Benjamin Millepied

“So one of them that was a great inspiration, I'll pick here, I'll pick On the Waterfront by Kazan. This was quite fascinating because Kazan was the theater director in New York, and the first couple of movies he really was just shooting as if it was theater. The cameras were still, he sort of didn't know how to, you know, what the camera could do in terms of enhancing the action. And you see he evolves as he starts to make more movies that there's an enormous change and how he starts to master this relationship with camera and movement. And in films like East of Eden and On the Waterfront, and then you start to have these incredible films where the physicality of the actors is, is, you know, in the relationship to a camera that's never, you know, never self-conscious, that's never there just for virtuosity, that's really, really, you know, these choices are always very, very specific to each scene. He actually, if you read his biography, he really recommended directors to, to, to go take dance, to watch choreography. He, he really understood the importance of, you know, analyzing, you know, how to move people in time and space and how the camera could, could, could be an incredible partner in, in that movement.”

“So now I'll pick Tree of Life by Terrence Malick. And so that's for, you know, for different reasons it has to do with, with dance. You know, in dance we always say, you know, you don't want to be, you know, you want to make dance look like you're, you're, you're just coming up with it in the moment. I mean the best example of that is Fred Astaire. Fred Astaire always looked like he was improvising, right? It's just like yeah, these, these, these moments of grace and you never know what's coming next, coming, you know, and it just had this, this, this is sort of what you want to achieve. Terry has a way to capture that magical moment I think better than, you know, anyone else. And he does it by just his continuous shooting. I've been on set, had the opportunity to watch him work on set. You know, the camera keeps rolling and he sort of lets the actors walk in all kinds of directions, and he's just, you know, it's, it's him, but it's also the camera operator who has the sensibility to the action and just has this, this ability to, to, to, to catch these moments that are completely graceful and completely unexpected and, and catch, you know, take your breath away.”

“So interestingly, a totally different approach to, to movement here, because obviously Fosse, choreographer, director, isn't someone who really where the, the movement isn't about how he moved the camera on, on, on in scenes. You know, the dances are complex and they happen on stage and he would essentially capture all these different angles, and the choreography for me happened in the editing room. You know, the editing of Fosse is what's absolutely phenomenal. There's a rhythm, there's a, the choreography, he literally creates choreography with the editing. For that reason it's, it's a really important director to watch that I also, also love. Obviously Cabaret is a masterpiece and so is All That Jazz.”

“I think it's also interesting to talk when you, when you think of, of movement and also of, of the importance of stillness, to talk about Antonioni, which is a director that, that I love for, for the, the, the tension, the mystery in his films, the things that are unsaid. I think what I admire here is actually how so often he decides to, you know, not move the camera, and also not necessarily see the character from the front, but experience the character from over the shoulder, the back. If you're doing it to show that you can create a, you know, a moment of virtuosity, I think it's, it's you're missing the point. I think the idea is that how these elements come together really beautifully, and in a way you need to be immersed in the picture and the emotion and not feel like the camera is moving. And, and Antonioni is a really great, great director to watch because of these choices actually of not moving the camera.”

“So of course when it comes to movement, it's really important to study Kurosawa because, you know, and I would start with the first film which is Sanshiro Sugata, which is a martial art film. There's an incredible scene in the end of this film which is this duel between the two, the, the lead actor. It's, it's a combat that takes place on a hill in moonlight with just these, the grass that's flying, and it's just an incredible, incredible scene. But throughout you see how bodies roll and fight and fall from, you know, screen right to screen left, and how there's such intelligent cutting and movement. And yet he has the ability to take a camera and go from seamlessly with the handheld camera to, to, to, to a tight shot, to wide shot, to again, you know, a tight shot, and, and it never, it always has this like incredible like perfect connection to movement.”

“So last I pick Koyaanisqatsi. I highly recommend it. The score is outstanding. I listen to it all the time, I still listen to it all the time. I, I just, you know, I think of, of Philip Glass a little bit as kind of a Beethoven. You know, there's something about Beethoven, he always knew how to choose the right next note. You know, these melodies are really, really simple and yet he creates these very complex variations with them, but there's a, there's a kind of evidence to, you know, what note comes after the next. And I feel like Glass has that quality. And, and they, you know, these melodies continue to give me like incredible, incredible pleasure. So Koyaanisqatsi I recommend.”