Bertolucci: Famed for finding young actresses

Film legend Bernardo Bertolucci may have made some of 20th-century cinema's most honored films, but he jokes that his legacy may be for "discovering young actresses." In an interview with AFP in Los Angeles, the 73-year-old Italian added that he never looks back and said television is overtaking cinema as the most interesting medium for filmmakers. "I don't care," he said, when asked how he would like to be remembered. "I think my movies are there, people can see them," he added, at a presentation of a 3D version of his 1987 multiple Oscar winning film "The Last Emperor" to mark the 25th anniversary of its international release. "And sometimes I laugh, thinking I will be remembered more as a talent scout of young girls than as a film director," he said. The list of starlets he has discovered includes Dominique Sanda in "The Conformist" in 1970s, the passionate Maria Schneider in "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), Liv Tyler in 1996's "Stealing Beauty" and Eva Green, who made her screen debut in "The Dreamers" in 2003. Sitting in a wheelchair in black suit and hat, Bertolucci was in Tinseltown to present present "The Last Emperor," which won nine Oscars, at the American Film Institute (AFI) festival. Despite his award-winning career, Bertolucci insists he doesn't like regrets. "First of all, I don't look back. I have to look at what's in front of me. All the choices I made were sincere. "Sometimes I was wrong... But if somebody young asked me what is the most important thing you should do in the beginning to be a film director, I would say to be sincere and to follow the rhythm of your heartbeat." He cited his latest film "Me and You," a drama about a reclusive teenager screened at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and a new project about an Italian musician and murderer, Carlo Gesualdo. "It's a tragic story and fascinating. Maybe I will do that, or maybe something else, but it's difficult to talk about future projects because they are in progress, in my mind and my heart," he said. "They have to mature. Like wine." His gestures slow and speaking in a low, almost inaudible voice, Bertolucci voiced his admiration for the latest generation of US television shows, including "Breaking Bad" which drew a cult following before its final episode was screened in the US in September. "The movies actually are not very interesting, while the TV series are extremely interesting. Everything happens there in the TV series," he said, hailing the less frenetic pace that television allows. TV shows can have "a rhythm that is not like 'schk schk schk,' like in the action movies .. Even a fantastic series like 'Breaking Bad,' you see they (are reminiscent of) the time that used to be in the movies and now is no more. "Now the movies have to be like action movies, even when they are not, through the editing. In the (TV) series you still have characters who sit and look at the sky. In cinema that is unthinkable." While Bertolucci has an enduring love of celluloid, he has moved into the digital age, and embraces new technology. "Now film is disappearing. Now it's digital. I'd like to do my new films in digital, I tried to do the last one, 'Me and You.' But in the test, the definition, the focus was so strong," he said. "I wanted a little impressionism, a film with the quality of impressionism." But he said: "All new things to me are very attractive -- the fact that soon we will see a movie on a packet of cigarettes or on your watch. And you will be forced to invent stories which will have a different format." While technology may alter the form or type of films, he joked that some things will never change, such as his eye for talent, in this case an up-and-coming 26-year-old Italian actress. "In this last movie, 'Me and You,' there is an actress called Tea Falco. She is absolutely outstanding. They will remember me as discovering young actresses," he said, laughing.