Role: Writer
Illustration by Rana Zaher
Article written for F/I/M2/P magazine’s “Yearbook Issue”.
In the Greek mythology, a Muse was a goddess and a source of inspiration for literature, science and art. Originally, we counted nine muses in Greek culture, each representing a different domain of the arts. Calliope was the muse of poetry, Thalia the muse of comedy, Terpsichore the muse of dance… I won’t go on, since their names get only weirder form then on.
Ever since, the seventh art has emerged, a new kind of muse was born along with it, one inspiring directors to complete their masterpieces alongside their recurring actors/actresses.
Today, there is one director that has been known to play favorites with his lead actor; no other than the genius Martin Scorcese (let’s call him Marty).
Over the years, Marty has been closely associated with four leading actors in several films apiece: Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. Marty held on to each of these actors at some point in his career, building his films around them.
Marty and De Niro have been an unstoppable team, bringing us classics from the 1970s and the 1980s, which have defined both their careers. Among them, we’ve all been touched by their magical duo in Taxi driver (You talking’ to me?), Raging Bull (You fuck my wife?) or Goodfellas (You pay me my money!), to name a few. Bob (as Marty calls him) has been in nine Scorcese films.
De Niro & Scorcese were known for their commitment and love of improvisation, a fascination of the dark male psyche and some pretty fucked up issues of their own.
Lately, Scorcese has found a new source of inspiration in DiCaprio, who came recommended by Bob himself. The latter had worked with DiCaprio on This Boy’s Life and reported to Marty: “this boy that has that something special; you’ve got to work with him”. Marty found in him a great similarity compared to his previous muses, in his focus, his specificity and the intensity of emotions he brought to the screen.
Moving on to the second greatest love story of directors and their muses: Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman. We’ve all seen Tarantino’s seminal films (at least I hope you guys have), such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown or Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2. And even though Thurman and Tarantino shared only three movies together (if you consider Kill Bill 1 & 2 two separate movies), their relationship went beyond acceptable levels of chemistry. Uma Thurman was a great source of inspiration for Tarantino, to a point where he would write specific roles for her in his films and even postpone their production to suit his muse’s availability. He had waited for a pregnant Thurman to have her baby to start shooting Kill Bill vol. 1, only to throw 100 of Lucy Liu’s henchmen at her.
Another fun fact about Tarantino is his foot fetish, a weirdness he expressed through his muse in all of their movies together. It started in Pulp Fiction with the foot massage story discussed by Vincent Vega and Jules. But the height of the expressiveness of his fetish was the incredibly long scene in Kill Bill vol. 1, where Thurman commands her toe to wiggle after coming out of a coma. Remember that scene? It was probably longer than it needed to be.
Amongst other notable pairings of directors and their muses, we have all been amazed by the magical movies brought to us by Mr. Tim Burton and his most inspiring leading actor Johnny Depp. The duo has completed 7 films, each having Depp dressed in weird, slightly ridiculous outfits. Examples include Edward Scissorhand (“I am not complete”), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (“You’re really weird”), The Corpse Bride (“Play dead… oh, sorry”) or Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (“I can guarantee the closest shave you’ll ever know”). Burton and Depp both share the same imagination, allowing them to express their similar point of view and their desire to bring the unusual lives of peculiar characters to our screens. They both have a fondness for pale skin (you’ve just reviewed the faces of Willy, Sweeney, Barnabas, Victor and Edward in your mind, haven’t you?), dark humor and creepy characters. Their dynamic duo has employed the outside-in method, where an actor lets his acting be guided by the outfit and make up of his character. Let’s admit that anyone dressed in a Mad Hatter outfit would automatically start acting a little cuckoo.
Another beautiful duo, often forgotten about, is the (almost) professional relationship between Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. We’ve all heard stories of Woody mixing business with pleasure when it came to his muses. I think we stopped listening when he married his ex girlfriend’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi. The Diane / Woody relationship started when he cast her in a Broadway show he wrote Play it again Sam.
Annie Hall was a defining movie for their careers. It is said that Woody wrote the part of Annie specifically for Keaton, given that her original name is Diane Hall. We can all agree Woody did his best work with Keaton, without ever letting their romantic relationship get in the way
I wish I could go on, as there is a great deal of directors’ relationship with their muses, such as Hitchcock & Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant, David Fincher & Brad Pitt, Frank Capra & still Jimmy Stewart, or even Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando. But then again, we’re not revisiting the Odyssey here, are we?
Helene Abi Assi 