Michel Gondry discusses upcoming film about AWOL director
The acclaimed French director Michel Gondry, most probably known for his close collaborations with screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman, has spoken in-depth about his upcoming film The Book of Solutions.
Gondry explained: “It’s about the adventures of a director who has too many ideas, and who refuses to see the editor of his movie. And how the people around him try to protect himself, but also suffer from his presence.”
Speaking with Deadline at the Cannes Studio, he was asked why he wanted to make this film in particular. The director went on to clarify what about the film was personal to him. “I have sort of lived it,” Gondry said. “I think that’s a reason. I’ve had many ideas and tried them all, and my head was going in many directions very quick,” before adding: “It was a fun and dramatic adventure”.
Gondry further explains how, when struggling with the edit of a previous film, it was, in fact, his son who suggested that he make a documentary about the experience: “I said okay, well I can reproduce it — make a fake documentary.”
What is The Book of Solutions about?
The logline for his upcoming film-about-film reads as this: “After the producers of his new film threaten to take it away from him, director Marc (Pierre Niney) steals all the files and escapes with his team to the home of his aunt Denise (Françoise Lebrun) in a small village in the Cevennes. While driving everyone crazy with his indecision, Marc starts writing The Book of Solutions, a practical advice guide that could be the solution to all his problems”.
Speaking on the catharsis that some directors claim to feel when dealing with work close to the bone, Gondry was pretty frank about his own experience: “I have to be honest; the word cathartic is constantly used, and I don’t really understand it, and I don’t really want to understand it, because it seems overrated.”
Nevertheless, he feels touched that his film crew and actors were so willing to dig deep inside his own head, expressing it in a particularly quirky way: “That was positive. And the idea that if you suffer, you make people suffer, eventually you make a movie and everybody is happy… it’s pretty awesome.
Watch a clip from Gondry’s upcoming film below.
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