Martin Scorsese Remembers Gena Rowlands: ‘There Was No One Else Quite Like Her’
Martin Scorsese remembered Gena Rowlands on Thursday as an “extraordinary” actress and celebrated her formative independent film work with John Cassavetes for being “inspirations to generations of filmmakers and actors.”
“There was no one else quite like her,” Scorsese said in a statement to press. “That’s the kind of observation that’s often made about people after they’re gone, but in Gena’s case it happens to be true.”
Rowlands died Wednesday after years of living with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that her son and “The Notebook” filmmaker Nick Cassavetes only revealed two months prior. While commercially known best for playing the older, coincidentally Alzheimer’s-stricken version of the character played by Rachel McAdams in the 2004 romance, Rowlands will be remembered for her fearless, transformative performances through the 1970s and ’80s, including her Oscar-nominated leading roles in Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria.”
“She had an extremely unusual combination of qualities. Her talent, which was extraordinary. Her bravery and commitment to her art form — equally extraordinary. Her presence … this was someone who could hold a room by just walking in and standing there. Her kindness and humanity, which I experienced firsthand. Her beauty, earthy and ethereal at the same time,” Scorsese expounded. “If Gena had been born a little earlier, she might have been a different kind of star, more like Mary Astor or Bette Davis, whose work she loved. But she married John Cassavetes.”
Scorsese noted the various filmmakers Rowland worked with through the years, producing “remarkable work” with Woody Allen, Paul Schrader, Jim Jarmusch and her son. “But the pictures Gena and John made together, most of them shot in their own home on their own dime, were real family affairs made with complete independence. They are also, all together, a peak in the history of cinema.”
Of her celebrated creative partnership with John Cassavetes, Scorsese said, “They challenged each other, they cajoled each other to go further and further. With ‘Faces,’ ‘A Woman Under the Influence,’ ‘Opening Night’ and ‘Love Streams,’ they made films that have been inspirations to generations of filmmakers and actors. As Peter Brook said of Shakespeare, those pictures will always be ahead of us.”
Scorsese never directed Rowlands in his decades behind the camera, but he was a conspicuous, longtime admirer of her body of work. In 2008, for instance, he hosted a Film Foundation screening of “A Woman Under the Influence” with Gucci at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Rowlands attended the occasion with her three children and granddaughter.
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