FISHING FOR AVOCADOS! –– C.A. BROADSTONE on FILMMAKING, WRITING, MUSIC, and Other Things BCP!

Friday, March 4, 2016

As a huge Hitchcock fan, I have always enjoyed learning more about those involved in the making of his greatest films, which sometimes includes dirt––or the nitty-gritty–– on the movie stars he cast. Who these actors and actresses were, behind-the-scenes, was often put under the magnifying glass by Hitchcock as a director, and exploited to the betterment of his films. This aspect of Hitch's directorial manipulation is no better exemplified than with actress Joan Fontaine, who was only 23 at the time she was cast in Hitchcock's first American film, REBECCA (1940). He had told young Joan, on the set, that none of her co-stars wanted her to play the part or liked her very much... This, of course, only enhanced her portrayal of a frightened and tormented woman, and ultimately garnered her first Oscar nomination. Joan was open about the fact that she had an inferiority complex––and one doesn't have to be a psychiatrist to conclude that this was rooted deeply in the nacient hot and cold relationship with her older sister, actress OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND. In an a recent article in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, THR awards analyst SCOTT FEINBERG expounds on his interviews with the sisters, which sheds some new light on their complicated relationship.

From Feinberg in his Hollywood Reporter article of March 4th, 2016:
"At a luncheon earlier this month, I was seated beside the actresses Laura Dern and Meg Ryan and we began chatting about classic movies, a shared passion of ours. Eventually, the conversation led us to Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, the legendary Oscar-winning sisters. Within the last nine months I had interviewed both of the nonagenarians for a book that I am writing about old movies for young people; I spoke with Joan, who was living in Carmel, by telephone in March, and Olivia in-person at her home in Paris after the Cannes Film Festival wrapped up in May. Laura and Meg were anxious to know the answer to the same question that every person with whom I spoke after those interviews had asked me: Was "the feud" — a supposed decades-long cold war between the two sisters — finally over? The answer was not so simple..."

Read the rest of this very interesting article here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/joan-fontaine-olivia-de-havilland-666087

More On REBECCA...

The music from REBECCA was composed by the great FRANZ WAXMAN. Enjoy a haunting suite from this exemplary film. Classic Hollywood film scoring and great stuff!

Franz Waxman's REBECCA Suite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j84ZpU5GgkY