Peter Sellers came to fame as an actor who could seamlessly portray different characters of different backgrounds, even in the same movie. He had also done Being There before he died (which is similar to Zelig) and worked with Woody Allen on several films (What's New, Pussycat, Casino Royale). I really have to wonder...
shareAn interesting comparison. I think Zelig is, like a lot of Woody Allen movies, steeped in Freudian mythology about identity. I don't know that Peter Sellers was ever interested in being that "deep" in his movies.
shareDid you see What's New, Pussycat? Sellers played a Freudian psychiatrist named Fassbender who analyzes a womanizer (played by Peter O'Toole). Woody Allen wrote that movie.
It was well known that Sellers had "issues" being himself, which is why he always chose to play these wildly different characters, sometimes in the same movie.
There was also a time when both Sellers and Allen actually started looking somewhat similar (same hair and glasses), which had me wondering if there was a weird "Persona" thing happening between the two at some point.
I've heard this about Sellers before, that didn't like being himself. What are the reasons offered?
shareHe was supposedly bipolar or suffering from some kind other undiagnosed psychological problem. It was never officially confirmed, just anecdotal. He did make a couple of comments suggesting that he was riddled with self-loathing. I hate The Guardian, but this article comes closest to what I've heard and read about Sellers over the years:
But in private he was a difficult, domineering and jealous man who married four times, and once said of himself: “If I can’t really find a way to live with myself, I can’t expect anyone else to live with me.” Now we have fresh testimony from one who tried – and failed.
Britt Ekland on Peter Sellers: ‘He was a very tormented soul
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/03/britt-ekland-on-peter-sellers-he-was-a-very-tormented-soul
Interesting. I watched the biopic (on HBO, I think), once, which has one of the funniest scenes ever, his kid painting a racing stripe on his car.
shareWell find out from people.
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