Tilda Swinton is being honoured at BFI this month, receiving a
fellowship for work in cinema over the decades. She is a staple in
cinema, as both a British icon and international success. She is known
for her indie and blockbuster roles, she is a literal chameleon.
Last night she was joined on stage by one of her collaborators, a
writer and director known for his distinct style in both production
design, characters and stories. Wes Anderson is a filmmaker that you can
instantly recognise and having him on stage with
Tilda is a dream made in heaven.
They first met, unofficially, at Cannes when Orlando was being screened and Anderson was there for one of his short films. Years later, Swinton saw
The Darjeeling Limited and wrote a fan letter to the director, prompting the two to meet and collaborate on three films and counting.
Together they had selected some films that had inspired and entranced them to take us on a magical tour through their cinema.
As both shared a passion for Powell & Pressburger, they started with ‘A Matter of Life & Death’ choosing a clip from the start of the film, moving on to reference
‘The Red Shoes’, ‘Peeping Tom’ and Tilda’s favourite film ‘I know Where I’m going’
which she talked about with such sweet delight, telling us all to take a
trip on the sleeper train to Scotland so we could experience just a
fraction of what she
did when she saw the film. Wes had picked a Satyajit Ray film ‘Days
and Nights in the Forest’
and showed us a 7 minutes clip, which the audience seemed to
enjoy immensely despite only 1 or 2 people having seen the film. Tilda
shared her admiration for Alec Guiness in
Kind Hearts and Coronets who plays the entire family in the film,
saying that it reminded her of her own family and how they all looked
the same too. Wes made a point that he was planning on stealing some of
the scenes we’d seen and asked that no one
else do that. Ending on a quick clip of James Cagney dancing, the two
legends slipped out the door.