I love this... "Gladiator" is such a triumph on so many levels, it wasn't a surprise to read this quote by Ridley Scott (article here), citing Jean Leon Gerome's Gladiator painting as the reason he agreed to make the film:
“I’ve known Walter Parks, the head of DreamWorks for years, he came in and gave me the script and said, ‘I don’t want you to read it yet as it needs a lot of work but this is what it’s all about.’ He then showed me this painting by a French painter called Gerome, I looked at it and said, ‘I’ll do it.’ He looked at me, shocked, and said, ‘But you don’t know what it’s about!”- Ridley Scott
As I watched "Gladiator" again, in preperation for this entry, the classical influence really becomes apparent in terms of cinematography, color, and dramatic compositions. Jean Leon Gerome is one of those ridiculously amazing painters that came from the apex of the french school in the late 19th century, that ebbed due to the rise of modern art that started with Manet and his Salon de Refuses. One of my favorite books of all time is The Judegment of Paris, by Ross King, a book that examines this incredible decade of art history.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ridley Scott influenced by Classic Painter Gerome...
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interesting patrick. where did you find this quote, was it part of an article or something?
yes.. sorry, it was an interview i read on-line, here you go:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article659808.ece
crud... that link isn't posting... i will link it on the original post for you.
thanks for the book suggestion. here is the title of another book, perhaps it's a bit more esoteric, but really awesome for understanding the way that Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass- the painting by Manet that was modeled after an image of the myth the Judgement of Paris) functions as a representation of both Parisian and personal identity. The book is called
Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe
ed. Paul Hayes Tucker.
very interesting. i'm a huge ridley scott fan myself.
patrick, i met you years ago in annecy france, and i just wanted to let you know how much i like your work and this blog, it is truly a different type of animation blog! keep up the good work.
another interesting intersection with gerome's work and the cinema that is not evident until you see a gerome in real life (and also corresponds in a way to your post on ron mueck) is their grandiose scale. when i read the post on mueck i was trying to think of a way to tie his work to the scale of watching a movie at the theater. it is encouraging that i am sitting here thinking about it again in regards to gerome and the gladiator movie- there is a nice sense to you thought process, crossing over, crossing back.
cool anonymous (wish you'd use your name.. but whatever)
I have to confess that i've never seen a gerome... i believe there is at least one at the met, so i will head over there this week on your advice. i'm overdue anyway.
mmm...this particular peice, Pollice Verso or Thumbs Down, is relatively small at approximately 3'x5'. However, strangely enough, the thumbs down gesture of this gladiator image is part of the immagination of movie goers understanding of film reviewing. Here is a link to a reading of a meaning behind the scene of the painting. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html. The painting currently resides in Phoenix. I think I was immediately reminded of Gericault and especially the Raft of the Medusa which is about 16'x26' when I first saw the post. Or, Delacroix's Death of the Sardanapal http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm (this one relates to Damned image that you posted) which is 13' x 16'.
Kind of off on a Romanticism tangent, but, you know, still in line with your discussion of scale, emotion, trajectories of narrative...
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