How much does Richard Armitage like to rehearse?
Interesting interview with Julie Delpy on the occasion of the release of the “Before” trilogy as part of the Criterion Collection. She regrets not being able to rehearse more (out of a combination of factors) on some of her projects. Somehow, I am guessing this won’t be a problem with Richard Armitage.
MM: What would you like to borrow from Linklater as a filmmaker?
JD: I would have loved to have the luxury that Richard had with the Before films: long rehearsal with two actors. I end up never being able to completely do it. In [2007 film] 2 Days in Paris I was able to do it a little, because I was L.A. with [co-star] Adam Goldberg, but it’s always hard to get time from actors. On my films I try to do on set what we were doing in prep on the Before movies. Or sometimes I do a little rehearsal on the weekend. I wish I had the luxury of actors agreeing to rehearse. I think for my next film I’ll be able to do that, because I think actors will realize that the intensity of the film is such that if they don’t rehearse, it’s going to be hard to do it.
Somehow I never get the kind of production that allows me to rehearse. I’m a woman, so I’ve had to do films for half the budget and half the time. I do my best with half of what a male director would get.
Me + Richard Armitage 
It’s a man’s world
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yeah — and we saw it in the Oscars again this year. I’m so impressed by women who stick with directing in a setting in which (depending on how measured) only 7-13 percent of film are directed by women, with not much better statistics for writers, cinematographers and editors. It’s actually worse now than it was 20 years ago. It’s pretty clear what she needs to do if she wants a bigger budget: make sure her film has a male protagonist. Those films get larger budgets in the U.S.
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There’s definitely gender discrimination in the film business, but a lot of (if not most) male directors have to make do without long rehearsal phases, lots of money etc. as well. There’s a lot more to this than a woman being discriminated against.
I’d agree that Richard Armitage is the kind of actor who’d love to have a good preparation / rehearsal, but if he has to do this in spring / around Berlin Station, that might become a problem, too, whether he’d be willing or not. For Brain on Fire, for example, he had almost no prep time and filming itself was done in two weeks or so. (By a male director with a small budget.)
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I really, really find it unfortunate when women refuse solidarity to each other. I think Julie Delpy probably has a much better idea than you do of the factors that affect her filmmaking.
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In case you need some structural evidence about how budgets affect film making for women: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/study-films-directed-by-women-907229
Women are a tiny percentage of directors on big films and they consistently receive smaller budgets than male directors do. We speak of “trusting” women with big budgets. That some men also make low budget films does not mitigate this evidence.
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I actually just recently read a lot about this topic, and don’t see it as a refusal of solidarity to mention just how many male film makers face exactly the same problems: A limited budget and little to no rehearsal time. It unfortunately comes with the film business that a lot of excellent talent and stories don’t get the support one would wish for them. As I said in my first comment, “There’s definitely gender discrimination in the film business”. There’s also racial discrimination. But there’s more to it than ‘just’ that. Brain on Fire, which I mentioned, just didn’t have the ‘right’ topic to get more money, I think, male director or not. And it’s not just about what’s considered ‘female’ topics, but others as well. (Man of La Mancha failed miserably under director Terry Gilliam when there was too little money to deal with problems arising during shooting.) To conclude this: I’m absolutely for women, blacks, Asians and anyone else who’s being discriminated against to get exactly the same chances as white men, be it in the film business or anywhere else. But I think it simplifies the matter to see gender as the only factor in this case.
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Neither she, nor I, said it was the only factor. However, you are denying that it is a factor at all. This is a pretty classic technique of discrimination, though, what you’re saying. “Oh, you’re not really experiencing a problem, you’re making it up.” Then people spend all their time proving it IS a problem (which btw, they don’t have to prove — the connection is pretty clear — fewer women directors are given lower budgets, their films are put on fewer screens so receipts are lower, so they are given lower budgets, etc.) and don’t have time or energy to actually create anything. As Delpy discusses, she keeps making films despite this problem. Since Delpy’s point is amply proven by case after case, I’m not going to argue it here. As I said, I’m pretty sure she know what happens in the industry to her own films.
Brain on Fire might have gotten more funding, I suspect, if it had had a bitter script. Please remember, however, that the majority of the people behind the project were women: author and producer.
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I really don’t see how ‘There’s definitely gender discrimination in the film business’ can be interpreted as “you are denying that it is a factor at all”. To me it feels like you’re completely misinterpreting what I actually said. Is there discrimination: Yes, definitely. But: A lot of men have small budgets etc. and have to face all the problems that come with those, too. I might not even have reacted critically at all to what Delpy said if one of the main points hadn’t been long rehearsal periods. Just how many directors get these?
I would like to add that I’ve experienced gender discrimination myself, both on the job and off, so I’m well aware of the problem. There’s no need to prove anything to me, or to accuse me of discrimination. That being said, I don’t think there’s any point in us continuing this discussion. And this is not meant in a nasty way. We’ve both explained our point of view. I can understand what you want to say and even agree to a degree, as I have from the start. I just think that you interpret what I said in a way it wasn’t meant. I’ve been interested in films and how they are made for a long time and I’ve been quite astonished at the working conditions and difficulties especially those making the kind of film I find interesting have to face. This is the background to what I wrote. With some of my favourite films it seems like a miracle that they were made at all.
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I don’t ever agree to disagree with sexism. “I experienced it so what someone else experiences isn’t real” is the classic argument of the privileged. I don’t have time for it, and I don’t have time for you to spread this crap on the blog. You are now blocked.
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Incidentally, we call what you’re doing here “gaslighting” — telling people that problems they are experiencing are not real.
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https://blog.womenandhollywood.com/quote-of-the-day-julie-delpy-on-why-there-is-no-female-counterpart-to-kubrick-627be6f52261#.6fhe1gsvw
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