Julie Taymor's 'Pulp Shakespeare'
By Elizabeth Snead, USA TODAYOne cannot accuse Julie Taymor of playing it safe.
For her first film, the acclaimed stage director, best known for her Tony-winning production of The Lion King, tackled Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare's first tragedy and most controversial play.
"I gravitated to the best writer in the English language with an important story to tell," she says. The story's murder, cannibalism, torture, rape, incest and suicide didn't faze her.
"I don't think there has ever been anything written on the dual nature of man as deep and thorough as Titus," she says. "It puts all modern explorations of violence to shame."
The film stars Anthony Hopkins as General Titus, who defeats the Goths and sacrifices the eldest son of their queen (Jessica Lange). She later entices her younger sons to rape and mutilate Titus' daughter, and he goes mad with grief but plots revenge with a carnivorous coup de gr,ce.
Newton, Mass.-born Taymor, 47, is no newcomer to theatrical risk-taking. Since '75, when a theatrical fellowship took her traveling throughout Indonesia, she has incorporated her fascination with Balinese puppetry and ancient mask-making into dramas and operas such as Salome, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Oedipus Rex and her own Juan Darien.
Taymor's Titus is indisputably unusual. Shot in Italy with a small budget (Taymor says it was "$25 million max"), the movie jumbles times, periods and styles for a Shakespeare-on-'shrooms effect. Costumes range from spacesuits to tribal garb, and from Roman togas to white-gloved '50s finery. Weapons include World War II tanks and machine guns.
The message: This tale of revenge and pride happens all the time, in past, present and future.
Despite sumptuous visuals and a star-studded cast, the film has not fared well at the box office. In limited release, it has grossed $853,245 to date, no doubt in part because of the film's violence, decried by critics.
Taymor is aghast at those who dismiss Titus as senseless gore. "This is not a violent movie," she says. "It's a black comedy about the vicious cycle of violence, but the body count is so low. Where is the blood? I show it once. You never see the knife go in. You never see the hands cut off. I stylized the violence to make it approachable for audiences."
She won't mind not being on the list of Oscar nominees for her first directing effort, but she would dearly love for her actors to get accolades.
On Lange: "She has a force and strength but also a girlishness, sexuality and mischief. "
On Hopkins: "Tony was amazing at getting all of it. His face is a road map of despair and exhilaration. I hope he gets rewarded publicly for what I think is his greatest performance."
But more than any golden statues for her cast or crew, Taymor hopes a younger, hipper viewer will get Titus' message.
"This play has more guts than anything else Shakespeare ever wrote," she says. "It's got the rage, anger, humor and energy of a young artist, before he became refined, elegant and self-confident. It's like Pulp Shakespeare! I think young people will groove and get excited by the language. It's rap! It's visceral! And to watch Titus' descent - now that is a journey!"
Taymor's next journey is back to the stage to direct a favorite fairy tale, The Green Bird, on Broadway in April.
But she plans more films, perhaps of her opera of The Flying Dutchman or her play of The Transposed Heads, the tale of a woman with two lovers - one smart, one handsome - whose heads are exchanged in an attempt to create the perfect man.
"It's the quintessential love triangle, both surreal and supernatural," she says. "I did it as a play and a musical. Now I want to do it as a film. When a work is that archetypically great, I just want to examine it again and again."
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