The tenacious Henckel von Donnersmarck
"The Lives of Others" ("Leben der anderen, Das") writer/director/co-producer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is a remarkably able 34 year old. At 18 he wished to read the great Russian novels in Russian, and so studied Russian Literature in St. Petersberg. Then he went to Oxford to study Economics, Politics and Philosophy. There he interned with David Attenborough and began to work on the idea that, 8 years of grind and research later, became this amazing movie, winner of the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. In an interview with Charlie Rose, he told the story of his unbent tenacity to get it made, within the tight budget of $2m..
One part of his story touched me. He desperately wanted to involve the "English Patient" composer Gabriel Yared. After several failed atempts, Yared agreed to read the screenplay and told von Donnersmarck to send him a copy in French. Von Donnersmarck sat down with a friend and translated the entire screenplay. It was probably the only time a screenplay translation has been made for an audience of one. One copy for one man to read.
Yared agreed to do the movie and he wrote a truly stunning piano sonata, "Sonata for a Good Man."
posted by Tony at 8:39 PM
2 Comments:
Interestingly, the actor actually played the piece in the movie, and had never played piano before. He did a brilliant job except for one small thing: he was meant to be playing it for the first time but looked only at his hands and never at the music sheet.
I stumbled onto your blog. It's beautiful. Thank you.
I've been pushing God's creative juice through my heart for the past 3 months. It's a bit worn. It hurts.
You blog is salve for this creative soul.
Strangely I'm listening to Betty Blue - Gabriel Yared, and one of my favourite pieces of music.
This is a sweet moment.
All's good.
It's been a long winter.
Thanks
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