Shadows (1959 film)

Shadows is a film about interracial relations during the Beat Generation years in New York City, directed by John Cassavetes. The film stars Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni and Hugh Hurd as three AfricanAmerican siblings, though only one of them is darkskinned. The film was initially shot in 1957 and shown in 1958, but a poor reception prompted Cassavetes to rework it in 1959. Promoted as a completely improvisational film, it was intensively rehearsed in 1957, and in 1959 it was fully scripted.

The idea for the film came from a classroom exercise. With acting coach Burt Lane later the father of Diane Lane, Cassavetes was conducting classes for aspiring actors at the Variety Arts Theatre in Manhattans offBroadway Union Square neighborhood, the classes listed as The CassavetesLane Drama Workshop this was Cassavetes attempt to counter the adherents of method acting who controlled much of New York theatre and film. A particular exercise became the core of the film a young AfricanAmerican woman who was very lightskinned dated a young white man, but he was repulsed when he discovered she had a black brother. Cassavetes determined to put the scene on film, so he began looking for funding. While ostensibly promoting the film Edge of the City on Jean Shepherds Night People radio show on WOR in February 1957, Cassavetes said he could make a better film than director Martin Ritt. He pitched the drama workshop idea to Shepherds radio audience. Cassavetes was surprised when listeners sent in about 2,000 to start the project. Money also came from Cassavetes friends including Hedda Hopper, William Wyler, Joshua Logan, Robert Rossen, Jos Quintero, and Cassavetes agent Charlie Feldman. Cassavetes hired German cinematographer Erich Kullmar as cameraman, the only crew member besides Cassavetes with any experience in film.Using the student actors from the CassavetesLane Drama Workshop, shooting started in February 1957 in a largely improvised form. Cassavetes composed an outline for the film, but not a script. Cassavetes and assistant directorproducer Maurice McEndree gave detailed instructions to the actors, constraining the situation to guide the story, with the words and the movements improvised by the actors. Cassavetes intended the story to evolve from the characters rather than vice versa. Three initial weeks of work was thrown out, the first week because of technical problems with quality, and the next two weeks because Cassavetes felt that the actors w

Source: Wikipedia