“Enthusiasm is the most powerful engine of success. When you do a thing, put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Anybody who’s ever attended a writers workshop, a directing class or a forum for any creative endeavor has heard the word “passion”.
What’s pounded into you, reinforced ad infinitum and recounted in virtually all anecdotes is that there is a power beyond technique, above talent, more reliable than luck and far more important than who you know.
It’s Passion. Enthusiasm. A desire to make your dreams come true that refuses to be denied, derailed or defeated.
More times than I can recall I’ve had to choose between artists with experience, a name and a good agent and one with passion, somebody you just knew wouldn’t quit and was willing to give their all.
Not once has going with the passion led to disappointment.
At its heart passion is caring. Caring enough to make the final product as good as it can be, not compromising on the vision, making sure that whatever the disappointments and defeats, they are never visible.
A couple of weeks ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the people who present the Oscars, announced that they would be honoring the longest running franchise in motion pictures, the James Bond films.
It was hinted that a show-stopping moment was planned during which 50 years of James Bonds would appear together for the first time on one stage as memorable moments of the 23 Bond films were screened.
Didn’t happen.
It seems Bond #1, Sean Connery, was still pissed at a long dead Bond producer over something or other and refused to appear. Bond #5, Pierce Brosnan, likewise declined, feeling his “license to kill” had been revoked a film or two too soon.
Disappointments and defeats.
Now if there had been a passion to pull this off anyway, we would have been left with something just as memorable. But what we got was a fairly forgettable clip reel sandwiched between a couple of famous Bond themes.
It was okay. But not special. If you missed the broadcast or found the tribute as forgettable as it was, you can find it here.
Yep. Whoever was in charge of the Oscar broadcast still had a show to get on. But they clearly didn’t have a passion for it.
Meanwhile, far away in the Netherlands, a 19 year old film student named Kees van Dijkhuizen Jr. harbored a passion for the Bond franchise –- even though most of the movies were filmed before he (and perhaps even van Dijkhuisen Sr.) had been born.
And this is where passion comes in.
The kid edited his own tribute, one that not only honored these films in a manner they deserved, but showed how much better something can become when somebody –- cares.
Enjoy your Sunday.
1 comment:
Wicked good.
Post a Comment