| George Cukor, interviewed by Richard Overstreet, 1964
Garbo had great self possession |
We started doing Two-Faced Woman (USA 1941) without a script and this is always dangerous. Garbo was extremely well behaved and disciplined. She made many, many requests but they were always practical and reasonable.
She had great self possession. She requested that no one come on the set while she was filming. She had an idea, a notion of illusion that went very far and she didn't want to break it. People around shattered this illusion – and then she didn't want gawkers to see her "unguarded" while she worked. Thought if they wanted to see her they should go to her pictures.
Garbo was a perfectionist! |
"She never saw rushes because they always fell short of what she thought she could do………of what she imagined. A great perfectionist……..to the extreme. She often had to quit working early to calm down – when she acted she put her whole self into it and it wore her down, exhausted her. She liked to work the way I do: very sketchy rehearsals and real acting done for the first time before the cameras. She had a talent that few actresses or actors possess.
In close-ups she gave the impression, the illusion of great movement. She would move her head just a little bit and the whole screen would come alive – like a strong breeze that made itself felt. Wonderful movements.
The film was too bad for Garbo! |
Technically, she was enormously resourceful. She always had great trust in the people she worked for – most of the time. She knew how to act for the camera ………for the camera.
Irving Thalberg died after the first week of shooting on Camille, but saw the first rushes. He was amazed and said to me: "she's never been so good. She is unguarded for the first time". The picture was bad but he was right when he said that she was unguarded for the first time. She was never so fragile and unprotected……..it was already the end. It was interesting idea to have her play twin sisters but the script wasn't written – we did it as we went along and it just went bad. It was too bad for Garbo……..
Camille... |
"It is hard to talk about Garbo, really for she says everything when she appears on the screen. That is GARBO…………and all you say is just so much chit-chat. There she is on the screen. How she achieves those effects may or may not be interesting. She is what she is; and that is a very creative actress who thinks about things a great deal and has very personal way of acting. You have to giver her head – let her do what she feels.
If you remember in Camille when the father comes in to tell her to leave his son, she falls to the ground and puts her hand on the table. That's a very original thing to do. One must let her do these things and they happen marvellously .Also, do you remember in Camille when the man made her pick up her fan – he just stood there, the Baron de Varville. When she reached down she did the most unforgettable thing.
Sweeping down, like a dancer…….Isodora Duncan…she swept it up – the whole motion was done without bending her knees. It was so unexpected for it is not a natural gesture. Yet, it was pure grace when she did it – just that way, for some peculiar reason. (at this point GC rises and tries to imitate the movement) I can't do it. Impossible.
The plastique of her body was marvellous. She doesn't move like a ballerina acting – but like an actress acting. It is not dance but acting. This is an important point. She moves like an actress. Margot Fonteyn is an actress in this scene. There was a bit of Garbo in her performance of La Dame aux Camellias.
Garbo is primitive! |
"I think all you have to know about Garbo is what you see on the screen. How she achieves what she does is a mystique…….Richard Overstreet: in Camille I particularly liked the scene where she wakes up for the first time in the country. Sitting up in bed with the morning light streaming in it is as though she is re-born. George Cukor: She is primitive, in fact. She's basically like an animal. She likes the smell of the ground…….."
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