Casting is key. Without great characters, there can be no great story. And without great actresses, there can be no great films.
I remember clearly the day I watched an actress “act.” I
could not help but think something felt funny. Off. The more I watched her,
the more I could hear her think. It wasn’t what she was saying (her lines) or
doing (her gestures). It was the woman behind the character that I was seeing
and hearing. She was thinking, Was she pretty in this shot? Was she going to get
a lot of praise for her performance? Was she going to win an award? Was she
going to grace every magazine cover? This was what I saw and heard.
Today, more than ever, there is an infinite quest for
perfection. Beauty always steals the show. Somehow this does not sit too well with me as a
filmmaker. I love beautiful sets, attractive
actors, and great locations. I can watch the first ten minutes of Lola Montes over and over again. Cocteau’s
Beauty and the Beast is my desert-island film. And I never tire of a great, big classic like Ben Hur. But I also
regularly feel the strong impact of Minnie
and Moskowitz or Opening Night
come back to hit me. Which reminds me of Gena Rowlands… and to the star of Merry Christmas, Alexandra Stewart.
Everyone
knows that Gena Rowlands is an exceptional actress. If you look at pictures of Alexandra Stewart, there is a slight resemblance. When a casting director
brought me Alexandra’s headshot, I had a vivid flashback of The Bride Wore Black, another favorite
film. We met. She was smart, curious, kind and witty.
It was an unforgettable experience, and it completely changed
the way I wanted to work with actors in the future. On screen, Alexandra was
vibrant and luminous, more than an actress and larger than a character. When we
shot Merry Christmas, she was already
in her seventies. It was a traffic-heavy drive from New York to Pennsylvania. When
she arrived, I asked if she was okay, if she was tired. She answered, “When I am
working, I am never hungry and I am never tired.” Generous as an actor and honest as a human being — the
ultimate combo.
Almost five years have passed since, and we have just finished
shooting our third film together. She still looks like a queen and acts like a
gypsy. (Cosmetic surgery is ruining cinema.) She understands the true spirit of independent filmmaking and cannot get
enough of it. She likes to rough it up and live through the whole experience. She
is free and only driven by her love for film, art, nature, people.
And it
shows on screen.
Anna Condo is an actress and a director. She was born in Armenia and grew up in France. Since 2000, she has written, directed, and produced four short films. Merry Christmas, shot in two and a half days, is Condo’s debut feature. The film opens in NY on December 6. Details here.
