Scorsese's Wainwright hat trick

First let me thank my pal and frequent commenter Aaron Aradillas for reminding me of Martin Scorsese's exceptionally clever bit of what I'll call triple-stunt-casting in The Aviator, in which three musical Wainwrights embody three different eras and musical styles, all whilst portraying singers at Hollywood's Coconut Grove.

Here's Rufus Wainwright in stylized crooner mode, doing the Gershwins' "I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise." The period is the late '20s, as The Aviator's protagonist, Mr. Howard Hughes, struggles to finish his epic Hell's Angels.

Obviously both Wainwright and Scorsese and company are taking some poetic license here, as Rudy Vallee never smoldered quite so...

Next we're in the mid-'30s, Hughes is happily courting Kate Hepburn, and Rufus' dad Loudon Wainwright III (discussed in a post below) is an animated presence in a peppy vocal harmony group that evokes (slightly) the era's own Yacht Club Boys (who are in the recently released Fox DVD of the early Judy Garland musical Pigskin Parade.) "Happy Feet" also sounds a bit like the arrangements Geoff Muldaur did on his spectacular Bix Beiderbecke exploration Private Astronomy, on which several Wainwright's appear...

Finally, here's Martha Wainwright, like Rufus, a child of Loudon and the great singer/songwriter Anna McGarrigle. Now the movie's in the '40s, Hughes is in confusion and, soon, decline...and Martha's singing a bluesy torchy version of "I'll Be Seeing You."

The Wainwright theme practically constitutes a mini-movie. It also represents a very particular, very Scorsese-esque approach to attention to detail. Sure, the choice of songs and song stylings to fit particular decades was going to be a given. But to then further conceptualize in order to execute a pretty sophisticated and affectionate in-joke—while maintaining the integrity of your initial prerogative—is something else entirely. For that and other reasons, The Aviator is a movie I admire ever more when I return to it.

Comments

[Aaron Aradillas]

The Aviator has aged quite nicely over the last three years. With every viewing it creeps closer and closer to becoming one the great film biopics ever, ranking with Malcolm X and Nixon.

It's a biopic about how genius and madnesss exist within a person. It's really Scorsese's cracked version of his own struggles to get his passion projects off the ground. I love the long sequence where Hughes locks himself in his screening room watching his movies on a constant loop and trying to block the outside world from crashing in. The sequecne is a mirror image of the dark passages from Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. Hughes is even given a Scorsese 70s era type of beard.

Some critics (like Armond White) complained that The Aviator marginalized Hughes' power and wealth. That was not the point of Scorsese's vision. (Rent Demme's Melvin and Howard if you want a good idea of Hughes' wealth and power--and madness.) Scorsese identified whth the recklessness that comes with being young and creative. Scorsese knows he almost lost it like Hughes.

I also like the way Scorsese opted to jump pass the Scarface ratings controversy. By doing so, Scorsese is making a sly comment on his own battles with the ratings board over violence.

Also, Kate Beckinsale's lively performance as Ava Gardner goes a long way to erasing the memories of all those bad Underworld movies.