Sir Ben Kingsley's Reelz interview on SI

Sir Ben Kingsley's Reelz interview on SI
More comments from Sir Ben Kingsley Monday, June 30 * Sir Ben Kingsley on Shutter Island We recently had the privilege of chatting with the lovely Sir Ben Kingsley, who is headlining the Sundance sweetheart, The Wackness, opening this Thursday. In it, he plays Dr. Squires, a rather troubled therapist who has an unusual relationship with a patient, with whom he trades is psychiatric services for pot. Kingsley is just finishing up shooting another part in which he plays a shrink, in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. "I play another psychiatrist, but very different from Dr. Squires. Very sober, very against the use of drugs in therapy, and also very against the use of surgical intervention in therapy," says Kingsley. He does have a patient to whom he's completely dedicated who is going through an extremely dangerous time -- the great Leonardo DiCaprio," he reveals. "He and I have some very, very strong scenes together." http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/1644/sir-ben-kingsley-on-shutter-island

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22996 We grabbed the good-natured knight for an exclusive chat about both flicks, starting off with Shutter Island. “I’m playing another psychiatrist,” says Sir Ben of Scorsese’s big-screen version of Dennis Lehane’s (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) Fifties-set crime drama. “He runs a top-security asylum on an island for the violently criminally insane. It’s set in the McCarthy era in the 50s, so not the Giuliani era of The Wackness but the McCarthy era.” “I’m a psychiatrist with a very important relationship to Leonardo Dicaprio’s character (a U.S. Marshal who investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane). It’s an examination, from my part, of unconditional love. This psychiatrist will not let this patient down until the patients are out of his hands, he won’t let them down. It’s quite wonderful.” On particularly effusive form, Sir Ben spoke with great verve about working with one of the world’s most talented directors. “On top of the brilliant script, you have the King – Martin Scorsese,” he says. “It was a joy to work with him. He elevates joy. Every frame of every film to him is a diamond. Everything is important to him. Everything is beautiful to him. He can’t stop talking about the films that he’s restored or seen, naming the cast of something made in 1949 made by some little British director or the Powell-Pressburger films he’s addicted to.”

Thanks for this new post Arnzilla... I wondered - how it was for actors and actresses to play a psychiatrist (or a psychologist), a therapist (in general). What kind of view can they have towards their patients ? Authority, pitty, compassion, empathy ??? Here we're apparently in a trouble, unclear relationship... as the novel demonstrates it. Kingsley's character is the "helping" character, the caring one...but what is his real preoccupations ? Confirming his theory or saving a man mental health.......... Both options are closed I guess.

Thanks Arnzilla Interesting comment from Ben "It’s an examination, from my part, of unconditional love. This psychiatrist will not let this patient down until the patients are out of his hands, he won’t let them down. It’s quite wonderful.” I wonder how this will come across to the audience?

The A.V. Club's Scott Tobias interviews Kingsley - August 7, 2008 Kingsley: The actual direction , in verbal terms, was absolutely minimal. Tobias: That's the way you'd prefer it? Kingsley: It varies. It varies from director to director. With Scorsese , it's a wonderful ongoing debate. And that's also something I find really exciting. A debate about the predicament, the patterns of behavior, the flow between characters. The needs of the character in any particular scene. And I warmed to that as well, because again, he never imposes something that's not in the scene, or the character, or in the casting of the character in the first place. He casts his films extremely well. And he lets the actor do what he or she needs to do in that moment. Lets them behave as the character needs to behave in that moment. And then we'll make some adjustments, sometimes even with the lens, or a bit of lighting, not even the acting, which is very exciting. You're repeating exactly the same thing, but the way the light is falling on your face tells an entirely different story. And he's a master of that, as is Polanski.

Thanks for sharing, Arnz! :D

http://movies.ign.com/articles/905/905767p1.html IGN: You recently completed a film with Martin Scorsese… Kingsley: Yes, in Boston. It's called Shutter Island or Ashecliffe. I don't know which of the titles it's going to be ultimately but it's with Martin and it's quite dark. It's a psychodrama/thriller with Mark Ruffalo and Emily Mortimer and Leonardo DiCaprio, a wonderful cast. IGN: What was it like working with Scorsese for the first time? Kingsley: Thrilling. Absolutely thrilling. He's a genuine maestro. He's very anecdotal. He will stand there and tell a story before a take when the first AD will be pulling him by his arm to the monitor saying 'We've gotta go sir… We've gotta go sir… We've gotta go sir…' And he will finish his story. It's all anecdotal, this story, that story, this film, this experience, all from his own experience and enthusiasm and passion. Nothing is theoretical. It's all built from genuine passion and experience.

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