.jeri.

An Evening with Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Monday night I went to the Egyptian Theatre for an Evening with Jeunet, which included a double-feature of Delicatessen with Amelie, as well as a Q&A session with the director himself.

It was a full house, and Jeunet had just completed a new print of Delicatessen, which we had the privilege to watch. Seeing it on the big screen really did make a difference for me. Delicatessen was one of my early foreign film experiences, and even today, it's one of my favorites. I like all of the creative touches Jeunet's movies have, from shots that go through pipes to the great synchronized squeaking bed scene to the creative ways in which Aurore tries to kill herself. This movie (and the rest I've seen as well do to) has a lot of heart, a lot of fantasy, and a lot of uniqueness. I was glad to see it again.

In between movies, Jeunet took the stage for Q&A.
- He has a new movie coming out, if you haven't heard, called A Very Long Engagement, starring Audrey Tatou (Amelie).
- What is his next project? He doesn't know -- the audience was very distressed to find out that he had rejected an offer to do the fifth installment of the Harry Potter movies, which would have started next month, which was too soon for him. He's just hoping he won't regret the decision later.
- Rumors are not true that he was not pleased with how Alien: Resurrection came out. He was proud of the movie. Why did he choose to do it? Because it was an "Alien" movie, and he couldn't have faced himself in the mirror if he had passed up the opportunity. He enjoyed the experience - said it was a lot harder just based on the nature of the movie, and people were always telling him that he needed to speed things up. The use of the color green wasn't symbolic - it was just a gross color that went well with aliens.
- Someone asked how many shots he sets up and gets done in a day. For something like Delicatessen, it was about 8-10. Now, being able to use digital effects more often, it can be more like 10-12.
- Delicatessen was shot in a hangar and they pretty much built the whole set. The flooded room scene was done with a huge tank of water and they only had one take to get it right. Special effects were extremely limited (done in just 3 days) back then - no digital effects, really, except some use of a blue screen. Nowadays they use a lot, especially to insert colors, which really help set the mood of the film or make particular things stand out.
- He does tend to keep the same crew for all of his movies.
- Someone thought his movies were theatrical, and he protested saying that he likes film because it ISN'T theatrical - because you can move and let the camera do a lot of storytelling.
- Someone asked for advice for people trying to get into the movie-making business. Jeunet's basic sentiment was to "just do it." If you love making movies, you don't have a choice. Just make movies. It may take a while to get picked up, but do what you love. Don't think about it like getting into the movie making business. Just make movies if you want to. He said it took him about 10 years, but it all seemed easy for him. He said they had already written City of Lost Children by the time they were able to shoot Delicatessen. It just takes time.
- He said one fan has seen Amelie about 50 times and his wife is about to leave him. heheh.
- Someone asked about how he was inspired to create "his style" and he basically said it's about the predecessors. No one creates a style anymore, but is influenced by movie makers, artists, etc., and develops something from their inspiration.
- There were a few name-dropping moments about French photographers, movie makers, etc., but his French accent was a bit thick to follow sometimes.

Overall, he seemed like a really humble, funny man. Inspired. I'm glad I saw him!

The evening ended with a showing of Amelie. I forgot how much I really liked that movie. And man! She DOES look like my sister in several profile shots!

Posted by wendytime at November 24, 2004 08:28 AM | TrackBack