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THE
COMPANY
directed
by ROBERT ALTMAN
with Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco
and the company members of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago
Synopsis
Robert Altman follows up the stunning success of the Academy Award
winning GOSFORD PARK with THE COMPANY, a look at the world of ballet
as only Altman could envision it.
Throughout his extraordinary career, Altman has surprised, entertained
and challenged audiences with vibrant, freewheeling films that stretch
the boundaries of the medium. With THE COMPANY, this iconic director
brings his signature ensemble and improvisatory style, and his fluid,
masterful camera-work to the world of dance. Altman’s vision for
the film is an extremely intimate one: we will see the difficult
daily work, the enormous pressures of performance, the richly textured
behaviors of the dancers -- whose professional and personal lives
grow impossibly close -- and of course the sheer beauty of the dances:
exhilarating, kinetic, and thrillingly observed.
The authenticity and richness of THE COMPANY will be rooted in the
unprecedented way Altman is shooting the film: with the complete
cooperation of the world-famous Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Screenwriter
Barbara Turner (POLLACK, GEORGIA) spent over two years on and off
with the Joffrey, observing and writing. Joffrey dancers will constitute
the core of Altman’s ensemble.
The only actor who will be working as part of the Joffrey corps
is Neve Campbell (the enormously popular SCREAM movies and the television
show “Party of Five”). Campbell, an accomplished dancer, studied
with The National Ballet of Canada before becoming an actress. She
originated THE COMPANY, the culmination of a long-held dream to
create a nuanced and realistic film about a world for which she
has enormous and abiding affection. Campbell’s role in the film
is that of a gifted but conflicted company member on the verge of
becoming a principal dancer. (Campbell has been working intensively
with the Joffrey and will do all of her own dancing in the film.)
Malcolm McDowell (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, O LUCKY MAN!, GANGSTER NO.
1), will play Gerald Arpino, the Joffrey’s Artistic Director, long
considered to be one of America’s greatest and most exciting living
choreographers. Actor James Franco (SPIDERMAN and JAMES DEAN, for
which he won a Golden Globe this year) will portray Cal, one of
the film’s few characters outside of the dance world and the boyfriend
of the dancer Campbell portrays.
THE COMPANY, as Altman envisions it, might best be described in
terms suited themselves to dance: fluid, sexy, intimate, alive.
It is a love letter to artists who work in this singularly difficult
and universally expressive medium, by a master of his own singularly
difficult medium, Robert Altman.
Distribution: Golden Scene Company Ltd
Release date: 1 July, 2004
Duration: 112 minutes
Category: IIA
Cinemas: Cine Art
Website:http://www.tripictures.com/thecompany
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