The job of directing the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics comes with a lingering whiff of the Leni Riefenstahls. In Beijing, the gig fell to Zhang Yimou, a one-time dissident film-maker who has since been repurposed as a kind of in-house director for the state authorities. Zhang was judged to have executed his task with aplomb. His reward was a commission to direct a state-sanctioned blockbuster to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, and to manage a firework display in Tiananmen Square.
So who is to pick up the baton in London? Reports suggest the committee's first choice is Danny Boyle, a man once accused of peddling "moral depravity" via his 1996 film Trainspotting. Today our own former dissident is reformed, largely thanks to the runaway success of Slumdog Millionaire and his endearing, Tigger-like celebrations at the 2009 Oscar ceremony. All of which has made him a favourite of Seb Coe, and the ideal person to oversee the 2012 curtain raiser in Stratford. Boyle, for his part, is playing coy but sounding positive. "I can't say any more," he cautions. "[But] it would be lovely, wouldn't it?"
No comments:
Post a Comment