie from Sundance. I think I'm going to go see the movie again in the theater -- it's so freaking excellent. Here is the trailer if you missed it.