Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World Interview

Documentary filmmaker Belinda Sallin talks chronicling the last years of the brilliant artist with Dark Star: H.R.

At some point, youve probably experienced the work of Hans Ruedi (H.R.)

An equally imposing presence is Gigers house in Zurich, where most of the film was shot.

When and how did you first encounter Gigers art and how did it speak to you?

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Belinda: I knew Gigers art since I was a teenager.

I saw his work everywhere in shared flats, in comic shops, and bookstores.

I talked to her and she said to me, I was together with H.R.

Giger once, so immediately I had a lot of images in my head.

I think that is the ultimate quality of his art.

If you have seen it once, you dont forget it.

It is very unique.

It is very distinctive.

How did the idea of doing a film come about?

It was the very first time I met Giger that I started thinking about that.

I wanted to actually literally realize this film when I met him.

When I entered his home for the first time, I was really overwhelmed.

You dont see that every day.

And then when I met him, I wasnt sure what to expect.

Giger was such a nice, warm, and friendly man.

So I was very surprised.

We got along very well from the first second together.

Its like a playground, his house.

I felt like that.

I mean the house became a protagonist, a character.

He literally lived in his art.

I really liked filming there.

It might be surprising to hear, but it was really a very friendly place, a quiet home.

Is that actually the case?

Thats why I shot with a drone.

Its not a crane; its a drone.

I thought the house was like a cocoon.

Its completely different, another world.

And he was living really inside the city with his cocoon.

I wanted to show that it was a different world.

There was the world of H.R.

Giger and there was the other world, the world around.

Is Carmen (Gigers wife) still living in the house?

Whats happened there since his passing?

Carmen is still living in the house.

Also, Tom (Fischer, Gigers personal assistant), he is still working there.

Marco (archivist) is still working there.

So the life continues forward.

Of course they are all very sad still now.

Giger is very, very missed.

But the life goes on how it was before.

When you proposed the idea of the film to Giger, was he receptive to it?

I think he saw that my research was serious and my knowledge of his work profound.

So I think that was something he appreciated.

I showed him my concepts.

I told him, You dont have to do interviews for hours and hours and hours.

And I think he was very pleased when he realized that I understood that he doesnt like to talk.

Even before his illness, he didnt like to talk about his art.

And I accepted that.

I wanted to show other things.

As we mentioned before, I really wanted to show his home where he lived.

So I didnt want to make a conventional biography.

He said, Yeah, thats nice.

You dont have to explain everything.

Its nice when it stays a little bit mysterious.

I think it was the right moment.

It was high time for a project like this.

And I think…well, its my opinion.

I think it was his last performance.

I think he knew exactly what he was doing despite of his poor health.

He wanted to be in this film.

But he was completely aware of that.

He does appear to already be ill in the film.

Did he become ill as you were filming or was he ill already before you started?

Did it make it more difficult in some ways to get what you needed?

Yeah, of course.

I mean his health issues got worse over the months.

I gave a lot of thought to that, because I wanted him to be comfortable.

He couldnt be there all the time.

So I thought a lot about that.

So we really had to be careful.

Thats such a powerful image of the effect that hes had on people over generations.

Its comforting, because Giger didnt get the acknowledgment of the art establishment or the art institutions.

So I think the fans were very important to him, very precious.

Being a public figure was ambivalent for him, because he was a shy person.

But he always did his duty.

So he would show his gratitude towards them.

What do you want people ultimately to take away from watching this film?

I can only speak for me.

What impressed me the most is his biography and that he realized his dreams.

I think this is the main thing; this is beautiful to see.

I can only imagine what people said in the 60s or in the 70s about his art.

But he stuck to his own path and he made a lot of different things.

He made a bar.

I mean you could call him a transmedia pioneer.

They dont show my work in the well-established galleries, so Ill build my own museum.

And he did it very successfully.

I think this is amazing.

And at the end of his life he was very satisfied.

I thought that was wonderful.

He said, Im satisfied.

I have done what I wanted to do and I have seen what I wanted to see.

Dark Star: H.R.

Gigers Worldis now in limited theatrical release.

For more information, gohere.