Last week, tableau participated in a conference call with Julie Taymor, Tony award-winning director of the new movie Across the Universe.
With a soundtrack composed wholly of The Beatles' songs, Across the Universe reflects the politics, radicalism and free love of the 1960s. Perhaps most famous for directing The Lion King on Broadway, Taymor set out to tell the story of star-crossed lovers Jude and Lucy and the era that both defined them and tore them apart.
College journalists from around the country posed questions to Taymor about everything from the cinematic techniques of the film to her experience growing up in the 60s.
Brittany Moseley, Kent State University: Why was this story so important to tell?
I really believe in this story. The characters of Lucy and Max [Lucy's brother] are loosely based on my older brother and sister. My sister was a radical. My brother was a dropout from Johns Hopkins....
I watched my parents go through this insanity of the 60s with the drugs and the war, and it made a huge impression on me. [However,] it's not about my history; it's about ideas, values, stories that I want to tell. I'm into giving people -- and hopefully educating them in -- something they didn't even know they wanted.
Katie Sharon, university not stated: What makes Across the Universe unique from other films that are out today?
It's only got a half-hour of dialogue, and I don't know if you know this, but 80 to 90 percent of it is sung live. It's not lip-synched. That's different than the other musicals. It's romantic, it's, I hope, very entertaining, but also the way that it's told is unlike any other movie. It's surrealism and realism and fantasy and craziness in a way that I don't think a lot of movies [are].
Reinier Hernandez, Florida International University: What determined which song went with which scene? Were the songs chosen to fit the story, or did you write the story around the songs?
You kind of have it both ways. It started with the premise that we could set this musical [temporally] using The Beatles' catalogue ... and this love story. Then we listened to the songs, and the characters in the story were created around those songs. Jude wasn't created for "Revolution," but because the story of their love affair ... centered around ... Lucy being an activist and Jude being ... an artist and not being someone who fights for a cause necessarily, "Revolution" seemed like a perfect song to express that sentiment. Once [the characters] were developed, you could find songs that would keep their story going. So it was a really fun thing to figure out.
Daniel Schwartz, University of Pennsylvania: What is your take on the differences between live-action theatre and film?
Well, I love bouncing back-and-forth from one medium to another because each of the media gives me different tools to work with. [In Across the Universe] you can see the use of animation, computer-generated imagery and stock footage mixed with live-action realistic filmmaking. It's a combination of all those elements because cinema gives me that power, that tool, to do that. And I think that because we've got those tools you can really be expressionistic and theatrical ... A lot of the imagery that I do in Across the Universe, I cannot do in theatre. So I try and adapt to what each medium does that the other one doesn't.
Shelley, university not stated: How will today's youth be affected by this film?
Entertainment can be not only fun and entertaining; it can cause discussion. I think the first thing is for people to start discussing what they've seen ... and the war and how change was made; change was started by the youth movement ... We have many issues that really need to be discussed openly and actively.
Lizzie West, university not stated: What do you think that The Beatles generation of the 60s will think of the movie?
So far, so good. I've seen it with people that are of the age of the 60s -- my brother and sister's age. I think this movie should appeal to everybody from 10 years old up until 95. The people who lived in that time, I think they'll love going and [will] find it deeply moving and connect to it on a spiritual ... and political level. The fact that it's playing to college-aged and younger is what really makes all of us who worked on it extremely happy, because it's about young people, and times don't change that much, unfortunately.
tableau: Have you gotten any feedback from Ringo or Paul yet? Were they in the back of your mind while you were making this film?
All of them have seen it. Ringo was the first to see it early cut, and I wasn't there, but I heard he really liked it. I sat next to Paul McCartney in London in a private screening at Sony, and it was the most nerve-wracking, unbelievably difficult screening ... I asked him if there was anything he didn't like, and he said, "What's not to like?" He ... was very knocked out by the performers, and that was a thrill.
On that front, we've been very pleased with the response. And of course it was a big burden to take this music on and I was constantly thinking were we doing justice to the brilliance of The Beatles music.
Want to know about the editing controversy? Curious how Taymor feels about being a female director in Hollywood? Check out the full interview at www.cavalierdaily.com
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
