GP: It’s a much more human film...I hate political messages in film. I think the film is universal and in any society or any part of society which lives under the tensions; racial, social.... In New York the audience respond very well to the movie. Some guy said, "Look, this can happen in my South Bronx." He is a professor in South Bronx.
Q: Yeah, well something similar happened in Los Angeles not too long ago.
GP: Also in Los Angeles yes. In some parts. Not here in Beverly Hills probably. [Laughs]. Beverly Hills has some other kind of revolt.
Q: Your film has great performances. In creating the roles and the script was everything scripted or did you have improvisational imput from the actors?
GP: Oh definitely. I’m very open to the actors. I change a lot during the shooting. Actors are the most important element of the film to me. So I work with them and I don’t start to shoot if I’m not absolutely convinced that they understood what I want to say through the scene. And they bring their ideas. Sometimes they come with brilliant ideas. As you saw in the movie I follow their actions. I don’t put the marks and say, ‘The light is nice here and the camera
will do this or that’. I don’t really care about the form. The form must go out from the nature of the film. And in this film it is the camera that follows the action and then very often goes into a close-up. Because for me the most significant force in the film -- an every film -- is the human face.
Q: Most of the cinematography in this film emphasizes close-ups rather than long shots.
GP: I pushed the camera very close to their faces. They told me, 'Listen, this is a little bit embarrassing to place us so close to the camera’. And I told them, ‘Sometimes it is embarrassing but you will see after on the screening the audience will have a feeling like you want to [come] out from the screen in between them.’ You understand what I mean?
Q: Yeah it’s very effective. One of the interesting elements is of the young people on the bus who just laugh at the street punk who is threatening everyone else on the bus. Is this saying something about the spirit of youth versus the older people?
GP: You see this guy who comes to the bus -- this young guy he is very nice to the old couple. Right? He says, "Watch your step, let’s go, good bye." He is very nice. He doesn’t care about his own generation who don’t care about anything. [Laughs]. He’s very tough though with this middle class. He wants to wake them up. And he is saying, "You are like sheep. You have to revolt." He is kind of like a Che Guevara...not Che Guevara forget that but someone who wants to shake them. He is essentially saying; "Do you need another war to wake up? Do something." He says; "My youth will pass while waiting for the bus driver and
everyone drinking coffee all over the place." But he is a very positive character for me.
Q: You also seem to have an interesting message about public transportation. Many of the scenes take place in a cab a bus a train. Is this intentional?
GP: [Laughs] I didn’t think about it. But someone mentioned it... yes there is one bus, one train... This night is like a labyrinth and the people go and cross each other and then it’s very spontaneous. The scenes take place and then pass on. All this didn’t exist in the play. It blends all these scenes together and then essentially comes down to ‘he who will light the powder keg in the end.’
Q: There are some films like Max Ophuls’ La Ronde that have a similar labyrinth structure.
GP: Yes, that looks a little like this. Some people compare it with Short Cuts but in Short Cuts you have parts and sections, which results in an earthquake at the end but here you have complete short stories. It’s much harder because if you miss the rhythm of the film the next story can just destroy the film if it’s not powerful enough.… It was hard for me to do this film because I didn’t have any knowledge how it was going to end. But I knew I had wonderful energy in some scenes but I wanted to give the feeling of a portrayal of one single area all in one film. I think I succeeded.
Q: Would you consider the toast by the cabaret character in the end a positive ending?
GP: It’s ironic. But it’s also saying, ‘We will survive...somehow but we will survive.'
Q: You’re living in France now?
GP: Living in France and in Yugoslavia. Also I never really left Belgrade. I married a French girl so living in Paris is normal for her and it’s normal for me to be in Belgrade so we are splitting our time in between two...What? [his wife and the P.R. woman correct his use of the word "girl" vs "woman"] [Laughs] French woman! There is an objection. Married to the French woman sorry...correction. I am one and there are two women here.
Q: As you know there was a school shooting in Colorado and some people wanted to blame the media as a source. How do you feel about violence in movies?
GP: I think it’s only a part of it. But you cannot accuse the media for that. The media can create a little flavor you know. But the violence in that case is a result of the frustration. And the frustration doesn’t just come just from the media. It comes from the society itself.
Q: I found your movie very effective, disturbing but also funny...it gave me a lot to think about.
GP: I don’t like the movies when you leave the theater and you just say, ‘Okay it was a great two hours I spent". I hope that this movie will give another point of view for American audiences and for all audiences to see the Balkans from another angle.
HOME / INTERVIEWS