"The Fountain"

Talk about a movie that deserved better. Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain is a really nice film. It reminded me a lot of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddessy, and also of Soderbergh's Solaris. The Fountain had that same, slow, sad pace as Solaris, and a lot of the imagery was strongly (and, I believe, intentionally) reminiscent of 2001.

It also has Donna Murphy in a small role, whom I think is one of the most classically beautiful ladies in show business today.

The movie interweaves three stories that harmonize with each other: a conquistador in medieval South America, a modern medical researcher, and a future astronaut. The theme of the movie seems to be fear of death and, as corny as it sounds, the cycle of life. Aronofsky's images are lovely, are given rhythm by an awesome score, and are entirely worth the ambiguous plot.

I started this entry off by remarking that the movie deserved better. It isn't hard to find the story behind this troubled production. Originally, Brad Pitt was cast as the lead and the film went into production with a largish budget. Expensive sets were built and Aronofsky planned several epic sequences. Pitt, however, asked for rewrites and was refused. Pitt walked shortly before production and the studio, feeling that the lack of Pitt's star power spelled doom, closed down the movie.

Aronofsky re-scripted the film on a smaller scale and thankfully re-sold it to the studio, with Hugh Jackman accepting the lead.

Now, I know that the economic realities of Hollywood create a certain atmosphere in which everyone has to work. Any maybe Pitt put up some of the money for the project -- I haven't been able to find out for sure. But it is insane that an actor can have this kind of kill-power for a director's pet project.

For me, the actor's job is to say his lines and express emotion. Sure, he might have some input on how to block a scene or small changes in script. He might even have big script changes to suggest. But in the end, his role is to shut the fuck up and do his job. When I think of what this movie might have been, with maybe an army of conquistadors instead of three, or a Tree of Life 12 stories tall, it makes me want to cry. I can only imagine what Aronofsky went through when spoiled Brat took his dream away.

Brad Pitt: shut the fuck up and do your job.