Photographer and Director Anton Corbijn about “life” and the charm of the 1950s
In 1954 a Life magazine photographer Dennis stork met with the young actor James Dean and made a series of pictures that glorified them both. In 2015 Anton Corbijn is probably the most famous celebrity photographer in history, took about the movie “life”, depicting the period when the young artist became the symbol of generation, and a poor man with a camera — the legend of Magnum.
It Corban responsible for the most canonical pictures and clips of Joy Division and Depeche Mode, U2 and nick cave, Nirvana and Tom waits. Therefore surprising that the theme of the photos — in fact, photos of stars in their film projects, he appealed just now. The Dutchman admits that life for him was a more personal film than “American” and “Most dangerous man” (and almost as personal as that devoted to Joy Division “Control”), and says in interview “to the Tape.ru”.
“Ribbon.ru”: What attracted you to this project?
Anton Corbijn: It’s funny, but not what suggests most people. That is not James Dean (in “life” he is played by Dane Dehaan — approx. “The tape.ru”). For me it is primarily the story of a photographer who takes pictures of someone famous, living in plain sight. I put it mildly, familiar — I did the same deal for almost forty years! Was curious, of course, play with the myth of James Dean, but actually, I have always been interested in the history of relations between photographers and their images.
This is a relationship that you really know a lot.
Yes, although it was not always. When I was young, I was very naive and often not aware of how these relations are important. Back in Holland, before moving to England and getting acquainted with Joy Division, I had a friend who at some point became the biggest rock star in the country. He was immediately all around fell in love — and I suddenly lost a friend. I was very young and have long wondered what happened. This is an interesting dynamics — for example, in the film, Dean and the stork (played by Robert Pattinson — approx. “The tape.ru”) always say, what do these pictures not for themselves but as a favor to each other: “I’m doing this for you!” — “No, I try for you”. They both sincerely believe in this!
Anton Corbijn
Photo: Oscar Gonzalez / Zumapress / Globallookpress.com
And they both are about to become incredibly successful in their own business. You will explore that brief moment, when the glory has not come yet.
Well, to be honest, this is true only for Dean. Movie stars can Wake up famous. With photographers it’s not that simple.
You were familiar with the work Line?
Only partially. Of course, I knew his canonical picture of Dean on times square, maybe a few more shots — but I didn’t know the name of their author. So I immersed myself in his work — and fell in love with her. It is similar to my own early experiments in photography in the 1970s-1980s. Like me at the time, stork has taken a lot of people in a very expressive spaces, landscapes and interiors in like a documentary style. The Line was almost classical portraits in your portfolio — it always worked with space. I like this approach: it frames a lot of talk not only about heroes, but about time. You look and can’t help but marvel at how things have changed and how effectively the world looked like in the 1950s.
For “life”, of course, it is very important to the understanding between the actors. The casting was long?
Robert Pattinson first came to the project. And I never thought about him in the role of Dean. It’s funny that when the film was known, the majority immediately agreed that James plays it as if the big stars can play only the big stars! Robert early became famous — so now he wants to prove to everyone that he deserves to be an actor, so was withdrawn from the Directors like Cronenberg and Herzog. In my opinion, turned out beautiful rhyme: actor, trying to prove themselves in the profession, plays the photographer, is also trying to prove themselves in the profession. This parallel reality, there’s some perverse pleasure.
And Dane Dehaan immediately agreed to play James Dean?
We were lucky Dane repeatedly refused the role. He grew up a fan of Dean and wasn’t sure what can bring it on the screen. We spent some time with his appearance that he looked like Jimmy, but Dehaan and himself a good actor, his transformation on the screen — it is a merit of his own talent.
The frame: the film “life”
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The film shows Dean’s family, who grew up on a farm boy. It’s a surprise, we’re used to seeing James Dean — rebel without a cause…
Yes, Dean was rebellious, but he was a good guy, in his relationships with family sure wasn’t no riot. But he became a symbol of those incredible global changes that occurred in the mid-1950s: the birth of rock ‘ n ‘ roll, the heyday of jazz, the emergence of actors who wanted to make their own decisions. His rebellion was reflected in manner of dress, how and with whom he spent time. But he was not a bully and in fact acted completely normal.
Don’t be tempted to shoot this film in black and white — as “Control”?
Honestly, at first I fought that the film was in black and white. I wanted to convey the view of the world Dennis, was filmed in b/W, but came back to my senses. After all, if the whole movie was black and white, how would I have conveyed the beauty and Majesty of pictures Line? They would be indistinguishable from all other frames of the film. And in color film they instantly catch the eye, directly transmit the power of the photographer. It is important that we do not recreate the photo of Dennis, we show how he did them, and the world that surrounded him.
The frame: the film “life”
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We live in the era of Instagram, and now the camera’s on everybody’s phone. For photography it good or bad?
I think this coin has two sides, as usual. We now always surrounded by an infinite number of visual information — which, of course, can not fail to irritate. So much garbage, so much shit! People think, as if everything in their lives is incredibly important, as if everything must be reported. On the other hand, someone time coming up with new ways to shoot photos and photography has never been as popular as it is now. But for professional photographers it is a difficult time — now they ever difficult to make a living.
“Life” reminded you dedicated to Ian Curtis “Control”? Both there and here talking about young talents that have gone tragically early.
It’s quite different characters. Let’s start with the fact that Ian killed himself, and James died in a car accident — different fates. For me the work on “Control” was probably the most emotional: I was a witness and a participant of those events, is a very personal story for me. In the case of “life” it was interesting for me to reflect on the profession of photographer, about the relationship with the subject shooting. The similarity is only that both he and the other film is the biopic.
Are you still filming, working with photography?
Yes, for me it’s a Zen kind, not even a profession, but something very personal. Therefore, it is necessary for me in between work in film to take photos. But in a professional sense movie I am really interested in the most.
