MARYTE KAVALIAUSKAS

©Richard Schmidt

Maryte Kavaliauskas interview

Heyoka magazine: One of the first things that struck me about your film was that it presents a fascinating window into David Hockney's creative processes. How he describes and works with music, space, light and time. It brings to mind Baudelaire, "les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se respondent".  When you started making this film, did you have an idea for documenting a kind of synaesthetic experience  (colours of music). 

Maryte Kavaliauskas:   When we started filming with David Hockney, our primary interest was in capturing the opera work he was doing at the time. He was involved in three projects: a revival of "PARADE" in Paris and two projects in his studio in L.A. He was working on the model for "Turandot" and starting to listen to "The Frau Ohne Schatten"  to visualize his ideas.  At that time, we new we would film the artist at work and try to capture his creative process in an intimate way. We dove into the project blindly, because time was crucial. We had to start right away.  We learned along the way, as we watched David work & talk freely about his work.

 

HM: The title "The Colors of Music" reflects Hockney's synthesis of his sublime use of color in his art and the painted stage sets along with the music used in the operas. 

 

You captured that same feeling with the Californian mountain driving scenes with the stunning visuals moving simultaneously with  Wagner; both complementing each other - much like what he was talking about where background music is used in the foreground (not just background) with the images and lighting.  

 

Also you have portrayed a peaceful and contemplative artist accepting the tragedy of the loss of his hearing; especially affecting his love for music.  When he mentions that everyone is touched by tragedy, but not everyone is touched by the comedic;  That the most important subject is love".

Did you know that Hockney was losing his hearing before you filmed the movie and how long was the time span of the filming process and how many locations did you film on altogether?
 

© Richard Schmidt

MK:  Amazingly, we did not know Hockney was losing his hearing before we started our film. But, when we started to film he was very frank about his problem. We filmed most of the footage in 1991& 1992. Then it took us almost 10 years to raise the money to finish the film. We also had some other problems to sort out in that time. We filmed mostly in David's studio.  So, most of our footage was shot in David's studio in L.A. We also filmed in Chicago, New York, Paris and London. In addition we used some archival footage, as well as some home videos from Hockney's own library.

© Richard Schmidt

HM: It was very interesting watching him work on the small stage models in his studio, playing with the light, listening and studying the music.  He seemed very comfortable and not fazed at all by the filming activity around him.

Did shooting the film in his studio pose any technical issues for you, or him in the sense of not being too invasive, during his and your creative processes?

MK:  When David has an audience he is quite the performer, so as long as we stayed out of his way & he was involved in his work with other people, we didn't have any problems. It also helped that we were a minimal crew of two. After a day or two filming he would often say that was enough and send us on our way. We would leave and come back another day.

We wanted the film to be true to him and to let him lead us through his creative process. Because David is so articulate, we kept the interviews to a minimum.  We did interview John Cox, the opera director, who gave David his first opportunity with "The Rake's Progress", because we wanted to have another voice as a counterpoint to David's voice. Having collaborated on three operas, John Cox was the perfect person to describe the nature of that collaboration. We were fortunate in having great cooperation from David Hockney, as well as John Cox. They gave us a glimpse into the magic of preparing opera productions.
 

 

© Richard Schmidt

HM: There is a scene during the making of the set for "The Rakes Progress" where he talks about cross hatching, and how he used magnified cross hatching on the set for the Bedlam scenes. This is another example of his creative thought processes. Were there any surprising moments for you while making this film in the sense of capturing other live moments like this?

Also David Hockney's articulation comes thru on quite a few levels.  He appears to be very open and forthright, like you said earlier about his hearing loss.  In your experience with conducting interviews, is there a particular method that seems to work for you, in order to make it easier for the person being interviewed to let their guards down while the cameras are rolling?

MK:  To answer the first question about David's creativity. I would say that the way David uses his driving through landscapes while listening to the music that he will be designing sets for is amazing. Also, David created a ride, like a Disney theme park ride, through the Santa Monica mountains to the music of Wagner. He loved this so much that he would take visitors on this ride, so they could experience the same pleasure. I was fortunate to go on a couple of these rides. They were spectacular, surround sound experiences.

Our technique in getting David to talk, was not through our interviews, but through other people talking to David while we were there filming. He always seemed comfortable with that approach. At the end of all the filming, we did try to have the BIG interview, but it was not as spontaneous, so we actually decided against using it in the film.   We wanted David to be as natural and enthusiastic as he is in real life.