A Singular Vision - Working with Jarman and Kapadia Pt 2

Sean Bean Working with Asif Kapadia

By Myriam

Part of Asif Kapadia’s style is the importance of the physical setting, the importance of nature, and of the elements. For Sean Bean and the other actors to work in the Arctic, to live on an old Russian ship away from all that is familiar, was both a challenge and an opportunity.

In the video interview below Sean Bean talks about dealing with those challenges:

Isolated from the world, two women, two generations, live in hiding in a beautiful but barren, frozen land. Until the older woman Saiva, rescues a man on the ice, and Sean’s character, Loki becomes an object of both womens' desire. Tender to both women, and sometimes cruel when it suits him, he is both sides of the human coin. Is he aware of Saiva’s desire for him when he makes clear his seduction of Anja? Is he aware of the dangers of female jealousy? With little dialogue, one of director Kapadia’s trademarks, Sean makes use of his rugged face, his eyes and his body language to create this mysterious man.

Asif Kapadia discussed in an interview last year why he chose Sean for this role:

The Guardian, Interview with Jason Wood, Dec 2008

W: Was there any surprise at Sean Bean being cast as Loki? What qualities do you feel he brings to the part?
AK: Maybe Sean has a bit of baggage in the UK as he is known for his work on TV, but he has been in Bond movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a lot of other huge pictures. For me it was simple – I saw a lot of actors for the role, then my casting director Avy Kaufman suggested I watch Patriot Games and Ronin again, and I thought he was great in them. I liked the way he looked – he has a great face, which is key when there isn't a lot of dialogue. I liked his presence; he is a man's man, which is what I needed for the role. Sean understood how tough the film was going to be and was ready to give everything to the role. It snowed the night before Sean's first day on set, so we had to change our schedule. Sean's first scene was the one where he runs naked across the landscape. He did it for real twice without a grumble.

What did Sean think about his run in the snow?
Here is a clip of him talking about the experience:

Questions
Where was Sean Bean when Asif Kapadia called to talk about Far North? Where was Asif Kapadia? What movie was Sean filming at the time?
Why did cast and crew have to be protected by men with guns while filming?
One of the mysteries of the movie is the time and place the movie takes place. The movie was really filmed in what country?
Who wrote the short story the film is based on?
If familiar with the short story name a few differences between the movie and the story?

A Singular Vision - Sean Bean Working with Jarman and Kapadia

Sean Bean working with Derek Jarman

Though known for working with directors that specialize in action films and thrillers, Sean Bean has also done his share of work seen in art house cinemas. He seems to enjoy working with directors with a singular vision. Let’s look at two films and two directors as an example- Derek Jarman’s, “Caravaggio” and Asif Kapadia's “Far North”.

Derek Jarman’s film uses the barest outlines of the real life of artist Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio (1573 - 1610) as a frame for his most mainstream film. Jarman is making a larger statement about the life of the artist in society.

Audiences that have only seen Sean Bean in Hollywood movies may be surprised that as Ranuccio, Sean Bean plays the lover of both Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) and his model, Lena (Tilda Swinton). For Sean this was his first theatrical film and he thrives with Jarman’s semi-improvisational style, and community of actors, artists, amateurs, and crew committed to one man’s vision. The powerful impact of the young and smoldering Sean Bean when Caravaggio first sees him is unforgettable.

Film critics, both when the film was released in 1986, and recently with the release of the DVD, agree on Sean’s performance:

In Jarman's Caravaggio, actor Terry discovers Ranuccio Tommasoni (played by Sean Bean with beefy, rugged, dangerous charm) at a prizefight. Newsweek, 1986.

Bean runs away with the film, a smoldering presence that oozes sexuality and pops off the screen (I loved the final sequence with Carvaggio and Ranuccio) dvd.talk.com, 2008

In Caravaggio, a young Sean Bean demonstrated not only considerable acting talent, but also a charismatic screen presence working with experimental director Derek Jarman. Years later he was to work again with another director with a singular vision, a mature actor working with a young director this time, Asif Kapadia. (Look for Part II soon)

Have you seen Caravaggio? See if you know the answer to the following questions?

Sean Bean and his character Ranuccio were both good at the same sport. What sport was this?

What did Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton have in common at the time of this film?

Sean also appeared in a second Jarman film. Can you name the film? What was unique about Sean’s role in this second film?

MORE New Stills From Ca$h!!!

Looks like we've struck pay dirt with even more new stills from
Sean's upcoming film, Ca$H!

We have a couple new ones of Pyke and Reese plus a beautiful one of Leslie (played by Victoria Profeta.) So let's hear it from you out there. Who's looking more attractive--Pyke or Reese? Could you go for a man with a hundred dollars tattoed on his neck? At least you'd know he always have a little money on him....(sorry, couldn't resist...)

Then there's Reese, a rather dapper dresser himself. Goes for the suit instead of the short sleeved, more casual style of his twin. He dresses like he has money, at least.

Hard to say...do you think orange is more Sean's color...
Or is it blue?

And then there's the woman, turning men's heads.
Or could it be Leslie's head that's turned this time?

Leslie is all dressed up, looking gorgeous so you've got to wonder just what she is doing, who she is doing it for and most importantly...Why?

Must say, these photos have us chomping at the bit to discover who and what
these people are all about!

These photos are from the Ca$H! Facebook Fan Site. Sign up and show your support here!

First Peek at New Ca$h Movie Stills!

NEVER BEFORE SEEN!

And you're the first, you lucky people. And we are ALL lucky--wait until you see these shots--they'll give you just a taste of much more to come! (make sure to double-click to enlarge view)

Feedback everyone, we need feedback here on the
Ca$h Blog!

• Tell us what you think of Pyke's lovely orange jumpsuit.
  
• The ever appealing Benjamin tattoo.

(Should it replace Sean's 100% Blade tattoo?!)

• Should Sean keep the new suit to wear after the film is over?
  

• Should he wear his hair like Pyke or Reese from now on?
  

• Is Chris Hemsworth more attractive with or without a gun in his hand? (Did you know he's playing James T. Kirk's father in the new Star Trek movie?)
• 
  
• And...do you agree or disagree? Are the majority of most men cowards???

We want your thoughts now!

Hot Off the Press!

BANK ROBBERY SCENE FROM SEAN BEAN’S CA$H COMES TO LIFE WHEN A REAL ROBBERY OCCURS AT THE SCENE OF THE SHOOT

Art imitates life, or vice versa?

A Feb 24th 2009 robbery at Lincoln Park Savings Bank could pass for a play-by-play reenactment of a major film, titled Ca$h! shot at the same location, according to the film’s representatives.
“I couldn’t believe it. It was almost the same scene we shot for the movie, at the exact same location,” said film producer Naveen Chathappuram.
Lincoln Park Savings Bank was robbed by Melvin Reese, 46, of Gary, Indiana. Reese handed the teller a note demanding money, then fleeing with $1,665 in cash. He was later apprehended by Chicago Police, partly with the help of bank vice president Peter Volpe, who followed the robber on foot. All of the money was recovered.
In Ca$h!, a similar scenario arises when notorious bad boy Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Chris Hemsworth (Home and Away, Star Trek Movie), are led on a wild chase through Chicago, eventually ending up at Lincoln Park Savings Bank, in pursuit of the obvious-- cash.
“I’d say it was déjà-vu from the movie. You get an adrenaline rush,” said Volpe.
While the similarities between the robbery and the movie scene are uncanny, Chathappuram says there is an “additional twist” in Ca$h.
“It certainly plays out a bit differently in Ca$h. You’ll have to watch it to find out,” he said.
Film representatives are not worried that Tuesday’s robbery was inspired by Ca$h. Both film representatives and bank officials had agreed to exclude the name of the bank on camera, to avoid any such circumstances.
“It’s certainly not a copy-cat action since the movie has not been released yet,” Chathappuram said.
“Security is always our primary concern, and that’s why we decided to omit the name of our bank from all movie footage,” added Volpe.
Ca$h is a psychological thriller that explores the power money has over humans. It is set to release later this year and “places Chicago on the film map,” according to film representatives. The film is the work of acclaimed director Stephen Milburn Anderson of South Central fame.
Recently, “MovieMaker Magazine” ranked Chicago as the country’s number one city for indie filmmaking in its ninth annual ranking of U.S. movie cities.

The Villain as Suitor

The second time I saw Sean Bean was on American Public Television (PBS) as Mr. Lovelace, in the BBC production of Samuel Richardson’s novel, Clarissa. For Richardson and his contemporaries, Robert Lovelace was the consummate rogue and rake, scheming to steal the virtue of the beautiful but pious Clarissa Harlowe. But for Sean Bean, Lovelace was the perfect character to flex his acting muscles. Handsome and cruel, his character grows before us into a soul tortured by love. Sean plays Lovelace as a man trapped in his own myth. So how does he manipulate our sympathies so that we turn away from the innocent but cold Clarissa (Saskia Wickam), and towards the flawed but repentant Lovelace Sean has created?


A few years later I saw Sean playing another evil, handsome and rich character in the American mini-series Scarlett. As a sequel to “Gone with the Wind”, the series was difficult for me to warm to, but Sean as the charming yet sadistic Lord Fenton is perfection. Sean makes you believe this man can easily go from courting Scarlett O’Hara, to killing revolutionary priests, while never soiling his immaculate clothes. But you have to be a clever viewer, for I agree that the shades of emotion are conveyed by Sean in the flicker of an eye, or a smile that morphs into a snarl. Even mediocre writing can’t stop Sean Bean from creating an unforgettable character.

So imagine my excitement that in Ca$h! he will be playing not one, but two characters. I am really very intrigued by the physical transformation between Pyke and Reese. It will be interesting to see how this physical transformation liberates Sean the actor.

--Myriam

Humanizing the Villain

Living in America, the first time I ever saw Sean Bean in a film was in 1990 in The Field where he starred alongside such acting stalwarts as Richard Harris and John Hurt. Seeing him play a mentally slow son of a bullying father (Harris) drew me in from the start. Here was a young man who wanted to please his father but was led to do bad things, usually through the guidance and coercion of others. On the surface, one could look at the character of Tadgh as played by Sean as a one-dimensional entity especially since he had very little dialogue throughout the film. However, it was an early hallmark of his talent and skill to convey conflict in a myriad of emotions that flickered across his face and pulsed in his body language as he struggled to convey his inability to understand and obey his father’s inexhaustible demands.

That emotional conflict is what drew me back to see him again and again. The next time I saw Sean Bean was in 1992 in Patriot Games with Harrison Ford. Here he played an IRA terrorist who goes after Ford and his family in retribution for the killing of his younger brother. The first glimpse of the simmering hatred on Bean’s face as he stared down Ford in the courtroom was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. Yet I couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for the man who had lost his younger brother to a cause he fervently believed in. This is Sean Bean’s forte. The ability to play a villain and no matter how bad, how corrupt that character may be, he manages to find something in them that makes him human and therefore relatable to those who watch him onscreen. He breathes uncommon life into villains that normally one would find despicable and entirely unsympathetic. It can be a small hesitation in the way he delivers a line, a palpable swallow, a look that flickers across his face for a fleeting second that makes you sit up and have second thoughts about whom you are actually seeing unfold before you on the screen. He makes his characters real. He makes his villains in particular, more human and three-dimensional than most of the good men you see played onscreen.

Many movie goers know Sean as “that bad dude” in films such as Golden Eye, Scarlett, National Treasure, and more recently, The Hitcher. In The Hitcher he came into the role of John Ryder which brought with it literally no background. A man bent on killing as much and as savagely as he could until somebody stopped him. But why? Only Sean’s flair for conveying the unspoken could he communicate a man with a death wish so fervent that he was pleading for his own violent end, as savage as any he had committed. It was what Ryder felt he deserved and Sean proved he could portray this villain without explanation or apologies for his behaviour.

His most recent turn as real estate developer John Dawson in the 1974 and 1983 installments of The Red Riding Series is a new achievement for Bean, as vile and nasty a character as any he has portrayed to date yet gilded with a sense of open magnanimity that betrays the evil that lies in wait.

And these are only some of the reasons that I am eagerly waiting for Ca$h! to come out. The thought of seeing Sean Bean play two roles, perhaps two sides of the same coin is yet another new feat for him and a challenge I am certain he'll excel at. When it comes to playing bad, no one does it so very good.

--Traci

Waiting in Anticipation

Excitement is building! Ca$h! the new film starring Sean Bean is coming out sometime in 2009. and we as life-long Bean fans cannot wait.

In Ca$h! a man meets up with two good people to recover what is unlawfully his, taking them on a whirlwind ride, manipulating them to do things they never would have imagined, just to survive. This highly anticipated film stars everyone's favorite bad guy Sean Bean as Pyke Kubic in the new thriller from Stephen Milburn Anderson and Naveen Chathappuram.

When news first broke that Sean was filming a new movie in Chicago, all attention turned on what looked like an exciting new story being played out against the backdrop of one of America’s most electric, vibrant cities. Glimpses from both fans and passers by wondered what was going on as two different Seans appeared for duty. What was the man known to millions as Boromir doing in their neighborhood???

In this film, we will soon be treated to Sean in the twin roles of Pyke and Reese. Again, Sean will show us an evil character that is fully human, the good and evil side that resides in all of us as part of human nature. It begs the question is it nature or nurture that brings out a particular side?

Now it looks as if the last touches are being put in place to get Ca$h! out to cinemas later this year. Join us for continuous breaking news, special features and exciting announcements regarding Ca$h in the weeks to come!

Myriam and Traci