"There are circumstances which force you into making difficult choices. People don't realize what "difficult" means. It means that either way there are penalties, costs you have to pay."* Elia Kazan said of his film, On the Waterfront. The DGA Special Events Committee, in association with the Tribeca Film Institute and Frances Kazan, screened the classic at the DGA's New York Theater. Afterward, director Mike Nichols shared his thoughts on Kazan's masterpiece.
"When you see it now, and what I've known about Kazan is that he's a master at all of it," Nichols said. "He's a master at staging. Every moment of this film, which is true I think of every moment of all the films that he directed, is expressed physically," Nichols said. "He defined the role of the director as well as I think anyone had."
According to Nichols, early in the process of making On the Waterfront Kazan considered Frank Sinatra for the role of Terry Malloy, but eventually chose Marlon Brando because he felt the actor would be more vulnerable. The decision resulted in one of the most legendary performances in American cinema. "This guy did his work," said Nichols of Brando's performance. "He learned a Brooklyn accent, he swallowed it, forgot about it, it was there. He obviously worked out, he obviously learned all the footwork that a boxer does. It was all encouraged by and helped along by Kazan."
Nichols stressed the role of intense preparation beforehand as a way for the actor to always be in the moment. He alluded to a signature scene from the film between Brando and Eva Marie Saint as a perfect example. "They're walking; it's their first conversation. She drops her glove. He leans over to get it. He picks it up. But he's Brando so that's not enough. He puts it on and then she takes it back, and all this was an improvisation in the scene because she dropped her glove. Be here now, that's more important than emotion."
When asked for his thoughts on Kazan's camerawork and how one learns to use a camera, Nichols compared it learning the rules of a new language. "You pay a lot of attention to grammar when you start to write. But by the time you've been working and speaking and writing for a while, you don't think about grammar anymore. It's in your head, it's you and that's pretty much what happens with the camera," he said. "Kazan was very expressive with where he put the camera. And it was always to serve the actor, to serve the behavior. What's happening is premiere to what you're looking at. That's what the director's job is. That's what you find redefined and transformed by Kazan ... what he brought to American expression in theater and films is still alive, is still important to many of us in many ways."
*Younger, Jeff. Kazan: The Master Director Discusses His Films. Newmarket Press, 1999
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