It’s Awards Season at the moment, which means that in addition to a whole bunch of excellent movies playing at the multiplex right now, there’s lots of insightful Q&A sessions taking place after industry screenings. I went to one such screening of Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering, where the director was on hand afterwards to talk about his tale of an adulterous architect’s marriage in crisis. The audience were a cheeky group, and talk soon turned to art mirroring life in the case of Jude Law, whose turn in the movie has certain echoes of a well-chronicled affair with a babysitter. “Mr. Minghella, was Jude actually having the affair while filming this project?” Poor Minghella tried to tiptoe around the subject, until further blunt questioning forced him to reveal these final words on the matter: “Look. Actors draw on prior experiences.” A knowing look from Minghella, and the audience went home happy with whatever sordid knowledge they’d pieced together in their gossipy little minds.
– Steven Corfe