Geoffrey Rush is one of Australia’s most celebrated exports, a protean character actor whose roles have ranged from the mentally frail pianist David Helfgott (his Oscar-winning performance in “Shine”) to George VI’s speech therapist Lionel Logue (“The King’s Speech”) to the Marquis de Sade (“Quills”).
Courtesy of the 92nd Street Y
He most recent film, in which he is pictured above, is “The Eye of the Storm,” directed by Fred Schepisi, and also starring Judy Davis. The film is based on a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning writer Patrick White, about a domineering matriarch and her alienated adult children. Last Wednesday, Rush paid homage to this less well-known Australian genius as part of the 92Y’s long-running film screening and discussion series, “Reel Pieces.” Rush, director Schepisi, and Schepisi’s daughter Alexandra, who has a featured role in the film, were interviewed before a live audience by Dr. Annette Insdorf, the head of undergraduate film studies at Columbia University.
Bon Mots
Geoffrey Rush on Patrick White: "Here was somebody writing about the Australian landscape and the Australian psyche with big, bold, fat novels."
Fred Schepisi on White’s characters: "Patrick White believes that everyone is an actor, that you’re one way with your family, another way with your friends, another way with your work colleagues. You present all those different faces to the world."
Geoffrey Rush on Australian films of the 1970s: "There were a lot of pioneering films. Guys used to have to be on horseback with their shirts off, with picks."
Fred Schepisi on his cast: "It was a great collaboration, and by the end I really did love them all."
To listen to an excerpt from the “Reel Pieces” talk, click on the player above.
Janet Malcolm and Ian Frazier Talk Shop at The New Yorker Festival
Wrestling with Words: Poet Philip Schultz Talks about Dyslexia
The Call of Things: Jane Bennett Talks About Hoarders at the Vera List Center
Game of Thrones: Sir Peter Hall and Michael Boyd in Conversation
'Speak the Speech I Pray You': Directors Weigh in on Bringing Shakespeare to the Stage
Talk To Me: A Happy Beginning for Happy Ending
Talk to Me: New Orleans as Paradox
Talk to Me: The PEN World Voices Festival Takes on Corporate Publishing
Talk to Me: From Russia with Love at the Greene Space
Talk to Me: China in Two Acts
Behind 'War Horse': The Puppeteers at The New School
Cornelia Street Café Says Happy Birthday to Shakespeare
Talk to Me: Stranger Performances
Talk To Me: Art, Pornography and Censorship
Talk to Me: The Yale Review Celebrates 100 Years
Talk to Me: Celebrating 100 Years of Tennessee Williams
Talk to Me: Story Prize: Short Stories, Big Prizes
Talk to Me: Bill Callahan's Letters to Emma Bowlcut
Talk to Me: Zadie Smith and Gemma Sieff
From Belarus with Love and Pain: The Belarus Free Theatre at Le Poisson Rouge
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Radiolab
More Perfect
Snap Judgment Presents: Spooked
The Story of Mankind
Black Beauty
Death, Sex & Money
The New Yorker Radio Hour