Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondryis a French independent film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is often ranked one of the greatest films of the 2000s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth8 May 1963
CityVersailles, France
CountryUnited States of America
Every movie I do is challenging for me. There is some element of imaginative that you wouldn't have in a typical movie.
Since I was a kid, I've liked to see how things are done. Sometimes when you see how things are done, it's like watching a 'making of' within the story. You see the physical aspect, the construction of things.
I want to see abstract art move. Especially in the '30s, you had animators doing innovative work, and I was entranced by that. It's basically what you see when you close your eyes, when you fall asleep.
My goal was to show that even if people work in a garage or a supermarket, they have very funny things to say. We never hear their voices.
The problem is when you get forced to use ideas that aren't good. When I can filter the ideas and use the best of them, I am happy to collaborate.
I'm just thinking of 2001, which I think is the most expensive independent film ever made - which is great, someday I hope I will do one. But I know the parameters when I got onto this project - I have to take care of everyone, make sure that they are all on board, and this process interests me.
The idea that competition is pointless is really something that speaks to me, especially in America where competition is really prominent and very overwhelming, and it doesn't bring the best out in you because what's going to push you is to bring others down.
The competition is not really friendly or peaceful. It leads to oppression in some ways.
The problem when you edit a film together, when you shoot a film, you are drawn into the moment. You want each moment to be special and full of life.
And I'm not a micromanagement guy. I prefer to spend my time doing other stuff than that.
If people don't like the trailer, then blame it on the people who made the trailer.
I don't thrive on control. I'm not looking for control. I think I get better results when I don't control things.
I'm just saying to everyone. The director does not direct the trailer. It's an edited version that takes so many moments of the movie, sometimes it's not even in the movie. The director does the movie. So don't judge the director based on the trailer. Please.
If you're not grown up enough to understand that a trailer is not done by the director, then fine. Judge the movie from the trailer.