The premise of our scene is that Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman are attending our concert, and we are performing the Schubert Cello Quintet. We are playing ourselves, The Boston Virtuosi. The audience has programs with our real names as the "Virtuosi Chamber Players". The venue is the beautiful Chapel at Williams College. Gary Sinise appears unexpectedly at the end, which starts the film towards its conclusion.
There are many shots of them from behind watching us play, and Miramax spent $20,000 hiring an audience to make it look real. Director Robert Benton said this part of the film had to be choreographed like a ballet, the scene is wrapped around the musical performance, not the other way around.
While we were watching some of the footage with Anthony Hopkins, he told us that it was his favorite part of the film, and that the music is integral, because there is so much non-verbal communication. There was no way to do this very complicated scene with us playing live, so we were playing to a recording. We understood that to make it work, we had to communicate the gesture, drama and emotion of the slow movement of Schubert Cello Quintet. The music reflects every emotion you see on the screen. To approach the eloquence of the actors' performance, we also had to be utterly convincing in OUR performance - the timing of bow changes, the creation of the appearance of power coming from the back and the preparations for movements. Vibrato and bow speed also had to be matched. My cello part was a series of agitated fast passages, which contrast with the lovely, slow lyrical violin lines. I think it was to represent the unrest, just under the service of an ostensibly calm, serene section of the film. The fast cello runs needed to look intense, but effortless, like dance gestures.
Everyone was delighted with our scene. Director Robert Benton said it turned out even better than he had hoped. We will be billed in the credits as ourselves, members of the Boston Virtuosi. I don't know of another movie where professional players were used in this visual way to add impact to a scene - an actor is usually coached with a few quick lessons in generally looking like a musician - even in the best films. I feel this will set a new standard for the way musicians are used in movies.
We were SO impressed with the artistry of everyone in involved in this project. The concept of wrapping a very complicated scene around a musical performance is truly unique; and Robert Benton's work was brilliant. I have never seen musicians used so effectively in a film.
Article by Cameron Sawzin.