Create-Destroy-Recreate: In the Moment
- Gina Greenlee, Author
- Jun 7
- 2 min read
“Using the difficulty” is a present-moment opportunity to create-destroy-recreate. Here’s how that dynamic” played out in the making of the 2008 film, Rachel Getting Married, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Anne Hathaway.
Demme: I wanted all of the music to happen in the moment. we actually did this thing that you’re not supposed to do; we played live music while the actors are saying their dialogue.
Hathaway: I didn’t know the movie was being scored live. It made me very excited and was beautiful to have during the scenes. There is one scene where Rose Marie [fellow actor in the film] has a very intense monologue. We did the first take, and the musicians were playing this time and I couldn’t hear her.
Demme: Our co-producer and assistant director came over to me and said, ‘hey Jonathan, Annie said the music’s really bugging her this time.’
Demme: And I was like, well, tell her to do something about it!
Hathaway (in character): Are they going to play like that all weekend? Knock it off!
Demme: Anne has a little fit and then the other actors ran out and told the musicians to stop playing. [Laughs] I love that that happened.
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Create-Destroy-Recreate: Remix
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“Then, somebody suggested the only way that you’re going to be able to get rid of the mold is burn them. And so, we burnt them. And that’s why they’re black. and I love them the way they are.”
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“It’s just like life, where something beautiful gets taken apart and then it has to get put back together. And you might not have all the pieces to put it back together the same way it was initially. But in the creative process, I can take something apart and reimagine it in a different way.”
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“For 30 days I painted, wrote, and sculpted. Disassembled those projects then reassembled each to create something new. Even as I engaged create-destroy-recreate, I didn’t understand that the art practice gifted to me was a powerful metaphor for living.”
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“In life, as in a Zen koan, we create by shifting our perspective to the point at which interruptions are the answer.”
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Honor what has been, release what is no longer needed, and make room for what is emerging.
