BEVERLY HILLS, Oct. 18, 1999 — The fable went like this: A baby is born and abandoned aboard an ocean liner. Named for the year in which he was born, 1900 grows up on the ship, displays an extraordinary gift for music and becomes a legendary pianist, entertaining throes of passengers at a time. But he has no proof of his existence; he belongs nowhere. His world is the ship, and he never sets foot on land.
The tale, written as a dramatic monologue by Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco, found itself in the hands of Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar-winning “Cinema Paradiso.” Tornatore expanded the story into an epic-size feature, and the result is “The Legend of 1900,” released by Fine Line in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 29.
Tim Roth, often seen in gritty, violent roles in films such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Reservoir Dogs” and “Rob Roy,” for which he was nominated for an Oscar, takes a surprising turn as the gentle, innocent title character.
“I was getting a bit bored with myself and have been for some time,” Roth said. “I think it happens to actors after a while; you get tired. I stopped watching films I was in. I get tired of the same old thing … so I was looking for something different.”
After reading the rough translation of Baricco’s monologue, Roth signed on, eager to play a different type of character.
“[He] had a purity and angelic quality and was very naïve,” Roth said. “I liked that.”
It also gave Roth the chance to reteam with Clarence Williams III, his co-star in 1997’s “Hoodlum.” Williams plays the only real-life character in the film, jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton. Hearing of 1900’s brilliance, Morton boards the ship, and the two face off in a tense piano duel. But the actors’ previous acquaintance made filming easier.
“We can work as actors as shorthand,” Williams said of Roth. “We do have long discussions, but it’s not about the performance. We have long discussions about that restaurant across the street … or what we’re gonna eat that day. But when we walk onto that soundstage, he’s already prepared, I’m already prepared, and we put it together.”
Surrounded by jazz musicians in his youth, Williams said Jelly Roll’s fictional bet can be easily infused with the reality of the times.
“This was something that he could do better than anybody on the planet in his mind,” Williams said. “And coming out of a very, very segregated situation at that time in our country, and having to put up with less-than-stellar behavior by his fellow citizens. … But he had this jewel. This was his. This separated him from the herd. … You wanna come into my place? I can’t go into your place, but you come into my place and I’m king, and I mean it. And I will prove it night after night after night, by being better than anybody who would sit on that piano bench.”
The film’s unique circumstances are told through the eyes of Max, a trumpet player and 1900’s best friend. For the role, Tornatore chose Pruitt Taylor Vince, star of 1995’s “Heavy” and a veteran of small roles in “Dr. Doolittle,” “Beautiful Girls” and the television drama “Murder One,” for which he won an Emmy.
“I thought it was just the most beautiful thing I’d ever read,” Vince said of the monologue. “And the fact that it was Giuseppe Tornatore and Tim Roth. … So, at first I was so blown away by the idea of this man handing me the role of the storyteller in this giant epic of his. After I got over that, he gave me the role, and I actually had to face playing it.”
The challenge for Vince, as well as the others, included acting with instruments none of them knew how to play. Roth says he left the technique up to the magic of special effects and focused on his character separate from the piano.
“I had to get the man right,” Roth said. “So you work on that, his place in that world; and then the piano is something that’s an extension of him. He plays in the way that he thinks.”
So is the quiet, genteel dreamer Roth‘s new character type? Roth, who plays a “clairvoyant hypnotist” in his next project, says he won’t rule out revisiting his villainous side, but he now looks at his future choices with more caution.
“I’m a bit more wary of the gun thing, especially living in America in general,” Roth said. “So, I will take that very seriously. I don’t want to do the childish route for that, except if it was a big old shoot-’em-up Western type of thing, which is quite clearly for fun. But I’ve got to be very careful about that kind of stuff now.”
