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
I think it was interesting not to lie about it and see that it's actually their work to entertain people and they have their own way to do it.
We were hoping to define an era and a community without being too lecturing - to show people having a good time. On camera and off, Dave is charming. I thought it would be good to follow him around with a camera because he generates so much warmth.
There is an amount of abstraction in my movies, and sometimes they don't really understand it until the film is finished.
I think my imagination dictates the technologies I use. But at the same time, my imagination can be technologic. Sometimes I see a tool and I know immediately how to use it, but most of the time I use the tool for an idea I already have.
Of course, from time to time, I want to do everything myself and be more involved on my own with the creative process. But I don't mind the collaboration at all.
Perhaps my favourite story is 'Le Passe-Muraille' by Marcel Ayme. It's about a guy who wakes up with a weird faculty that means he can walk through walls. He's a very shy clerk, and he uses it to get revenge, or vent his frustration.
I'm not against the technology at all, I just don't like to use it if it's just to mimic what you can do with traditional methods.
Pop music is created by repression - and then the system takes it and makes even more money with it!
I had a lot of encouragement and tolerance from my parents, but I also have many friends who didn't get that from their parents and in a way they have more strength from spending years where nobody believed in them.
I've dreamed a lot, but i'm not a very good sleeper.
Misinterpretation leads me to inspiration and creativity because I think my brain is trying to figure out some information that I'm confused about.
The competition is not really friendly or peaceful. It leads to oppression in some ways.
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.
I like collaboration, I like to incorporate other people's ideas [and] that's what happens when you do a big movie. Unless you're called Stanley Kubrick and you do an independent movie for like $200 million.