• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:August 10, 2021

Six Degrees of Separation

FOR PAUL, EVERY PERSON IS A NEW DOOR TO A NEW WORLD. 

A wealthy art dealer couple (Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland) allow a young, articulated man (Will Smith) who claims to be a friend of their kids into their home and lives, but he has an ulterior agenda. An effective adaptation of the Broadway hit with a story that criticizes the empty aspects of life in high society, urges us to be more careful when we meet people who seem too good to be true, and celebrates the idea that this is such a small world that we are six degrees of separation from everyone else on the planet. Intelligent, funny and absurd, with great performances (in the case of Smith, an eye-opening one).

1993-U.S. 111 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Arnon Milchan, Fred Schepisi. Directed by Fred Schepisi. Screenplay, Play: John Guare. Cast: Stockard Channing (Louisa Kittredge), Will Smith (Paul Poitier), Donald Sutherland (Flanders Kittredge), Ian McKellen, Mary Beth Hurt, Bruce Davison… Anthony Michael Hall, Heather Graham, J.J. Abrams, Kitty Carlisle Hart.

Trivia: Based on the story of con artist David Hampton. Meryl Streep and Michael Douglas were allegedly considered as the Kittredges. Channing also played Louisa in the Broadway play.

Last word: “With ‘Six Degrees of Separation’, I got a taste early of the dangers of going too far for a character. My character was in love with Stockard Channing’s character. And I actually fell in love with Stockard Channing. […] So the movie was over and I went home, and I was dying to see Stockard. I was like, ‘Oh no! What have I done?’ That was my last experience with Method acting, where you’re reprogramming your mind. You’re actually playing around with your psychology. You teach yourself to like things and to dislike things. It is a really dangerous place when you get good at it. But once I had that experience, I was like, No more Method acting. I was spending – for ‘Six Degrees’, I wanted to perform well so badly that I was spending six and seven and eight days in character before shooting, and you have to be careful with that.” (Smith, Esquire)

 

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