Today he's considered one of the most important music video
pioneers of his generation, and his clients include the likes of Radiohead,
The Chemical Brothers and The White Stripes. Bjork admires him. Kylie
respects him, and he's credited with inventing the bullet-time technique
(in his video Like A Rolling Stone for the Stones), which was later adopted
in The Matrix. These days people still laugh, but its with delight and
wonder at his visual inventiveness. His latest film, The Science of Sleep
doesn't disappoint.
The film tells the story of a shy, awkward artist called
Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) who can no longer decipher between the real
world and the imaginary one. Much of the films action takes place inside
Stephane's head, which acts as a gateway between the two realms. It's
charming and magical and as surreal as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind. The 43-year-old, along with Bernal, were at the Sundance Film Festival
as was The Blurb reporter Gaynor Flynn.
The
images in the film are spectacular, fluid and dreamlike. Was it difficult
to achieve this?
MG: Well no I like that the story's fluid its hard to do something that's
visual but that's fluid but I'm happy that you feel its fluid. Obviously
I have some interest in remembering my dreams not necessarily understand
them but see how they come together and I think its very close. It's the
only lived experience we have without a sort of editing in life. There's
no cut.
How did you prepare for this movie, did you talk to any scientists
or experts?
MG: No but I've been reading a lot of books on dreams and I like the
interpretation of dreams I like trying to figure out how the brain works.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was obviously about minds
and this film is more metaphysical, have you read a lot throughout your
career about the mind?
MG: Yeah I read a lot and forget most of it and so I'm not very good
to give explanation but I find it entertaining personally.
How
accurate are the scientific facts in the film?
MG: I don't know you judge. I don't think it's very scientific, it's
more emotional.
Did you remember your dreams when you were making the movie?
MG: The dream when Gael drives a little car - I had it just before shooting
and it was really sickening, it was really horrible because in fact it's
an actor who committed suicide and I dreamt I was this actor and I realise
this guy killed himself and that's why I dreamt I was him and it was a
mix of dreaming I was this actor in this film and it was really frightening.
It was the first time I was questioned [whether I'd] kill myself and I'm
so scared of dying I would never have this problem but when I woke from
this dream I was worried.
What was it about Charlotte Gainsborough that made you cast her?
MG: It's a conundrum. You don't know exactly what's going on in her head
at the same time she can be really reassuring she's not only fragile and
enigmatic she has this thing that makes you feel good, that I think the
character gets addicted to. He (Stephane) gets addicted to her just with
the sound of her voice. He feels very good with her but she doesn't have
the same feeling with him, I don't know exactly know how she feels about
him.
In the film Stephane and Stephanie (Gainsborough) connect more
through idiosyncrasy than sexuality do you agree?
MG: Stephane is very sexually connected to her but I didn't show this
part of the film because its kind of gross. (laughs)
Gael,
can you talk a little bit about working with Michel, and do you have a
lot of freedom as an actor with him?
Gael: I think that's one way of putting
it but I think its much more complex than that. I mean its not simply
freedom. Normally what happens in a film is that you fall into the process
of trying to interpret the point of view of the director and whatever
that dynamic might create you jump into it with full confidence and trust
and in this case its what happened. Yes it was very free but under a very
specific set of rules or circumstances that worked. We were telling this
story so we were focusing on this point of view, we were looking for answers
in a way no? And Michel is really kind enough and excited with us participating
in this manner I think.
MG: Especially with Gael. We met one year
before we started to shoot and the script was really found by talking
and getting to know each other he helped me to put the script in a better
place. I was feeling so connected to Gael and to this character so very
early on he was participating and I think its very important to get to
know each other between the actor and the director because I think what
is important to me is that we create this character together or we find
what we have in common and use that as a ground to build a character on.
We're not forcing him to be me or
forcing me to be him so it's really a complex liberation.
You once said that after your film Human Nature came out you
were a little depressed what happened to the film, can you talk a little
bit about that?
MG Well I was asked about being in a creative peak and so after Human
Nature it was not necessarily how the film was perceived but it was about
I didn't know if I had much to say.
So what did you do to get the creative juices flowing again?
MG: I did two videos back to back in a very short time, one for the White
Stripes and one for Chemical Brothers and I just found that I could be
creative still because some friend told me after 35 your brain has nothing
new in your brain so I was really scared.
Our generation has a real affection for Michel Gondry use of
stop motion animation. Do you enjoy it as well?
GGB: Yeah but I don't think our generation has it so much. I would argue
the contrary. I mean more because of what's imposed on us rather than
what we choose to see you know. I think its more because whatever we see
is already very diluted and already digested and in this case, I mean
it takes an effort to see things in stop motion you have to jump into
that world and we see very good things and I like that and we see them
only with Michel and a couple of other directors. It's not that common
but I think there is that fascination because its again going back to
[something] more theatrical. It s more make believe and there's more joy
of life around, I mean a shadow puppet has more of a life than those things
that happen in blue screens sometimes.
Gael, you've made some great choices in your career so is it
a conscious decision to not take part in too many Hollywood movies or
is it just because you don't get offered those parts?
GGB: I think its conscious but its also good luck. I mean its an accident
as well when I read the script. I met Michel and then I read the script
there was absolutely no contest between that and any other thing really.
There was no way I could do something else so the decision was quite easy.
But do they offer you any of those big block buster movies?
GGB: I don't think they offer me those kinds
of things.
MG: No Latin lover roles?
GGB: I think I've gone from the Latin lover
to the Latin drag queen. Now I don't know what state we're in right now.
Music is always a big part of your movies Michel, so at what
part of the production do you choose the music?
MG: On this one it was planned before because I worked with this guy
Jean Michel Bernard who I had worked with before and he actually is a
very skilled musician and he's a very skilled piano player so he would
come up with melodies and play them just on the piano over the phone and
I would correct him but that was great. And I had him in my headset and
some of his melodies would play when I was directing the scene and he
actually plays the cop who plays the piano when its broken, that's the
composer of the film.
Gaynor Flynn
Source: The Blurb
