Set Visit: Green Hornet Interview with director Michel Gondry

Green Lantern isn’t the only green superhero out there. THE GREEN HORNET will be
released this January and I got a chance to visit the set in Los Angeles. We checked out
his car, Black Beauty, saw a set that a car had just blown through and got to chat with director
Michel Gondry. He talked about getting the band Anvil on board, being a fan of the television
show and whether or not the fanboys will be kinder to this one then they are to things like
BATMAN and other, more well-known superhero films.

THE GREEN HORNET will be released in theaters on January 14th.

Michel Gondry

You worked on this project years ago when it was at Universal can you
talk about that?

The first script that I got to work to when I moved to Hollywood. In fact I went
here for a couple of years working. It was in ’97 and it didn’t work out. I worked
on a draft of the script. It was a great idea but the studio did not support the
idea. So I was happy to see it coming back and it has been in the hands of many
directors in between. It was sort of doomed.

Were you a fan of the TV series?

Well at the time I was really beginning so I was happy to have a project that was
something good. What I liked was when I was asked again by Seth and Evan was
that they bring back the spirit of the action comedy that I didn’t see for a while
now. There is a sleek and immenseness in the super-hero movie that I am not
really a big fan of. It’s very much about the attitude and everything is as to be a
like super posed. As the approach of Seth and Evan was much human and fun of
course.

What was your thought when you brought your idea of doing the action
sequences split screen, with one going fast and one going slow, to the
producers?

What was my thought? Well I was trying to find a way to enhance the fight and
use a technique that has not been used before. So basically we shoot at a higher
rate. We shoot with one camera and then we separate and sometimes one guy is
going faster and the other guys going slower and then the guy who gets slower
gets faster and etc. It’s sort of like you buy a time from the future and then you
have to reimburse it. So what it does is it really makes the transfer of energy
when somebody hits somebody else so the guy who hits the next guy goes very
fast and then the guy when he receives the hit he goes faster. It’s like if I hit
you.. bam! (He demonstrates.) First your slow and I’m fast and then when I
hit you I become slow and you become fast so I can give you my energy. I can
transfer like electricity in some ways. And all that with the camera moving, which
makes it quite hard to shoot but it is pretty spectacular.

So where will we be seeing that in the movie?

Oh when Kato fights mostly. There is two, three sequence where you see that.
Eventually Britt acquires this capacity.

Were there any other inspirations for that stylistic approach to the action
sequences?

Well I wanted to make them hyper but not pretentious. So it’s sort of a the feel is
real and its intense, sometime painful but at the same time the human elements
remain prominent.

Can you talk about bringing “Anvil” in for the opening scene ad how that
decision came about?

Well I went to see the documentary about “Anvil” and I absolutely loved it. At the
screening I was at they were playing at the end and I want to make fun of heavy
metal but the documentary was so touching. That guy was so touching and we
had a club scene and I really thought it would be a perfect place for them.

Can you talk about working with Christoph Waltz and what he brings to
the role?

Well Christoph really brought sort of a layer of humor that is very specific to him.
So he’s still mean but he has a lot of weakness and it makes a villain who is really
interesting. He’s charismatic but at the same time he goes through mid-life crisis
so that is pretty relatable.

Can you talk about some of the super-heroes and super-hero films and
those conventions that you wanted to play with in this film?

Well there is a world to create that’s one thing. When we put in the real world and
shoot it in LA on the realistic so there is no super power or costume. They create
their own costume. But there is still a leap of faith to have like this guy can do so
much that they do. Mostly through destruction I have to say.

Was there a commentary that you wanted to make on those types of
films?

Honestly when I do a movie I don’t do them in reaction or in commentary. I do a
movie I’d really like to see, first of all. We are all a bunch of guys with different
tastes working together on this movie we manage to through our differences get
the best of all the world. Sometime we disagree on the type of humor but we find
a solution that is better than the first proposition. So that’s something, I’m not
sure if I’m answering the question?

Has Jay (Chou) jumped in with any ideas about directing since he’s shot
music videos before?

He has some ideas you know but he is pretty quiet. A pretty quiet guy but has
a quality of coolness. So if he has one word to say he always says it the coolest
way. So we always laugh because we say what should I say to him or don’t say
anything he’s going to be cool anyways.

This is a very mainstream film compared to your other films …

I hope so.

…Do you feel any pressure with the fan-boy base surrounding this and
how are you dealing with that?

Well you mean the fan of THE GREEN HORNET? Well we want to make the best
film ever, of course. But like I don’t think we need or owe a response to the
criteria that some people want us to respond to because it’s a different form of
this material….

(We then moved to a different location and continued the interview…)

…Oh, respect the will of the fan and so like THE GREEN HORNET was a radio
show and then it was a TV show in the ‘40s shot on film and then it was a TV
show in the ‘60s with Bruce Lee and then there have been some comic books but
in terms of comic books they are all over the place. Sometimes Kato was a girl
and sometimes it’s just about Kato. So its not like there is an amazing and the
main thing, that could be seen as an burden is the heaviest thing to carry is the
legend, which is what makes the TV show so memorable. It was so like the first
role in America for Bruce Lee, of course for what he became there is a weight to
carry but Jay was very clear that he would never try to emulate Bruce Lee. So
that was very important. We wanted the fight to be awesome. To be the right
level of violence and credibility. But other than that its set to work out but I think
he plays very well as this super hero I would say because he is very human but
you feel the steaks and you feel that his life is in danger. And its all based on this
reason he has to his father who raised him in his shadow and all his motivation
is sort of upside down in comparison to an archetype super hero movie where it’s
a revenge or somebody killed your father and this one is the other way around
though. He goes out and acts as a bad guy because he does what his father
would have hated for him to do and then later he realizes that that was bad and
there is post redemption for his father.

Does Cameron Diaz get to get in on the butt-kicking action?

Not in this one because she doesn’t know in this one about their identity so she is
not in the action sequence but she is sort of the brain of the operation. Because
she is a crime specialist and she is obsessed with this TV show as well. Basically
because they want to pose as criminal they ask her how criminal becomes
famous. She makes a suggestion and then they execute it. Brit asks what would
be the next move of the Green Hornet and she does not know that they are the
Green Hornet. She says, oh I guess they are going to attack some big guy, on his
own turf and then they go and do it. She gets more and more confidant into this
role because basically she’s always right and it helps her execute her plan.

Does Britt Reid ever exploit that he is a newsman for anything as the
Green Hornet?

Yeah, well he exaggerates the news and he pushes them to report all this stuff.
He wants to be on the front page, yes. Not everyday but as much as possible.

This is the first movie you’ve done with a 2nd Unit, how has that been for
you adjusting to that?

It’s great because you don’t do anything and you look at the dallies and they’re
awesome. So it’s good. We use some pre-vis or some technique of storyboard
but the crew that is doing 2nd unit is really excellent. They certainly know how to
blow up a car or find a creative way to take out bad guys.

Have you found anyways to blow up a car that we haven’t seen before?

I don’t know? I hope so? I think you are going to stuff that you have not seen
before. Not necessarily in the explosions. The explosions are really, really
awesome and they are some, quite a good amount of them. But there are other
scenes that will surprise you.

Do you like working with Vic Armstrong (SUPERMAN II), who has so
much history working on films like?

Yes to tell you because he is all for doing things practically. We don’t rely so
much on blue screen. There is going to be some blue screen and some computer
elements but at the minimum. We want the physicality to be fair and the violence
and action to be serious. So we get this quality in the action sequences.

Have you had a favorite day of shooting on this film yet?

When we first watched the teaser trailer the other day. We are pretty excited.
No, many times. Sometimes it’s just a simple scene between Britt and Kato. The
chemistry and there is bonding that happens, those days are exciting. Or when
we … actually we found a very cool way to destroy the car. The Black Beauty is
destroyed slowly pieces by pieces and it is resident to the last second. So there
was a day when we shot some insane stunt, destruction and the effect was really
good.

Does it make you feel protective of this character now that you are
directing it is there a feeling that this version is yours?

I don’t want somebody to get my job. It’s hard to tell; I guess I would feel weird
if somebody else does it.

Are you concerned about film critics who might call you directing a big-
budget super-hero film is selling out of your independent roots?

That’s too bad that they feel that way. It’s harder to do a movie if I have to get
their permission everywhere I go. I think the jobs that some of these guys do,
they have their blogs. The best blog I read was “Seth Rogen is the worst actor
ever and who ever hired Gondry should be fired!” It was awesome and I framed
it. I mean what do you want me to say? Some people are against me making
movies all together. You know it works like that. Some people don’t believe in you
to start with. When you start you are not that successful and that is a good place
to start and then become more successful. But then they don’t want to be proved
wrong so they keep telling people that you are a terrible director even if other
people are saying you are not.

How much freedom do you have on this film to experiment?

Oh much more freedom then I was expecting in fact. It is interesting because
Neil Moritz and I are so different. Sometimes I will propose an idea and Neil will
say, “I don’t get it but shoot it anyways.” We shot some stuff that he wasn’t sure
about because to him it is too real but I think as everyone else looked at it, they
thought it was cool. There is a sequence where Britt is trying to put all the pieces
of the puzzle together to understand the situation and we shot it in away that was
really funny and absurd. But you have the physical representation of his brain in
action and you end up with the most absurd tab low, where his father is involved,
how his father was killed and it is pretty surrealist and major. When we shot it
everyone was like, oh that is my favorite shot. Of course if I had come to the
first meeting I had and told them I was going to do this they would have never
hired me but now that I’m here I can push for some of the things that are more
exciting.

Do you feel more freedom with this property because it isn’t as widely
known as Batman or Spider-Man?

Yeah, I think it is a blank slate, not a complete blank slate but as I was saying
before it has been through so many forms, the radio show and the comic books.
Except for Bruce Lee/Kato, that is a bigger thing that we have to deal with. We
went to many different directions to look for the car and in the end we decided to
stick with the same car as before. With each time a new Batman or a new Spider-
Man film comes around they want to reinvent it. The whole universe so it fits the
time better. We thought that the biggest mistake we could make on this film is
not use the same car. We said, lets take the car, which in itself is a cost because
you never use the same vehicle.

What kind of gadgets can we expect beyond the Black Beauty?

Well it’s going to be a surprise. I mean there are things that I noticed in the
comic book like flashlights and very emotional set up but I’m making a movie.
There are times when the run around with masks but it is pretty organic. But I’m
not being obsessed with the comic books. My brother when he was a kid collected
… in French we had Marvel but I think it was called Strange and I didn’t like that.
What other genres or properties would you like to try?
Science Fiction I would like to try.