Posted on 05/07/2006 11:48:18 AM PDT by veronica
ONE OF Scotland's leading actresses has lashed out at Hollywood, demanding "more wise and courageous distributors" and "distributors with the kamikaze vision that spreads the broad and long view".
Tilda Swinton also took a fiercely political swipe at a "goose-stepping" Walt Disney, just months after she played a leading role in a highly successful Disney adaptation, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The Nairn-based actress delivered her opinions at the State of Cinema address as part of the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival.
In America, where there has been a shift away from big studios towards independent film-makers, Swinton has forged a successful career in both areas.
But she said: "If I'm posting any wish to my personal Cinema Santa this year, it is for more and more wise and courageous distributors, with more and more big and small and beautiful cinemas. Distributors with the kamikaze vision that spreads the broad and long view."
Swinton also spoke out about the right-wing religious influence still dominant in the film industry.
She told the audience: "Last year, in the process of promoting two fantasy films for different Hollywood studios, I was advised on the proper protocol for talking about religion in America today.
"In brief, the directive was, hold your hands high where all can see them, step away from the vehicle and enunciate clearly, nothing to declare."
Swinton followed these statements with an attack on the politics of many powerful figures in the film industry.
Speaking about The Chronicles of Narnia, which in the run-up to its release was given a huge push by the Church, Swinton said: "I love the idea of goose-stepping old Walt D making over $700m with the help of a Red Witch. He is more than welcome.
"At least we made her whiter than white, the ultimate white supremacist, and we managed to railroad the knee-jerk attempt to make her look like an Arab."
Swinton, who was born into a Scottish military family in London, began her acting career at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In her formative years, she also worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, before embarking on a career in film in the mid-1980s.
Early film work included several parts in the projects of director Derek Jarman, and also the title role in Orlando, Sally Potter's film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf.
In recent years, she has moved into more mainstream projects, appearing in Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, and The Beach, which also starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
Swinton also starred in Young Adam alongside Ewan McGregor.
In 2005, she starred as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, and had two other high-profile roles, as Penny in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, and as Audrey Cobb in Mike Mills' film adaptation of the novel Thumbsucker.
Swinton, who lives in Nairn in the Highlands with her husband, artist and writer John Byrne, was unavailable for comment.
Sadly, it appears she wasn't acting.
My Lord, she looks like the perfect bloodless poster child for the narcissistic indy film community.
Yes, but I'm sure she's three-dimensional.
That's funny
What is an actress, but an empty space filled in with somebody else's idea?
i think you have a blockbuster there.
charlize theron wasn't creepy enough. swinton could do it in a much more convincing way. she would have to kill them very, very slowly--over several days.
maybe with paper cuts.
or, maybe she could suck their blood out, but only an ounce or so each day.
kind of like a psychotic lesbian version of "attack of the giant leeches".
i'm sure it would be BIG!
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