Wednesday, November 4, 1998
An act of god
Independent film uses
fictional
characters,
horrific images
to examine "Frankenstein" director
James Whale’s untimely death through
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It was not a dark and stormy night. The only monsters present
lurked between the pages of his own screenplay  but still,
Bill Condon was scared.
The writer and director was on his way to meet Ian McKellen, who
turned out to be a very gentle, blue-eyed knight. But a long and
renown history performing the theatrical canon, not to mention a
royal title, made the actor imposing all the same.
"I was thinking on the first day of read-throughs, I’d tell him
to do it the way (the Royal National Theatre’s) Trevor Nunn would
tell him to do it," Condon says.
But as the two chatted at executive producer Clive Barker’s
house, a shared enthusiasm for their project, a film version of
Christopher Bram’s novel "Father of Frankenstein," eclipsed any
fears.
The movie that emerged from their laboratory (the rolling hills
surrounding Los Angeles) is "Gods and Monsters," a drama interlaced
with horror-genre homage and based on the somewhat-mysterious death
of James Whale, director of "Show Boat" and the first two
Frankenstein flicks. In 1957, Whale was discovered floating in the
pool outside his mansion in the Santa Monica mountains. It had been
more than two decades since his last film and his rather
disgruntled exit from an increasingly corporate Hollywood.
If the image and circumstances call up visions of Norma Desmond,
spiraling elegantly toward her final murderous performance, you’re
on the same track as Bram. The author created Clay Boone, a
fictional young gardener who befriends the director in his final
days and finds himself darkly drawn to the old man’s stories.
"I remember someone called it Å’the gay "Sunset Boulevard"’
and I said that was redundant," Condon laughs. Though mildly
disappointed at his strapping employee’s heterosexuality, Whale’s
need for companionship and the relationship that ensues goes far
deeper than that of aging diva and boy toy  or even god and
monster (though the malleable Boone, played by Brendan Fraser, is
suspiciously hulking and wears his hair in a flat top).
McKellen, who spends much of his spare time as a gay rights
activist, admits playing a character whose life paralleled his own
in so many ways appealed to him. Whale too grew up in England and
began his career in the theater. And he was openly gay, a rarity in
the early part of the century, though not quite as scandalous as it
was in the "wholesome" 1950s, when production codes and family
values were all the rage.
"The side of me that wants to alert people to the fact that gay
people have as much right to be fulfilled in their lives as anyone
else doesn’t often impinge on my work. But when it does and the two
overlap, I’m a very happy person. I think Å’Gods and Monsters’
is an example of the film industry growing up," McKellen says.
Satisfied that the movie steers clear of cliches, he
nevertheless worried that the small-scale independent movie would
get pigeonholed.
"Initially I thought, Å’Clive Barker, openly gay. Bill
Condon, openly gay. Oh, me. My god.’ I thought this was a movie
that would open up in the Castro one day and never be seen again,"
McKellen says.
If a film’s "gayness" or lack thereof seems like a weak
interpretation of its themes, try monsters and muses. One can
follow the trail of inspiration from "Frankenstein" author Mary
Shelley to James Whale to  at least metadramatically Â
Bill Condon. And just as Boone is intrigued at the thought of
capturing a Hollywood icon’s interest, the chance to collaborate
with one of his greatest inspirations beckoned Fraser.
"My eyes were wide open to working with Ian because I admire him
so much  and I have since I first became aware of him. I saw
a video tape in the library which we were required to view (in
school) and it was Ian McKellen, Å’Acting Shakespeare.’"
Fraser says that McKellen’s first one-man show "demystified
iambic pentameter so it can actually be understood. And he did it
in such a deft way that it was truly inspiring."
"Gods and Monsters" also reunited McKellen with longtime friend
Lynn Redgrave, who transformed herself into a dour-faced Hungarian
to play Whale’s housekeeper, Hanna. Though the character is a
Mexican woman named Maria in the book, Condon’s research revealed
that most housekeepers of the era were from Eastern Europe and the
two women who cared for Whale (of whom Hanna is a composite) were
no exception.
Thus Redgrave wanted to do her part for historical accuracy, so
she solicited a Hungarian friend to coach her on the accent and
select phrases.
"I told Bill, Å’I think I can construct a phone call all in
Hungarian, would you like that?’ He said, Å’Oh yes, I could use
it.’ So I got every single thing I learned to say and made up a
conversation that would make sense in terms of what my daughter is
supposed to be asking me (on the other end of the line)," Redgrave
says proudly. Out of gratitude toward her mentor, she called the
fictional daughter Eva, after her friend.
But for the inner workings of her character, Redgrave needed
only to consult her own past. Hanna’s staunchly Catholic ways
repeatedly divide her between love for the friend that Whale has
become and the suspicion that he’s going to hell for his sexual
indiscretions. The attitude reminded her of the nanny that served
her theatrical family years ago in England.
A live-in governess who took off just one night a week and spent
an average of 15 years with each family she worked with, Kitty (as
she was called), "was proud to say she was still a virgin,"
Redgrave says. "My family was very colorful, to put it very very
conservatively. Nanny knew all about it and somewhat turned a blind
eye. Somewhat reproving, but she would never be disloyal … I’ve
lived long enough to know that kind of woman. I don’t think they
exist anymore."
But "Gods and Monsters" is all about recreating and speculating
on the past; about digging away at the motives and limitations
surrounding any relationship.
Fraser, in the quiet, thoughtful tone that underlies his
character and dominates his real-life persona, gives a final,
slightly spooky interpretation of the web Whale and Boone find
themselves in.
"It’s sort of like what the spider did to the fly. But the
interesting thing about the film is we never really know who the
spider is and who the fly is," Fraser says. "Or who the god is and
who the monster is, for that matter."
FILM: "Gods and Monsters" opens today at Westside Pavillion’s
Landmark Theater.Photos by Anne Fishbein
Ian Mckellan and Rosalind Ayres star in "Gods and Monsters," a
film about James Whale, the director of the original Frankenstein
movies.
Ian McKellan and Brendan Fraser star together
in "Gods and Monsters," which opens today.
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