‘The ideal of imperfection’

Newsroom 24/06/2013 | 01:15

In advance of the Romanian release of Before Midnight, the third part of the romantic trilogy that started with now cult movies Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004), Anca Ionita spoke to Ethan Hawke about his collaboration with co-star Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater on the writing of the script and about why the three of them felt it was time to make another sequel.

By Anca Ionita

Before Midnight has received excellent reviews from top film critics both in the US and Europe, who find the movie “funny, insightful, and achingly poignant as its predecessors”. The New York Times critic A. O. Scott notes at the end of his five-star film review, “Before Midnight is a wonderful paradox: a movie passionately committed to the ideal of imperfection that is itself very close to perfect.”

Actors Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, who are also co-writers of the series with Richard Linklater, met again nine years after their brief encounter in Before Sunrise (1995), to gives us an updated perspective on Celine and Jesse’s fate as a married couple. Both actors have received outstanding reviews for their acting: “Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke at their blistering, bickering best.”2

In my interview with Ethan Hawke I wanted to get an insight into the creative process, both in terms of scriptwriting and in terms of acting and directing, what lies behind the series’ sense of continuity and its new, 21st-century definition of romance.

What made you think about doing the third part of the story between Jesse and Celine?

It would have been impossible not to think about it because people were constantly asking us if we were going to make a third one! These characters sometimes feel like they LIVE in a parallel universe and every now and again simply demand to be heard. It’s funny Rick and Julie and I just feel compelled to do it.

Could you define “romantic” in this third part of the trilogy? In the interview with The New York Times you explain it as a “hard-earned romance”.

It is romantic because after all this time they are still trying to connect, they still care, and they still want to have sex. At a certain point that’s the best you can hope for…

Who among the three co-writers gets the say on the final form of the script?

We all have veto power. By the end we each feel connected to every line.

In the same interview with The New York Times you talk about “blurring the line between character and the performer”. How do you keep this fine line between the character and yourself while acting?

I don’t. I try to erase it. There is a wonderful thing that can happen when you are acting: you can lose yourself entirely. You find yourself “living” as another human being and oddly it’s such a relief to be outside the weight of all your own concerns.

What in the film’s construction gives the spectator the feeling of watching an improvised conversation? 

Rehearsal. Rehearsal. Rehearsal.

It gives us the ability to do long, uninterrupted takes – which I believe create the feeling in the audience that they are not being manipulated.

In another interview (with The Rolling Stone) you add, “One of the ways to do that is to make it real for us.” This reminded me of the Stanislavskian acting technique. Has your experience as a theatre actor helped in your work on the script?

Yes. Very much so. Stanislavski and Chekhov dive deep into human nature and I have learned much from them. There is a genuine approach of respect for humanity in their work without regard to gender or class that remains exciting even today.

anca.ionita@business-review.ro

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