Monday, July 04, 2005
She not only acts, she writes too
Interesting comments from On the Beach actors can be read on a website about Nevil Shute. I found what Ava Gardner had to say about the movie very moving:
Though I'd read the book, Stanley's script made me weep. You couldn't say it was marvelous - that was the wrong word. It was compelling, tragic, moving, chilling . . . I don't know what expression you can use about the end of the world. Stanley liked to call it "the biggest story of our time," and who could disagree? It was a fictional scenario, but my God, everyone in the cast and crew knew it could happen. And that added a dimension of reality to the unreal world of film making that none of us had experienced before. (Quoted from "Ava, My Story" by Ava Gardner)
Knowing "it could happen" is what makes a story such as On the Beach so powerful. By the end of the film there is nothing left to say and it leaves one in silent mourning because of the "what if" factor.
