Who were some of the American directors you admire that are working today?
I mean, Martin Scorsese. He is still working for sure. I admire anyone who makes a film. I know how hard it is to get a film made, whether they’re American or Mexican or English or French or German, it’s irrelevant. I love cinema. I love cinema when it’s really good. I loath cinema when it’s really bad. It was really depressing to watch that program, that corporate program [the Oscars], last night to see how much crap won. Especially, you know, when the director who made “Play Misty for Me,” one of my favorite films of all time, won for such a piece of s**t.
But how do you really feel?
No… But can you believe that the man who made “Play Misty for Me” made “Million Dollar Baby?”
Why do you think those “crap” films that are winning made so much money then? What does that represent in the culture?
Marketing. I think that might be it. If they put a lot of money behind this, it will make a lot of money. If they don’t, it won’t. It’s as simple as that. I don’t mean to be cynical but… I live in Europe where we only get what we’re allowed to see. We’re allowed to see mostly American cinema. I grew up in the 70s in London where I could watch Pasolini, Fassbinder, Herzog, Fellini - all of the French. The kind of cinema that doesn’t exist anymore. But marketing has created a new kind of world. And they’re promoting this film as a horror film, which is a lie. There’s going to be a disaster the first weekend when all the kids who think they’re going to see “The Grid” or “The Hole,” find out they’re watching some pretentious European drama.
How would you market this movie? You don’t seem happy about it and it totally looks like a horror film from the posters?
I don’t know. That’s not my job unfortunately and I have to defer to the people here, in particular, because it’s their dollar that they’ve spent on this film. But I don’t know. What do you do? It really is a difficult question because you can’t say, “Oh, it’s a really interesting film,” because I don’t think that’s going to come over as a very strong tagline.
Why was Adrien Brody right for this movie?
Because he looks like an Arab. I mean, although he’s a nice Jewish boy from Queens, he actually looks strangely Arabic to me and it sort of had a nice resonance for my Guantanamo Bay… Actually, to be really honest, he reminds me of Pierre Clémenti who is one of my favorite European actors. …See, I have to make these films enjoyable for me to make so I have to layer it up with all these things. It’s like a big [bowl full] of pretentiousness, which I really shouldn’t be talking about because I want to sell this movie to the general target in America and I want it to be really commercial, and Keira Knightley gets her tits out and it’s just great.
Can you talk about the director of photography?
Peter Deming? What can I say? He’s a prince among men. My last film, “Love is the Devil,” was shot by John Mathieson who’s a DP I grew up with. We worked on stuff from pop videos through to my arty stuff through to “Love is the Devil.” Unfortunately after he did ‘Love is the Devil” he did “Gladiator.” He just got nominated for an Oscar last night for the appalling “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.” And thankfully he didn’t win, although bless him he’s a sweetheart. He wasn’t available for this because he was doing “Phantom of the Opera.” I lucked out big time by getting Peter Deming, if only for his work on “Mulholland Dr.” and “Lost Highway.” It’s a gift. Besides his technical skills, as a human being he’s very atypical of a DP. He is a sweetheart. He is a prince among men.
Did you choose him?
Oh, I begged him. But he was very ready to do the job. I actually have connections with him from commercials and music video work. I knew he was the right guy.
How did you convince Keira Knightley that the bathtub scene was integral to the plot?
Well, it is. She’s a tramp. Not Keira, the character. It explains exactly who she is, that she picks up a guy at a truck stop, brings him back to her house and the first thing she does is get her [clothes] off and have a bath and leave him alone in her apartment. It tells you all you need to know about her character. She’s a dissolute drunk. I recognized that behavior (laughing).
On Keira Knightley Taking Off Her Clothes and Test Screenings
