“We would not like life with white walls.”
To truly understand the beating heart of new movie The Monuments Men, you just have to look to surviving member Harry Ettlinger. For those who don’t know, Monuments Men were people who fought in World War 2 in order to reclaim artwork that the Nazi’s have stolen. The real life operation consisted 350 men and women working tirelessly to restore balance to the world of art. Ettlinger today, was speaking at today’s film press conference in the Sainsbury Wing Theatre of The National Gallery, (home to a magnificent collection its self.) Here, you can tell his passion for masterpieces is still alive, important and wholly real.
“I feel wrong sitting here and saying that we need to go into the wars in Syria and elsewhere in order to save artwork. Somewhere people have to be accountable for that, even if the President chimed in. Take a look at Egypt where a bombing took place opposite the Islamic Centre for Muslim art; a lot could have been lost and we need to reinstate that attention to our cultural history.”
Edsel, after his experiences with the book would later advice Clooney and the crew on how to truly honour the tale of these courageous people. “We changed the names,” they both state at their different respective panels, “not because we didn’t want to honour the men and women who did this but because we wanted to. In order to develop the characters in film, we needed to give them engaging traits such as alcoholism or crimes. So to preserve the legacy of the real people who fought for our artwork, we had to change the names.”
“Yeah,” riffs Goodman, “my only training consisted of a knife and a fork.”
There is a lot of raucous laughter here from the panel and the press. A relatively engaging and witty panel, the conference is as light hearted as one could imagine with comedic greats like Bill Murray. Working together must have been a blast, especially with actors who know each other through different projects such as Goodman and DuJardin (they previously ventured out with The Artist and were paired together here.) With so much star power, how did being directed by Clooney and working together, feel on set?
“I suppose it was a different experience for George, as he was writing and directing” Damon states, “but for us, it was more fun. You know, we all came from headlining, alone, these singular movies. So to be in an ensemble with these guys it’s a lot more fun and relaxing. Yeah there were times we fooled around. We laugh a lot.”
“Well, me and Bill don’t talk to each other anymore” says Baldan and incurs a glaring (and jokey) stare from Bill Murray.
The obvious question now was, were there any pranks pulled? “I managed to convince Matt that he’d lost seven pounds,” says Clooney, in an act that feels more high school than Oscar Nominated Actor, “I convinced the costume designer to keep letting him in (inches on the costume) and by the end, he was eating just a grape but still thinking he was gaining weight.”
And with that in mind, it is imperative to bring that life of humor to the film, despite it’s setting says the team behind the movie.
Replying, Damon says “why is that the British default setting?”
Speaking of artwork did our talent have any significant artwork that they would save? “Starry Night,” says Goodman before Damon tells us that the day before, they’d visited The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci) and they were all blown away by that.
And what about the impact of art, especially as actors getting into the creativity?
“When I was in Chicago,” Murray begins, “just starting out, I realised I couldn’t act. My first experience on stage was awful, so bad that I just walked out of the theatre. I started walking and realised I was walking in the wrong direction. Not in the wrong direction of where I lived, but the wrong direction in terms of a desire to stay alive. I thought if I was going to die, I may as well go over to the lake and float. Heading towards it, I realised I was on Michigan Avenue and I thought ‘I’d walk up that as that is North.’ And that’s when I stumbled on the Chicago Art Institute. I went in and it was one of those donation thingys and I just looked at the art. I came across a painting, I can’t remember who by and I think it was called The Song of the Lark. But it was just a woman standing there, farming in a field and a sun rise just behind her. And I thought, ‘well, she doesn’t have a lot going for her but look, the sun is still rising for her…”
Refusing to follow Murray’s brilliant tale, the panel bid us goodbye, flitting off to get ready for The Monuments Men premiere tonight in Leicester Square.
The film hits cinemas this Valentines Day
Stay tuned for Cookie N Screen's review later tonight!