Mira Furlan - Tumblr Posts
Good Bye to a Great woman Mira Furlan and Powerful Character Satai Delenn
"My new colleague, Andreas Katsulas, the actor whom I could have met years ago in Paris but didn’t (I lived in Paris on a theater grant while he was there working with my idol, Peter Brook), impresses me deeply on the first day I meet him. His whole face AND body are covered by make-up.
He sees me one day on the set, as I’m sulking over my sad destiny. He sits down by me, in front of the sound stage, in the blistering August heat, lights up a cigarette and puts it into his mouth, the only part of his face not covered with latex (he’s undoubtedly braver and more committed than me, having let “Them” put black lenses into his eyes). “Just remember: all acting started with masks,” says Andreas. “Try to find freedom within the new frame. Try to think of the restriction as liberation.” Watching him work, I clearly understand what he means. I’ve never met an actor with such unlimited freedom.
And what else is the ultimate goal of every actor, of every artist in fact, but achieving freedom? In his work? In her life? Not only is my vanity and my whole sense of identity (as a woman, as an actor, as a human being) shaken on every level; I’m also dripping with sweat under the unforgiving California sun. Waiting for my shot, I pant and whine to whoever wants to listen. I notice: Andreas never, ever complains. “Think of the old country,” he advises me. “Think of all those old ladies back home (he himself is of Greek origin, so we are neighbors in a way and we like it), those women covered from head to toe in heavy black cloth. It’s a simple technique: you sweat and let that sweat cool you down. Try it.” Ah, Andreas. Could there have been a better role model for me? I became and still am his humble student."
- Mira Furlan, Love Me More Than Anything In the World
I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.
"We are all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars, molecules that do not understand politics, policies or differences. Over a billion years, we foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. In desperate acts of ego, we give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps and pretend that our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that lives on inside us, the spark that tells us, "You should know better". The flame also reminds us that life is precious, as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it's gone forever, and there will never be another quite like it. So many candles will go out tonight, I wonder some days if we can see anything at all."
"All life is transitory. A dream. We all come together in the same place at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall."
Capt. John Sheridan : I wish I had your faith in the universe. I just don't see it sometimes.
Delenn : Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. And as we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.
"The universe puts us into places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are is the right place and the right time. The pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born."
