Michel Gondry knows moviegoers consider him “quirky.” But he doesn’t think he is. “For me it’s doing something in a different way,” he says. “I don’t think it’s quirky, I think it’s being real and true in little ways.”
Gondry’s latest movie, Be Kind Rewind, is real and true in a lot of little ways. But mostly it’s true to Passaic, New Jersey, where it was filmed.
“I wanted everything in the movie to only be from Passaic. I only wanted the props and the wardrobe and many people to be from the city. It makes it more real, even if the film is fanciful.”
While on a press tour to promote Be Kind Rewind, we spoke with Gondry about making the movie, and other realities and truths.
NEW FILM NATION: When did you first get the idea to make Be Kind Rewind? You know, that feeling that this is the next movie you want to go ahead with?
MICHEL GONDRY: It was when I was making [Dave Chapelle’s] Block Party. I think I got some of the confidence to do this first when I was working with Dave Chappelle.
NFN: And you were re-inspired during the making of the Block Party DVD?
GONDRY: Yes, Dave took me to shoot the commentary about this concert. I felt somehow embarrassed that I had to tell the story or give the point of view of these people that I didn’t know, but obviously people who I respected. Not to get too far off subject, but when I was filming Block Party, I didn’t know what this movie was about at the out-start. I knew they were celebrating, but I didn’t know what they were celebrating. I found that what they were celebrating was the celebration. They were celebrating the idea that they could be together and not cause a riot. It was very much a concern for the city to have all of these people get together at a concert and not have a problem. And this all went very well. After all that I realized that I had a great interest in talking about a sort of community.
NFN: … which is somewhat the essence of Be Kind Rewind; the movie’s community.
GONDRY: Yes. The [Block Party] community was about a specific Hip-Hop community, but I’ve always been interested in why people need community or religion. I have no sense of going to there and this place to feel comfort, but I noticed that smaller, oppressed communities have this cycle they can work back in when they have difficult times. And I wanted to understand that. Dave Chappelle got really into my idea of doing Be Kind Rewind, and because he was next to me a lot I could approach the subject with him. We talked about everything to do with it. But then he left the project.
NFN: Why did Dave Chappelle abandon the project?
GONDRY: He just said he couldn’t be associated more into it. So then I felt really kind of on my own and I said to myself, I have to continue. I can’t just back off like that. I’m going to embrace this movie and talk about it and make it. So that might give you an interpreted sense as to why it seems more grounded in the way it is. It is something I always wanted to do.
NFN: The world you’ve created in the movie, it’s real, but not really.
GONDRY: It’s not a completely realistic world. There are some people complaining that it is too imaginative. But I have to apologize. I am a bit imaginative it seems. In my mind, this movie was a subject I was always careful with. I had this odd philosophy of bringing different people together who do their own film and they watch it together. I wanted this to be possible, and I believe that this can be possible in the real world.
NFN: Strangely enough, you’ve been criticized for not being more grounded in reality. You’re sort of on a border between comedy and fantasy.
GONDRY: Some people say enough of comedies that are not based on solid ground. We want more realistic comedies. That’s what I read last night on a website. Or people call me and other directors “the quirkies” - meaning we are the ones who do not care if our film is good or bad but that it just makes us happy. It’s very selfish.
NFN: What do you think of the idea that some think your films are a bit selfish? Have you noticed this interpretation of your work?
GONDRY: It’s interesting, a lot of people consider that if you do something personal you’re selfish. And if you do something that’s completely broad to make a lot of money, you’re generous in their opinion. It’s a very interesting point of view.
NFN: You’re able to accomplish and create some really unique things. Have you found much opposition when you’re pitching your ideas to someone else; talent or a studio?
GONDRY: Oh yes. When you try to make a different film you’re going to face a lot of opposition. And it’s simply back to just remembering as being a kid. For example, when you steal something, some people will want to tell this to the police. I think 10% of this is because they feel it’s unfair, that what you’re doing is not just. And 90% is because they’re jealous. It’s because if you get away, they’re upset because they don’t get the free items. And I think it’s the same with making film. People get upset if you’re trying to be different because you’re like stealing.
NFN: [Be Kind Rewind] also offers an affectionate look at the pianist Fats Waller. Were you a fan?
GONDRY: I liked him for a long time because he’s a great musician. He’s a genius. He’s one of the great pianists from this era. He didn’t invent the stride, but he was one of the most skilled pianists to play the stride, which is as you know when you can play the whole orchestra with your left hand on the piano. And I like the history of the rent party, when people would not have money to pay the rent they would bring a piano in the house and everybody would give a dollar and they could pay their rent. And I think a lot of great pianists survived through those parties. If you make a parallel, you could say the same thing for what rap did in the late seventies and early eighties. Out of these sort of things more community is created. Initially it was just a way to pay the rent. But look what they did. They went into their past to what made them feel good, their community, and they ended up shaping all pop culture without knowing it. Initially it was just a way to pay the rent.
NFN: In [Be Kind Rewind] Jack Black and Mos Def [manager of the VHS cassette-only video store, Be Kind Rewind] come up with the idea to re-shoot the movies that were accidentally erased. How did you decide which movies they’d swede? [Sweding being the process of quickly re-making a movie with a video camera and any locations, costumes and props available.]
GONDRY: In choosing the movies to swede, it mainly had to be a film that people would know just by the title.
NFN: Cool word, sweding. How’d you come up with that and the meaning of it?
GONDRY: I had a jacket in the ‘80s that was swede and I really liked it. It was a plastic imitation of swede, and I just imagined that; it was smooth but different. The word 'swede' is on Wikipedia, but I just found out yesterday that it was New Line who put it on Wikipeda (Laughs) But, okay, they put it there. I think it’s great they put it there. Now people use it and know what it means.
NFN: Is the process of sweding in any way just a fun way to convey your love of film? Is that part of Be Kind Rewind, conveying of love of the filmmaking process?
GONDRY: Well, really, this is a movie about liking film. It’s more a movie about a love of community. There is a love of making film in my own way, but not a love of a film’s process at all.
NFN: In choosing the movies to swede, was it also that New Line was promoting their movies?
GONDRY: This wasn’t that we were trying to promote anything, any movie. I’ve been asked that a lot. It’s that we had a well known movie and they remake it as they can. We could have shot any movie we wanted to, there is no regulation if you want to spoof a movie and do a cover of any song you want. It is [a problem] if you use something that has been crafted for the film, like the artwork. We wanted to show the artwork for the films because our films are based on that. We just looked at the box and reproduced a few images; we had to use that, so we had to go through all this complicated legal process for this movie.
NFN: One of the neater elements is your costume design. For the sweded movies, you’re wardrobe team did literally pull things together from the local stores.
GONDRY: Yes, it was important to me that they don’t be like the movie, only imitate them. So I said to everyone from the actor, to the art director, to the costume crew, to not watch the original film. They just had to work from memory. And I had a restriction for the costume girls. I told them, “You can’t buy anything that is outside of Passaic, New Jersey” – where we were shooting every scene. In Passaic you don’t have Gap, Levis, all those things. You have these big stores were you can things for $1 dollar or $5 dollars, where you can get boxes of things. We only used things that the people there were buying and that they wore. But this was great because they found things funny things that they would buy for $10 dollars. Even for the Fats Waller clips I told them, “Okay, maybe if you can find some of these things outside of Passaic, do it, but if you can find any of these things in a toy store here, I would prefer it.” They really stood by this and created a style that’s really coherent.
NFN: Was there any movie you really wanted to swede?
GONDRY: Back to the Future I wanted to do.
NFN: As a director, you haven’t really veered into the subjects of sex and violence, the way so many younger directors have.
GONDRY: I don’t. I didn’t do horror films, maybe because it would be too obvious. You tell me I am imaginative, but I am very conservative in my tastes. In terms of showing sex or violence in films, or guns, I don’t like very much that. So in [Be Kind Rewind] wherever there were guns, I made sure they were really bad caricatures, like unusual water-guns. And this is because I really resent the exercise of violence in film. I think some very good directors have had a very negative impact on new directors in this country. They make great films, and I would not blame those guys because I respect them, but the impact of sex and violence on filmmaking is very negative.
NFN: What’s next for you?
GONDRY: I’m going into a new world.
NFN: A new world?
GONDRY: My next film is science fiction. I’m doing a scienty fictiony movie. It’s funny because I talked to a guy from the MTV blog and I said it’s Return of the Ice Kids, and he printed in the blog that it’s Return of the Ice Kings. And I decided this title is better and I’m going to use it. It’s complicated to tell because I am still writing it. I’m writing it with the person who wrote with me the Tokyo movie, she’s a comic book artist called Gabrielle Bell. She did this book called Lucky. She’s really amazing. So we’re writing this story together about two kids who are working, studying at MIT, and they develop this water that when you drink it, you hear some notes. And ultimately they’re going to use it to create a future where you just pop a pill and you hear a song. Basically, that’s how music has a new medium.
NFN: Any idea as to when we can expect Return of the Ice Kings to go into production?
GONDRY: I hope it’s going to happen soon. We’ve really been talking about it for a while. Sometimes the word is spread a little too early when you work on a project. And I wish that didn’t happen. Obviously everyone gets excited when we get to finish your idea, but there are so many stages you have to go through. There are a lot of reasons why things could happen or not happen. It’s a project that I care for, and I’m going to see what’s going to happen next.
NFN: As many of our readers probably know, you have an un-matched background in music videos. Of all the artists you’ve worked, Bjork, Radiohead, Beck, etc., which would you say has been your favorite experience?
GONDRY: I would say maybe, over all videos, it was Bjork. That’s one. But as well for a single video, maybe the one for Daft Punk. It was the choreography I love. And I really like the last one I did for Bjork, because it was very challenging. We had less money than we used to have, and I always want to do something different each time. And it has been 10 years and it was quite scary to go back there. But I’m really glad we did this video and I’ve very pleased with it.
NFN: With your films, some fans say you tend to soften your message, your ending, and you tend to leave some elements with your characters unresolved. Why is that?
GONDRY: I think maybe I don’t want a story that I tell to be taken too seriously. I don’t want it to be so serious at the end. I like the true art of the process. I don’t want people to carry a weight. With [Be Kind Rewind] I didn’t want to make the movie too happy. Initially I had to return a very happy ending, but I thought when I watched the first edit it was so happy it felt completely unreal. I think it’s better to have an emotional resolution, but intellectually to keep it up, and then your brain evaluates different possibilities and it keeps you lingering with the film a little bit longer. I like this kind of in-between. And I really don’t want to frustrate the audience. I just think they would feel a little robbed, swindled if the resolution was like an explosion at the end. I like it to be up, but as well that the audiences feels that the characters still have issues when the camera goes away and we leave them where they are. We don’t own them. They are their own owner. It is important to me that when you leave a story you leave people enough room that they exist beyond the end of the film.
