Interview with Julie Taymor
Why did you agree to serve as a mentor in the Rolex Arts Initiative?
The notion that you can make a difference in the world if just one artist mentors another artist and gets that artist to a place where his or her life is richer, and potentially enriches the lives of other people — this is an extraordinary concept.
Why did you choose Selina Cartmell to be your protégée?
I’m not just a theatre director, I’m also a film director and an opera director. I saw in Selina someone who would easily be moving through mediums. I thought: Here is someone I can have a dialogue with. Someone I can talk to, bounce off my ideas, and she can do it as well. It felt like she would be a colleague — not someone to be a teacher to.
You allowed Selina to observe at close hand Grendel taking shape. What was the purpose of the decision?
I was nervous about it because she had nothing to lose and I had everything to lose. She said: “I can’t believe you, after everything you’ve done, you go through the same panic I do.” And I said: “Of course I do, every single time.” That made her happy, to see that it wasn’t just her.
If you could give young directors like Selina only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t compromise creatively.
You saw her productions of Festen and Sweeney Todd. Can you describe her style of direction?
I see a really strong sense of an idea. What’s strong are the choices. She’s able to bring a cinematic quality to the stage. She knows how to choreograph and get the subtlety of the emotions through the physicality of the performers.
In which direction do you think Selina should head now?
She has a very strong vision, and she must stick with that – theatre always filtered through your eyes as an artist.
What do you think Selina has gained from the programme?
She was a director when she began, so in a sense she didn’t need this. But to get inside experience at an early age, in a larger arena than you’ve known, this gives you a broader sense of the scope of your possibilities. And, in discussing her work with her, I think I was able to support her in her quest to satisfy the needs of a production and her own needs as an artist.