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