list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Orlando on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Orlando/82655/default.aspx Title: Orlando
Year: 1993
Director: Sally Potter
Plot: Independent filmmaker Sally Potter's gender-bending epic, which views four centuries of sexual politics through the eyes of a sex-switching main character, is based on the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf. The androgynous title character is played with delicate quietude by Tilda Swinton. The story begins during the reign of the aging Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp, in a droll turn recalling his The Naked Civil Servant). Queen Elizabeth takes a shine to the attractive young Orlando and seeks out his sexual favors. In return, Elizabeth grants him a large estate, commanding him, "Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old." Orlando takes the queen at her word and doesn't. When Elizabeth dies, Orlando becomes attracted to Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), the daughter of a Russian diplomat, but she rebuffs his advances. Crushed, Orlando accepts an ambassadorship to Constantinople. After witnessing the killing of a man in battle, Orlando undergoes a change of sex, becoming a woman and returning to England, where she hobnobs with 18th-century geniuses like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Addison. Walking through a garden labyrinth, the time frame shifts to the 19th century, and Orlando falls in love with a handsome American (Billy Zane). Now in the 20th century, Orlando gives birth to his child and continues on. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 6
Number of Lists: 5
Number of blog posts: 2
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:01:01 GMTOrlando1993Sally PotterIndependent filmmaker <a href="/players/P___106934/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sally Potter</a>'s gender-bending epic, which views four centuries of sexual politics through the eyes of a sex-switching main character, is based on the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf. The androgynous title character is played with delicate quietude by <a href="/players/P____69397/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Tilda Swinton</a>. The story begins during the reign of the aging Queen Elizabeth I (<a href="/players/P____15782/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Quentin Crisp</a>, in a droll turn recalling his <a href=/films/24043/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>The Naked Civil Servant</a>). Queen Elizabeth takes a shine to the attractive young Orlando and seeks out his sexual favors. In return, Elizabeth grants him a large estate, commanding him, "Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old." Orlando takes the queen at her word and doesn't. When Elizabeth dies, Orlando becomes attracted to Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), the daughter of a Russian diplomat, but she rebuffs his advances. Crushed, Orlando accepts an ambassadorship to Constantinople. After witnessing the killing of a man in battle, Orlando undergoes a change of sex, becoming a woman and returning to England, where she hobnobs with 18th-century geniuses like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Addison. Walking through a garden labyrinth, the time frame shifts to the 19th century, and Orlando falls in love with a handsome American (<a href="/players/P____78411/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Billy Zane</a>). Now in the 20th century, Orlando gives birth to his child and continues on. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide6Taggedy Taggged (6-10)523http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t03318lniuq.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Orlando/82655/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/12/35058.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/12/2008 11:01:01 AM
Body: Tilda Swinton has made a career out of playing interesting characters, although her shrewish portrayal of Katie Cox in Burn After Reading probably won’t endear her to many. She plays the epitome of a controlling woman who has her CIA husband Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) sandwiched squarely under her thumb. Or there could be a cadre of career-minded women out there who’d want to use her as a role model, I’m not sure. The film has been getting mixed reviews ever since its debut at the Venice Film Festival, although they all seem to laud the performances. Swinton performs adequately enough in the film, but she isn’t given much to do, and seeing her with George Clooney just makes me want to watch Michael Clayton all over again. I might even have to pull Orlando off the shelf and watch it again as well. Find out what she had to say about working with the Coens, going up against Brad Pitt’s blonde hair, and what winning the Oscar did, or rather didn’t, for her career. It’s all waiting after the break. How tight was the script?  How were the characters written in the script and how much did you get to play and add to them as you went along? Obviously they are the Coen brothers.  One of the most fantastic things about working with them is that there is a script, which is so rock solid, mean machine, clean thing to work with that playful is what everybody is.  You just all walk up and play with it, then you go home again, the script is absolutely written down on paper.  You love it because they wrote it so well.  How could you possibly improve it?  It feels like the invitation to play with them is exactly that, it’s come and lets all amuse ourselves with this script. A lot of actors say that working with the Coen Brothers is one of the best experiences of their careers.  They have a hard time articulating what it is that they like about it.  Can you put that into words a bit? So easy, really short days.  Lots of laughing, uniquely, my experience laughing throughout the takes, but that’s all credits to Peter [Kurland], the sound guy on set.  Especially when you have them honking like donkeys on your own sound track.  That’s fantastic.  I think it’s your confidence that the audience will be laughing when they laugh. Did winning the Oscar change anything for you? I must confess. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem to have changed anything for me.  Pretty much everything I’ve done since I was going to do anyway.  Occasionally people remind me that was a peculiar night that happened.  It was sort of a nasty dream.  I’m not so keen on standing up in front of three billion people.  It’s traumatic.  It would be all right if they sent it to you in the post.  No, it’s business as usual for me. It seems that after Michael Clayton, this film is a continuation of you and George Clooney’s mutual admiration society.  Is it official that you are going to do two or three more movies together? Swinton:  I’m working on having George Clooney in every contract.  It’s tough but I’m trying.  I’ve gotten the consolation prize of having Brad Pitt in every contract also.  George and I do have the aim one day  to be in a film where we say one nice thing to each other.  Hopefully one day. Can you talk about the hair thing? Your character in Burn has a very interesting hairdo. We had a competition on the set going about who had the most ridiculous hair.  I think Brad Pitt might have won that, but we were all going for the Javier Bardem prize.  It had a mind of its own.  It landed there on my head one morning.  It’s gone now. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:01:01 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/12/2008 11:01:01 AM Tilda Swinton has made a career out of playing interesting characters, although her shrewish portrayal of Katie Cox in Burn After Reading probably won’t endear her to many. She plays the epitome of a controlling woman who has her CIA husband Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) sandwiched squarely under her thumb. Or there could be a cadre of career-minded women out there who’d want to use her as a role model, I’m not sure. The film has been getting mixed reviews ever since its debut at the Venice Film Festival, although they all seem to laud the performances. Swinton performs adequately enough in the film, but she isn’t given much to do, and seeing her with George Clooney just makes me want to watch Michael Clayton all over again. I might even have to pull Orlando off the shelf and watch it again as well. Find out what she had to say about working with the Coens, going up against Brad Pitt’s blonde hair, and what winning the Oscar did, or rather didn’t, for her career. It’s all waiting after the break. How tight was the script?  How were the characters written in the script and how much did you get to play and add to them as you went along? Obviously they are the Coen brothers.  One of the most fantastic things about working with them is that there is a script, which is so rock solid, mean machine, clean thing to work with that playful is what everybody is.  You just all walk up and play with it, then you go home again, the script is absolutely written down on paper.  You love it because they wrote it so well.  How could you possibly improve it?  It feels like the invitation to play with them is exactly that, it’s come and lets all amuse ourselves with this script. A lot of actors say that working with the Coen Brothers is one of the best experiences of their careers.  They have a hard time articulating what it is that they like about it.  Can you put that into words a bit? So easy, really short days.  Lots of laughing, uniquely, my experience laughing throughout the takes, but that’s all credits to Peter [Kurland], the sound guy on set.  Especially when you have them honking like donkeys on your own sound track.  That’s fantastic.  I think it’s your confidence that the audience will be laughing when they laugh. Did winning the Oscar change anything for you? I must confess. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem to have changed anything for me.  Pretty much everything I’ve done since I was going to do anyway.  Occasionally people remind me that was a peculiar night that happened.  It was sort of a nasty dream.  I’m not so keen on standing up in front of three billion people.  It’s traumatic.  It would be all right if they sent it to you in the post.  No, it’s business as usual for me. It seems that after Michael Clayton, this film is a continuation of you and George Clooney’s mutual admiration society.  Is it official that you are going to do two or three more movies together? Swinton:  I’m working on having George Clooney in every contract.  It’s tough but I’m trying.  I’ve gotten the consolation prize of having Brad Pitt in every contract also.  George and I do have the aim one day  to be in a film where we say one nice thing to each other.  Hopefully one day. Can you talk about the hair thing? Your character in Burn has a very interesting hairdo. We had a competition on the set going about who had the most ridiculous hair.  I think Brad Pitt might have won that, but we were all going for the Javier Bardem prize.  It had a mind of its own.  It landed there on my head one morning.  It’s gone now. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/kristen/archive/2008/5/16/29331.aspx Post By: kristen
Post To: kristen Blog
Post Date: 5/16/2008 8:17:46 PM
Body: Why does actor Tilda Swinton play a man in the beginning of Orlando and switch to the role of a woman? Clearly, she is a woman playing a man's part and then a woman playing a woman's part. Why not have a male actor play the man's part and then switch actors to a woman actor playing a woman's part? I take this female (and obviously so) casting to symbolize how women in literature disguised themselves as men because of oppression and over time break away from the disguise ( a man's name), for the world eventually accepts female writers. However, I am simply guessing at the meaning here, for I do not know the history of women through literature. I am assuming that women wrote in the 1600's and wrote under the name of a man. Even if this interpretation of literature is historically inaccurate, the movie Orlando is about female development over time. I feel that I would understand the movie better if I knew more about the feminist movement, but I will analyze the movie as I understand it. Orlando is very funny with its fantastical irrationally. There are many gaps and illogical jumps in the movie. The movie does a good job creating its own internal logical that defies worldly logic. Why does Orlando live 400 years and never age? It is probably because s/he does not want to age, so why would s/he? The mysterious jumps are part of the magic of this movie. The movie walks through every stage of life: death, love, poetry, politics, society, sex, and birth. All of these sections contain a date except for the last section "birth", which allows the movie to remain always in the present. What can I say except the chapters work well to cover the broad spectrum of life? Each has is poetical implications within the section of the film. I cannot find the definitive message of this movie, but that does not bother me too much. The movie might be saying that women have developed over history, but maybe not as much as we think? This movie, for me, needs a second viewing to understand the implications. But, if the movie is not profound, at least it is fun. ~Kristen Gorlitz
]]>Sat, 17 May 2008 00:17:46 GMTkristenkristen Blog5/16/2008 8:17:46 PM Why does actor Tilda Swinton play a man in the beginning of Orlando and switch to the role of a woman? Clearly, she is a woman playing a man's part and then a woman playing a woman's part. Why not have a male actor play the man's part and then switch actors to a woman actor playing a woman's part? I take this female (and obviously so) casting to symbolize how women in literature disguised themselves as men because of oppression and over time break away from the disguise ( a man's name), for the world eventually accepts female writers. However, I am simply guessing at the meaning here, for I do not know the history of women through literature. I am assuming that women wrote in the 1600's and wrote under the name of a man. Even if this interpretation of literature is historically inaccurate, the movie Orlando is about female development over time. I feel that I would understand the movie better if I knew more about the feminist movement, but I will analyze the movie as I understand it. Orlando is very funny with its fantastical irrationally. There are many gaps and illogical jumps in the movie. The movie does a good job creating its own internal logical that defies worldly logic. Why does Orlando live 400 years and never age? It is probably because s/he does not want to age, so why would s/he? The mysterious jumps are part of the magic of this movie. The movie walks through every stage of life: death, love, poetry, politics, society, sex, and birth. All of these sections contain a date except for the last section "birth", which allows the movie to remain always in the present. What can I say except the chapters work well to cover the broad spectrum of life? Each has is poetical implications within the section of the film. I cannot find the definitive message of this movie, but that does not bother me too much. The movie might be saying that women have developed over history, but maybe not as much as we think? This movie, for me, needs a second viewing to understand the implications. But, if the movie is not profound, at least it is fun. ~Kristen Gorlitz http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/fantasy/MemberTagFilms.aspxfantasy
Number of films tagged: 1044

Number of people who tagged: 128

Number of times used: 480

]]>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:54:25 GMT1044128480Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/timetravel/MemberTagFilms.aspxtimetravel
Number of films tagged: 449

Number of people who tagged: 55

Number of times used: 114

]]>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:56:35 GMT44955114Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/feminism/MemberTagFilms.aspxfeminism
Number of films tagged: 236

Number of people who tagged: 18

Number of times used: 23

]]>Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:06:18 GMT2361823Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/think/MemberTagFilms.aspxthink
Number of films tagged: 34

Number of people who tagged: 16

Number of times used: 43

]]>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:22:54 GMT341643Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/aging/MemberTagFilms.aspxaging
Number of films tagged: 393

Number of people who tagged: 15

Number of times used: 29

]]>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:22:03 GMT3931529Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/immortality/MemberTagFilms.aspximmortality
Number of films tagged: 210

Number of people who tagged: 15

Number of times used: 23

]]>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:48:03 GMT2101523Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/reincarnation/MemberTagFilms.aspxreincarnation
Number of films tagged: 220

Number of people who tagged: 15

Number of times used: 18

]]>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:02:03 GMT2201518Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/lesbianism/MemberTagFilms.aspxlesbianism
Number of films tagged: 586

Number of people who tagged: 12

Number of times used: 21

]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:04:22 GMT5861221Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/gender/MemberTagFilms.aspxgender
Number of films tagged: 100

Number of people who tagged: 9

Number of times used: 16

]]>Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:05:23 GMT100916Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/sexism/MemberTagFilms.aspxsexism
Number of films tagged: 78

Number of people who tagged: 8

Number of times used: 12

]]>Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:44:08 GMT78812Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/feel/MemberTagFilms.aspxfeel
Number of films tagged: 30

Number of people who tagged: 7

Number of times used: 35

]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:16:53 GMT30735Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/roleswitching/MemberTagFilms.aspxroleswitching
Number of films tagged: 317

Number of people who tagged: 7

Number of times used: 15

]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:02:27 GMT317715Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/aristocracy/MemberTagFilms.aspxaristocracy
Number of films tagged: 1216

Number of people who tagged: 6

Number of times used: 9

]]>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:02:15 GMT121669Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/noble/MemberTagFilms.aspxnoble
Number of films tagged: 194

Number of people who tagged: 5

Number of times used: 5

]]>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:02:17 GMT19455Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Androgynous/MemberTagFilms.aspxAndrogynous
Number of films tagged: 1

Number of people who tagged: 1

Number of times used: 1

]]>Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:51:48 GMT111Tag