Michael Winterbottom’s never been one to shy away from controversy –- the prolific director has made 18 films in 15 years, including heavy-hitters like “Welcome to Sarajevo,” “A Mighty Heart” and the documentary “The Road to Guantanamo.” Almost all his films contain graphic sex or violence–and he does not apologize for it.
His latest film, “The Killer Inside Me,” may be the most provocative yet –- critics have slung accusations of misogyny and torture porn. At the film’s premiere at Sundance, several people left in mid-showing. The first question after the screening was from an outraged woman: “I don’t understand how Sundance could book this movie. How dare you? How dare Sundance?”
The film is a loyal adaptation, on the insistence of Winterbottom, of a pulp novel by Jim Thompson that follows a small-town Texas sheriff with a penchant for murder and violent sex. Casey Affleck stars as killer Lou Ford, flanked by Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, who play the women who fall for him.
The film’s depictions of murder, especially of the women, are brutal, graphic and disturbingly long. The camera keeps rolling as Joyce Lakeland (Alba) gets her face pummeled for minutes, complete with all-too-accurate sounds of bones crushing and blood spewing. By the end, a completely unrecognizable Alba is slumped on the floor.
The controversy has not deterred distribution: IFC picked up “Killer” after Sundance and will release the film in theaters June 18. Winterbottom, a fast talker who thinks as quickly as he works, was in New York promoting the film’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Speakeasy caught up with him before opening night.
The Wall Street Journal: Why did you choose to shoot the killing scenes the way you did?
That’s the way they were described in the book. I wanted to make the film as close to the book as possible. Having made that first decision, then a lot of smaller decisions are taken care of for you. It’s not like we chose to shoot each scene on an individual basis –- the book tells you what happens.
So blame it on the book’s author, Jim Thompson?
[Laughs] Well, I think it’s a great book. So credit it to Thompson.
Many film adaptations stray. Why did you stay so loyal to the book?
The motive for making the film is because I loved the book. Not only did it have character and grabs you from the start, but because it is shocking when you read it, it is about the brutality of violence, the ugliness of violence, and the way violence destroys tenderness. After I finished it, the book stayed with me for a long time. It’s not supposed to be about how violence is attractive or exciting. It’s not about a glamorous guy going around killing people; it’s about someone that’s really f— up.
It’s interesting that you say the film isn’t supposed to portray violence as exciting. But there’s a good deal of S&M in Lou Ford’s relationships with both women.
That’s interesting, you think that they enjoyed the violence? The story is being told from his point of view so it’s his version of what happened. In his head at least, there’s no doubt that these women love him. Even at his worst, both women love him almost unconditionally so they are pretty passive when he kills them. But I didn’t intend that they’re sexually excited from being beaten.
Most of the uproar is around the film’s depiction of violence against women. Why does Lou Ford take his time killing the women while the men are killed quickly and less brutally?
Because he loves the women and they definitely love him. The film’s about how you’re more violent and more nasty to the people that are close to you if you hate yourself and have no sense of self worth.
Some compare “The Killer Inside Me” to torture porn. And your film “9 Songs” is the most sexually explicit film ever released in Britain. What’s the distinction between what you do and porn?
If you watch a porn film and then you watch “9 Songs,” you’ll know the difference. They do different things. Just because something has sex in it, I don’t think it should be considered porn. There are some ludicrous prohibition of sex in film –- it’s so important to what we all do, but it’s still treated by cinema that it doesn’t exist, or it’s done in the most schematic or symbolic way. You can’t really explore what relationships are like in cinema, because sex is such a big part of relationships and yet cinema doesn’t begin to try and deal with it.
And with “Killer Inside Me,” I personally don’t see any connection with porn. Porn makes you want to have sex with someone. I don’t believe anyone can read the book or watch the film and think they want to be Lou Ford. I don’t even know what torture porn is. Fortunately it hasn’t crossed my radar.
How did you shoot that killing scene with Jessica Alba?
Shooting a killing scene is quite straight-forward but quite tedious. We had to keep adding make-up to Jessica’s face as it went on. So it’s actually quite repetitive and boring from the camera side of it.
I think the person that it the was hardest for was Casey. Casey had to find a way to be real throughout the shoot, but shooting the scene was so dragged out because we do a little bit and we have to stop.
Does shooting the scene in that way sort of anesthetize you and the crew and cast to its shock value?
Yeah, there’s probably a gap of how you see it and how we made it. But I’m still surprised that people found it so shocking when they saw it. You’re right, that when you make a film you get very used to the violence. But it’s not that it pops out of nowhere in the story. The film is about a guy telling a story about killing –- it’s film noir. Noir itself is a well-known fictional genre. For me, although the violence is quite shocking, it’s within a stylized film.
I was pleasantly surprised by Alba and Hudsons’ performances. The roles are quite different from their usual fare. Why do you think they took them on?
You’ll have to ask them what exactly attracted them to the story. They read the script, they surely felt comfortable to play those parts. They are interesting parts. The typical good girl, bad girl dynamic is made more complex by the fact that they both have good-bad aspects to their characters.
What do you think the reaction will be once this film is released in theaters this summer?
I don’t know. This is a story about someone who’s crazy, so you want people to be shocked in that sense. I hope that people will have mixed and complex reactions to the film, like how I reacted to the book.
You’ve made a lot of films. How does this one fit in your repertoire?
I just try to do films that I want to do. The first film I ever directed was called “Butterfly Kiss,” which was about two women killing people, so this is like going back to the beginning in a way. I think you have to find something interesting that you can justify two to three years trying to make.
Have you ever been tempted to do something more mainstream?
We do get sent stuff that are more studio-developed, but it’s rare that that sort of thing is interesting. I like working with small crews on locations. It’s not a conscious decision not to make a mainstream film, but the ideas that we have are not usually the sort of films that everybody will like.
And you seem to be OK with that.
[Laughs] Absolutely.
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