Blitzkrieg
Avenger
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http://variety.com/2016/film/in-contention/live-by-night-ben-affleck-oscars-academy-awards-1201919954/
Affleck said, both before the event and during a post-screening Q&A, that the idea for him was blending a throwback vibe with modern energy. And that’s fitting: In Lehane’s novel, Affleck has found a gangster yarn akin to the ’30s and ’40s genre pictures that inspired him, but one with a fresh face. It moves from the Depression-hit Boston metropolis to the melting pot of Tampa, Florida (filmed largely in Georgia), giving Affleck’s below-the-line team a rich opportunity.
“This is the first movie I’ve made that was really constructed on purpose,” Affleck said. “I wanted it to feel classic, like it could have been made in the ’70s or even the ’40s, not doing too much cutting, not having very tight close-ups, allowing scenes to play and giving the actors space to play across the frame. But also we’re aware of contemporary audiences’ acclimation. The grammar of film is different now. So it was a challenge.”
The images in the film are “a little wider, a little more stately” than typical modern coverage, Goldenberg said. “Often I’m cutting because I’m trying to impose an energy or a style or a story, but there was so much richness in the images, it allowed me to cut in a more traditional way.”
Lehane’s story is simplistic, but it provides a foundation on which Affleck can build something romantic. And that’s what he appears to have delighted in doing; he said before the screening that “Live By Night” is his favorite experience as a director so far.
“[It used to be] a big, crowd-pleasing, punchy, sexy movie was one with costumes and extras and production design that was going to show you a different world,” he said. “Now a blockbuster — you have to wear a cape … not that I have anything against capes.”
