Archive 2009
Die Europa - The European Actors Award - Programme
An Englishman in New YorkDirector: Richard Laxton, GB/USA 2009, 74, DigiBeta, colour, OV
Actors: John Hurt, bwoozie Kurtz, Denis O'Hare, Jonathan Tucker
1981 Quentin Crisp, gay dandy receives an engagement in New York. He becomes a „resident alien“. He gets his own show and soon becomes more than just an insiders tip. But wth his remark that AIDS is only a “fad”, he mkes ennemies. Like in THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT John Hurt once again plays the legendary subculture icon of the gay movement with a fire work of aphorisms, bonmots and aperçus.
Der Elefantenmensch (The Elephant Man)
Director: David Lynch, GB 1980, 123 min, 35 mm, bw, OV
Actors: John Hurt, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins
John Hurt touchingly portrays John Merrick, whose deformed head is reminiscent of an elephant. Young doctor, Frederick Treves, decides to look after him. However, the “Elephant Man” is pitilessly degraded to a freak display object by Victorian society. David Lynch has created a sombre and compassionate human film in black and white.
Die Profikiller (The Hit)
Director: Stephen Frears, GB 1984, 98 min, DVD, colour, GS
Actors: John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol
Gangster road movie under the Spanish sun. Taking part in a witness protection programme Willie Parker hides after snitching on some “colleagues”. Seeking revenge they send contract killer Braddock (John Hurt) to bring Parker to his execution to Paris. After taking a girl hostage the situation escaltes into a psycho duel. In 1985 John Hurt received the Evening Standard British Film Award for his outstanding performance.
Love and Death on Long Island
Director: Richard Kwietniowski, GB/CDN 1998, 103 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Actors: John Hurt, Jason Priestley, Fiona Loewi
Giles, a 50-year-old writer from London, accidently buys a ticket for the American teeniemovie „Hot Pants College II” and much to his own surprise falls in love with the main actor – so madly that he travels to Long Island to meet the sonnyboy. With subtle gestures John Hurt plays the oldfogyish, cultivated man who, conscious of his own ridiculousness, just can not help it.
1984 (nineteen eighty-four)
Director: Michael Radford, GB 1984, 110 min, DVD, colour, GS
Actors: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack
John Hurt stars as the last free man, Winston Smith, along with the magnificent Richard Burton in his last role. Faithful to George Orwell’s novel, 1984 does not spare the viewer the book’s shocking visual metaphors. Director Michael Radford presents the vision of a totalitarian surveillance state.
Shooting Dogs
Director: Michael Caton-Jones, GB/D 2005, 115 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
Actors: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz
The film is based on the true events in Ruanda in April 1994 when 1 million Hutus were killed by the Tutsi majority: John Hurt plays the cathlic priest Christopher, who is surprised that this time the turmoils turn into a genocide. On his chuchyard he shelters 2.500 Hutus, but even the UN soldiers can not protect them.
The Naked Civil Servant
Director: Jack Gold, GB 1975, DVD, colour, OV
Actors: John Hurt, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge
The film narrates the story of the homosexual dandy Quentin Crispin, his youth in the England of the 20s and 30s, his attempts in the 40s and 50s to openly live his flamboyant style of living without humiliation and persecution. The way John Hurt portrays this lovable eccentric is touching and funny at the same time – a tribute to Crisp’s courage, wit, and intelligence. Hurt won the BAFTA-Award for his acting skills in 1976. The film won the Prix Italia, and is positioned on the 4th place in the list of the top 100 British television films of the 20th century.