A giant and a maverick in American filmmaking, Robert Altman was one of
the few who lived his life as a human being and an artist completely by his own
terms. Part of his greatness came from his focus as a writer on the
interrelationships between the different characters in his films. A keen ear
for dialogue, one of the first things you notice in an Altman feature is that
his characters sound like real people, not constructs on a piece of paper. Part
of that is also down Altman’s encouraging his actors to sometimes abandon his
scripts altogether in favor of improvisation. While that may be an audacious
move, it wouldn’t have been possible had he not created for his actors in films
such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 3 Women, Short Cuts and Gosford Park had he
not created a solid foundational base from which they draw inspiration. A
trailblazer way ahead of his time.
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