Thats my first introduction to David Gordon Green.
A pretty good reason for postponing a 10 minute phone interview, you have to admit.
I cant really hold a candle to Mother Nature.
So we hook up a day later.
Hes also something of a challenge.
And he directsSuperbowl TV spotsstarring Clint Eastwood too.
As is always the case, ten minutes is never enough.
Especially with a filmmaker as effusive as Green.
Plus, I feel bad.
If I run over that allotted time I fear Im keeping him from a major clean-up operation.
So Im sorry to hear about your house.
Are things kind of okay now?
Our rain hasnt got quite that bad yet.
Yeah, at least it spreads it out up there.
Its a consistent normal.
So when the fire started it just got out of control really quickly because it had gotten so dry.
Theres very little context.
And I went into the film deliberately blind, in a sense.
So I had no expectation of it being a funny film or a dramatic film.
But how does that sit with you as a filmmaker?
How much do you like people knowing about your films before they see them.
I want them to know as little as possible about them.
Thats the approach I had in making this movie.
The fact that this movie got made is a success.
Its strange to be able to pull something off on this level.
They certainly want to show the funniest part or the biggest spectacle elements the film has to offer.
So its a really backward system of engineering when you look at the typical American marketing campaign.
Both of those can be very frustrating for a filmmaker that is very obviously very possessive of his creation.
And in this sense I could let the film be a discovery for us.
I can let it be a discovery for the audience.
The theatrical life is only a modest introduction of what I hope this film can achieve in its existence.
And I think that comes from some degree of discovery, you know?
You dont have to storm the box office or beat the audience over the head with your content.
You kind of hand them a little appetiser.
you’re free to give them a taste.
One of the things that struck me was how funny it was.
And its a peculiar bang out of humour.
Its things like Emile Hirsch talking about sleeping all night standing up …
It was the hips line that got me.
But you dont have to … its not like you get the joke or you dont get the joke.
Because its not handed to you like a joke.
How did you write those lines, then?
Are those just voices in your head, or are you bouncing it off of someone?
So there are certain lines or things that are dealt with in a way that I find amusing.
Just being ridiculous and vague about what you ran over is something that I find funny.
Because who wouldnt say I ran over a nail or something specific?
But the vagueness to me becomes a strange sense of humour.
So the lost in translation sense of the comedy was something I really got from the Icelandic version.
It becomes a very funny movie.
And Id say thats funnier than a lot of their comedies.
So I think some of it is my own peculiar sense of humour and sensibility.
So those end up being ironed out for the most part.
And there are no jokes that dont hit because were not even swinging, you know?
But from the outside it seems you approach them both with the same sense of community.
From the outside they both seem films youve wanted to make.
I wouldnt ever make anything I wouldnt want to make.
I bring my toolbox to every project and theres a certain responsibility you have that you dont on others.
Certain projects can be more self-indulgent than others.
So that movie is engineered from a different standpoint.
And so something likePrince Avalanche,its so much smaller in terms of its necessity for return.
you’ve got the option to just go an make your own strange sculpture and see what happens.
Or inPrince Avalanches case, just the opportunity to do something personal and something that people go see.
Im not that bang out of craftsman.
Im a guy who has a curiousity and likes to explore genres and processes and wear different hats.
Sometimes I want to write my movies, sometimes I dont.
Im pretty much up for anything.
[laughs]
David Gordon Green, thank you very much.
Prince Avalancheis out in selected UK cinemas now.
