WithRumours, shes made one of her strangest and most perverse pictures to date.
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And whileRumoursrepresents one of Maddins more mainstream pictures, its still unlike any other film in living memory.
A huge fan of the director, Blanchett was itching to work with him and the Johnsons.
Ive been speaking to Ari Aster about one thing and another.
Id seenThe Green Fog, which is a movie that I think every single film student should watch.
So, I went, Yeah, of course.
And I just loved the script.
I love their irreverent take on things.
Theyre so deliberately perverse.
Just when you think they might be tackling a serious subject, they run in the opposite direction.
So many conceptually offbeat comedies will build up a head of comic steam and then fall apart.
I mean, its part monster movie, part Mexican soap opera, part Douglas Sirk.
And something that we constantly referred to was BunuelsExterminating Angel, so its part fever dream in a way.
I love the fact that its a difficult film to describe, but thats what makes it extraordinary.
People are so ready to put things into boxes.
As a result, its so utterly particular.
Youd ask them what something meant, and it was almost like those questions are an anathema to them.
The masturbating bog men, for example.Its a good name for a punk band.
The Masturbating Bog Men.
Its a metaphor that works in a variety of ways.
Or maybe the alter egos of leaders gone by.
And at the same time, theyre kind of just wanking along while the politicians give speeches.Right!
I love the fact that this symbol can go in all of these directions.
And the theme of regret almost leads to these bog bodies being exhumed.
The return of the repressed?Yeah.
In your case, you have the accent and everything …An accent of sorts.
I mean, the whole thing is a kind of a parody.
Whats the difference between a comedy accent and a drama accent?I dont know.
These things sort of evolved.
I was the only one who was not playing someone from a different country, apart from Charles Dance.
So that was cut out.
What does that mean when it comes to shooting the film?
But theyre quite meticulous.
I was surprised that Evan and Galen and Guy wanted a table read.
As freewheeling as their films feel, they are quite meticulous as screenplay writers.
They were quite clear about what they wanted said, and what they wanted to see.
All these characters have histories, personal histories in some cases.
But is that something you do for a weird comedy like this?Not really.
Which we see so awkwardly expressed in footage from these G7 summits.
Theres a puppetry to it.
So, in the film, in a way they regress into becoming human, to becoming terrified.
In a way, all of that stuff had to be found between the actors on set.
So, how did you find them?How did we find them?
I dont know if I did.
These things are elusive.
All of us spent time in this sort of little, tiny easy-up tent.
There were no trailers or anything, and we just sat around in silence.
Then someone would say, Anyone want a nut bar?
Can I make a coffee?
I didnt realize at first that they came as a triple bill.
I thought it was just Guy.
But Im so grateful that the three of them were there.
And its a product of the three of them.
When people say this is a Guy Maddin film its very much made by the three of them.
Initially, I thought,How is this going to work?
The answer is I dont know.
I mean, were not makingThe Mahabharatahere, you know?
And then Evan was really practical really clear, quite blunt.
Then Galen was sort of like this strange, technical puppet master in the background.
The way they worked together was so fluid and fantastic.
Because often theres a lot of pressure on directors.
Id be curious to see where the three of them go together.
I would work with them again in a heartbeat.
Theyre like a collective brain, it seems.Theyre an amoeba.
I didnt find Guys films at the time they were made, necessarily.
WasMy Winnipegyour first Guy Maddin film?Was it?
I think Id seen the film he made with Isabella Rossellini,The Saddest Music in the World.
And The Final Derriere, the song that Sparks did for them, I knew.
But his tastes are so eclectic.
His tastes in film and music are so eclectic.
Hes such a strange and wonderful mix of confidence and surety and absolute, profound anxiety-ridden uncertainty.
Hes able to hold both of those stakes in his films.
So, theres a febrile quality to the way he works.
But hes so open-hearted, and he cares so deeply.
I forget what Ive made as soon as Ive made it.
There are certainly some films Ive made which Id like to forget.
It feels like were living through a cinematic or televisualLa Grande Bouffe.
My instinct is to do less and to be quiet, and to go back onstage.
So, maybe some things Ive done onstage, I would love people to have seen.
Maybe those things I think about more in that way, because they are so ephemeral.
But thats the gift of theater.
You have to be present and there, and it lives on in peoples memories.
