On Monday I went to see the new Polanski film, The Ghostwriter. The film is set in Cape Cod, which made me wonder where it was shot, given the director's legal status. Thirty seconds of web browsing revealed that the film was indeed shot on location, and that Polanski, presumably through a Skype-like process, oversaw all aspects of production, including the editing, which he did from a Swiss prison.
A couple of things stuck with me. The first is the publisher's mansion, where much of the movie takes place -- a modern beach house with some of the ghastliest neo-expressionist paintings ever. It's like the 80s never ended -- which might tell you why big house publishing is in the state it's in today. The second occurred when the protagonist went into a bar and a Vancouver Canucks game was playing. Odd hearing the voice of Jim Hughson in a Polanski film.
Not sure what I think of The Ghostwriter. The ending was meant to be hefty, but it was nothing like the endings of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. Hard to supply endings like those today. Plus the film was weighted in the strangest places. Hard to make a film without being there to make it. Kinda like reading your life story -- as if it were written by someone else.
According to Wikipedia, that incontrovertible oracle: "The majority of exteriors, set on Martha's Vineyard, were shot on the island of Sylt in the North Sea, and on the ferry "MF SyltExpress". The exterior set of the house where much of the film takes place, however, was built on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea. Exteriors set at a publishing house in London were shot in downtown Berlin, while Strausberg Airport near Berlin stood in for the Martha's Vineyard airport."
ReplyDeleteHowever Wikipedia makes no mention of the Canucks game: perhaps Polanski is a secret fan, who is even now fretting over Luongo's fragile emotional state...
Wikipedia Uber Alles
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