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ARROW: I assume you’ve been a huge horror/sci-fi fan for a while now? PAUL: Yes. ARROW: What’s your favorite horror movie? PAUL: I think my favorite horror movie has got to be "The Shining". ARROW: Nice… PAUL: It's just "The Shining", isn’t it? ARROW: Yeah, there’s not much more you can say about that. PAUL: <laughs> ARROW: It's Kubrick...it’s the Shining…that’s it! PAUL: It’s the Shining.
PAUL: Yes, absolutely. He was a master, I think all through my work, there’s definite influences of 2001 and The Shining, he was a huge influence on me absolutely. I mean, how can you watch a Kubrick movie and not be influenced by him? ARROW: True. You’re getting bigger into this movie game, getting larger budgets for you work. Now does this increase in cash flow allow you more freedom in regards to the studios or are they tightening their grip on you, since there’s more money involved? PAUL: Well, it's interesting, the way "Resident Evil" was made, I actually had more control over it than other movies I’ve made before. It was a really good experience for me as a filmmaker. For example, the final sequence in the movie is very 70s, very bleak. You know the idea that Mila survives the whole movie and then rather than an uplifting payoff, what you’ve got is the suggestion that everybody else is dead. If we’d financed the movie in a more traditional kind of studio route, that ending would have been very difficult to force through. I don't think any studio would have allowed us to go with that. But because of the amount of control I had over Resident and the way that it was financed, that’s something we didn’t have a problem with. RETROSPECTIVE "SHOPPING"
ARROW: Let’s do a brief retrospective of your past movies. You down? PAUL: Sure. ARROW: I’ll start with “Shopping” which is a very little known film that I haven’t seen yet. It starred Jude Law. Can you tell us a little bit about it? PAUL: It’s all based on real life events. When I was growing up in New Castle, my home town in the North of England, there was a big trend of what was called ram-raiding, where kids would steal high performance cars like a BMW or Mercedes and at 3 o'clock in the morning, drive them at high speed through department store windows causing lots of damage. And then they’d just steal something totally meaningless like a T-shirt and wait in the car inside the department store with the alarms going off until the police turned up. They'd then proceed to have a high-speed car chase. And it was all done for kicks! ARROW: We all need to relax. PAUL: <laughs> Yeah, like the kids would have boring dead-end existences and this was the adrenaline rush that they got. ARROW: Does the film have a wide distribution over the world? PAUL: It didn’t get much of a theatrical release, but it’s available on DVD and video. ARROW: How did the Jude Law casting come about? PAUL: We discovered Jude, it was the first thing he’d ever been in. It was interesting because the choice for that role was between him and Ewan McGregor who were both unknowns at the times. We had a hard time deciding, but we went with Jude in the end. ARROW: So looking back...are you proud of that film? PAUL: Yes, very! It did very well for everybody really. It's got a terrific supporting cast, it's got Jonathan Pryce in it, Sean Bean, Sadie Frost, it's where her and Jude met, they fell in love on the set. It also features one of my regulars: Jason Isaac, it’s the first movie I’ve ever done with him and he proceeded to be in everything else I’ve done. ARROW: I didn’t see him in "Resident Evil". PAUL: He’s in there but uncredited. He does the narration at the start where he tells you about the Umbrella Corporation and he appears at the end where Mila is in the viral tent outside the mansion, she’s being restrained and he’s the guy saying to take her to the Raccoon city facility and put Eric Mabius’ character in the Nemesis program. You also briefly see his face, he’s one of the doctor’s leaning over Mila, examining her with the bright lights behind him and his clear blue scary eyes. I didn’t want to make a movie without him, so we just grabbed him for a day of shooting. ARROW: Is he going to be in "Resident Evil: Nemesis"? PAUL: I actually wrote a part for him...yes, to expand on that character. We didn’t pay him for the first movie so I figured I owe him. "MORTAL KOMBAT"
ARROW: Let’s move on to "Mortal Kombat", which was your break in the American market. Would you say that MK was your school of filmmaking in terms of dealing with special effects? PAUL: Yes, very much so. I hadn’t dealt with visual effects before. ARROW: How hard was it to be a director used to a more classic type of filmmaking, to hop onto a flick with CGI and other assortments of complex effects? PAUL: I found it very exciting. Although I had never done them before, I had actually grown up watching movies that were very effect heavy. What I wanted to make with Mortal Kombat was basically a cross between "Enter the Dragon" and "Jason and the Argonauts" so when I made that movie I completely immersed myself in visual effects and by the time I came out of it I knew a hell of a lot about them. Also, since I was really into them, I spent days working with the animators. You know, a lot of directors, when they work on a visual effects film, they get sent a tape of the effects, then they make comments on it and then they send it back. They never actually go to the visual effects company. Since I was keen on them, I wound up spending days and days on a one-on-one basis with the animators and the people responsible for putting these shots together. I now have a huge knowledge on how visual effects are created and put together. Probably more so than most directors. Not more than Jim Cameron though, he knows everything I think. The man knows more than Einstein! ARROW: <laughs> We’re you approached to do the sequel to "Mortal Kombat"? PAUL: To do the sequel? ARROW: Yes there is one, it’s very crappy. PAUL: I know...I’ve seen it. Immediately after the first one was released, literally on the Monday morning after our big opening weekend, the studio asked me if I would be interested in doing the second one. And I wasn’t really interested. You know for a director, it's really 2 years worth of work and they wanted to go straight into doing it again and I just felt that I’d done it and I wanted to do something different rather than return to do the same thing again. I had no involvement in the sequel whatsoever. ARROW: With the script and production values they had…GOOD MOVE! PAUL: <laughs> "EVENT HORIZON"
ARROW: Let’s move on to one of my favorites: "Event Horizon". The first hour of this film is classic in my opinion, but it kind of fell short in its last act. What happened? I heard rumors of studio interference...how much of that is true? PAUL: We just never had a satisfying ending to the movie. Even in the scripts that we had and we had several different endings, it was always the weakest thing about the movie. The setup was fantastic but it never had a satisfying payoff and when I started doing the movie, we said to ourselves, we’ll fix it and we never fixed it. We tried but we never pulled it together. It needed something at the end; it needed like a big twist that would’ve pulled everything together in my opinion. I think the movie still works and I’m very very proud of it, but I feel script-wise, that was something that was lacking. ARROW: Were some of the alternative script endings ever shot? PAUL: It always ended roughly the same way, with Fishburne sacrificing himself and the Event going to the other side. The real changes were what Sam Neill would stay in the burning containment while the gateway was opening. ARROW: So if there’s a "Director’s Cut" that might come out, what will be added? What was snipped out? PAUL: The postproduction on that movie was very compacted. Paramount set a release date on the movie and we had to hit that release date. I was cutting in London and I was testing in LA, so every time we had a test, I had to fly all the way to America and we’d lose lots of time. Me and my editing team were also exhausted while making the movie due to all the traveling. I think we cut things out to speed the movie up, but in retrospect, I wish we hadn’t. There was a lot of very good stuff before the mission started. There was a whole scene where Sam Neill was briefed before we met the crew of Lewis and Clark that I thought was a very good scene with amazing visual effects. Because we’re on the space station and we see the earth moving behind you and it was really cool kind of like the 2001 space station scene. But the studio felt it slowed the film down and they wanted to get on with the mission, so we took that out. I think it's kind of a shame because I always liked those briefing scenes and I think audiences do as well. We also cut a lot of stuff where Fishburne and his crew are exploring the Event, again to speed the movie up. In retrospect, those were the bits in the movie that worked really well and we could have done with more of them. There was a great bit where Fish sees this thing floating in zero gravity and you think it's something really huge but we’re playing a trick on perspective, and the more he comes to it, the more you see that it’s a tooth spinning in zero gravity like a mini-space station. ARROW: Groovy… PAUL: And it’s got a bit of gum stuck to it. It's somebody’s tooth that’s been ripped out of the jawbone. It's really horrific, Fish goes up, grabs it and it stops spinning. There’s also a really cool conversation between Fish and Jason Isaac where Jason is describing what he thinks is happening with the tooth ripped out of somebody’s jaw. It was a scene that Kevin Andrew Walker <screenwriter of SE7EN> wrote for us. ARROW: Oh yeah? PAUL: And there was no payoff to it, which is why the studio wanted it out. They said: ”We don’t even see whose jaw it came out of”. And I didn’t think that was the point...it was just a cool and unsettling scene. Andy Walker is very good at that. I would love to put that back in. ARROW: And I would love to see it back in. Any other juicy bits that got cut out? PAUL: There was also more of what happened to the other crew that went on the other side. That orgy of destruction was originally a lot more graphic than what exists at the moment. We had a lot of morbid and beautiful images that we took out and that I’d love to put back in. ARROW: Just the brief moments of those visions were very effective; I can just imagine the whole thing. PAUL: There was a lot in there. For example, we had one where this guy had a big spike shoved up his ass and it came out his mouth. ARROW: OUCH! PAUL: <laughs> It's really horrible and I think we could do with a bit more of that. ARROW: Well, I definitely second that motion. BRING IT ON! PAUL: <laughs> "SOLDIER"
ARROW: Let’s move on to "Soldier", which got a lot of flack upon release but is a movie that I really enjoyed. How close did it wind up being to the picture that it was initially supposed to be? PAUL: It’s the script, word for word. It's David Webb People’s script. It didn’t deviate from the script at all. But in terms of making the movie, it was a hugely difficult film to make for a lot of different reasons. I had originally planned to shoot the whole movie exterior, it was gonna be my “Lawrence of Arabia” in outer space. After having done "Event Horizon", which was an entirely claustrophobic movie, I wanted to do an exterior, big epic kind of location picture. And then the weather in California was so bad; it was that year when they had El Niño and the studio became scared and said we had to move the whole picture indoors. So we ended up building a version of everything that I wanted to build outside, but no matter how big the stage is, it never captures the proper feel of a big exterior location, which is what the movie should’ve had. So visually, it was compromised because of that. The few exterior shots we did do were a nightmare because it did wind up raining a lot. We shot in a big quarry outside of L.A. and at one point we had to leave it because the rain was coming down so hard that the road was actually collapsing. So it was logistically a very difficult film to shoot. Also, Kurt Russell broke his ankle literally in the first weeks of shooting and we proceeded with the picture. God...Kurt worked so hard on that picture! I have the utmost admiration for him. Because what your watching in that movie is an actor who’s making an action movie, he’s in every scene, he’s performing all of his own stunts and he’s moving on a broken foot. ARROW: That must been so painful! PAUL: Yes, he did have 4 days off, but then we had to start shooting. He was very badly injured during the whole shoot. And as a filmmaker, that made it very difficult for me because I come from very physical movies and there was a limit as to what Kurt could do. He’s like the toughest actor I’ve ever worked with, the guy would just grit his teeth and just do it. He’s the toughest and bravest guy I’ve ever met. If I ever have to go to war, I’d like to be under the command of Kurt Russell! ARROW: <laughs> PAUL: Actually Kurt Russell and Fishburne, these are the men I’d want to go to war with...they are real warriors. Kurt went through so much pain doing that movie and I think his performance is magnificent as well. He had about 75 words to say in the picture, but the emotion he managed to convey was just exceptional. ARROW: I totally agree. PAUL: We got fucked by circumstance. I was also not too fond of the marketing campaign Warner Brothers did. They seemed determined to sell the movie to teenage boys as if it was a teenage action movie, but it was never that. That’s why it didn’t do much business. The young genre fan said “I don’t really think I’ll fancy this, I don’t think it's for me” and the audience that it would’ve worked with, the audiences it tested well with, which were older males and females who responded to the relationship between Kurt and the child, never went to see the movie because Warner Bros chose to sell it as a teenage action movie. It fell between the two stools. ARROW: In retrospect, how do you feel about the film? PAUL: I ‘m very, very proud of what Kurt achieved, and I think it’s his finest performance. I’m very happy with what we did with him, but visually it could’ve been and should’ve been a lot better than it was. It was circumstance; we got fucked in the ass, you know? ARROW: Yeah… PAUL: To go from shooting a big location picture to shooting the picture on a soundstage is a huge change that we had to do very quickly and it was detrimental to the picture, I think. Having said that, I’ve read some really horrific reviews of the picture that I really didn’t think it deserved and I think it's got some kool stuff in it and that the performances are very strong. ARROW: I think that the emotional content of the picture went over a lot of people’s heads. I’ve reviewed the film and I state that there's a lot of stuff going on emotionally, especially in terms of Kurt’s character, and I can’t believe that people didn’t pick up on that. PAUL: And that’s what the movie is about. Yes, it's called “Soldier” but apart from an action scene in the beginning and the action at the end, the second act has no action in it...it’s a relationship picture, it's about this man coming to terms with the fact that he’s had no emotions and that’s what the pic is about. That’s why when we tested the picture, it tested through the roof with women because they really got the relationship with the child, they found it touching. It was never going to work with the same audience that say, Mortal Kombat, worked with. But yet I think because I directed Mortal Kombat, the studio said "well, that’s the audience we’re gonna try to sell it to". ARROW: How does that happen? They organize the test screenings, they see the results and then they decide to concentrate on a whole different type of target audience. How does that work?! PAUL: In studios, there’s a division that makes the movie and there’s a division that sells the movie. And quite often one hand is unaware or disinterested on what the other hand is doing. ARROW: Well, that’s a shame and a waste. PAUL: That’s why when I made "Resident Evil", I wanted more control over it because I was very disappointed in the reception that "Soldier" got and in the way it was sold, and I thought the next time around, I’m gonna try to have more control over this. It will either work or it won't but at least I’ll know that I have done my best and done justice to a film that I’ve spent a year and a half making...which I really felt with Soldier justice wasn’t done. BAD PRESS AND THE RULES OF GAMES TO MOVIES
ARROW: As a director, I assume you read the reviews once your movies come out? PAUL: When I made "Shopping", I read every single review. I was so excited that someone was writing about something I was doing. I would read everything and anything. That movie was a big lesson for me and it's been pretty much the same with every movie I’ve made. For "Shopping", I got insanely good reviews, people would love the picture and then I also got reviews that said: "This guy should never direct another movie ever" or "The movie looks ugly, the actors can't act"…we got reviews saying that Jude Law was too pretty to be an actor... ARROW: You gotta be shitting me? PAUL: Can you believe it? That’s the kind of abuse we got in Britain. It was a big lesson for me, I kind of went "wow!", you got two people who saw exactly the same movie and one thinks it’s the biggest piece of shit in the world and the other thinks it’s the best movie they’ve seen all year. From that point on, I read some press, but I don’t really go through the press I used to because it really winds up being about people’s opinions and I’ve always perceived myself as a popular filmmaker, I make movies for audiences...not for critics. For me, it’s more important what an audience will think than what Ebert will write about it. ARROW: Do you sometimes go on the Internet where you have younger and hipper folks roaming about that are more in tune with the material you put out than say...Ebert? PAUL: Certainly when we were making Resident, we were listening to what the fans would say about what they thought the movie should be or shouldn’t be. I was dropping by Resident Evil sites and listening to what people’s concerns were about the movie, so I did find that very helpful. ARROW: For my last question, in your opinion what does a genre film have to deliver to be solid? PAUL: Solid? ARROW: Solid, great, awesome, da bomb? PAUL: What I'm really passionate about is that if you make a genre movie and base it on a source material...you really have to be respectful of the source material. For me, I think it really helps that I’m a fanboy. I love "Mortal Kombat", I played it so much at the arcades, I love "Resident Evil", and I played all of the games. I think loving Resident Evil and loving the toys, the games, just being totally immersed in that world definitely helped me make a better Resident Evil movie. That’s something that's very necessary. I think if you’re gonna go into a universe that’s already in existence, you have to obey the laws of that universe and be aware on what the rules are. You can’t contradict them and say "fuck it, it's just a video game...this is a movie and I could do whatever I want", because you can't. It's like "Alien vs Predators", you have to be totally aware of every scene of every moment in every Alien movie, in every Predator movie, in all those comic books because your opening weekend audience have read all the comic books and seen all those movies and you can't afford to make stupid mistakes where someone can go “get the fuck out of here, cause I know based on Predator 2...that’s bullshit”. You have to be respectful of the universe while giving the audience something fresh as well, something new. If the Resident Evil movie didn’t give you something above the game, they might as well just stay at home and play the game. AvsP is gonna give you something above and beyond an Alien movie or Predator movie, it's gonna be AvsP PLUS, it's gonna be enhanced because it's gonna stay true to those movies while giving you something new, something extra. ARROW: Well, that’s it for me dude, I’d like to say keep up the great work… PAUL: I’m trying… ARROW: And I’m really looking forward to "Aliens vs Predator". PAUL: Yeah, I’m really excited about it. ARROW: I can’t wait to see what you do with it...go nuts! PAUL: <laughs> I will. -------------------------------- And that was that. I'd like to thank Paul for this badass interview, it made my day. Say what you will about PA, but for me the man is an inspiration. He's a fanboy, genre nut and video game freak that MADE IT! I for one, aim to follow in his footsteps. Keep 'em coming, Paul! READ THE FIRST PART OF THE PAUL ANDERSON INTERVIEW HERE READ ARROW’S
RESIDENT EVIL REVIEW HERE |
My
lengthy interview with genre director and all around kool
dude Paul Anderson continues today. Here,
we discuss all of his theatrical features, how he deals with bad
press and beyond. Enjoy...
ARROW: I’m assuming that Kubrick was a huge
inspiration for you in terms of visual style?
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