Miloš Forman on F. Murray Abraham's audition for Amadeus
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- Miloš Forman talks about casting F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in "Amadeus" (1985).
January 10th, 2007
The full interview is available here : • Miloš Forman: What Hap...
Wow! That’s beautiful. He generously hung around to help another actor and was blessed :)
I saw Ian McClellan as Salieri in the stage producer on Broadway, and he was wonderful. But, when I saw F. Murray Abraham in the film, I was blown away. So glad he got the Oscar.
He was wonderful in the film. Amazing to think that he landed the part almost by accident.
Indeed many definitive portrayals by actors have been by accident: Robert Powell auditioned to play Judas in Jesus of Nazareth but Franco Zeferelli saw him as Jesus the moment he wore the beard and long hair. In 1931 Paramount wanted Irving Pichel to play Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but director Rouben Mamoulian wanted Fredric March - who went on to win the Oscar
Forman was very unorthodox and intuitive in casting since the beginning and would initially pick up random people in public or on a tram that later proved to be remarkable types for cinema and would often go on and enjoy a lenghthy acting career. He had a unique instinct who would look good and was able to take an unknown actor or a B-list actor and forge him into an Oscar-level performance.
Undeservedly one of the names that never gets mentioned on greatest actors of all time lists etc. One of the best performances in cinema history.
Allegedly he’s a pain in the ass to work with. Might have something to do with it…
@@robertrostad3930 as far as I know, that could be said about many different talented actors, directors & artists in general. So even if that is a fact, I don't find it a good enough excuse.
Amazing. That's a testament to the importance of casting. What a great lesson for young film makers.
You made the right choice ❤
Incredible story!
Possibly the best acting we've had since Nicholson's one flew
Did Milos Forman EVER make a bad movie? Um, that would be no. What a great story! :D
Hair and Goya's Ghosts are pretty bad.
One of his early Czech films, Audition, is crap.
When you’re that sure about casting someone for a part……they win Oscar, smart director smart producers.
Brilliant instinct and direction on Formans part. It speaks a lot that Abraham wasnt really able to repeat such success when he didnt have Forman to direct him.
Abraham has said that he kept getting crappy film requests after Amadeus, and so he resorted to the stage. That’s partly why we never saw many more great roles, though he’s been great in what roles I’ve seen him take.
@@davidswanson5669 Well he had mostly crappy roles before Amadeus as well, which Forman mentions - if he was to judge him by his work, he wouldnt even give him an audition. It shows the insight and perfect intuition he had for picking up B-list, unknown actors or even complete non-actors and forging them into Oscar-level performances - he discovered many big names for the screen, others never achieved any real success before and after Forman.
Thank goodness he didn't book it out of the place after his Director Rosenberg audition, lol!
Forman mentions 2 other films without naming them - one was the "awful" film that he thankfully hadn't seen yet, that would have damaged his impression of Abraham - and the other was the project that Abraham accepted that complicated matters - I wonder what these films were -
I'm guessing Scarface might be the role Abraham accepted while in the running for Salieri - Scarface was 1983, and Amadeus was 1984 - so the timing would have been right - plus Abraham had a supporting role in Scarface so he might have been done shooting soon enough to then start Amadeus
- tho Forman is independent-minded enough to conceivably have been off-handedly revolted by a film like Scarface; DePalma's approach was controversial - but I don't think that one was the "awful" film, based on the timing
Re the "awful" film - Abraham had made 7 films before that - including Serpico and All the President's Men, tho somehow I don't think either of those is the one in question lol
- the earlier film might possibly have been 1976 The Ritz, which received lukewarm, unenthusiastic reviews, and Abraham maybe had a large enough role to be noticed
- there was another film 1975 Prisoner of Second Avenue, which was a Neil Simon adap that a lot of people might have seen, and received awful reviews - Abraham is a "taxi driver" in that - I don't know if that role was big enough - but this film sounds like a strong candidate -
You're right about Abraham accepting the role in Scarface at the same time. There is an interview somewhere here on TH-cam where Abraham talks about flying back and forth between shoots, studying the scripts on the plane, etc. He mentions that he sees similar hand gestures and body movements in both characters he plays, maybe only noticeable to him and of course didn't affect his performance in either role. What a great story and such a great actor.
Film he saw later that was awful. Wonder what that was. Certainly couldn’t be SCAR FACE … right? An all time American classic yet FMA was a real scumbag creep in that
The guy who got Mozart (who was great in this part) won an Oscar 4 it (I think) his career BOMBED - TANKED after that role.
Hulce received a Best Actor Oscar nomination along with Abraham but Abraham won. I wouldn't say Hulce's career tanked. He was never an A-list actor but still got notable roles after Amadeus, before retiring from film acting. He was always more of a theater actor and later a successful producer. He even won a Tony for it years later.
He was great in Frankenstein!
Let's not forget "Animal House"
Thats a very interesting and lucky audition story