Rendez vous avec Tilda Swinton © Manon Boyer / FDC
Rendez-vous with… Tilda Swinton
Her ethereal face and slender figure have been transformed countless times to suit different projects, making her a muse for many filmmakers around the world. Scottish actress Tilda Swinton was a guest at the Festival, for a witty and spiritual chat. From Jim Jarmusch to Pedro Almodóvar, not forgetting of course her best friend Derek Jarman, the actress spoke enthusiastically about her work and her relationships with her friends in the film industry. Highlights.
About her beginnings as an actress
I started out as a writer. I deeply regret having been accepted into university as a writer and having to stop, and never wrote again. I wasn’t interested in being an actress. On the other hand, I was interested in cinema, so I took the plunge, alongside my friend Derek Jarman. I come from a background of improvisation and experimental films. Those are my roots. When Derek Jarman died in 1994, I didn’t just lose my best friend, I questioned everything. Who am I? Where am I going? As an actress, I didn’t know if I should continue. And then, I eventually found other families with Bong Joon-ho, Jim Jarmusch…
“ It’s ok ! Cinema is going nowhere. It’s so robust and dedicate to evolution, because this is a human business. ”
About the fear of cinema disappearing
Cinema was always in movement. It’s an experimental medium. There nothing fixed about it. When Covid striked us, everybody said that everything will close down, but when sound came in, the studios and cinema had to close down, it was a complete crisis, and everybody said cinema was dead. And color came in, and televison, and video and DVDs and streaming… It’s ok ! Cinema is going nowhere. It’s so robust and dedicate to evolution, because this is a human business.
About her close collaborators
When Jim Jarmush came to me and said it’s going to be on zombie film. And I’ve written a part for you, she’s called Zelna Winston, and she’s a Scottish funeral director who gets sucked up at the end into a spaceship. It is children in a send pit. It’s all about amusing yourself, and amuse the people around.
Pedro Almodóvar writes in high heels. He is writing feery stories. He’s not a naturalist, dealing with real life. What’s thrilling with Pedro is that he is my most recent collaborator, and by all that time I was such a diehard of his work. He creates a world of his own : we all know what it looks like, what it tastes like, what it smells like. It’s very enthusiastic, especially for me who isn’t Spanish and curvy. And to finally step into it is incredible.
