In the Times’ music section is an interesting profile of the White Stripes and particularly Jack’s new life in Nashville (looking very Johnny Cash on the cover of the most recent Nylon here to the left). However, something caught our eye: director Jim Jarmusch (who cast the Stripes in “Coffee & Cigarettes”) making an analogy between the White Stripes philosophies and self-imposed restrictions and he militant raw naturalism of the Dutch filmmaking manifesto, Dogme ’95 (whose membership includes, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Kristian Levring, and Harmony Korine) that essentially states: do everything you can to make your film look like shit (no lighting, no props, etc.).
“They reinvigorated rock ’n’ roll by stripping it down to the point of not even having a bass,” Jarmusch said. “Jack has a meticulous focus on style — what color are the amp covers, all the little details.”
We must admit when we we first heard Jack White was going to play Elvis Presley in an upcoming film, we were unaware that he was going to do so in Judd Apatow’s next comedy biopic spoof “Walk Hard” starring John C. Reily (Apatow is the writer, Jake Kasdan, son of baby boomer filmmaker Lawrence, is the director; White’s role is “small” according to the Times). I guess this is what happens when you don’t have a blog and you’re not paying attention. White, who also had a role in “Cold Mountain,” always wanted to be a filmmaker according to the article and considers making a good movie, “the biggest triumph in all creative fields of media.”
Listen: White Stripes – “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (from Icky Thump)
