Bruce Dern names the movie he was “absolutely blown away by”
Throughout a career spanning a glittering six decades in the spotlight, Bruce Dern has consistently emerged from behind the movie industry’s curtain to deliver several rousing performances of true brilliance. A determined commitment to the craft of acting and an ability to perform in any kind of genre or role has made the Illinois-born star a true legend of Hollywood.
Coming through as a member of The Actors Studio, Dern made his breakthrough in a series of New Hollywood-era movies, including They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, The Cowboys and Silent Running, before he received some of the highest recognition any actor could ever dream of, a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in Coming Home, a feat he only bettered in 2013, winning ‘Best Actor’ for Nebraska.
It’s fair to say that Dern has commanded the screen throughout his years in the acting profession, but even with all the acclaim, he’s never stopped short of giving credit where credit is due, and in a feature with Rotten Tomatoes, he once named his five favourite movies of all time and one in particularly seems to stand out for how it took Dern’s breath away.
Discussing David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, Dern stated, “First of all, [for something to be great] there’s magnificence in every single department. Whether it’s genre, whether it’s locations, whether it’s cinematography, whether it’s performances, whether it’s script, whether it’s sound – that’s number one.”
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why Dern holds Lean’s 1962 epic biographical adventure film in such high regard, as each moment of it is truly dripping in quality. Nominated for ten Oscars and winning five, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, Lawrence of Arabia tells the life story of T.E. Lawrence (played by Peter O’Toole), the archaeologist and army officer, and his experiences in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
Remembering his first experience of seeing Lean’s classic, Dern said, “I saw Lawrence of Arabia in theaters. I’d been an actor for about a year and a half; I was under contract to Elia Kazan. I went to the movie, and I was absolutely blown away. But the thing that blew me away more than anything else was that the guy did that.”
The actor signed off on his admiration for the film, “I mean, this isn’t ‘once upon a time’, a guy did that. A guy wrote the book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. He was there, he did it, and I don’t think he ever saw 40 years old. Excuse my language, but I’ve always been quite impressed with people that got shit done. And he got stuff done.”
