Todd Field began his career as a jazz musician and as an actor; he has appeared in over forty films, including Kubrick\u2019s \u201cEyes Wide Shut\u201d and Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cRadio Days\u201d. He then went on to direct two full-length award-winning films, \u201cIn the Bedroom\u201d - about grief and revenge in a close-knit family - and \u201cLittle Children\u201d, starring Kate Winslet. Both were nominated for multiple Oscars. This week his third feature film \u201cTar\u201d opens in Britain. Cate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tar, the conductor of a major German orchestra; the film is an exploration of the darker side of the classical music world, the power of the conductor, and of abusive power more generally \u2013 it\u2019s also a celebration of some really wonderful music.
In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Todd Field talks about how he started writing \u201cTar\u201d by interviewing classical musicians, and particularly women working in the industry. He looks back on his \u201cfree-range\u201d childhood in Oregon, and tells how his wife financed his ambition to become a film director by buying a truck, going round flea-markets, and starting an interior-design shop. He reveals the struggle to release his award-winning film \u201cIn the Bedroom\u201d after Harvey Weinstein bought it and demanded more and more cuts. Field won the fight and retained the film he believed in, but it took six months and a fiendishly clever strategy invented by his friend Tom Cruise.
Todd Field started out as a jazz musician in a big band, and his choices include two tracks by Sarah Vaughan, whom he met backstage at a concert in Oregon. Other choices include Mahler\u2019s Symphony No 5; Elgar\u2019s Cello Concerto; and Gorecki\u2019s second string quartet, which played constantly in his head while making \u201cTar\u201d.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3\nProduced by Elizabeth Burke