2014年11月9日

Christian Bale reviews the relevance of Moses

Source: Inquirer.net

要扮演這位極端且引人注目的角色摩西,是需要一名集勇氣與天份於一身的演員,如:Christian Bale 才扛得起這個角色。更別說前人 Charlton Heston 在『十戒』中已經以強勁的方式扮演過同一個角色。

把這個問題就留給 Christian Bale 吧,畢竟要演出這名在猶太教基督教以及伊斯蘭教中有著重要地位先知的人是他。這場訪談,夾雜著嚴肅與輕浮的味道。

這個故事也讓導演 Ridley Scott 有了重新詮釋摩西的機會,也讓觀眾透過『出埃及記:天地王者』再次目睹摩西對抗 Ramses 法老(Joel Edgerton 飾演)並帶領千百名奴隸逃離埃及的偉大旅程。

此電影的劇本由四個編劇家共同完成:Steven Zaillian、Adam Cooper、Bill Collage 還有 Jeffery Caine。其他演員還有 Aaron Paul、Sigourney Weaver(雪歌妮薇佛)、Ben Kingsley、John Turturro 還有許多其他國籍的演員。

Christian 最近上報的原因還有另外一件事情,就是他推掉了極可能會成為他演藝身涯中另外一個重要的角色,也就是 Apple 的創始人 Steve Jobs,這部電影即將由 Danny Boyles(貧民百萬富翁)執導。報導指出 Christian 只是簡單的說他不適合這個所以推掉這個角色。(我們覺得他很合適,我們希望他能夠重新考慮)

他與妻子 Sandra "Sibi" Blazic 在八月迎接了他們的新生兒,Christian 也揭發了他們的女兒也在『出埃及記』中當了臨演。他告訴我們說「她站在拍片現場時,Ridley 說『你想不想看你女兒穿上埃及服裝?』最後他就站在 John Turturro 身邊有了一小點的戲份。」

以下是訪談的摘要:

INQ: 大概六七年前,Ridley Scott 找你喝了杯茶,問了你是不是有意願演出摩西。

CB: 我給他的第一個問題是:「你是說那個摩西嗎?你想拍的是不一樣的摩西?還是有著刀光劍影以及古代涼鞋那種的摩西?」他告訴我說:「是刀劍跟涼鞋的版本。」於是我回答他:「如果我要拍,我不想用在我臉上塗漿糊貼鬍子還有頭髮。」他給我的回答是:「成交。」我們談了幾個月,他也給我了很多不同的版本的摩西外觀。

Steve Zaillian(註:『辛德勒名單』編劇) 撰寫劇本,我慢慢的感受到,需要有人扮演摩西是一件不太合理的事情,你們不認為嗎?當然可以不合理,但是當我看到 Ridley 意圖以更人性的角度切入摩西的故事後,我於是說,當然好,太好了,我很想扮演他。

INQ: 第一次看到自已穿上摩西的服裝時,你的反應是?你有沒有留下任何的自拍?

CB: 當然啊。我把自拍照傳給了我太太,畢竟那是我第一次變成了摩西,怎麼能夠不與他人分享呢?我們有過很多次的試裝(髮型),我剃掉了頭髮(註:拍完 American Hustle 他得剃掉的關係)後,還有過辮子綁在側邊的造型。

我們試過一些埃及的假髮(註:清湯掛麵?!),每次假髮一戴上後,每個人都笑到眼淚要飆出來。那些造型根本就行不通,更遑論要我戴著它們工作。因為摩西是個很重要的角色,我因為其他作品的關係剃光了我的頭髮,可以確定的是我的頭髮沒辦法長到需要的長度。

於是我說:「好了,我們真的要為了髮型而卡在這邊忘記這是人類歷史上最重要的故事之一嗎?髮型真的有那麼重要嗎?」

我們的答案是:不,我們該隨它去,更重要的是人類的情緒,這個人的熱情,還有摩西這個人的人性。最後,我們的決定就是:「就使用 Christian 自己的髮型吧。」這個答案我很滿意。

INQ: 那眼線呢?

CB: 他們有如那個時代的絢麗搖滾家,你看看法老 Ramses,他不就是鋼琴大師 Liberace 加上 Mr. T(註:天龍特攻隊的怪頭先生)以及演員 RuPaul 的合體嗎?他們本來就該是美好的,像法老 Ramses 還有其他的法老們... 他們深信自己是美麗的個體,那些眼線是為了讓他們看起來更美好。

INQ: 飾演這麼重要的角色,責任感會不會很沈重?

CB:  首先,這個問題 Ridley 也問過我,之後我慢慢地思考著:我是否真的有辦法扛下這個對許多人有著重大影響力的角色?

而我們也會遇到一些對於摩西有著不同的想法的人們,他們認為摩西的存在是有所爭議的。

我們也會遇到那些為了宗教而生而犧牲的人,用比較輕鬆的角度看的話,我會把它比擬成有如莎翁劇本中的前幾行文字(註:對不起,看不懂)。在莎翁的劇本中,在戲劇進行中,總會有人出來朗誦文字。但知道劇情法展的人總會覺得「為何你不把這一段放進去?為何那段你不也放進戲劇中?」我認為我們在這部電影中呈現了摩西最原始的面貌,這是這位先知的重生。

但也會有人說「為什麼?為什麼你們要拍這部電影?這一切根本不是真的,而你們為何又要拍?」之後你們會驚訝於這段故事的重要,無論這到底是不是一件史實。這會是一個有趣的過程。

對我來說,摩西所象徵的意義才是最有趣的,無論他是否存在...

INQ: 你現在畢生的職業是?這些年來你的想法是否有改變?

CB: 喔,當然。當我年輕時,我只想到要怎樣做到極限做到最多,我願意為了所有事情冒險,我想要超越所有。我想要生存,對於刺激的追求沒有盡頭。但現在,我的所有刺激感動來在我的家庭,我與他們在一起是有原因的。家庭現在是我的職業,這點永遠都不會改變。

INQ: 而這個職業與你的工作是如何結合?

CB: 我們會舉家一起,我帶領他們一起,在一起是個非常好的經驗。我們到處旅行,到許多有趣的地方,我的家人可以看到我穿得蠢蠢的,這樣的生活非常美好。

LOS ANGELES – It takes a brave and gifted actor like Christian Bale to take on a larger-than-life role, Moses, especially since the biblical character was powerfully played by the late Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille’s colossal “The Ten Commandments.”

And leave it to Christian to talk about playing the prophet, an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other faiths, with a mixture of seriousness and levity in this interview.

It also takes a director like Ridley Scott to attempt a retelling of the epic tale of Moses, who rises up against Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton) and leads hundreds of thousands of slaves on a journey of escape from Egypt and its deadly plagues in “Exodus: Gods and Kings.”

No less than four writers—Steven Zaillian, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage and Jeffrey Caine—are credited in writing “Exodus” which also stars Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro and an array of international actors.

Christian was recently in the news for turning down what could have been another important role in his career, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, in director Danny Boyle’s “Jobs.” Reports say that Christian simply concluded he was not right for the part (we think the talented actor is and we hope he reconsiders his decision).

The actor and his wife, Sandra “Sibi” Blazic, welcomed a son last August. Christian revealed in our chat that their daughter appears as an extra in “Exodus.” He told us, “She was just standing around on the set one day and Ridley said, ‘Do you want to stick her in an Egyptian outfit?’ She ended up standing next to John Turturro briefly.”

Below are excerpts:

About six or seven years ago, Ridley Scott invited you to tea and asked you about playing Moses.

My first question was like, “As in Moses Moses?” I asked, “Like a different thing or like swords and sandals, the whole thing?” He went, “Swords and sandals.” The first thing I said was, “If I do this, I don’t want any glue-on beards and hair.” He went, “Done.” Then we talked about it over a few months. He sent me variations (of the look).

Steve Zaillian was writing the script. I gradually came to think that, when you are asked to play someone like Moses, it’s a little preposterous, isn’t it? That you can do that. But gradually, I saw that Ridley wanted to take a much more human approach to this character. I thought, yeah, great, I want to do it.

What was your reaction when you first saw yourself dressed as Moses? Did you take any selfies?

Absolutely. I sent them to my wife. The first time you stick on the whole Moses garb, you have to share that with somebody. We went through a lot of different experiments (with the hair). I shaved my head and had one of those braids sticking out of the side.

We had all sorts of Egyptian wigs and things. Every time we put them on, each of us would just be crying with laughter. It just didn’t work and I couldn’t carry it off. Obviously, Moses is such an iconic figure. But I was coming off another film where I had a completely shaved head. So it was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to grow long hair.

I said, “Look, are we really going to get hung up on hair with something that is one of the most defining stories in mankind’s history? Is hair going to be one of the most important things?”

We said no, forget that. It shouldn’t be—the emotions, passions of the man, the all-too human nature of Moses is what should be important. So eventually we came back to, “Let’s use Christian’s hair”—which I loved.

And the eyeliner?

Those guys were sort of the glam rockers of their era. Certainly, you look at Ramses. He’s like Liberace with Mr. T and a fair amount of RuPaul thrown in there for good measure. They were meant to be brought up as gods. Certainly, with Ramses and the pharaohs … they believed themselves to be beautiful specimens. They added the eyeliners and made themselves up.

In playing such an important character, did you feel an extra responsibility?

First, you get over about being asked by Ridley to play Moses. Then you start to realize, can I truly handle a figure as important as this, who means so much to so many people?

Then you have other people, who are absolutely indifferent and who consider Moses to be irrelevant.

And you are going to encounter people who live and die by their religion and who, in a more light-hearted manner, I compare to the first couple of rows in a Shakespeare play. They are reciting lines as you are doing the play. People who know the story backwards will always ask, “Why didn’t you include this piece, that piece?” I feel that we have given the origin story of Moses in this one, this sort of birth of the prophet-to-be.

But you also have people who are going to say, “Why? Why are you making this film? It’s totally irrelevant. What has it got to do with these times?” I think they will be surprised just how relevant it still is, regardless of whether it was a historical fact—that’s interesting.

But to me, what’s far more interesting is the symbolism of what Moses represents, regardless of whether he really existed…

What’s your own calling in life? Has it changed through the years?

Yeah, absolutely. In your younger years, your calling is, you are going to do whatever you are going to do to the max, to the extreme. You are going to risk everything. You are going to take it to the limit. You are going to survive. That never stops being a thrill but right now, my thrill is my family. I have this reason for being here with them. That’s my calling right now and it will always be, forever.


How does that calling fit in with your work?

We all go together. I incorporate it. These are good experiences. We get to travel, go to interesting places. They get to see me dress up and be silly. That’s all a good life.

4 則留言:

yann 提到...

什麼!他女兒有演!
在哪?那我要再看第二遍了~~~

Marco 提到...

yann,
我也沒找到。我考慮要不要再來看一次 XD

Jasmine 提到...

可能是欢送他们出战时一堆王族里面的只有背面的小身影

Marco 提到...

Jasmine,
如果電影看不到,我就等藍光!