Alive From Off Center. |
All my life I have been in love with film and music, and this feels like the best opportunity I have ever had to work with a fusion of the two artistic mediums, |
And then when the song was over I didn't say 'cut.' I thought it would be rude, 'It's Buster Keaton -- this guy knows exactly what size he is in the frame.' That's the filmmaker in Neil. |
Each year, Cognac makes its mark with enthusiasm, style and confidence and it's wonderful to be taking part in this year's edition. |
I don't think it's sacrilegious to remake any movie, including a good or even great movie. |
I remember him telling me that he was going to New York for a couple of days. I could've sworn that he told me he was going to a foot doctor. |
It puts me in touch with some deeply felt, old-fashioned, powerful ideas about what America stands for, what the family stands for, what friends stand for. There's a complete absence of cynicism. I think it makes you feel good to be human. |
Neil would be singing these songs for the first time ever to an audience that never heard them before. He'd be so communicative under those circumstances. |
One thing that Neil and I talked about from the very beginning was making this movie feel like a dream -- literally a dream concert that takes you back in time and takes place in a dream location. |
People can go on this emotional journey that awaits them if they surrender to the songs. |
Seeing Neil Young expressing these lyrics and seeing the emotions that register on his face in his style of presentation is a sublime extra for understanding his music. |
Sometimes it worries me if people think that this is a movie about slavery, or it's a movie that's going to challenge you on the level of how you feel about slavery that they're going to resist seeing it. |
That's the only time he'd do it. |
We pretended it was a world premiere concert. |