Back on July 13th I was allowed to spend some time with Ishii. The occasion was the screening of his latest film THE BOXMAN at Japan Cuts. The film was based on a book by Kobo Abe and had premiered a short time before at Berlin. What follows is the majority of the conversation we had together, minus the occasional word salad (the result of my going absolute fanboy for a moment here or there). You will forgive me I am a film fan first and the chance to talk with one of the people responsible for my love of cinema was occasionally overwhelming.
I want to thank the Japan Society and Sylvia Savadjian for allowing me to spend 20 minutes with the great man, I want to thank Tomoko for translating, John DiBello for doing the final edit and I mostly want to than Master Ishii for putting up with a crazed film fan.
STEVE: It's a pleasure to meet you after all these years. I have been following you since the late 80s or early 90's when I was getting into Japanese film. You were always the person whose films you had to see. I had to try to get them via imports and bootleg on VHS tapes. Forgive me you've been in my mind for 40 years. Now that you are making bigger films, do you miss the early days of what always seemed to be more guerrilla filmmaking or do you like making big films like THE BOXMAN?
ISHII: Actually, the films that I am currently working on don’t have big budgets. So Samurai period dramas are costly, but the other types of films I work on actually have a smaller budget. Yes, my recent films are all low budget.
STEVE: They just look so different from your earlier stuff, it's much more polished.
ISHII: I get to work with professional teams creatively. Because the shooting period is so short that everything needs to be planned out in a very, very precise way. I get to work with a professional crew of workers familiar with the very precise and economical terms of shooting.
STEVE: I know it took you years to do THE BOXMAN. Was that because it wasn't the right time, or was it just financially you couldn't put the film together?
ISHII: The biggest reason is that financially we didn't get to raise enough money. I have been getting requests to use idols and celebrities or make this story a little easier to understand. I had gotten many requests that I couldn't meet.
STEVE: Is it the film you wanted to make? Is it the film you envisioned when you started 27 years ago?
ISHII: The film I envisioned 27 years ago was a big budget film working with a German team, so it was more of an entertainment film, more of a slapstick entertainment film. And then Kobo Abe died, and the rights for the novel of THE BOXMAN were given to his daughter, and then her request was that you need to be faithful to the novel, otherwise we wouldn't get the rights. So yes, that's why I had to adjust the script all together. And that's why the story lines became really complicated, as is the novel. That's why we didn't get to raise enough money because it was too difficult to understand. And then there was a period of time where Hollywood held the movie rights for seven years. Then it came back to me, I knew it would come back to me, and it did eventually come back. Abe's daughter didn't like the direction the Hollywood version was heading so that's why I was given the chance again. And during that time the technology for filmmaking advanced so I could have a smaller budget, but still achieve what I wanted to achieve.
STEVE: Do you think the film is better now than what you would have done originally?
ISHII: I think it's apples and oranges. We can't compare it, but now that I am older and I had the time to process the original novel, the interpretation of it has changed. I had the time to think it through and now everybody has a personal device cell phone and so it's almost like the time has caught up to the original novel and it makes sense. Society now suits this piece. I think that this original novel really predicted our current society. We are all in our own information bubble.
STEVE: I wanted to ask you how you decided on the music in the film, because it's so spot-on perfect?
ISHII : As a filmmaker... it's almost like filmmaking is composing and I have a composer that I have been working with for a very long time (Michiaki Katsumoto). But you know the creation process for me is... sounds and the story, music and the story, so they're inseparable. Currently it's understood that the basic smallest unit of everything exists in this world is a wavelength. How it manifests itself in the world thus it can be the sound, the visual, the movements, but the smallest units that exist in the world is universal. So something that is wonderfully, excellently expressed, is inherently musical. So I pay close attention to the rhythm that something has.
STEVE: Since you worked with the same composer, did you talk about the music before you made the movie? Does he give bits or does he wait for you to finish the film and then you get the music?
ISHII: In my process of filmmaking, I create my own sort of soundtrack with existing pieces of music. I created my own soundtrack of the film along with a visual storyboard - usually paintings of imagery. I need the whole thing to kind of understand the film I’m directing and so that's part of my creation process.
STEVE: The other thing I have to ask you about is how you cast. Going back to the earliest films of yours, you always have these great actors, and I can never imagine anybody else playing another role. I couldn't see you swapping in somebody else in any of the roles, especially with THE BOXMAN, which I think it's probably the best thing you have ever done. The cast is just so good they sell every moment. Do you know who you are going to cast, or do you just see who comes in?
ISHII: Yes definitely, casting is very important in my work, and it's also very difficult. I take a great amount of time and effort in casting every single role. First of all, the actor needs to be perfect for the role and the character that they're playing, obviously. And they need to fit the theme of the film that I am making, and the core essence that the actor has need to synchronize with it. And if I can't find anybody that's perfect for these requirements, then I will find new actors; I just need to find the right person so it's a painstaking process for sure. And I did have a thorough discussion with the actors about the role and what is going on with the characters.
STEVE: Would you prefer to adapt something, or do you prefer to write your own story? THE BOXMAN comes from a novel. Would you rather create something entirely on your own when you are making the film, or do you want to just follow another source?
ISHII: I’m interested in both. But I don't read as a hobby that much and I tend to read something just to see if it can be adapted. It’s really hard to say. I also like comics.
STEVE: So do I. Just a quick question, because I know we're out of time. With many directors going back and redoing or changing or tweaking their old films, would you ever consider something similar?
ISHII: I wouldn't do it just out of my own volition. I would volunteer if somebody pressed me then I might consider it. For THE CRAZY FAMILY, Hollywood actually asked me to do it, but I said I would do a sequel. I said I can make the sequel, but I didn't want to do a remake.
STEVE: I know I'm out of time. Thank you very much. Thank you, it's been a pleasure. It's been a joy as I have wanted to interview you for years.
No comments:
Post a Comment