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arts & entertainment Olympian continued from page 9 little bit more letes we would worship. Thursday, feb. 17 secluded, a little bit He did all that in 11 years and he said goodbye. The Athlete, Noon, Moriarty Arts more introverted. That’s why I felt this title, and Humanities Building, Room 104 My sense of it was this audacious title, was Pumzi, Ousmane, and Saint that he was very quite fitting for this char- louis Blues (three shorts) — proud of his accom- acter. 1:45pm, Moriarty Arts and plishments and in that sense, had an tSn: How did you pre- Humanities Building, Room 104 pare for the role both Burning in the Sun, 7:30 p.m., ego about him, but physically and mentally? Moriarty Arts and Humanities the glory of his accomplishments Davey Frankel: Rass Building, Room 104 weren’t the reason he spoke to a lot of people accomplished them. who ran on the team or old friday, feb. 18 For him it was some- coaches, his main coach thing more internal. who has a main role in the The athlete, 7 p.m., Hollywood tSn: How do you film passed away before Theatre go about making a Rass started doing the Saturday, feb. 19 film about running main research for the film, so he never spoke to the White lion, 2 p.m., McMenamins interesting? Davey Frankel: actual coach. He met with Kennedy School a lot of his relatives. Pumzi, Ousmane and Saint There is a history of rl: Physically, I pre- louis Blues (three shorts) 7:30 p.m., them, so I think part pared by running. I actual- Moriarty Arts and Humanities of it that we wanted to make a film not ly ran in the marathon in Building, Room 104 specifically about NYC before the film. I had running, but what it to lose 30 to 35 pounds for the role and also gain weight, because means to be a champion. After being the great runner, he was para- toward the end of his career he was crippled and he began to gain some weight. I had to lyzed in a car accident, he had this determi- do those transitions. As far as mannerisms nation to carry on. That is what we tried to and sensibilities, it’s something that’s com- focus on, the running is part of what he mon to Ethiopia, that I’ve seen in particular does, but the running itself is not central to men who come from the mountain who are the film per se. Throughout the film, partculataly quiet, but strong and full of because we actually used the Olympic archives of the Olympics themselves, you hubris. see the man run. We used the imagery in a tSn: How did he react to his fame? rl: He was indifferent to fame and his much more evocative way, as opposed to it being about the race, per se. There was even glories. He had this quality about him. DF: He was a confident guy. And sort of a time we talked about, hey man we’re not a little bit quiet to the outside world. As going to shoot our running sequences, Rass portrays him, talking to his friends, if because we weren’t out to make Charriots you were his close friend, he was an open, of Fire or a Rocky or a movie along those giving man. But the world at large, he was a lines. It was making an epic man and detail the character study. tSn: Is marathon running something that is true to Ethiopian culture or is it just one of many pastimes that Ethiopians take up? rl: It’s a very, very interesting question, because the first Black African is an Ethiopian, it is Abebe Bikila, he did it in a way that was so visceral, so organic, he did it in bare feet … the soldier shep- herd who con- quered Rome. That actually established a big movement because other runners really looked up to him when he went back to Ethiopia, and pursued that dream, that same dream. Marathons in this point in Ethiopia, anyone pursuing athletics would say, our runners, short distance runners, wouldn’t get the ultimate respect of finishing a num- ber one in marathon, because everyone real- izes the marathon takes a great deal of effort. The marathon is old, just like Ethiopia. It takes perseverance, too, and it’s also a nation of perseverance, 5,000 years without being colonized or conquered by an outside force. It’s the first place where human kind has walked. It’s one place where the oldest empire existed. This is an empire that is so mountainous and so mystical, and all these things are so parallel to the definition of marathon. The people that come out of the mountains are so rugged and strong and skinny, that they are the result of this nation. It’s what this nation is all about it. It’s a very romantic thing. A very roman- tic event. It’s a very proud sport. Abebe Bikila, he did it in a way that was so visceral, so organic, he did it in bare feet … the soldier shepherd who conquered Rome Caldwell’s, Hennessey, Goetsch & McGee Funeral Home Von D. Bailey Funeral Director 20 NE 14th Avenue Portland, OR 97232 503-232-4111 Fax 503-231-1586 von.bailey@sci-us.com february 16, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 13
