The Cinephile Actor – Tilda Swinton | The Great Acting Blog

The Cinephile Actor – Tilda Swinton | The Great Acting Blog

“When asked to describe his enduring collaboration with Swinton over the years, Guadagnino pauses. “Tilda is a filmmaker, not just an actress. She has a great knowledge of the machine of the making of a movie and this is very profound, because it’s like working with my DP, it’s like working with someone who is actually contributing to the movie itself, not just adding her voice as a performer only, but adding her voice as a filmmaker.” Screen Daily.

Tilda Swinton first met Luca Guadagnino 25 years ago, bonding with him over a shared obsession with Dario Argento’s Suspiria. All these years later, they made their own version of the film, one which sees Swinton deliver two exquisite performances. In between times, they collaborated on three more feature films.

Guadagnino is clear on why his collaboration with Swinton has been long and fruitful; she is just so much more than a straightforward actor. I’ve written before about how Swinton never auditions, preferring instead to join with friends and develop projects she is passionate about. She takes  a point of view and she takes responsibility, and the benefits of this approach can be seen in her consequent body of work, which is remarkable. No toy soldier she, not for her sitting around awaiting instructions or hoping to be picked.

In 2009, Swinton, along with critic and filmmaker Mark Cousins, started a mobile film festival. It’s purpose was to bring cinematic masterpieces to remote parts of Scotland starved of film art. The program included Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and Akira Kurosawa’s Throne Of Blood. To show how much she loved movies, she helped pull The Screen Machine –  a 37-tonne cinema/lorry – through the Scottish Highlands.  Her drive to instigate projects and to keep working for them over many years comes from her cinephilia. But the point is this: yes, she has a point of view but she also acts on it, she has passion but she channels it, she has imagination and she uses it, she loves cinema but she also participates in it.

 

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NB –

Dear friends,

As you may know I completed work on my feature film, Distracted, earlier this year, and I’m currently putting together a screening series for the film. I’ve started a crowdfunding campaign in order to raise additional funds for the screenings. I would be grateful if you could visit the campaign page, where you will find a full description of the project, and consider becoming a backer. I’ve put up rewards for supporters too, including Distracted. Check-out the campaign here.

Many thanks,

James