mark romanek interview
by michael brown + erica sum

05.12.04



1. has the internet become a productive tool for you either personally or professionally?

of course. i’m on it constantly. way too often probably. my most recent screenplay required me to do an enormous amount of research. i found reams of information and photos on the web (much of it classified until only recently) and was able to order dozens of books (many of them out of print) via online sources. there’s all sorts of vernacular material on the web too. people’s own memories, diaries, and photos, which is not available anywhere else. this stuff was often far more relevant than the official, published accounts. i don’t think you can do too much research, but i was actually drowning in it. it caused me to go on several tangents that were fascinating, but ultimately sort of beside the point. it delayed the finishing of my script by at least half a year. that said, as a research resource, i wouldn’t trade it for anything..

2. when dvds first entered the vhs market, certain directors expressed a concern that the deleted scenes and alternative endings allowed audiences to view films in a manner unintended by the director, which they claimed breached the director's artistic control and therefore damaged the movie's artistic value. what are your thoughts on dvd special features, including director commentary?

well, i have mixed feelings about it. i certainly don’t endorse deleted material or alternate cuts being released without a director’s consent, for whatever reason. otherwise, i guess it depends on the dvd. there are some discs for movies i love that are so over-bundled with extras that anything enigmatic or intentionally ambiguous about the film is sort of ruined/demystified. this was the case with criterion’s disc for wang kar wei’s in the mood for love. an amazing film, but i thought the curtain was pulled back too far there. on the other hand, i’ve learned a lot from certain great commentaries. the one on the dvd for mike nichols’ catch-22 is really good. it’s just a conversation between nichols and steven soderbergh. steven is a real fan of the film and nichols is one of the most eloquent speakers about the creative process you’ll ever hear, so that one is really worthwhile. polanski did a terrifically informative one for the criterion laserdisc of repulsion, but i don’t think that’s been released on dvd yet.

3. you wrote and directed one hour photo which was shown at the 2002 sundance film festival. what does participating in a film festival such as sundance mean to you as an artist?

well, that screening at sundance changed the entire fate of the film. we tested various rough cuts of ohp, like three times, and each time it tested disastrously. i mean, really bad. but, we all liked the film. we thought it was interesting and that robin williams was great in it. so, we were perplexed and the studio was very concerned. they were leaning toward sort of dumping the movie. but, when we premiered the film at sundance in front of 1300 people, the place went crazy for it. they started cheering before the last shot even faded out and they gave robin a standing ovation. so, then and there, the studio realized that the tests were somehow erroneous. and from that moment on, they backed the film much more vigorously, taking out bigger ads and buying time for tv spots, etc. we got a few rave reviews from that screening from variety, premiere, rolling stone, and usa today, which set the tone for generally positive critical response. the film ended up being searchlight’s second highest grossing film to date (after the full monty) and it was gigantic on video and dvd. it only cost twelve million to shoot, so they made a mint on that film. i believe all of that started at that screening in park city.

4. how does your approach to content and form differentiate when directing a music video or a feature film?

well, i consider the problem of conceiving a feature and conceiving a video very differently. i think linear narrative in a video is boring. it usually lacks poetry and doesn’t bear many repeated viewings. it seems to me that one of the joys of making a video is that you’re released from the necessities and rigors of narrative construction. here’s how i usually approach a video: i try to think of a unique and unexpected immersive environment and then i drop the artist into that world. usually, the simple juxtaposition creates the “meaning.” often, there’s a sense of a narrative, but it’s usually very fractured. the narrative becomes a series of little puzzles or fragments or enigmas. hopefully, this type of storytelling, such as it is, engages the audience more, draws them in. they become a participant, a puzzle-solver, instead of merely a viewer. also, this type of storytelling seems to me more analogous to the way music is experienced. it’s more of a right brain thing. and though i don’t always prefer features that have a traditional narrative, i do think that, with a movie, an audience really only wants two things. they want to care about the characters they encounter on the screen. and they want to be engaged enough to be in suspense about what will happen next in the story. perhaps the first aspect is somewhat relevant to a music-video. but, the second is rarely applicable.

5. you have mentioned that the divine comedy directly influenced the writing of one hour photo, which is interesting because the opening and closing scenes depict sy sitting in an almost euphoric, brightly lit, clean, white room (a visual treatment you also used for the sav-mart, which alludes to heaven). metaphorically, did sy have to travel through hell to ultimately end up in heaven, as dante did in the divine comedy?

well, it was just a matter of the story having these three distinct realms. you had sy’s work life, which mostly took place in this giant discount store. then, there was sy’s home life and his life outside of the store. and thirdly, there was the yorkin family’s existence, which of course was sort of diametrically opposed to sy’s. having read the divine comedy in college, i was struck by the way dante’s writing style changed to describe the events in each of the three books. so, we decided to apply certain rules or “meta-strategies” for the depiction of the three realms of our film. we decided that the sav-mart was sort of heaven for sy. he felt like all was right with the world while he worked there. his home life was a bit hellish. and the life of the yorkins was sort of a purgatory, because they were a family that hadn’t really gelled or were in the process of coming apart. we applied certain strict rules about color-scheme, wardrobe, focal lengths, lighting, and camera angles to each of these three realms. this gave the film a sort of subtextural architecture and it made it a little easier for myself and the crew to make various aesthetic choices as they came up.

6. there is a very fine layer of visual clues and detail throughout one hour photo which support the theme of each scene. for example, when sy explains to yoshi that he has been fired from the sav-mart, the customer being served is #86. when directing and editing, how important is the inclusion of such intricate details?

good eye! not many people noticed that. my idea was that the film became more interesting the more it played out like a dream. it would’ve been easy to render the film more naturalistically, but – to me – that would’ve been, somehow, a smaller film, and it likely wouldn’t work on the viewer’s subconscious in the same way. audiences have often told me that the film really stuck with them, often for weeks or months after they saw it. i believe the reason for this is that these tiny details, the details that make up the fabric of a movie, can cumulatively sort of cast a web or cast a spell. in dreams (if you believe that dreams contain meaning, which i do) there is very little left to chance. in a dream, the smallest thing can sometimes provide a clue to unraveling an entire life’s inner conflict. so, even if you don’t register the “86” or make that connection, one senses that there is a director behind all this, telling this story, or conjuring this dream, who is interested in imbuing every detail with “meaning” or the potential for meaning.

7. congratulations on your cma award for your work on hurt. were you surprised by the strong reaction that the video received? what impression of johnny cash has this project had on you?

when rick rubin and i schemed up the idea for this video, we had no idea anyone would even see it. we sort of made it just to make it. we figured that if it came out well, we’d worry about what to do with it later. frankly, we thought that a video for a seventy year old artist wouldn’t really get shown in heavy rotation anywhere. so yes, we were very surprised and pleased by the response. it sort of became a small pop-culture phenomenon. i think it just gave people an excuse to remember to appreciate johnny’s five-decades of brilliance. i also think, in retrospect, that it was the perfect reality-tv-era music video. it was sort of reality-tv with soul.

8. your book mark romanek: music video stills is a collection of high quality stills taken from your music video projects. what inspired the use of video captures vs. direct photos or scans taken from film negatives?

i was approached by a publisher to do the book. no one had really done one before, so we gave it a go. it wasn’t practical to print from the original negative. mainly, because digging them out of vaults, assuming they could even be found, was far too daunting a task. but, more to the point, most of the images had been digitally tinkered with so much, that the original negative was no longer really relevant. frankly, though it was a nice affirmation of over a decade of hard work, the publishers were complete jerks, and i am very unhappy with the quality of the book.

9. i believe your next project is a feature film titled "a cold case". what can you tell us about this film? has production started?

not quite yet. it’s going to be based on a brilliant piece of journalism by philip gourevitch, who often writes for the new yorker magazine. the adaptation is being written by eric roth, who wrote the scripts for the insider, forrest gump, and ali (among many others) and it will star tom hanks. i’m hoping that we can begin prepping very soon and shoot the film this fall.

10. when can we expect your dvd compilation? i believe it will be released by palm pictures as part of their director's label series?

we hope it will be out before the end of the year. we’ve already shot a lot of the interviews and started the design process for the menus and the packaging.

click here to view the article at ventilate.ca

back to press