Making Of SENECA (2023) - Behind the Scenes with John Malkovich, Julian Sands, Geraldine Chaplin ...

there's a film one conceives there's film One Rides there's a film one shoots but the only film that exists is the film that's edited the rasage doesn't mean anything it's a a citizen without a passport without a state [Music] [Music] [Music] um what do we do with the oh no wait wait thing is robot doesn't want chain let B so he made hate himself with the S as I have for him and you senica where senica you will make sure nobody knows of our plans last week it was better than the other time no man Delights in taunting the president he thinks he can silverang his way out of anything let the M worship what they for kinde [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] mon my brother's break this is good wreck we read senica when I was studying theater Etc but that was so senica was still alive then I think certainly I'd read a couple of his plays in University but I never did them or anything my sort of uh way of working with directors is kind of up to them what they want if they want me to uh give notes on a script or hold forth on a script or talk about what a script is and maybe what it could be I'm happy to do that and I'm happy not to too um so with Robert um I think uh I read I think every script and gave notes about where I thought it was as opposed to where where it could be or should be and where it might head to get there if anyone is ever regarded Argos with love or affection had a certain Hometown loyalty well let him come now for pity's sake to prevent a crime Beyond imagination let Fury know no bounds nor shame just monstrous evil like Sparks fann into hat flame Feast on this Glory spectacular I have prepared for you Feast on this explosion of evil until your bellies burst Al free okay and the gentleman to the left comes in more all the way to the gentleman to to the left in in in in in more more more more more go go go go go yep more good no no don't move keep the position you go down lower yep good first position please pleas and pan just a a hair to the left and yep perfect thank you stand by and roll sound action cut good check it check it moving on uh we should touch him up do a closeup of him and then we do the wide that will require John and they will be on the ground yeah okay uh make up in please we need to touch up under the mask I silently SW i r when the whole world I silently swallow my r when the whole world shouldn't ReSound with war violence pain with whales of the wounded and ding bayback for giving haror to my pting brother although we may dream of Justice we can't believe in it except as a kid story our grandmother might have told us if anyone has ever regarded our ghost with love or affection a certain Hometown loyalty well let him come now for pity's sake to prevent a crime Beyond imagination let Fury know no bounds nor shame just monstrous evil like Sparks fan into hateful flame Feast your eyes on this gory spectacular I have prepared for you Feast on this explosion of evil until your bellies burst good job thank you excluding all the readings of the scripts and note taking and discussion and all that four months 2 months of memorization because it's essentially more or less kind of a 9 page monologue in a way um so two months of memorization plus whatever spare time I have during shooting which is almost none uh I shoot pretty much in every shot every day so um on days off I meet with with a young uh person here who helps me with the text and otherwise I study it every day at some point still while was shooting [Music] on okay now $500 for falling on the floor seems to grow must be the [Laughter] water say on this side yes what the hell's going on it's the desert mhm [Music] [Music] [Music] show yeah yeah looks good that's that's great really nice J who are you playing [Music] Lu um an old high class lady that takes a lot of drugs we need all we need to them all of them all of them with a mask need to come here okay [Music] [Music] come [Music] okay thank you stand by quiet please one question please one question please again bin yeah I hate to say it but if we put one more curve here come closer then we can get the shot let's do [Music] it Cur one more curve there over there and go [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah let's stop moving thank you very much and Road 10 17 take seven action figs and cut lovely B thank you B yes good it's a bit shaky on the Cur but's do one more then going again action my brother thees himself will be the weapon Bo if you don't mind stay a little bit more with the SDS and don't go so decisively back immediately all right okay going again my brother festes himself will be the weapon let the father tear the flesh from his boy's bodies let him drink the blood of his blood not the bones of his bone so he may hate himself with the same H hatred as I have for him and you will make sure nobody knows of our plans cut drifing check it C thank you we got it great moving in and what you were doing just now is is fantastic because I like the idea that now you all are kind of banding against him a little bit because once we're in the Oasis everybody's kissing his ass but here it's very clear that this group is turning on him a little bit to say the least so if Geraldine gets up this is going to be the and maybe come forward and sort of and sort of get get me to him yeah on the line I have you guys and you you can come a little closer yeah okay and then I think what needs to happen is the SS brings the kids in come I come kids kids yes coming in I really like them being brought through the crowd and no Smiles are these people looking at the people who are these people action holy M heavy handed I don't get with all the [ __ ] pessimism everyone's harping on the S of you better the wor season there was someone on stage to R stop itop tra the whole per the thought of their pain their hurt gives me the wi l [Music] spe [Music] I like these anachronistic touches you know there have been a million period films made about what have you but I since I come from the theater that's not really odd for us uh they don't really do it in movies um cuz people say oh he's wearing a wrist watch or what have you uh and it's you know whatever 3 BC or something and cut very nice that roll in they're not not real are they real let's not ask [ __ ] s always goes over the top who made the world be this way where are those who protect the innocent whoever's in charge here for the sake of your honor the sake of the world you rule send down your final cleansing anger with fire burn away this filth do it now get us we all deserve to die or forever admit there's nothing there nothing but black void and the rest was delusion the gods have left could it be that we of all generations are deserving of the Skies collapse and then Earth knocked off its axis could it be clap please that's a rra end of day Li that's a r [Music] get [Music] okay stand by going again let's keep it quiet we serve up nightmares here a freeong cold shiver not for fragile sensibilities of course there is a lesson to our tale we're not indulging in ugliness for its own sake so what is required of those allowed to D not the president's table what is the condition necessary for all their benefits The Good Life the eating the drinking to continue exactly this they must smile at the slaughter of of their loved ones they must eat the [ __ ] they are told to eat and beg for more like love like relations of child's parent of dog to master of a flower to the sun all is transactional alas whether life is worth living at such a price is a whole other question Sor you're like a little boy who's picked on by the teacher at school he comes home and has to get it out somehow by dipping his sister's pick in well Bina if I had your hair in my hands every day I would cast off my mistress drama like an old CH senica I know for a fact that our president loves you um let me put it this way he has tremendous regards for you as a thinker and as a wise counselor well no matter I would read too much into it after all we are not speaking present day Rome but rather ancient Greece correct oh you are so bad but I do worry about you shot here 32 years ago so I'm pretty familiar with the landscape and and all that on the creation of earthquakes mostly describes in fact one day but mostly describes a time in senica's life when he was in semi Exile again so he's at what he refers to as his humble Lakeside estate uh and this could easily be somewhere outside of outside of Rome or I mean many Mediterranean places foree well each scene is different so each situation is different of course each shot is different and any shot reveals something uh depend ending on the lens and the movement of the shot itself I just really go shot by sh and scene by scene it's very difficult to keep track of the overall thing I try to play the moments of each scene my job is to try and be present in every shot we die every day death is stalking us everywhere so it's useless to fear or dread it say a knot strangles your throat or you fall off a and hit the Rocks well however you go even if it's a ghastly thing at least you die fast so how can you not be embarrassed having dreaded something your entire life which bam is is over in a second far better to imagine and embrace Doom before it arrives so that it ceases to terrify and kids drink up it's later than you think I remember seeing I forget I don't know if it was The Greatest Story Ever Told or whatever it was one of those Biblical movies and hearing people like Tony Curtis the American actor with this incredibly thick Bronx or Brooklyn or whatever it was accent saying hey barabus I was talking to a guy it just sounds very odd to me so I I thought especially say for the character of Felix the one who's sent to dispatch uh senica uh on the part of Nero that it it wouldn't be a happy uh let's call it translation no no weakness self-control willpower [ __ ] courage bravery wisdom it's fight it's fight accept your death confront your situation with bravery don't [ __ ] belly a about it don't [ __ ] belly ache about it [ __ ] you [ __ ] philosophers you [ __ ] people that Fu we don't [ __ ] yeah cuz I figure like cuz I I'm going to try my best like my plan to come in here with a very different energy yeah everyone you know everyone's been doing the uh their their thing you know I think it matches with I always think that the you know the life imitates art as well M like I've come later than the rest of the cast they've already bonded exactly and I'm like so I'm just like I feel a bit of an outside anyway I'm like part me was thinking I was curious do I have a look to see what they're doing and and I'm thinking no if I come in different energy Felix is supposed to have that different energy 1998 ation I seek the senator named Sena senica I am sen one last one all right let's do it okay stand by everyone please president Nero has decided that you are to be executed Del leading a conspiracy to kill him and and he said to me personally sir he's giving you a real special gift that's how he put it he's going to let you take your own life because you're the way I'm supposed to do it it's awful sir I wouldn't wish it on a dog so I was you I'd take his counsel and do it by my own head sir what is your name officer Felix sir Felix if I may there's been a great deal of tumult at court of FL lots of arguing raise voices much squabbling and sometimes these disputes get out of hand so please I would like you to go back and tell the president I will call upon him at his earliest convenience and really I want to straighten this out right okay so we have a little more there so I I think we should maybe stay here 194 Tex Tre ation he's going to give you a real special gift that's how he put in he's going to let you take your own life because for the way I am supposed to do it it is awful sir I wouldn't wish it on a dog so if I was you I'd take his counsel and do it by my own hand what is your name officer fix sir Felix if I may there there has been a great deal of tumult cor of late lots of arguing raise voices much squabbling and sometimes these disputes to get out of hand so please go back and tell the president that I shall call upon him at his earliest convenience cuz I want to straighten this out right away yes I will venture out from my home anytime he deems appropriate so now that is settled why don't you stay dine with us I'll fet you a jug of wine and in the spirit of friendly sir no president said that you are to die and that is that I always find something fascistic in the notion of person a telling person be how they should vote what they should believe what life is a live coach or this notion we can tell others how to purport to be is is very dangerous on the face of it I think it's a struggle for human beings to to find out how they should be themselves of course it betrays a certain uh self-regard or arrogance to say this is how one should move through life I I'm I don't know about that [Music] fore [Music] atic [Music] [Music] [Music] brother [Music] [Music] go e