Robert Altman occupies a rare place in the cinematic pantheon. One part bona fide legend–he was the director behind such classics as M*A*S*H and Nashville–and one part avant-garde auteur–his filmography includes cutting-edge fare like The Player and Short Cuts–Altman is not a filmmaker concerned with creating box office blockbusters, or even (by his own admission) films with much of a story.
Nevertheless, the director continues to lure some of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors to join his signature multicharacter ensembles, foregoing massive paychecks and air-conditioned Star Waggons for the chance to delve into the Altman style of filmmaking, where fully realized scripts and inspired improvisation are allowed to merge freely. Perhaps only Woody Allen is his equal in mixing star-studded casts with ambitious, highbrow fare.
Altman’s latest effort, Gosford Park, gives a sound tweak to the murder-in-an-English-manor genre, melding the 1930s period with what are now considered Altmanesque touches. In time-honored tradition, a group of titled and privileged guests gather at an elegant country estate, each accompanied by their respective servants, and by the time it’s revealed just how blurred the lines between the upper- and lower-crusts have become, a murder is committed. In true Altman form, just about everyone present has a convincing motive.
A weighty ensemble of Britain’s most accomplished actors signed on–Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Richard E Grant, Stephen Fry, Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon, along with two Americans, Ryan Phillippe and Bob Balaban (who also produced).
The just-released film has already earned a Golden Globe nomination for best musical/comedy film, and also a best director nod for the man behind the camera, proving that the wily 81-year-old veteran who fancies himself more of a painter (“The actors are the paint”) still has a master’s touch.
“I don’t care very much about stories in films. I look at films more like paintings,” Altman says. “I look for a genre that the audience knows and will be comfortable with, and then I like to give it a little turn.”
In a world in which even the most miniscule protocols could have enormous import, non-Brits Altman and Balaban took their time developing the script to avoid flubbing even the tiniest of details and teamed with British actor/screenwriter Julian Fellowes (himself a Globe nominee for the Gosford script).
“His wife is a lady-in-waiting for Princess Michael of Kent,” Altman reveals. “We wanted to be sure we got all of the protocols right, because I didn’t want to be the ugly American…I would venture to say that if you took all the films that were made in Britain about this kind of period stuff, we were probably more correct in detail than any of the others.”
Despite the painstaking attention to detail, Altman says he wasn’t daunted to be a Yankee tackling subject matter that has typically been the province of English directors. He cites Brit filmmaker John Schlesinger‘s insightful depiction of seedy ’60s New York in
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Midnight Cowboy as a prime example of how an outsider’s view can be a benefit rather than a drawback. “Doesn’t it always take someone from the outside to come in and give a balanced look at what’s happening?”
Altman also explains how the script, with its Upstairs, Downstairs-style look at titled aristocrats and their servants, suited his multicharacter approach. “I’m just very comfortable with it, and I find it’s very effective. If something doesn’t work you can just always cut away to something else that does work. I like lots of people and lots of interaction.”
The director is anxious to set the record straight after having been misquoted as saying Gosford Park was improvised, and explains that while actor’s inspirations are always welcome on the set, Fellowes‘ script and suggestions were also closely followed.
“We get so bogged down in this thing about words, but writing–especially film writing–is not about dialogue writing,” Altman says. “I mean, anybody can write dialogue. Some actors can do [improvisation] well and others don’t, they want it exactly the way it’s written. I have the writers around–unless I have to pay them more,” he adds, slightly tongue-in-cheek. “If the writer wants to be on the set all the time, he’s most welcome. Then I can turn around and say, ‘This scene isn’t working, let’s rewrite it.’ I’d rather have that person do it than the actor or me.”
But Altman is equally impressed with actors, whom he believes check their egos at the door when they come to his set. “I do love actors, because I don’t understand how they can do what they do. I don’t understand their process, I don’t know how they can do that. I’m always in awe…I couldn’t say a line if I had eight weeks to rehearse it. I’d freeze up.”
That doesn’t mean that it’s always been a mutual admiration society. “I know on M*A*S*H–I didn’t find this out until two years later–Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland went to the producer and tried to get me fired, said I was going to ruin their careers. They said I was paying too much attention to all the extras and the ‘little players’ and this was really their picture. And of course they were wrong. That was the picture I was making.
“Donald has never talked about it, but Elliot called me two years later,” Altman continues. “I offered him the lead in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and he turned it down. He really didn’t like the way I did M*A*S*H. But I’ve done several films with Elliot. He was very generous in admitting to that.”
Despite his firm opinions about the past, the maverick director prefers to focus on the future. He’s currently prepping for another top-secret ensemble piece that begins filming in New York in May.
So as a “painter” of movies, what does Altman think about the term “Altman-esque,” now used regularly by film critics and academics to describe films that copy his easily recognized signature style? Is he humbled, honored, annoyed?
About that, the director is as cryptic as his movies can be. One eyebrow arched, he poses his own question: “I can’t do much about it, can I?”
