The incomparable Nina Foch, directing teacher to many a generation of USC film students, has passed away. Nina was 84, and despite the fact that she had to miss several of our classes due to illness this year, continued teaching right up until her last day of life.
While I know many of us sometimes questioned the relevance of her class for writers, I don't think I realized how much I had actually learned until I filmed my scene this morning. As someone with not very much directing experience, I definitely wouldn't have been as comfortable working with actors before I took her class. While I don't think my little reshoot of a scene from The Quiet American will be winning any awards, I think I produced something halfway decent, and it was actually a pretty fun experience.
I know Nina would want us to remember the good times, so in her honor, here is a short selection of the best out-of-context Nina-isms I remembered to write down over the past semester:
"Contrapuntal idiosyncratic juxtaposition strikes again!"
"Dean Martin was always drunk. He'd be drunk at nine in the morning."
"Mamet doesn't know anything about actors. Don't read that shit."
"Bob Altman was always trying to turn me on."
"The problem with peacocks is that they're dumb. They'll climb into a tree and fall asleep, and if it freezes, they'll freeze to the tree. Then you have to get the help to get them down."
[in response to one classmate's selection of a scene from Orgazmo] "I didn't see that movie. I didn't need to. I've had them."
We'll miss you, Nina!
No comments:
Post a Comment