Hollywood at the end of the world

Nine in the morning. The desert sands blaze. The sun does not care that the actors in “Adam Resurrected” have been on their feet since two. The film set looks like a desert mirage, the steaming desert dreams that perfectly match the imaginary pictures that arise from reading Yoram Kaniuk’s book on which Noah Stollman’s screenplay is based.

Descending the sand dunes of the Dead Sea towards the chimneys of the factories, the steering wheel turns right toward Nachal Pratzim. Not far from the flour caves, in the middle of nowhere, a gray cement building suddenly appears. Welcome to the Tzizling Rehabilitation Asylum, the last refuge of Holocaust survivors devoured by their memories, that was developed in Kaniuk’s mind fifty years ago and is being turned into something tangible in the heart of the desert.

Goldblum and Zorer. A spiritual odyssey

Kaniuk, who in this mirage appears more like a European colonialist than a resident of the Levant, struggles with the flies. “Are these the flies that you brought from Romania?” he asks the producer Ehud Bleiberg, who plays the game and answers: “They heard that you were coming and said “we are after him in fire and water”. The water girl wakes from her stupor and rushes to fill the glasses. Immediately afterwards a turban-wearing boy offers cold coffee or lemon mint granita. Hollywood turn left at the end of the world.

“Adam Resurrected”, which was made into a screenplay by Noah Stollman, will fold up the equipment next Monday. After two months of filming in Romania and Israel, the director Paul Schrader and the cast of actors are deep in the nightmare world of its characters.

 “I had no idea that this story would touch so many people, but I quickly discovered that it did”, says the respected British actor Sir Derek Jacobi, who portrays the character of Dr. Gross, the head of the asylum where Adam Stein is committed.

 “Gross is one of the sane people in the movie if not the sanest of all”, he says. “It is a very human role of a loving, humane man, a doctor who is there to rehabilitate and repair”. Jacobi, who is known to Israeli audiences as Claudius from the TV series “I, Claudius”, loves meeting actors from different nationalities. “We are all grown children and it does not matter from which country we have come. I think that being an actor is a great club to join and most of the actors act from the same center of experience. We only need two minutes to become sisters and brothers”.

Yoram Kaniuk and Jeff Goldblum on the set (Photo:Yifat Yogev)

Paul Schrader’s film set is serene in a way that arouses respect. Maybe it is the heat, or the exhaustion of two months with little sleep, or the thought-provoking desert, but every one involved with the director, from the actors until the last production crewman, are conducting themselves calmly. “It is definitely nourishing, interesting and provocative to be here”, says Jeff Goldblum, who portrays the character of Adam Stein. “It is a spiritual odyssey with Jewish and Israeli ties so it helps to be here, to experience the true flavor of the place”.

“We are all grown children”

Exactly a year has passed since the producer Ehud Bleiberg and the actor Jeff Goldblum arrived at the International Film Festival in Jerusalem to announce the beginning of production on “Adam Resurrected” and since then Stein, the survivor clown, has accompanied him.

“In all modesty, this is a challenge, a once in a lifetime experience”, he says in a conversation that takes place in his fancy caravan. “It is an insane character in an insane world who underwent insane circumstances. I get violent attacks and I can injure people and on the other hand I can be gentle and do mischievous things. I do unexpected things and the meting with the boy who acts like a dog is a therapeutic tool that awakens memories and pain. This entire movie is a therapeutic process from a great and terrible loss that in the end begs the question - who am I?

In preparing for this role Goldblum interviewed many survivors. The responsibility to do it right was enormous. “I hope that I did it the way that it should be done. It is frightening to enter this territory and to dare to tell the story if you do not do it the right way,” he says.

On the set, during a break between take-who-knows-how-many and the next, he suddenly notices Kaniuk and hurries over to him: “Am I doing it right?” he asks, caught in the author’s gaze, “Is it anything like you wrote it?” The scene where Stein tries to get the boy-dog to stand on his feet is physically and emotionally draining. Goldblum is agitated. Kaniuk says to him: “You did a wonderful job” and adds that in the book the scene is infused with a little humor

. “In the book Adam tells the boy to stand up already, that every shmuck can stand”, he whispers to him. In the next take Goldblum adds that sentence to the text and it becomes a part of the scene. Kaniuk smiles.

Hana Laszlo, who portrays Nurse Shuster, has no problems with self-confidence. After Cannes, everything is small to her. “An actor is an actor is an actor. It is an international language and if you have the mileage and the experience you understand that you speak the same language and have the same codes”, she says. The casting of a comedienne for the role is not clear but Laszlo, it appears, loves the space and versatility.

“Every great comedian, please excuse my lack of modesty but I have proof, is also a good dramatic actor”, she says. “Maybe in Israel they would not have cast me in this role, but I am glad that Schrader saw beyond the humor. It is not easy to escape from stigmas but here it is happening slowly.”

“I praise when necessary”

It is Ayelet Zorer’s last day of filming on the set and in production they try to make it as easy for her as possible. “In this profession the soul and work are connected to each other. It is impossible to separate, and on a very personal level I took something from every person here,” she says.

She loved working with Schrader. “Older directors do not feel the need to stage all the time and I think that is great,” she says. “They are more relaxed, give a freer hand, and trust you. They give us freedom of expression and it works. You enter a territory where you are really creating. It gives you responsibility”. After three Hollywood films Zorer is happy to be a little bit at home and even the flies cannot ruin her enjoyment.

Schrader: “Casting was critical." (Photo: Merav Yudilovitch)

At four on the dot the staff begins to fold up. A battery of jeeps and cars quickly drive off, leaving behind a white trail of dust. A moment before he gets into his Mercedes, the director Paul Schrader is available for a wrap-up discussion.

“It has been a long day”, he apologizes and arranges his sun hat. He does not remember how many times he shot the scene that day. “Somehow it was not enough”, he adds. “My job is to make Adam Stein’s story universal”. He says and believes it is possible. Yes, he is aware that the actors complain about the lack of feedback. No, he does not think it is necessary.

“I do not like to praise more than necessary because in the end it becomes white noise and in any case they do not believe it. I am married to an actress. I know how it is,” he says. “I think they know that I value what they are doing. I praise when necessary”.

The casting was a complicated and delicate job. “The casting was critical. There is no way to repair erroneous casting. When I read the script I felt that Jeff was born for this role and he fulfilled all my expectations. I was also very enthusiastic about Ayelet Zorer and I think she took upon a very difficult role and filled it with a life and attractiveness that a different actress would possibly not have been able to do. The fact that she is Israeli was a bonus.”

He knows that other directors whose names were associated with the production, including Barry Levinson, maintained that it would be impossible to adapt Kaniuk’s book, but that does not bother him. “That is the reason that they are other directors”, he says with a smile, shakes his sun hat, gets into the car, and disappears into the desert.