Peter Coyote
21/10/12 22:06 Filed in: Inside Look
Written by Stephen Vittoria
(Los Angeles)
Okay, I’ve worked with many outstanding narration actors and actresses, but after working with Peter Coyote I reached this conclusion: there’s Peter and then there’s everyone else. Kind of like Eddie Vedder’s voice – there’s Eddie and there’s everyone else.
For LONG DISTANCE REVOLUTIONARY, I had this idea that the storytelling narration of the film should be done onscreen and by an ensemble cast of really good performers. It’s not really a practice we see in many documentaries. Critics and naysayers may knock the technique as being overly dramatic or manipulative because they want their docs to be “objective.” Well, here’s the rub when it comes to so-called objectivity in any creative endeavor and journalistic undertaking: it doesn’t exist. It’s a myth. Hunter Thompson told me one time that objectivity exists in two instances: obituaries and baseball box scores… and then he said, “Bullshit. It doesn’t exist anywhere. Fuck me. And fuck you for not questioning me.” Gonzo at his best.
I gravitated to the dramatic onscreen narration because I wanted to bring Mumia’s brilliant and searing words to life. And since I couldn’t film or record Mumia in-person, I had to rely on great people… like Rodney Charles, Christina Moses, Eartha Robinson, Rachel Hastings, Elijah Hall, Howard McNair, and Sheila Grenham who brought Mumia’s words to life – lifted them right off the page and drove it home, delivered the mail, made it real.
But back to Coyote. We filmed Peter in the KPFA radio studios in Berkeley and the passages I reserved for Peter was the narration I wrote to carry the story forward – some of it straightforward, some of it with piss and vinegar. Well, Peter does these things in one take and does them with perfection. You say “action” and Peter makes your words sound great and sound right. He makes you a better writer when he interprets your words, your phrasing, and then nails it. Here’s an example…