Interview: Max Landis, screenwriter of the upcoming AMERICAN ULTRA, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN and CHRONICLE (2012)

Max Landis

It was the noon of March 2nd in 2012 that I watched “Chronicle”, the American science fiction thriller. A smart found footage film about three boys with sudden superpowers. In the bombardment of Super-men, Bat-men, Spider-men and Iron-Men it was a breather, a completely different take on the superpower genre. These high school boys get superpowers and get baffled. First they play with it and later the side effects play with them. Their carefree lives get over. It gets tragic. Most importantly, they don’t save or destroy the world as it’s always done in Hollywood. Since then I wanted to know the mind of its young screenwriter – Max Landis.

Over the weekend, he released the first four pages of the unmade “Fantastic Four” script of his, perhaps in context with the criticism surrounding the third “Fantastic Four” film (a reboot) directed by Josh Trank (director of “Chronicle”) which released on August 7. The film did miserably at the box office. Josh himself displayed his displeasure that this is not the film he set out to make. Soon after the release he tweeted, and deleted, “A year ago, I had a fantastic version of this. And it would have received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”Indirectly, he blamed the studio (Fox) for the final outcome.

Jesse Eisenberg in "American Ultra."

Now it is Max’s turn to face cinemas. On August 21st “American Ultra”, written by him, is releasing. It’s an action comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg (the “The Social Network”guy who is playing super villain Lex Luther in the 2016 movie“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”) and Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga). The story revolves around Mike who’s a stoner but in reality a mind-altered sleeper government operative. Deemed a liability he is to be killed but he’s way too high-trained for it. 

Then “Victor Frankenstein” is lined up. It is a modern adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein.” In the San Diego Comic Con last month (July) director Paul McGuigan said about Max, “What he did basically is, he cherry-picked all the good ideas from the movie, from the book itself and he’s created his own monster within that. He’s made the script which has Igor in it, and of course Igor was never in the book. It has these other little monsters that have never been in the film.” Daniel Radcliffe who is playing Igor in the film said, “…and I think it is unashamedly entertaining all the way through and exciting. The energy behind the film is from him.” 

The other main lead James McAvoy playing Victor Frankenstein commented at the Comic Con, “I think in Mary Shelley’s original, for me, there was something missing and I know it’s sacrilege for a lot of people who know the stuff... it’s an amazing book... a very important book, but for me Victor was obsessed and crazy because he was. I didn’t really see a reason in the story. What Max did, what you (Paul) did and what we’ve done together (with Daniel) is giving him a reason for being so bloody crazy and then not cure him of that half way through. In the book, he kind of like goes into the woods for 18 months of vacation and then comes and says let’s kill the monster, whereas in this we keep him mad all the way till the end. And I think it is truer to his trauma, his back story and who he is.” 

Max is also making his debut as a director with “Me Him Her” which is a comedy. It got premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in June. The release is awaited. One of Max’s scripts “Mr. Right” is in filming stage. It is a romantic action comedy which stars Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick and Tim Roth. This story is about a woman who’s unlucky in love. When she meets a perfect man, it turns out he’s a hitman.

Max is writing from the age of 18 as he comes from a film family. His father Jon Landis is a known director, writer and producer. His mother Deborah is a costume designer in Hollywood films and theater. On the day “Chronicle” released Max uploaded a short film “The Death and Return of Superman.” It was his perspective of the superhero. His friends and actors like Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings series) and Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible series) were seen acting in it. In March this year, Max released another short “Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling” on YouTube. Again several actors, his friends and wrestlers had cameos in the film. It follows the career of Triple H and talks about the nature of professional wrestling in a light-hearted yet analytical way. Max regularly creates stuff like this and comments on subjects like these.

He’s so passionate about comic books, superheroes, Hollywood and American soft culture. I asked him a few questions quite a while back including the status of “Chronicle-2” which he’s off now. He also talked about his perception of India, Bollywood and Indian mythological superheroes. Here it is:

Q. How is the script of “Chronicle 2” coming along? 

ML: Well, I've been off Chronicle 2, so it's hard to say. My original sequel followed a young couple; a punk, anarchist man, and his girlfriend, a troubled, mentally unstable girl who it was gradually revealed was a genius of the highest calibre. The couple, documenting themselves, were obsessed with the events of the first film; they even hacked the government servers, editing together and releasing online the film that we the audience know is Chronicle. They did this as a way to bait out of hiding Matt Garretty, the surviving member of the trio from the first movie, so as to attack and kill him for ideological (as well as painfully personal) reasons, using next-gen technology created by the genius girl. However, as their plan spiralled out of control, our hero Matt and his liaisons in the US Government found themselves in an increasingly difficult and violent series of confrontations with villains who we, the audience, cared so much about that we didn't really want to see either side win. 

But alas, I left Chronicle 2 after differences with the studio; they want to go a different way with the property, and I respect that. I also had other projects to tend to, as well as directing my first feature, so I couldn't continue to develop the script. 

Still, Chronicle was an amazing experience, and I'm thankful every day to the people who allowed it to happen.

Daniel and James in a still from "Victor Frankenstein."

Q. What other projects are you doing right now and how excited are you?
ML: HOW EXCITED!? CRAZY EXCITED. I've got a lot of things going at once, but as a screenwriter, it's hard to guarantee any of them. There are two I'll talk about though, and happily: Frankenstein (is expected to release in November), starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy, and directed by Paul McGuigan. It's an extremely different take on the story, and I'm very grateful to Fox for giving me the opportunity to tell it my way. That's what's great about iconic stories; ultimately I think all you need are the touch stones, and the rest becomes up to the interpretation of time and the storyteller. I have finished editing on my first directorial project (Me Him Her). I also wrote it, but even so, the plot is kind of hard to describe. It's mainly a movie about identity; it's a comedy, but that doesn't really peg how weirdly intense and hyperactive of an experience I want the film to be. It's almost kind of Bollywood, actually; there's a surreal, larger than life quality that I associate with Eastern films. It's not often you see a Western romantic comedy that ends in a big swordfight. 

Directing a film was a bizarre experience for me; I'd imagine it's how a musician might feel on stage in front of thousands playing a hit song. Even if the movie isn't a hit or even is just completely terrible, on set I had this amazingly active feeling of creation; like I was painting or drawing or some other fine art with measurable lines and colour. I felt constantly stimulated by every choice, and kept finding myself going back and tweaking dialogue and changing things so that they flowed better, it was like writing live for an audience and there's absolutely no feeling I've ever had that can compete with that.

Q. How long did it take to write the script of “Chronicle” way back? What was the process like?
ML: It was actually extraordinarily quick; a little less than three weeks to write the first draft, two months till it sold, four months of development and six months of production, I believe. Trying to explain the process of development would be very difficult for me to do in any kind of concise way, because, while it has its purpose, the “rules” behind it are often arbitrary and unique to the situation. I got into the project because my friend Josh Trank pitched me the very basics of the first act and a half of the movie as it stands; I was enamoured by the idea of it and decided to make it a more tragic, darker story focusing on an antihero character.

Q. Which is your favorite superhero movie?
ML: I would have to say Spider-Man 2. Of all the superhero movies that exist, it most perfectly executes what has made the superhero it's about so iconic. The action, the story, the characters, the direction, the acting, the cinematography; everything is pulled off exactly right to create a movie that truly sings the idea of Spider-Man. It's bright, it's pop, it's fun, it catches you off guard with somber moments; everything the Spider-Man comics have always been about. Watching it was a thrilling experience for me.

Q. You are so critical and deconstructive of superhero movies, but at the same time crazily in love with them and seem mesmerized by them. How come the two personalities in you?
ML: I love mythological and character-based story-telling, so comics have always appealed me as a marriage of the two. I'm an escapist guy, so I look for compelling worlds, and hey, there's a lot of that in comics, too. That said, I'm an outspoken person; I've never been quiet about my opinions, and I will always call a spade a spade when I feel something isn't living up to what I want it to be. I never claim to be an oracle, or that my opinions are definitive. I just state them loudly, with confidence, because doing that, starting a discussion, makes me happy.

Q. Seeing your videos and public expressions, you seem to have a say on almost everything, then how come you've never spoken on political and social issues of your country?
ML: I do tend to stray slightly away from political and social issues in public, but as an American liberal, my cut and dry humanistic view of the world seems pretty rote to me. I don't think I have anything truly intelligent or new to say on the subject, beyond that I feel all humans deserve to be treated humanely, to have the same rights. I don't need to get on that soapbox; it's already much too crowded with smarter, less obnoxious, more eloquent persons than me. If you need a guy to pick apart a movie, or create a new one, or tell you a story, I'm here for that. But I don't know at this point that I'm ready to start acting like my hippy-dippy Californian “can't we just all be chill to each other” politics are unique enough to merit voicing loudly.

Q. You know in the newer editions of Comic book superhero movies, we have different villains with updated “criminal” images. Do you really think they are criminals? For instance, in Nolan's “The Dark Knight Rises” we have Bane and Talia al-Ghul which are identical with the “Occupy Movement.” In Sam Mendes' “Skyfall” we have Raoul Silva who can again be easily connected to Julian Assange. Who knows next we might see Edward Snowden as an antagonist. What is your take on this? If they are criminals then Superman in the last film “Man of Steel” hasn't killed less civilians either.
ML: Bane and Talia WEREN'T ultimately the Occupy movement, and I think that's kind of what killed them for me. They weren't really ultimately anything, other than “bad guys,” whose motivations of revenge felt tiny compared to the actions they took. Bane especially was hard for me to take, because, despite his silly look in the comics, he's probably my favourite Batman villain. He's presented as a massively intelligent, but more than that, incredibly CUNNING man, Batman's strategic cerebral equal. Imagine if Gus Fring from Breaking Bad could rip you in half with his bare hands, THAT'S the character. They turned him into this confusing, Welsh “bad-ass” who ultimately was basically a goon for Talia, and that hurt because I wanted so badly to see the real character. Imagine if at the end of Dark Knight they'd revealed Joker was just an actor hired by a more powerful mob boss. It confused me.

The same can be said of the VERY muddled motivations of Raoul Silva; he starts out as an Assange figure, but again, this is a phantom menace. He ultimately is just another psycho out for revenge. This is actually a theme in recent blockbusters; villains are presented as having some kind of topical or political motivation, but ultimately are reduced to “evil insane criminals” and their original, complex motives swept aside. Star Trek Into Darkness, A Good Day To Die Hard, Skyfall, Dark Knight Rises, and others; at first the villains are presented as having some kind of “ripped from the headlines” goal, which is dismissed in favour ultimately of evil laughter and shooting innocent people.

You could argue that all real world evil is ultimately like this; that it's a bunch of sound to mitigate a bunch of fury, and that ultimately the ideologies of people like Osama Bin Laden or Adolf Hitler are really just psychotic ideation and the ranting of lunatics, but at least those people really did seem to believe their own nonsense. Every time a villain in a movie reveals that their complexity was just a ruse to hide how much they wanted to stab someone, it completely robs meaning from the conflict presented in the film.

“We're going to take over Gotham – for the people” became “we're going to blow it up with a nuclear bomb.” So quickly my head spun. And in doing so, I lost track of what was happening.

This happens because studios have this misguided desire to have “strong villain plots,” but ultimately the villain plots become too complex and you have a guy spouting Shakespeare in the first act and spitting and screaming in the third. It's a bad trend.

Q. Going by the law of the land, don't you think heroes and superheroes across the cinemas are criminals?
ML: Yes, very much so. That's one of the many things that's sexy about them.

Q. For American progeny, comic book characters and films might be the mythology and folk heritage. Have you heard of Indian mythological characters/heroes with extreme superpowers who are hundreds and millions of years old? (Like Lord Hanuman, Rama, Krishna, Bheema, Arjuna, Kumbhakarana and many-many more). What do you think of them? Can they be an exciting prospect for Indian and global audiences?
ML: I have of course! When I was young, I had all the comics, telling the story of Ganesha, all of that, people with blue skin. I think of course they're relevant, or could be made relevant to American cinema, but like everything else that gets adapted they'd have to be whittled down to their core elements. And with characters that precious to a culture, I worry that would be destructive.

Q. What interests you in life? What is your philosophy of living?
 ML: Experience. I constantly seek out new experiences, or at least, I try to live in a way that enables me to do this. I think of myself as an adventurer, and I crave adventure and exploration; not even physically, though that too, but mentally. I'm very much in the moment; I'd say my philosophy of living is “The more things you say you won't do, the more things you don't end up doing.” 

I feel like that's a terrible answer, though. I often feel as though I'm not as smart as people seem to think I am, if only because I can't instantly produce an eloquent answer to a question like this. Like there will be occasional bursts where I find myself soliloquizing and groups of people rapt in attention and I feel smart and well spoken and like I'm the sort of person who has an answer to the question “What is your philosophy of living?” but, more often than not, I'm just dicking around on YouTube.

Q. Your father John Landis is a well known American filmmaker and your mother Deborah is an Oscar nominated costume designer. What influence both of them had on you? Which of their teachings you still carry?

John Landis with son Max.

ML: They were really incredible parents. That was the most important thing. I had a very difficult childhood and they were there for me the whole time, even if that meant dealing with some dark and troubling stuff. What are their influences? To me, they're shockingly obvious; my mother taught me that every visual element can be used to tell a story. Her ability to make the visuals indistinguishable and inseparable from the narrative intelligence of a piece, the “life force” of the story, is reflected in every visual decision I make while both writing and directing. My father is an even more outright steal; the way I tell stories, both professionally and amongst friends, is a very direct evolution of his style. Down to getting all high pitched when I'm excited.

Q. According to you who are the most influential filmmakers in American cinema?
ML: When you say influential, you've sort of got me at a loss. I am not a film historian, and I was never a film student; hell, I'm barely even a proper cinephile when it comes to dates and directors and “the essentials,” I'm just a guy who really really really loves movies and has seen a whole lot of them. I think the director who's most influential, to me as well as to film history, is probably Scorsese (Martin). His ability to perfectly nail any tone, to recreate instantly entire worlds within characters and then build those huge characters into even bigger stories is just something that absolutely terrifies me in the best way possible. That the guy who directed Taxi Driver is the guy who directed The Departed is the guy who directed King of Comedy is the guy who directed Bringing Out The Dead is the guy who directed Casino is the guy who directed Gangs of New York is the guy who directed Goodfellas is the guy who directed After Hours is the guy who directed The Last Temptation Of Christ, I mean COME ON THAT'S INSANE. SO MANY STYLES. So many great stories, so many incredible performances, he's done something like fifty movies and HE'S GOT MORE COMING OUT. Sure, there's some misses in there but his ratio is CRAZY, he's like an exploding oil well of great American cinema. To know that someone like that can exist and prosper isn't just influential; it's inspirational.

Q. Your favorite Indian movies and makers?
ML: Well, I don't know many filmmakers other than Gurinder Chadha, who's been a family friend since I was little. But I'd have to say my favourite Bollywood films I've seen are Kal Ho Na Ho (every time Mahi Ve comes up on my iPod it's an instant dance party) and Om Shanti Om. Om Shanti Om has to stick out to me over Kal Ho Na Ho because I love the story; reincarnation, murder, great music, evil producers, and the final scene where he does the whole play to show the villain that they know what he did and re-enact the soundstage burning down is probably not just one of my favorite Bollywood sequences, but one of my favorite scenes in any movie ever.

Q. What perception American entertainment industry has of Indian movies?
ML: Honestly? I think there's a pretty big cultural gap; the styles are so wildly different that it's hard to even measure a Bollywood film against American Studio stuff. I think there's a perception of them as silly, but in an inimitable, alien way that can't easily be described. They certainly aren't condescended to; if anything, studios wish they could really crack the Indian market in a meaningful way, but since there's such a storytelling-style barrier, it's hard to say how and when and even if that's going to happen.

Q. As an individual what do you think of India and Indian people?
ML: I think that India is one of the best examples of a culture that has endured. So many countries, as we hurtle forward technologically and everything gets all Starbucks'd and Wal-Mart'd, have started to blend together in the inevitable singularity of globalization. But India, with its menagerie of mythological characters still riding high in the nation's zeitgeist, its own entertainment industry and really even its own fashion iconography of what's sexy and what's cool in an indefatigably different way than the west, seems to still be doing its own thing.

So yeah, I think India is pretty neat.
 

Max Landis standing in a fantasy fight with "Man of Steel."

मैक्स लैंडिस अमेरिका के कैलिफोर्निया से हैं। फिल्म लेखक हैं और काम के सिलसिले में लॉस एंजिलिस भी रहते हैं। बतौर स्क्रिप्ट राइटर उनकी पहली फिल्म "क्रॉनिकल’ 2012 में प्रदर्शित हुई थी। ये तीन युवाओं की कहानी थी जो हाई स्कूल में पढ़ते हैं और अचानक कुछ शक्तियां प्राप्त कर लेते हैं। सुपरहीरो फिल्मों के तय फीके सांचों के उलट ये बेहद ताजा रवैये वाली फिल्म थी। इस साल मैक्स की दो बड़ी फिल्में प्रदर्शित होने वाली हैं। 'अमेरिकन अल्ट्रा’ 21 अगस्त को लगेगी जिसमें जेसी आइजनबर्ग और क्रिस्टन स्टीवर्ट मुख्य भूमिकाओं में हैं। ये फिल्म एक ढीले लड़के के बारे में है जो बेहद विशेष क्षमताओं वाला सरकार का सुषुप्त लड़ाका है लेकिन अब वो सक्रिय नहीं हो पा रहा, ऐसे में उसे मारने का फैसला लिया जाता है लेकिन उसकी शक्तियां सक्रिय हैं और वो किसी के हाथ नहीं आता। 

इसके अलावा जेम्स मेकवॉय और डेनियल रेडक्लिफ की मुख्य भूमिकाओं वाली "विक्टर फ्रैंकेंस्टीन’ इस साल नवंबर में रिलीज हो सकती है। ये मैरी शैली के 1818 में लिखे मशहूर उपन्यास "फ्रैंकेंस्टीन’ पर आधारित है जिसकी स्क्रिप्ट मैक्स ने अपने अंदाज और बदलावों के साथ लिखी है।  वे बतौर निर्देशक भी अपनी पहली फिल्म "मी हिम हर’ बना चुके हैं जिसकी रिलीज बाकी है। "मि. राइट’ नाम की एक फिल्म भी मैक्स ने लिखी है जिसकी शूटिंग पिछले साल शुरू हो चुकी है। इसमें टिम रॉथ, सैम रॉकवेल और एना कैंड्रिक जैसे अदाकार हैं। ये एक औरत की कहानी है जिसे कभी सच्चा प्यार नहीं मिलता लेकिन जब मिलता है तो बाद में ज्ञात होता है कि वो एक हत्यारा है। मैक्स 18 की उम्र से लिख रहे हैं और अब 30 के हैं। उनके पिता जॉन लैंडिस हॉलीवुड के निर्माता-निर्देशक हैं और मां डेबरा ऑस्कर नामित कॉस्ट्यूम डिजाइनर हैं। वे समय-समय पर सुपरहीरोज़, वर्ल्ड रेस्लिंग एंटरटेनमेंट, हॉलीवुड, कॉमिक बुक्स और अमेरिकी एंटरटेनमेंट पर टिप्पणियां करते रहते हैं। 

*** *** ***

Talking to Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx and director Marc Webb for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Still from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"

I think much of what I have to say, I've conveyed here in my 2012 review of The Amazing Spider-Man, directed my Marc Webb, then of “(500) Days of Summer” fame. He was brought in by Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures to reboot the franchise which he successfully did with his unique Indie freshness. Making Spider-Man superhuman rather than superhero was his wisest contribution to it. This movie was as real as it was fictional. Of course, Irrfan Khan was our connection to the movie. Now, part-2 has arrived. There is Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone from the first movie and Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), Paul Giamatti as new entrants, all three as foes of Spider-Man. Now the reviews are all over but when I got to see 40 minutes footage a month back, I found a certain sense of experimentation by Marc. When directors, in sequels, bow down to the studio pressures and over-add all the old masala, Marc displayed work of a liberated hand. You see longer scenes, organic scenes, acting prowess gradually coming out of the actors, fresh wit, smartly choreographed casualness in presentation and many such qualities. I don't like the Hollywood superhero franchises though, watching TAS-2 I took some amount of my cynicism back.

I happened to meet Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx recently in Singapore and ask some questions regarding TAS-2. All were nice. Marc was very understanding, Andy was eager and Jamie was lively-entertaining-wise. Here it is:-

Q. A good movie is that which helps us make wise or right decisions in life. Like, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, in parts, shows Peter parker/Spiderman being forgiving to all, even to his enemies. Can we expect the same from this sequel? Is it all violence or virtue as well?

Marc Webb: That’s a really important question. One of the things very special about Spider-Man is that he’s different than a lot of superheroes. There is a lot of fighting, there’s a lot of violence and that’s a part of what happens in these movies, but Spider-Man is a rescuer. He saves people. That’s what the webs are for. They create nets so that people can be saved and that doesn’t always require violence. Spider-Man is really special. He also empathizes – what you were saying – he empathizes with his enemies and he tries to appeal to the better part of their nature. And I think that’s a really important part of that character that I think we try to incubate and foster in these movies.

Andrew Garfield: If I could add to that, Spider-Man was one of my main heroes growing up and Mahatma Gandhi was another one of my main heroes growing up and still is; a beautifully symbolic human being. And I like the idea of Spider-Man being a pacifist. I really like the idea of him never throwing a punch and never throwing a kick and using his enemies’ weaknesses against themselves, like Charlie Chaplin might or like Buster Keaton might or how Bugs Bunny might. I really like the idea of this skinny little kid dodging and weaving and kind of ducking and diving and letting these big bad guys just beat the crap out of themselves. I think that’s a very powerful message and motif for Spider-Man.

Sally Field and Andrew Garfield in a still from the movie.

  ...to Andrew Garfield.

What is the feeling of putting on that costume? Is it very tight?
Symbolically it feels fantastic. You feel so honored on that symbolic platform. It's hard to complain about. But the practicality, the real life physical aggravation it causes is a bummer. But I guess it's kind of interesting to meet symbolic. Being in the world of opposites which we are, you get to be your own superhero, you get to wear the costume and play the character. Yeah, you’ve got to go through the very human physical problems of actually wearing the suit. It's really interesting about it which I'm thinking right now. Peter is both human and super human, and that's the exact struggle that he's in. It's the struggle between being of this earth and being of the heaven. He's a demigod. He's caught in the tension between living as human being with all his imperfection and transcending that into flight, being eagle, being this spiritual free-flying animal. It's an interesting thing. So yeah, the costume is not comfortable. You feel very human when you're in the costume.

Is there an amount of power to be Spider-Man and how do you handle the responsibility?
That's the question for Peter Parker. Obviously I'm holding the symbol of Spider-Man, of Peter, for the time being. The great thing about him is that he’s imperfect. Peter is all too human, instead of living up to some idealized symbol of a hero without any cowardice, without any blah-blah-blah. No, Peter can experience cowardice, peter can experience pain, Peter can experience suffering, Peter can fear not being enough, Peter can fear not matching up to the symbol of Spider-Man, and that's inherent for young people. We all go through self doubt and fateful moments where we get scared, we run away... that's Peter. And, it's reassuring, reassuring for me that as a kid, growing up, I didn't have to always be courageous. I could also be human and it's okay to accept my humanity. It's really empowering for young people.

Would you do any Indian superhero role? Have you been offered any such role so far?
No, I have never been. I'd love to work in India, love to be a part of Indian cinema. Superhero! Probably not. I think I'd be greedy if I play another superhero. But I'd love to work in India. I'm very interested in the culture and the spiritual history. Yeah, I've never been there but I'm excited to visit.

You've worked with Irrfan Khan in The Amazing Spider-Man. How was it?
Yes! Irrfan Khan. Fantastic actor. Brilliant actor. Kind of graceful, very poiseful and very-very cool guy. Very talented.

You were jokingly saying that you're getting older and you better get these movies made sooner.
I was saying that as an 18 year old.

So when you do get old what do you see yourself playing? What are you aiming at?
I don't really know. I hope it reveals to me. I hope that I'm open enough to be what I'm supposed to be and do what I'm supposed to do. I tend to surrender to not knowing the answers up here (mind), only answers are down there (heart). They are in there already, it's a matter of them revealing themselves or me being open enough to let them. I try not to think too much about the future. I try to let the images of my future needs and my deeper self come to me.

What do think of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” associating with The Earth Hour Campaign?
There is no greater protection needed right now than the protection we need to get to the planet. We are an endangered species and it's because we somehow somewhat forgotten. I mean look at this, we're in this great, big man made thing (Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore) with a boat on the top, and do we need it? Do we need this or do we just go and walk into the woods. You know what I mean? Like, do we get more out of this than we would in the ocean? We’ve somehow forgotten that we are of this earth and that this is not ours. We don't own the earth, we don't own the sky, we don't own the soil, we don't own the flowers, we don't own the trees and we've lost some respect, especially in western culture. There's been a brainwashing, with capitalism and with the male ego. And, I think what Spider-Man can represent and what earth hour represents is protection of feminine because the earth is female, mother earth. And, Spider-Man, Peter Parker is in touch with that feminine side inside him, that sensitivity, that passion and that nurturing energy. It's a very-very beautiful partnership in that way, because he is kind of a perfect ambassador for our need to nurture our mother earth, the thing that holds us, the thing that is holding us right now, this mysterious thing that is allowing us to live on it. It's awe inspiring. I think we all need to remember that how awesome it is that we get to be here. We don't own any of it. The whole idea of buying and selling pieces of the earth! Crazy!!!

Are you afraid of spiders?
No, I'm fine with spiders, I'm not afraid of them, Snakes freak me out. I struggle with snakes. I need to get out of there. Snake is a very big symbol of soul. You know, snake in the Garden of Eden brings Adam and Eve straight into the world of suffering, straight into the world of opposite. He is the earth bound creature sliding on his belly. So I need to figure out my relationship with snakes. I think it speaks to my wish to ascend as opposed to descend. In order to have a full life you have to be in detention between the ascending and descending because the soul wants to descend and the spirit wants to ascend. Like the eagle and the snake. And then when you combine the eagle with the snake then you have dragon and that's cool.

If you are Spider-Man for real and the world is in crisis, what problems would you solve?
Well, I think what's wonderful about Spider-Man for me is what Marc (Webb) said, that he is a rescuer. He is a negotiator. He doesn't like to fight. He likes to resolve things peacefully. So maybe I'd go to Middle East, have a chat, try and give some education, entertain people with some juggling and get the opposing forces to sit together. Then I'll mediate and we'll talk about the fact that we're fighting over the same land and it's neither of ours and neither of yours, neither of you get it, you get to share. Killing each other over a piece of land that doesn't belong to either of you is insane. And these two different religious ideologies that you're fighting for are the same ideologies. They are born of a same story. It's all just a story, a myth. It's just a metaphor. You take it literally but it's actually not. There is a misguided thing happening. The two books that they are coming from is the same book. They were born from the same book. They have the same story, the same symbol, same characters in the same struggle, just with different clothing in it. So I'd probably go and have a chat.

Do you write?
I actually write for myself, but I'd like to try that.

What film subjects are you most passionate about?
I love all stories. I'm interested in exploring all. There is a film I shot last year called '99 Homes' which is about housing crisis in Florida in 2008 and that's a really interesting and devastating story, cause it says a lot about where we are as a culture right now. And there is another film I'm going to be shooting at the end of the year called 'Silence' based on Shūsaku Endō’s book where I play a Portuguese priest struggling with the very meaning of existence which is just my life anyways. So I'm excited about those projects.
 

Jamie in a still from TAS-2

 ...to Jamie Foxx.

You had fun during the movie?
Yeah, a whole lot of. You know what, most of the time you see bullshitting around in Hollywood, but this was one of the sincerest moments. When I reached on the sets for the first time, I didn't see Andrew, I saw Spider-Man. I thought man this shit is real, crazy! When you think about growing up as a kid, you're not thinking about nothing, you're just watching Spider-Man on television and you go outside and start playing like it, crazy! And the next thing you know that you acted in one the biggest film franchises in the world. They've recreated Times Square. So I think the responsibility was to have fun but to make sure that Electro is a formidable opponent, to make sure that Electro is so bad, so evil that it allows Spider-Man to be very good.

How does music become part of your acting?
Whenever I do a character and work with somebody, I do a song for the mood. Whether you ever hear it or not, doesn't matter. When I worked with Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), I came up with a song called “The Tarantino Mix”. During TAS-2 when someone would text me, “Yo! man, where you at? And when I'd be Electro and on the set, then I'd say, “I can't talk right now, I'm chasing Spider”. So I did a song called “Chasing Spider”. It says, “I may be black but I ain't no widow, I've just been shadows in the dark - it means Electro the villain. He may be yours but he ain't my hero, I am great with malice in my heart. I've been patiently waiting but I'm angry now, you promised me the light and then the sky, I was told they will worship me yelling screaming my name, but they turned their back on me and lied, so now I'm chasing Spider...”. So every time I do a movie, there is always a theme song. I did a movie called “Any Given Sunday” and I did the theme song in my bedroom. If you interview Quentin Tarantino next time you ask him how music influences everything he does. He hears a piece of music and he writes to the song. Same is with me, I hear a piece of music or I make up the words. So write now I chasing spider, I'm getting rid of Peter Parker.

You mention Tarantino, was it necessary to show you hanging upside down in “Django Unchained”?
It was necessary for the film because people understand that in real life it is more graphic. You know in real life what they'd do? They'd snip the nuts of slaves and allow him to bleed out. The reason Quentin is so successful because he's able to give you real and rapid, something that you can understand. He did this movie with a flair of comedy. And I'd say to him, “Dude, you're the best director in the world. You were able to say the word Nigger ten times on Christmas, and black folks, white folks, Hispanic everybody enjoyed the film. People reacted in different ways, but you have got to trust your director. And because of the movie I'm in “The Amazing Spiderman-2”. Had I not had Quentin Tarantino, I wouldn't be here.

Have you ever been bullied like your character Electro in the movie?
Like, I don't like the internet, when you talk about bullying. In our times we had real bullies. A dude comes to your class and (enacts) ... you, you come out boy and I'll punch you in the face. Bullying of any kind is bad, but for me, it taught me how to dare in life. That, I'm going to deal with bullies and in intelligent ways and try to be funny at the same time. I always had bullies in my life. Even some 15 days ago a guy tried to bully me on phone. I said, what the hell is going on? So my point is bullies are going to exist, don't always run away, adjust them in a way you can, with intelligence. Say, I'll call the FBI. Like the dude on phone, I told him, I'm calling the authorities. Another aspect of this is you don't know what the other person is going through. In case of Electro, he was bullied by first. But he didn't know how to intelligently adjust them.

Do you think Electro is a villain? Because I don't think he is. He is what he is because of the situations around, the society and the bullying around.
Yeah, but even if somebody shits on your car plate, you have to abide by the rules. He may not have started as a villain but he's welcoming that anger. Electro has a choice but he chooses to embrace it. It's easier to embrace anger, easier to be angry but it's hard to be nice to those people who are not nice to you.

Marc on sets of TAS-2

 ...to Marc Webb.

Which was the hardest scene in the movie?
The Times Square one was the most difficult, technically too, because we had to shoot on the set that we’d built literally. It was not actually a lot of green, we built the first layer of Times Square. We built the whole northern section of Long Island and then we had to integrate the practical version of Times Square where the whole fight between Jamie and Andy takes place. Then we had to integrate the CG elements, music, light and many-many things. It took a year to do. Four weeks to shoot and a year to do. But it was also fun. What's important about those action sequences is that you have to have a clear intention of what's going on and Spider-Man is trying to help people out. We understand that he's trying to connect the first part of sequence with Electro. There are many scenes like that.

How Andrew and Emma were second time around? Were they more comfortable now?
Yeah, I think they knew each other in a much deeper way. Andrew had really embraced Spider-Man. He knew what Spider-Man was. He'd studied Spider-Man but also had lived in it, had lived in the suit. You know, part of Spider-Man's humanness is his wit. He uses his wit to undermine the villain. In the first movie he was discovering this all but in the second part he embraced it. Emma was really thoughtful this time around. Her character Stacy is an incredibly intelligent woman, very thoughtful woman, who's not just a girlfriend. She wants to have her own life. She's going to pursue heroism in her own way and I think in a very real way. Emma really understood this and had discovered this that she can be as heroic as Spider-Man can be. It’s just that her abilities are different.

For the kids who aspire to be Spider-Man what is the message that the movie gives?
That, With great power comes great responsibility. It’s the fundamental that we always talk about. For the movie, I think there’s an idea about time and valuing the time you have with the ones you love. That’s really important. We’ve made it a little sophisticated for the kids, but I think what the kids understand and appreciate is that being good isn’t easy, there’s a consequence to that. But it’s the right thing to do and it’s what you must do, even if you fail. It’s the effort that counts. I hope the kids pick up on that.

Yes, Kids are big fans but the same goes for adults. How do you work for both audiences?
Think about what moves you, and weirdly if you stay true to that it doesn't matter how old you are or what sex you are, or you're from Indonesia or you're from Rajasthan or you're from America, there is something fundamentally human about Peter Parker in particular as a kid. And there is something in it that you aspire to, like you want to do good, but you know it's hard. Sometime it's so complex that it makes impossible to go that lane, but there is no good way out, there is no easy answer and how you overcome this. All this stuff is underneath the surface of the movie. I don't know about you, you seem so mature and sure of yourself, but it's this global appeal that works. When I'm watching a movie or doing the big action sequences, the 12 year old kid in me says Oh! That’s cool! You know that just wakes up. Adults feel enormous empathy for different reasons, parents feel affection.

When we talk about Spider-Man movies we undermine the efforts of the CGI artists. It is amazingly toiling and hard working to create those visuals. So who were those artists and tell us something about them?
Wow! Right, a lot of our artists are in Mumbai. You know we have a whole staff of people that would do the early fundamental processes in the CG work. We’d be in connection with them in India which is a terrible time zone connection but there would be a lot of work and there are thousands of people that worked to give life to the character. Though it seems so simple but it is not. Funny, we go around as emissary to the movie and get undue credit for how nearly extra-ordinary artists there are. There are very important animators, lighters, rotomators, match move people who calibrate an enormous quantity of effort to make this thing real. It’s so ironic that we forget about them. These are the people from India, Canada, America, Germany and U.K.
 

Jamie, Andrew, Emma and Marc Webb in Singapore.

फिल्म "द अमेजिंग स्पाइडरमैन-2" के कलाकारों एंड्रयू गारफील्ड, जेमी फॉक्स और कुशल निर्देशक मार्क वेब से कुछ वक्त पहले सिंगापुर में मुलाकात हुई। प्रस्तुत थे उनसे बातचीत के कुछ अंश।

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If there is an idea you have, test it, try it out and practice, it will happen: Adruitha Lee

Oscar winner (2014) Adruitha has done hairstyling of movies like "Dallas Buyers Club", "12 Years A Slave", "The Artist" & "A Mighty Heart"

Matthew McConaughey in a still from Dallas Buyers Club.

On Monday morning, March 3, 2014 Indian time, she’ll be in competition with Stephen Prouty of “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” and Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny of “The Lone Ranger” for winning the 86th Academy Award statuette in Best Makeup and Hairstyling. For her great work in “Dallas Buyers Club”, she’s been nominated with Robin Mathews (And, yes they are the winners!!!). Though she’s not nominated for “12 Years a Slave” which was her other best work in 2013, the film has received 9 nominations, highest after “Gravity” and “American Hustle” both receiving 10 each. We’re talking about Adruitha Lee. The very talented, experienced and hard working hair stylist is not new to quality work and Hollywood biggies. When Michel Hazanavicius was making “The Artist”, it was Adruitha who he entrusted with the Hairstyling of the 1927 silent era movie. Not to mention the Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo starrer got 10 Oscar nominations in 2012, winning five of them.

Adruitha grew up in South America. Initially she worked in a salon as a hairdresser. Few years after completing her training she opened her own salon, then a second one in Nashville, Tennessee. There she began working with country music stars on music videos and live performances. She later moved to Los Angeles to fulfil her dream in the movie business. Her work was soon seen on television shows such as “Medium” and “Lizzie McGuire.”

Adruitha Lee

For more than 10 years she’s been working in Hollywood. She has been the hair department head on “Salt”, “Evan Almighty”, “The Good Shepherd”, “Friends with Benefits”, “A Mighty Heart”, “Role Models”, “Killing Them Softly”, “Spring Breakers”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Hannah Montana: The Movie”, “Scary Movie 5”, “Dallas Buyers Club” and few more. Many of them have been wonderful films. Including director Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Dallas Buyers Club,” a 1985 story of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a homophobic electrician in Texas who discovers he has AIDS and he starts doing something unexpected.

I got to get some answers from Adruitha regarding the Oscar nomination and her experience. It might be useful for some filmmaking aspirants. Read on:

How do you react to the Academy nomination for “Dallas Buyers Club”?
I’m just over the moon. When I first heard that I got the nomination I couldn’t believe it. And I was like wow! I was just doing my job, and then I get a nomination for an Oscar; I believe it hasn’t even sunk in yet, because I’ve been in Puerto Rico, working.

What will you say about the work of fellow nominees (Stephen Prouty for “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”, Joel Harlow and Gloria Casny for “The Lone Ranger”)? Who should win?
I just met Steve Prouty for the first time during the nomination process. What a nice person he is and what a fabulous job he did of making Johnny Knoxville look like a 86 year old man. I thought he did a great job. But well at the end in my opinion, I think that I should win [laughs].

Elaborate the process and planning of transforming the characters of “Dallas Buyers Club”, esp. Matthew McConaughey's and Jared Leto's? Did you really shave Leto's head in the process?
Umm, with Matthew we did everything we could. I pulled research pictures for Ron’s character and bought it to the production office and I had everything with me that I needed to change Matthew’s hair, change the cut, the color, the texture and everything to make it look the way I wanted it to for that period and to make it look like the real life Ron’s character. With Jennifer, we tried on different wigs, different things and then came up with the look that we needed for her to be a doctor, not to take her over the top but to give her the look that director Jean-Marc wanted. And with Rayon we tried on several wigs and went through several things, because Rayon's character was most specific to the film and Jean-Marc wanted it in a specific way. And, I did not shave his head he just had his face waxed.

Director Steve McQueen talking to actors in 12 Years a Slave.

Can you talk a little bit about “12 Years a Slave”?
Yes. When I found out that I got the project I was so excited to meet the director (Steve McQueen). There were all these mannequins in different hair-styles I had done. I put them in a basket and took it to his office and said, “Okay! This is what I can do.” He just looked at me and said, “Well, okay.” Prepping for this film was really-really difficult because of the subject matter. When I went into the research facility to research that time period, there were not a lot of pictures. The costume designer and the production designer there helped me with the research and it was just something that I’ll never forget. It was a great experience! “12 Years a Slave” was a labor of love. It was shot unpretentiously in the summer; it was a project that I wanted to do for a very long time, a hard project though. But it was something that I really enjoyed doing and was thrilled to be working with Steve McQueen, and to be able to help him with his vision on this movie.

Whenever you get a project, what is your start-to-finish process? If some Indian cinema aspirants are keen to learn the art, what should they do?
The process generally starts with reading the script, and understanding each character. Then we get into research for the characters, the time period and their background post which are the trials in sync with the make-up, texturing the hair, coloring the hair and finally deciding on the right look for that film. Well, Oh my god! Research, Research, Research; if there is an idea you have, test it, try it out and practice. If there is a thing that you want to do, you just practice and try to figure it out on your own. It’s amazing, you know to discover the things that you think you cannot do, but if you just put your mind through it you can figure things out but just a lot of testing, a lot of practicing and a lot of research!

Have you been to India? What do you think about the work here?
I have actually worked in India. I did a film in India with Angelina Jolie called “A Mighty Heart!” I have seen some Bollywood films, I don’t remember the names. We worked with several actors and production people who showed us some films which I completely loved. We just saw a lot of stuff, and I loved them. And the work back in India, I love it, I think the make-up, the hair, the costumes are absolutely fantastic! I am Impressed.

You have done some really good movies, “Dallas Buyers Club”, “12 Years a Slave”, “The Artist”, “A Mighty Heart” and “Killing Them Softly”. What was the learning you had since your childhood and after entering into Hollywood that made you such a great hair stylist?
Ah, you know you have the time constraint, because you’ve got to finish your work in a certain amount of time. You have to please the director. You’ve got to see the live situation, make sure everything looks good in the lighting. And of course you have to please your actor. There are so many people that need to be happy with what you’ve done. You just have to do a good job. You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got. You’ve got to know how to be the best at what you can be, because there are so many things you need to be aware of. Yeah, it’s tough. Oh my god, learning how to accept things, things that can’t change. You’ve just got to accept them along the way. And then you know learning that you’ve got to aim high, and make sure you make it. Don’t be satisfied, don’t be complacent and be happy at what you’re at. Always try to achieve and be better.

Irfaan Khan and Anjelina Jolie in a still of A Mighty Heart.

You've done the hair of Angelina Jolie in both “Salt” and in “A Might Heart”. What challenge did you face when one was a Hollywood commercial and the other an Independent film (by Michael Winterbottom)?
Yes, I worked with Angie. She’s wonderful. She’s one of the nicest actresses I’ve worked with. I really adore her. She lets you do things. So beautiful anyway that it’s just a pleasure to get to do her hair. She likes to try different things, and just a really nice lady. She raises the bar for you as far as we do something on her and with her. She has her own ideas about things and you try to facilitate that and she’s easy to work with. Yes, like you said, Indie movies are so much different. They have their challenges, and “A Mighty Heart” certainly did. And when I came to work with her on “Salt”, it was a big production. What you have when you have big film like that is, you have more time. So therefore you don’t have to work that fast. Indie film has its challenges and big films have theirs, that’s the thing.

You do comedies like “Evan Almighty” and “Scary Movie-5” which are less serious in tone and theme. Then there are serious films like “Dallas Buyers Club”, “12 Years a Slave” and “The Artist” in their presentation and making. How do you choose and do you deal differently then?
I love comedies. After I had done “12 Years a Slave” I did “Scary Movie 5” cause it was really emotional and I needed something funny. And right after “Scary Movie 5” I picked “Dallas Buyers Club”, back to serious again. It’s better to have a funny movie in between two serious ones. Emotionally you don’t get wrapped up in a funny movie, and it doesn’t drain you at the end of the day. That’s how it’s different.

Jared Leto as transgender woman Rayon and Matthew as Ron Woodroof, in a still from Dallas Buyers Club.

एड्रयूइथा ली जानी-मानी अमेरिकी हेयरस्टाइलिस्ट हैं। इस बार 86वें ऑस्कर पुरस्कारों की बेस्ट मेकअप और हेयरस्टाइलिंग श्रेणी में फ़िल्म “डलास बायर्स क्लब” के लिए उन्हें और रॉबिन मैथ्यूज को नामांकित किया गया है। 3 मार्च को संभवतः वे जीतेंगी, हालांकि “किकएस प्रजेंट्सः बैड ग्रैंडपा” के जीतने की गुंजाइश ज्यादा है। वे न भी जीतें तो उनका काम अपनी कहानी कहता है (अंततः वे जीत गई हैं)। 2013 की बहुत सार्थक फिल्म “12 ईयर्स अ स्लेव” का भी वे हिस्सा रहीं। फिल्म 9 श्रेणियों में नामांकित हुई है। एड्रयूथा ने कई बेहतरीन फिल्मों के केश विभाग का जिम्मा संभाला है। “सॉल्ट”, “अ माइटी हार्ट”, “इवान ऑलमाइटी”, “किलिंग देम सॉफ्टली”, “स्प्रिंग ब्रेकर्स”, “फ्रेंड्स विद बैनिफिट्स”, “स्कैरी मूवी 5” और “द आर्टिस्ट” जैसी कई फिल्में इसी श्रंखला में आती हैं।

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Interview: 'RoboCop' director José Padilha

Recently Padilha, the Brazilian director of 'Elite Squad' fame, answered some of my questions regarding his February 14, 2014 release, his interest in the subject and a little more.

Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman in a still from RoboCop 2014.

“The future brings a concussion of integrating man and machine; it’s unavoidable, it’s happening right now and it’s going to be ever-present more and more and that’s the fact of the matter. Robots and Machines are here to stay and they are going to get better and better.” – José Padilha

The original Robocop came in 1987. Directed by Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct) this dystopian Sci-fi did fairly well as it spawned a franchise including merchandise, two sequels, TV productions, comic book adaptations and video games. Peter Weller played police officer Alex Murphy in the film, who is murdered and then revived by the malevolent corporation Omni Consumer Products as a superhuman cyborg law enforcer 'RoboCop'. Now on February 14, 2014 a reboot of this film series is coming to theatres in India. The new RoboCop stars Joel Kinnaman in the title role. Gary Oldman plays Dr. Dennett who created RoboCop. Two important negative roles are played by Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton.

Earlier, in 2005, Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Noah 2014) was to direct the film for a tentative 2010 release, but, it was delayed numerous times. Then José Padilha signed on in 2011 whose latest movie, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, became the most commercially successful Brazilian film in history. This sequel to the 2007 movie, Elite Squad, was selected as Brazil's official Academy Awards' entry in 2012 for Best Foreign Language Film, though it didn't make the final shortlist.

Padilha's first feature was Bus 174 (2002) a documentary about a poor young man, Sandra Do Nascimento, who bungled a robbery and ended up holding the passengers on a bus hostage for four hours. It's about the incident, the poor conditions of people living in Rio de Janeiro and how the criminal justice system in Brazil treats the lower classes. His film Secrets of the Tribe premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.

Q & A with him:

Padilha, during the shoot of Elite Squad-2.

Do you think Joel Kinnaman was the right choice for the film as a lead, since very few global audiences know the Swedish-American actor?
I spent a lot of time trying to find the right actor for this role, and Joel Kinnaman, after delivering a great first audition, was the one that kept coming back and doing it better and better. And even though we didn’t have a finished script then, but only a couple of scenes for him to read, every time he returned he just nailed it. And that kept on happening until the moment I said: ‘Guys, let’s stop looking. We have him!’

Still, he might not be able to compete with movies stars like Robert Downey, Jr., Hugh Jackman or Henry cavill.
Actually, our RoboCop is a little bit different. He’s got more emotions and he isn’t completely shut down. In our movie he suddenly wakes up in China, and when he sees what’s left of him he wants to die. So in a character that goes through all this transformation, you need a great actor and not necessarily a movie star. Joel was an excellent actor and he played this character brilliantly!

Have you seen Indian Superhero flicks such as "Krish-3" or "Ra.One"?
No, not really.

You haven't seen any Indian movie?
I have not seen any Indian Superhero movies, but yes, I have seen some Indian films. I have seen a documentary by an Indian Filmmaker at Sundance, and it was a really good film and a lot of fun as it showed us a lot about India and the culture. That was the last Indian movie that I saw and I really liked it.

What is your perception of our cinema?
Indian Cinema is one of the most alive Cinemas today; if I have to think in the world today India is one of the only few places where Cinema is striving without any false effort. I know that in India the format of films is longer and it has a lot of music in them and it’s a completely different kind of filmmaking and I honestly don’t know if I’d be capable to make a movie in India with the same kind of style.

If an Indian remake was being planned would you be OK with the idea of Hindi RoboCop? Would you direct?
I would of course, you know and I mean I would love to! And the fact is I would be completely ok with it, but other people might not (laughs).

In this age of drones, unnatural limbs and scientific progress, the idea of RoboCop seems quite possible. What do you think?
RoboCop as a concept is merging Mankind and Machines, and it’s very present now. If you go on to the internet and google you’ll find everything you need; you can see that ships are able to procure gigantic chemical viles just by beeping; and you can see for yourself that all of this is possible, it’s all on the web. The future brings a concussion of integrating man and machine; it’s unavoidable, it’s happening right now and it’s going to be ever-present more and more and that’s the fact of the matter. Robots and Machines are here to stay and they are going to get better and better.
    Paul Verhoeven created an iconic character that embodied the philosophical concept that automated law enforcement could lead to fascism. Funnily enough he did this in 1987, but now we are very close to this actually happening.
    If you open the newspaper every day you are going to end up reading about drones at least 50 times a year, if not more... Now they are piloted, but we are soon going to move on to drones that pilot themselves and robots that go to war and make their own decisions according to very sophisticated hardware and software without people being involved. This is going to happen. It was already in Verhoeven’s movie and it is also the reason I wanted to make this one, because what is being discussed in RoboCop is happening now and is going to be very prominent in the future.

Elite Squad-2

'Elite Squad' seems your finest movie till date. Have you been able to bring the human-emotional-situational details of 'Elite Squad' in 'RoboCop'?
I mean, one thing that’s very different in the movie is how RoboCop becomes RoboCop. He wakes up one morning to lose all his emotions to become a machine, and we show all the drama and we show what happens when he goes through with that transformation. Another big difference in our film is the family. We show what’s going on over there and the changing relationship with his son, and how it’s awkward for him, and impossible for him to have a normal life again. Those things are very different and unexplored in the new movie you know.
    So a big part of the movie focuses on the on-going human drama and Murphy’s humanity as he is half-man and half-robot. He cannot make love to his wife, he cannot touch his son and I mean his life has been changed forever, and he has to finally manage it with his emotions because that’s what left of him, that’s all. The movie is, in a certain attempt about the human ambition and what would it be to be human again. So yes I have focused a lot on the situational-emotional details for this film.

Why "Police/crime films" seem to be your favourite subject?
You know, for me, I think in order to develop a state you have to develop a quality security force. So in mankind anybody who has ever developed a state, nation or region has also developed security. You can learn a lot about society, and a country and the nature of a country by looking at the security. It’s very interesting to look at, so if a country is honest people and honest security forces with lesser crime, it is a developed country as opposed to if you have corrupt law enforcements or corrupt politicians. So sometimes you can just look at the police force of the country and it will tell you everything, that’s why I find it so interesting as a filmmaker.

होज़े पजीला ब्राजील के फ़िल्मकार हैं। हालांकि उन्होंने 2002 में 'बस 174' और 2007 में 'एलीट स्क्वॉड' जैसी दो बेहतरीन फिल्में बनाकर अपने मुल्क में अच्छा मुकाम पा लिया था लेकिन उन्हें वैश्विक पहचान मिली 2012 में, जब उनकी 'एलीट स्क्वॉड: द एनिमी विदिन' को ऑस्कर की बेस्ट फॉरेन लैंग्वेज श्रेणी में ब्राजील ने देश की आधिकारिक एंट्री के तौर पर भेजा। हालांकि फिल्म जीती नहीं। ...लेकिन 46 साल के होज़े की इस फिल्म से प्रभावित होकर एमजीएम स्टूडियो ने उन्हें अपनी मशहूर 'रोबोकॉप फ्रैंचाइजी' की रीबूट का निर्देशन डैरेन एरॉनफस्की (ब्लैक स्वॉन, नोआ-2014) से लेकर दे दिया। 'रोबोकॉप' की कहानी 2028 में स्थित है जहां एक पुलिसकर्मी एलेक्स मर्फी (जोएल किनामैन) कार बम धमाके में बुरी तरह जख्मी हो जाता है और उसके क्षत-विक्षत शरीर को रोबोकॉप प्रोग्रैम में शामिल किया जाता है। उसके बेकार अंगों के स्थान पर रोबोट-अंग लगाए जाते हैं और वह देश का हीरो बनकर उभरता है। फिल्म में गैरी ओल्डमैन, माइकल कीटन और सेमुअल एल. जैक्सन जैसे हॉलीवुड अभिनेता भी होंगे।

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