Mark
Pellington's versatile, fascinating resume as a filmmaker includes the
paranoid thriller ARLINGTON ROAD (1998) with Jeff Bridges and Tim
Robbins; the horror mystery THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES (2002) with Richard
Gere; the innovative concert movie U2 3D (2007); the offbeat, thoughtful
comedy HENRY POOLE IS HERE (2008) with Luke Wilson; the unforgettable,
coruscating I MELT WITH YOU (2011) with Rob Lowe, Thomas Jane and Jeremy
Piven; and his latest film, the comedy drama THE LAST WORD (2017), with
Shirley Maclaine and Amanda Seyfried. Getting his start in MTV,
Pellington is also one of the most exciting, innovative music video
directors working, with U2's 'One' and Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy' amongst many
memorable, game-changing highlights. He also directs short films and
documentaries, and executively produces the TV mystery series Blindspot.
The breadth of his work across different formats speaks to his talent,
passion and great interest in the world around and inside him. In the
second part of a three-part
interview, I spoke to Pellington about the making of THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, U2 3D, HENRY POOLE IS HERE, and I MELT WITH YOU, and the themes and approaches of his work.
Part one of the interview.
How did you get involved with THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES?
Part one of the interview.
How did you get involved with THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES?
The same company that
produced ARLINGTON ROAD, Lakeshore Entertainment, offered it to me as
we were mixing the film, and I passed on it because I didn't want to
be making another movie that soon. They came back about a year and a
half later, and they had rewritten it and it had gotten kind of weird
and become kind of a creature movie, so I got hold of all the
different drafts and cut and pasted together a draft rewrite with two
writer friends Laewis Klahr and Ernie Marrero. It was the draft I
wanted to do. They showed that version to Richard Gere and he liked
it. We had made everything more suggestive and less overt. More
ambiguous.
The finished film is
pretty much that draft. I'm really proud of that movie. I love it. I
think it still holds up, and it has gathered a little cult around it.
I like it the same way I like DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) or the original
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956).
I believe in the power
of the human mind – madness, subjective disturbances, mental
illness, dementia. I believe in grounded reality. I grew up watching
and loving ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976), THE CONVERSATION (1974),
and Sidney Lumet movies. I never watched fantasy, and even now I
never watch stuff like LORD OF THE RINGS or Game of Thrones or any of
these comic book movies. I don't relate to them. I grew up in the age
of Watergate and punk rock. Realism, realism, realism.
When you were putting
together the script of THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, were you trying to
ground it as much as possible?
Yes, I think so.
Guillermo Del Toro picked me to do a remake of THE ORPHANAGE (2007) a
few years ago and we tried to get it going. He loved THE MOTHMAN
PROPHECIES. I would tell him ''The more it's in your brain, the
better. '' We would have these discussions about the power of the
mind. I've just never had an affinity for creatures or monsters.
Richard was great; a
gentleman, a pro. The whole movie was him reacting, and he's a very
good actor for genre, a terrific truth seeker and reactor. He was
great at keeping it real and restrained.
With U2 3D, you were
working with new advanced technology. Are you someone very
comfortable with technology and someone who sees it as always a
positive thing?
I'm not a very tecchie
person. The smaller the camera, the better. I was asked to be
involved in the film by the band because they knew at the time that
the co-director, Catherine Owens, had not had quite enough
experience. I was a security blanket to aid her.
Filming a concert is
very easy, frankly. It's not possible to shoot a bad angle at any one
of U2's shows. I remember meetings where people would say ''You can't
do this. You can't do that. You can't move the camera here. '' We
talked to James Cameron and he said ''You should do anything you want
with it. '' He was sort of wrong. Poor Catherine spent a year in post
figuring out tech focus issues and the 3-D, and rendered a beautiful
film. I'm proud to have been part of the team. This was 2005, which
is so long ago in relation to 3-D and digital.
What do you find the
most enjoyable about working with U2?
They're good,
down-to-earth blokes, like any of these artists – Bruce Springsteen
or The Foo Fighters. Interpreting their music is a gift. The great
ones are very trusting and let you do your own thing.
Do you feel you have
to fight a tendency to be bold and innovative when you are creatinfg,
or is it story that you are always the most focussed on?
It really depends what
I am working on. I made this 57-minute music film called LONE (2014) for an
artist named Chelsea Wolfe. The 'story' that I got out of it is like
something out of a Jodorowsky or Lynch or Tarkovsky film. It's
completely unconscious and very symbolic. My next goal is to make
something that is like 'my version' of UNDER THE SKIN (2013). That
was one of my favorite films of the last few years. It had enough of
a plot to keep you going but wasn't over-talky. It worked on a
subconscious level. Big screen. Cinema.
It's all about
character. I do enjoy plot though, especially when I do TV. I love
all these different mediums. If I want to go and play with the
unconscious, I'll do a music video or a short film or a poem. If I
really want to go and tell a story in a clearer narrative and a
different way, I'll go and do a TV pilot. It's good. I feel like I
can express myself personally as well as pay the bills. I feel like
I've never worked a day in my life.
Would something like
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) be something you'd be interested in doing?
Oh, yeah. The TV series
I produce, and directed the first few episodes of, Blindspot, is
pretty big. It's like THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) meets MEMENTO
(2000). After I finished directing the pilot I thought ''I'd like to
do a movie like this. '' It was probably the equivalent of a $50 to
70 million movie. I had fun.
You know, life kind of
derailed me a little bit, but I have one final act. I have been
climbing my way back up. I would crush a movie like FURY ROAD. To
make that kind of movie you do need the access and the success
though, to put yourself in the position to get those kind of
opportunities.
I found HENRY POOLE IS
HERE to be a different film for you, and very affecting.
I was very sad, and grieving my wife's death, and newly sober, so I liked the positivity and the sweetness of the story. That's where I was at the time. I don't think I could make that movie now. I love the movie and I am very proud of Luke Wilson's performance. I don't blame anyone for how it did at the box office. Sometimes they land, sometimes they don't.
I was very sad, and grieving my wife's death, and newly sober, so I liked the positivity and the sweetness of the story. That's where I was at the time. I don't think I could make that movie now. I love the movie and I am very proud of Luke Wilson's performance. I don't blame anyone for how it did at the box office. Sometimes they land, sometimes they don't.
I MELT WITH YOU
provided quite the contrast.
Yes. I had relapsed,
and my mother had died. I was fucking angry and sad. The Orphanage
wasn't going. The economy collapsed. Another movie collapsed. I had
been making these videos on 5D, and I was like ''Fuck this. The
system is out of control. I'm having to beg people to make movies.
The only way I can get control is to get some money, put up the rest
myself and say ''Let's go and make the movie. '' ''It's a movie I
loved doing and am really proud of.
Fuck yes! Incredibly
cathartic. To a degree that's all it was. My agent said afterwards
''Well, you needed to get that out of your system. '' I said ''Yup!''
I'm proud of its expressionism. I learned a lot. The great thing is
that the movie will be there forever. When it came out, people just
jumped all over it. There are people discovering it now who think
it's cool. It's like one day it was suddenly TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971)
or something.
How does negative
criticism generally affect you?
When critics come after
you with their knives, they really come after you. It's not fun,
especially when you feel it's personal. It's tough as a filmmaker
to read that stuff. When you make a movie that is unrelentingly dark
and uncompromising, that's often what happens. Or non-cynical. You
just have to accept it and move on, but it does make it harder
getting another film going, which is what happened with I MELT WITH
YOU.
Most of it. I think I
was 47 when I started shooting it so I was definitely squinting at 50
and all that entails. I think though that it was more to do with my
mother dying. My father had already passed. You really realise that
you're next. Something happens when your second parent dies. You
can't explain it. It profoundly changes you. Having a child myself
and being a single father as well ... a lot was going on.
How much of the movie
was improvised?
It's all scripted. A
couple of moments are improvised, especially in the party scenes, but
it's mostly scripted. Everyone gave great performances.
How did the very
distinctive use of color come about?
My cinematographer on
the film, Eric Schmidt, and I had been doing a lot of videos together
at that point with the 5D camera. We had a great color grader on the
film. It was all stuff we had been doing on my videos.
Do you see any themes
yourself that run through your work? For example, you often seem
attracted to characters who are in extreme situations and are more
hyper aware of reality and their surroundings than other people.
That's true. It's also
ironic that I made a film about two widowers and I became one myself.
I think I am interested in male protagonists who are lost and are
going through a very dense, fucked up journey to try and come to
terms with some kind of truth, which I can certainly relate to. But
there are no rules really to what I am drawn to. When my life
changed, I didn't just want to take any kind of movie, which is why I
didn't make so many for a while. But then the business changed and
suddenly the films I wanted to make, mid-level thrillers, got sucked
away. There are 80% less movies made now by the studios than there
were ten years ago. So if you haven't hit the A List or you're not a
genre guy, then it's difficult. Plus of course they always want the
'new guy' who just had a hit. Everybody is one movie away from
getting back in the game. I tend to hold firm to the projects I want
to do, but I'm open to any new challenges. That said, I don't want to
do anything I don't feel I will do a good job on.
There's a project
called Clang that I have been trying to make since before 'Jeremy'.
It's ambitious and deeply personal, and is a film I feel like I have
to make. And I will.
Part three of the interview.
Pellington's LONE short film can be viewed here. Pellington's other short films, videos and TV pilots can be viewed here.
Part three of the interview.
Pellington's LONE short film can be viewed here. Pellington's other short films, videos and TV pilots can be viewed here.
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