Samuel Beckett
From the book Schapiro's Heroes
From the book Schapiro's Heroes
I had always loved Waiting For Godot, so working with Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton on a small experimental movie called Film was a special moment. Beckett had written the script. It was a story about the perceived and the perceiver, the objective and subjective viewpoints. The film portrayed Buster Keaton's blurring vision of the world as he tried to stop everyone, even pet animals, from seeing him. The camera followed objectively, never revealing Keaton's 'great stone face' until the final shot of the film.
It was never clear if Keaton really understood the paces through which Beckett was putting him. Giving up the control that he had earned by having his own studio and being Hollywood's most inventive silent film star must have been a challenge to his creative spirit.
For Beckett, coming to America to make this movie was unusual. He seldom came across the pond. Although Alan Schneider was the official director, Film was definitely Beckett's show. Tall, lanky, and introspective, Beckett seemed inquisitive about all aspects of the filming, and every single object on the set, while always demanding an exact rendering of his written vision.
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