GYM CONFESSIONS: 5

meditation on Vertigo
spirals, stars and spirals,
morphing– no, bleeding
violently through the surface
of my blurry green-brown
irises, a fountain of rainpipe
sludge cascading the apples
of my cheeks and pooling
in the corner of my big mouth.

tripping up those chapel stairs
with a fleeting grip on my life,
my love, my watercolor swirled
sanity. boot heel catching as i
amble like an idiot, marred
vision shooting down. stomach
heaves like dripping trashbags
thrown from a second-story
apartment window.

i think i might
just splatter on
those sunsoaked
terracotta shingles,
indigo and rose eye-slop
puddling into a birdbath
for holybirds to slurp up,
a balm for their nauseous
bellies.

An Attempt to Cast Rupert Cadell in a Modern Day Production of “Rope”
I think all film remakes should be disregarded for new, original art, but if someone were tugging on my ear and refusing to let go until I offered a suggestion worthy enough of modern recreation, I would likely answer, Rope.

Undoubtedly, Rope remains my favorite Hitchcock film and lives among my Letterboxd four favorites indefinitely, wedged between The Power of the Dog, Dog Day Afternoon, and the 1994 lesbian film Go Fish. There is something special about Rope, though, whether it is the less-than-90-minute runtime, the pizzazz of Hitchcock’s first attempt at a 40s earthy technicolor, or perhaps the fact that the film only had 10 cuts throughout the entire runtime (5 of which were hidden by panning into the backs of the characters). Maybe, the most compelling aspect of Rope, for me, was Jimmy Stewart’s brilliance in the role of Rupert Cadell.

A tall man Jimmy Stewart was, and he used this to his advantage in a film shot only in a three-room set, designed as a swanky apartment belonging to a rich graduate student. Long legs carried him from piano to the wooden chest hiding a body to the massive, slanted, rectangular windows to fire a single shot into the night sky, a subtle cry for justice. His narrow, well-manicured fingers gliding across his gold cigarette case multiple times, his stony eyes following the party guests with calculated detachment. He owns the film, beyond the moral rebirth he finds himself contemplating as he sits, dejected, handgun wrapped tightly in his grasp, bandaged fist resting on his tweed-adorned thigh as red and green neon lights bathe the room in silent, sinister waves.

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine who could embody the role of Rupert Cadell remotely as well as Jimmy Stewart, similarly to any other casting of leading characters in film remakes that’ve come out in the last couple of years.

My initial thought strays to Shawn Hatosy, an actor currently reveling in a much deserved spotlight from his guest appearances on HBO’s The Pitt as badass night-shift attending Jack Abbot. Hatosy physically embodies the commanding nature that one would need for the role, apart from his height, which could be worked around. His charisma is hard to blur, though, as his charm bleeds through pretty much any line that he utters. Jimmy Stewart had a way of putting on a cold facade that couldn’t be broken by the world’s largest sledgehammer.

A less likely candidate would be Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Richie Jerimovich, the lanky, foulmouthed, down-on-his-luck turned kitchen commander of FX’s The Bear. With striking eyes and an intimidating presence when put in scenes where that is what he needs to be, I could see him returning to Brandon and Phillip’s apartment in the final stretch of the film, his mind churning with what to do next. Moss-Bachrach has done recreation before, but in an adapted setting on Broadway’s production of Dog Day Afternoon in the role of Sal. I think, if he were given strong support, he could handle the role with grace and modesty.

And then there are the superstars of the moment, Pedro Pascal, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Matthew McConaughey. I feel that this role depends not on status but rather on how one can adapt to such a limited, brilliant set and script, someone who can handle minimal edits, minimal time.

Jimmy Stewart’s Rupert Cadell will go down for me as one of the greatest performances in the history of film, and while I’m not quite sure I’d ever want to see his character recreated, we can only hope that the next actor looks back on Jim with fondness and respect.