FrançaisEntretiens - Fredrik Bond - English version
Par Mulder, Deauville, 06 septembre 2013
Q: The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is your first movie. But, it seems you have a huge experience as a movie director already. Could you tell us more about your career and experience ? How can you be a first-time filmmaker and make such a good movie at the same time ? I saw it yesterday, it was so fun and I like it.
Fredrik Bond: thank you so much. Well, you know I think that coming from commercials you get used to spend a lot of time on set. You work with crews and cinematographers that are just fantastic. You build a relationship with your crews. When I was doing my movie, I wasn’t very nervous of the technical side. I think it was my comfort zone. The new thing for me was to deal with actors. So I spend a lot of time with my actors. I wanted to really make it about their performances. So, that was the natural progression for me from commercials to features.
Q: What is more complicated to direct, commercials or a movie?Bond: that is a good question. I think that everything has its challenges. But I think of course the feature is much longer. You have to be more of a marathon runner, you have to have more stamina for a feature than for a commercial. There were a lot of commercials that I made that were very challenging, because you are dealing with new technical aspects, you have different types of people. Any creative adventure, I think, is a challenge.
Q: what are the main themes that we can find on your commercials for example beers Heineken, Guinesss ? I saw some of your commercials yesterday to prepare this interview. It was very fun and I like it.
Bond: concerning the theme, I don’t know. For me, whether I do a movie or whether I do a commercial, for me the performance of the actors is the most important thing. I think commercials are naturally more visual. But for me, the theme I always try to go for is some sort of humanity. I’m interested in the people.
Q: While I was watching your movie, I thought about Trainspotting, True Romance, Very bad trip. So could you tell us what your main inspiration for this movie was ?Bond: all the movies that you have mentioned are sort of genre hybrids where there is a playfulness with genres. That’s what I really loved about the script : that it was mixing all these different tones and genres, trying to make them into one world. So, any movie that had this kind of genre mix has been inspiring me, everything from The World according to Garp and Forrest Gump, to True romance, Trainspotting and movies like that. It’s not one specific movie, it’s more the playfulness of the mix of genres.
Q: What can you tell us about your casting for the movie ? How did you succeed to have such a perfect casting for a first movie : Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint, Melissa Leo ? Bond: I think everybody just loved the script. Everybody just read the script and was wondering ... The story is a very rare one. The script with its mix of humour and seriousness is a rare one. I think all the actors were very compelled by their characters, even if they are briefly on screen. Bottom line is, everybody loved the script, basically.
Q: what were the main difficulties that you encountered to direct in Romania for two months ?
Bond: all the wild dogs ! Every time I was coming back from the shoot to the hotel, I had wild dogs chasing me on my bike. It was always a bit of a nightmare to get back home. I never got bitten. Just a couple of months before we started to shoot, there were Japanese tourists that had been attacked by the loose dogs, the wild dogs and killed. I was very worried about that, it kept resonating in my head. But in the end it was totally fine. It was mostly in my head.
Q: could you tell us about your long collaboration with Moby who has composed some songs for your movie?Bond: Moby started very early in the process, because I had worked with Moby before. He came on board very early in the process as we were working on the script. He started to elaborate on different themes, on different melodies. He was a very instrumental part in the beginning of the movie. When the movie got shot, we started to edit the movie and we realized, together with Moby, that, because the story is so vast and spreads in so many directions, we needed a few different types of tonalities. That’s why we talked to Dead Mono and Christophe Beck and also this young DJ woman called Audrey Napoleon, who submitted some songs to the movie. Basically in the end, Moby, Christophe Beck, Dead Mono and some songs of Audrey Napoleon were put in the movie.
Q: Could you tell us more about your collaboration with Hughes Winborne, who won an Oscar for Crash ?
Bond: Hughes is an amazing editor, he’s very sensitive. That’s what I was really looking for in the editing, because it could’ve become a little bit too much, but I wanted the romance to really shine through. I wanted it to be a sensitive journey, even if it was a wild journey and even if there’s some violence in it. I really wanted to have a lighter touch, a sexy touch in a way. When I looked at Hughes’ work and when we started to talk about the movie, I realized that he was perfect for it. He is a very good editor. And he has got very good hair as well ! You and me, we have thin hair. I was very impressed, because he has a lot of good hair. He is a little bit older than me, so I was very impressed by that.
Q: Yesterday, your movie has been shown and acclaimed two times. What do you think about this Festival and the French audience ?Bond: I’ve never been to Deauville before. I have friends that had been here with their films and they said that I was going to love this. So, when I arrived I asked myself if I would love this, but instantly it was love at first sight. It’s a beautiful sight, but not only that. France in general, and specially Deauville festival, is a very film loving festival, like myself. I love films of any kind. That’s what took me immediately. When you talk to people that are passionate about movies, “I like this”, “I don’t like that”, it’s great ! But also, I always felt that Charlie Countryman has a little bit of a French vibe in it, a European touch. There are European movies that we did not mention here and that influenced me as a young kid, like Betty Blue, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Sur mes lèvres. French movies, I have a special respect for them, because they always have a little bit more of essentialism in stories. I’ve always seen my film as a little bit of a French film. At some point, I really wanted to shoot it in Paris. But for natural reasons it could not happen, because the story needed that eastern wild east.
Q: What are your favorite movies?Bond: I have so many, where do you want to start ? You know, I love One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The World According to Garp, the French movies Sur mes lèvres, The Prophet. I like Yvan Attal, My wife is an actress. My list is long.
Q: What are your current projects ?Bond: I’m working on something right now, which I’ll hopefully get ready in about half a year. Hopefully, it will get into production whenever it’ll be ready.
Q: What is your most important accomplishment to this date?
Bond: my kids, my wife and I think, I’m really into my movie right now and I am very proud of my movie. It feels like it’s another little baby. And now I have to let it go, it’s time to let it go.
Q: What kind of advice could you give to someone who would like to work as a director ?Bond: Start shooting, experimenting and film anything that you feel that is interesting and close to your heart. I think you should just go for it. Sitting and writing. I don’t write my movies. So far, I haven’t written my movies. The script I’m working on and the commercials, I have always written. There is a lot of writing for me. Also, in the process of Charlie Countryman, it had a lot of writing for me, just to sit and understand my thoughts. Writing, go out shooting and try editing.
Propos recueillis par Mulder , le 06 septembre 2013.
Avec nos remerciements à Blanche Aurore Duault de l’agence Miam
Un grand merci à Tootpadu pour son aide précieuse.
Vidéo & Photos : Mulder