Caffeinated Clint
Sidney Pollack’s classic thrillers "Three Days of the Condor", "Absence of Malice" and "The Firm" have set the tone for the modern-day goosebump ride. He returns to the Nikon with "The Interpreter", a couple of hours of breathless thrills starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. It’s released on DVD this week, and John Millar spoke one-on-one to the famed filmmaker about it.
And thank you for giving us a film for grown ups
Oh, my pleasure
It’s not been that kind of year though so far has it
No, it’s not
OK. Thank you. This has made history as being the first film ever to have access to film within the UN, even Hitchcock didn’t get it. So what was your secret?
Well, I wish I had a great secret. I’d love to say that the Secretary General was so bowled-over by my intelligence…but the truth of the matter is, I think if Hitchcock were alive today and he wanted to shoot in the UN, they would let him. I think I’m the recipient of good timing, really, more than anything else. I just think that they believed that it was the right thing to do now. Open the doors a little bit, and let some air in and let people see what it’s like. I don’t know whether they’ll continue to let people do it or not, because it probably drove them crazy for 17 weeks, what with all our cable and 200 guys and catering and drinking coffee and all of that. It was kind of a mess to shoot a film in there, but it was great for the film and great for us to be able to be that authentic. And you know, my talks with Kofi Annan, I didn’t say any magic words at all. I just tried to assure him that I would not embarrass the UN or him, and that I wouldn’t make an exploitation picture in any way.
One of the many interesting quotes about that experience was when you said “Filming in the UN, was both a blessing and a curse”.
Well, I’m not sure what I meant, what I was saying.
Well, I took it that the weight on your shoulders, to make it as important as a movie as you set out in the first place
Well, yes. I think you’re absolutely right and not just that, but people expect a certain kind of political weight, when you walk into the UN, that you know, that’ you’re not being fascias with the use of it. On the one hand, I don’t want to be too casual politically, and on the other hand, I don’t want to bore an audience, by doing a political lecture or treatise, when I’m supposed to making a thriller, so there’s a constant juggling going on and a balance to how you do that work.
Could you have made the film as successful as you have done, if you hadn’t got this access to the UN?
No. No, I don’t think so at all. I mean, that’s what made me finally throw up my hands and say “I can’t shoot this in Toronto”. We were preparing in Toronto, we were building sets, we were deep into preparation with computer graphics work and I just stopped. I said I’ve got to go try and meet Kofi Anann, I didn’t know how I was going to meet him, but I kept track of people, and finally gotten to him.
Film making, as you had to, at night time and at weekends when the UN wasn’t working, must have been something of a logistical nightmare for you
Well, it was. We had to load in every Friday night and load out every Sunday night, and you can’t park trucks very close to the general assembly, so that’s a long way to run cables, it’s a big area to light. The carpets, everything in the place is an heirloom, a piece of history, you have to be super careful. So, every time, we had to take hours and hours to lay down cardboard and tape it together, so that we could wheel in these dollies and the lights and the cameras all in and not hurt the carpet or the floors. And then 48 hours and then we had to wheel it out again. And we did that for 17 weeks. It was a big, big logistics problem, but they made it very easy for us
Security must have been tricky too. Sniffer dogs, all that kind of stuff.
Yeah. And when you have 2000 people, that you’re trying to move in as extras, move out, they have lunch, and then they move back in again, it’s a nightmare
Your casting is fascinating. Two Oscar winners, and you said of Nicole Kidman that she has an exotic intelligence and of Sean Penn that he took a risk, in making this movie. I wonder if you could elaborate on both those descriptions.
Well, I think that Nicole, is one of those people who has a kind of charisma in life and a charisma on screen, both, and it comes from a kind of exoticness that she has. She’s not the typical girl next door at all, in any sense of the word. When I say that Sean took a risk, I mean that they both took risks, in the sense that they committed to do the picture, without a finished script. They just took a chance and a brave chance, on a picture this big and this size, but they’re both gutsy actors, so they jumped in the water
We kind of guessed who the leader of this mythical, or fictional African nation is, and I think it’s interesting who you elected to make it a fictional country, when you could have easily gone for something that’s real.
I think it’s more believable when it’s fictional, believe or not, than when it’s real. It’s like watching movies where the guy comes along and says “Mr. President” about the United States “Mr. President, won’t you tell us what we should do” and you look at the guy and you know he’s not the President, he’s an actor, but here…And also, you’re limited then by having to be faithful to the absolute reality of it. I didn’t want to be limited by that.
Have you got lots of fascinating material that we’ll see emerge in the DVD version of this movie?
Actually, I do. I have a lot of scenes that I cut out, that will be in. I have a whole different ending, to the film, which was the original ending to the film that I shot, that I quite love, but realised wasn’t quite believable for the rest of the audience, so I redid the ending, but there’s a lot of good stuff, that I’m anxious to see get out there, and let the people see
Are you doing a commentary?
I will. I will, absolutely.
As a film maker of some skill and sophistication, you must love DVD
Well, I do, because it gives me two things. First of all, it’s so much better than VHS in quality, number 1, number 2, the way they’re releasing them now, they’re doing both versions, where you’re not panning and scanning. I haven’t used widescreen, since Tootsie, that’s 22 years ago, because I got sick of the panning and scanning that happened, and now for the first time, I’ve gone back to widescreen, really because of DVDs.
Fantastic. Which one film would you take on DVD to your desert island, as your treat?
Oh God, I’d have to think about that. I bet I wish I had a quick answer, but I don’t know. I don’t know.
I’m sure you have one big favourite film. A film that’s influenced you throughout your life
Well, I would say in the films that I’ve seen, since I’ve been a director, I would say The Conformist was the film that influenced me a lot.
What a good choice
Great film
And a film you can watch over and over
Absolutely
Mr. Pollack, a pleasure. Thank you sir.
Thank you
THE INTERPRETER is now available on DVD. Buy it Here.
