Macbeth and Polanski\u27s Theme of Regression

Shakespeare\u27s Macbeth is so well known to most people who come to see film adaptations of it that we have difficulty judging what is on the screen as anything more than an interpretation, valid or otherwise, of the original dramatic material. Yet a filmmaker like Roman Polanski is an artist, just as Shakespeare himself was, and, as such, he brings his own sensibility to bear on the movies he makes. There is more of Polanski in Macbeth than might be surmised by looking at the script, for the director has expressed his point of view in this film primarily through visual rather than verbal means. By looking at Macbeth not as an attempt to interpret Shakespeare, but in terms of how it repeats and elaborates themes and motifs that have recurred in Polanski\u27s work throughout his career, we emerge with a view of the film that emphasizes its differences from the play instead of its similarities to it. From this perspective, some of the film\u27s most striking additions to the dramatic text — the youth of the protagonist and his wife and the graphic violence for instance — form a coherent pattern that has little to do with Shakespeare\u27s original conception

June Mathis

Once called the most powerful woman in Hollywood, June Mathis is known to have written or cowritten the screenplays of one hundred and fourteen produced features. Yet she is a shadowy figure today. Though one can find summaries of her biography in studio publicity releases of the day and puff pieces in the fan press, apart from these notoriously unreliable sources, little is known about her life. Her greatest moment of fame came when she died suddenly while attending a play with her mother at a New York theatre. The New York Times reported her dramatic demise in a front page headline: “June Mathis Heart Victim.

His dream of passion: reflections on the work of Lee Strasberg and his influence on British actor training

The first of two ‘companion’ articles examining the work of Lee Strasberg, this discussion begins with an exploration of Lee Strasberg’s interpretation and adaptation of Stanislavski’s ‘Emotion Memory’ exercise before proceeding to examine the efficacy of his version of the technique and consider the extent to which some of the persistent criticisms surrounding his approach are tenable. Has his work been misjudged and misrepresented in recent years or are some of the concerns that have arisen justified? The discussion will then move on offer a brief outline of some of Strasberg’s other techniques and consider the degree to which his approach may have influenced actor-training environments in British schools and colleges

Vancouver International Film Festival

Vancouver, British Columbia, September 29-October 14, 200

Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto, Canada, September 8–17, 200