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Ron GilbertI am now living in the heart of the film industry and have been involved in the film and theates industry for almost 50 years.I started out in New York City which was where the acting scene at the Actors Studio (I am a lifetime member) included Robert DeNiro,Dustin Hoffman ,Al Pacino,Robert Duval and other name actors like Martin Landau ,Rod Steiger,Shelley Winters,Paul Newman,Ben Gazzara and the list goes on. That was then and the picture has changed. A stage play in New York names a name Hollywood actor to make a profit. The independent film scene has also changed. Steven Soderbergh commented on that recently at the San Francisco International Film Festival and major companies have taken over the studios. I still work as an actor in commercials,TV and mostly independent films. I ahve worked with the major directors like Francis Ford Coppola,Sydney Lumet, and Bryan Singer whom I met on his first feature and the relationship is same even now. Currently I can be seen on reruns,commercials,short films and indie films. We are currently shooting this web series www.mamaluke-tv.com I have 2 award winning films on the festival circuit American Bred and Courier X http://pro.imdb.com/name/ In addition as a member of the Actors Studio I have taught at Strasberg Institute and Theatre of Arts and created 2 acting academies in Italy and have done workshops in London and other cities.the I have been a judge on many film festivals and worked with Independent Film Projects West as a producer on the feature film program and the Spirit Awards. Al Pacino inspires "Wilde Salome"I finally had the privilege of watching “Wilde Salome,” the film version of “Salome” aka “Salome Maybe?”, directed by Al.. In a similar fashion which he explored in “Looking for Richard”, Al digs into the depths of an Actors Studio member to give audiences the internal life of how he works. Scraping the surface and peeling the layers which make him the actor he is today. Always working from the inside to reveal the inner workings of the play and how to share this. Lucky us.
23.08.2010 | Ron Gilbert's blog Cat. : actor Actors Studio Al Pacino Al Pacino Arts Book:Al Pacino Director director of the film version Entertainment Entertainment Estelle Parsons Herod Jack Maxwell John Casale King Lee Strasberg Literature Looking for Richard Matthew Cowles New York New York City Oscar Oscar Wilde Person Career Salome Salome Maybe Shylock The Actors Studio The Merchant of Venice The Passion and Inspiration of Al Pacino Theatre Uncle Steve’s bar Venice
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Comments (1)
Mr. Pacino and Shakespeare--Merchant of Venice
My first Pacino film was "Looking For Richard." I thought it was fabulous. I spent a year at Oxford University studying British Literature with professors not unlike the ones he interviews for the movie. However, there is a nebulous connection that a really good actor makes with a character and the audience. On stage, he is able to translate a certain unspoken truth, a gravity, to an audience that all the erudite study and critical essays in the world cannot match. (btw, most of Shakespeare's contemporary fans were uneducated--many were not even literate.)
I have studied Richard III in depth. I have seen many productions. I have written more than one essay. As I watched "Looking For Richard", I was hit on the head with Newton's proverbial apple. It all made sense. Pacino understands how to translate that universal force that affects all human characters across time. Shakespeare understood it--his work is timeless. Mr Pacino also understands it.
I saw his performance of Shylock in Merchant of Venice this summer in Shakespeare in the Park. I felt that Pacino succeeded in embracing the broken, blighted, and angry, Shylock. We all know Pacino for his forceful tirades. He did not disappoint in Merchant of Venice, but he was Shylock instead of Al Pacino. In Dick Tracy, Big Boy was costumed to perfection, yet Pacino's voice gave him away every time he opened his mouth.
In Merchant, I was surprised that I heard Shylock's emotional pain--not a scruffy Pacino diatribe. His performance culminated in a painful and barbaric forced Baptism. Shylock is humiliated. His pain is foiled by the innocence of Jessica's new love and her voluntary religious conversion immediately following. This baptism is not in the text, but it illustrates a post-modern point behind the text. Truth isn't always what "proper society" wants you to perceive--civility and barbarism reside in all of us.
Anyway. Merchant of Venice is well worth the trip! Mr. Pacino will star in Merchant of Venice on Broadway for everyone who missed it this summer. I am really excited to see Al star in a film version of King Lear--my personal favorite Shakespeare play. I also want to see his interpretation of Oscar Wilde, Salome. My biggest hope is that I will have access to his more esoteric work--even though I do not live in NYC or LA. I hope that it will be made available to fans across the US and around the world.