Finding Neverland (2004)

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The Interview with Marc Forster

It was after a long day for Marc Forster that OutNow.CH met the Swiss Director at the new Park Hyatt in Zurich. You could tell by the exhaustion in his face and the emptiness on the buffet that we were the last representatives from the press to ask questions that winter evening. When we entered the room though his smile was truly cordial. Forster seems to be a very quiet person. As subtle mind in a daintily body. A little like his movies that don't represent the noisiness of your regular Hollywood fair. But contrary to his physical presence his voice is heard in the boarding room we met and in movieland. His fight for his vision brought him to the top. His guidance made Halle Berry winning an Oscar and he is now mentioned among the likes of Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood as a strong oscar contender for best direction. Not bad for a kid from Klosters that saw his first movie when he was 12 years only and right afer that film, it is said to be Apocalypse Now, decided to make movies of his own.

With OutNow.CH he talked about integrity in Hollywood, the mortality of human beings and his chances in this years Oscar race.

» Das Interview auf Deutsch übersetzt

OutNow.CH (ON): What do you do in your life when you are not shooting or promoting a movie?

Marc Forster (MF): I basically don't do anything. I just read books and stay at home. Or I go to places where I can find peace and quietness.

ON: Do you have a lot of time to do something else than movies?

MF: In the last four years it was basically just working because there was Sundance 2000, after that I did Monster's Ball, after that I did Neverland, after that I went into Stay which is coming out next year. I'm finishing Stay now and I am starting Stranger than Fiction in January. And I'm shooting that at the end of April. So it is basically just back to back for the last four year. But there was a time, where I didn't do much at all. I was writing a lot and hustling a lot and trying to create. But recently I haven't taken any vacation in the last few years.

ON: Do you get recognized in the streets of Switzerland?

MF: I don't know. I'm not aware of it. Nobody comes up to me.

ON: Do you get recognized in Los Angeles, then?

MF: No. You know Los Angeles is a very anonymous city. You can have dinner in a restaurant with Halle Berry or Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp and people don't really stare. They don't really look. So it is pretty low-key. Again I don't know. I'm not really sure if people recognize me. I don't think so. I am not an actor.

ON: A lot of your movies deal with loss, despair, regret and overcoming these sort of feelings. Where does that come from?

MF: I just think that we lost our death right in our Western civilisation. And I feel that death is a bit of a taboo. And I think that we need to embrace that in a much more natural way. I obviously had some family history. I lost my brother and my father very close to one another. But even before they died, death was always something I thought about a lot. We understand and celebrate birth but we don't really want to understand death. And I think it is important to explain it to children. I think never before we have reached a society where we are more foreign to dying. And we all are going to die. And I think it's an important thing not to be afraid of because ultimately all fears in life come from the fear of death. We can all lead them back to the fear of dying.

ON: Monster's Ball dealt with topics like racism, socio-economic differences and the death penalty. What was the journey like to come from these topics to the ones in Finding Neverland?

MF: There are different but there are certain parallels. Both films deal with mortality. Both films deal with single women, single mothers who deal with their children. Both movies deal with emotionally repressed characters. Billy Bob Thornton's character is emotionally repressed as much as Johnny Depp's character. The dramatic sequences are a bit similar in both movies but there are obviously different settings. Monster's Ball is much more harsh and much more real. Neverland is a fairy tale and it is in a fairytale setting. And it is a period piece obviously and you're dealing with kids and dogs.

ON: Is it difficult to keep integrity without compromising yourself to much in Hollywood? I think you are doing it marvelously and I wonder how you do it.

MF: It's not easy. You have to stick to your vision and you have to fight for your vision. I was lucky enough that they respected me and that they let me do the movies how I would like them to be made. But it is a journey. It is a battle. It is not a bad one so far. I was lucky enough to survive them and get it my way and get my vision on the screen. But it is not easy. Because if it would be easy I guess everybody would do it.

ON: I feel you are doing only films about topics that really concern you. Did it happen that "wrong" scripts came up during your career?

MF: I only can do a film that I am passionate about. If I would have made decisions for money I would have had better offers. Even after Everything put together I had sort of horror film offers and thriller offers and I wasn't interested so I did Monster's Ball. And I did't get payed much. After Monster's Ball I had different options than this. I get offers like to do the next Harry Potter. But that is not something that interests me, because Harry Potter already has a vision in place. I can't change that vision. I can't extend that vision. And it's the same with many other scripts too. If your are a director you can either write or take your material. But if you take the material it is always very hard and difficult to make it your own. Or you become a product manager, a "director" that takes a big product from a studio and you deliver the studio a print or eventually a story for the masses. You can do both but it's a tricky path. I don't mind doing a big studio film maybe on day. But ultimately it has to be a story that I love and like. I do like movies like The Bourne Supremacy. I thought it was a very entertaining action film. And then sometimes you can also do a big Hollywood film like The Insider which is a superb film because it is Hollywood that is thought-provoking.

ON: I read it was a dream of yours to work with Johnny Depp. How did this dream become a reality?

MF: What happened was, when I wrote the script, I envisioned Johnny Depp in the part. Because I felt he would be the right actor to be able to play the dramatic sequences and the playful sequences. And that he would be able to go back and fourth very smoothly. There are very view actors today that are able to do the dramatic and the playful sequences. Usually they do the one or the other but not both. So I only envisioned him always because he had the child within alive a lot. I that sense you could say I dreamt of having him in this movie, or work with him. Because I love Johnny Depp. He is a marvelous actor and a marvelous person.

ON: Another fantastic performance in the film was the one of Freddie Highmore. What do you think of him being a twelve year old and already being that good?

MF: At the time he was actually only ten. I think Freddie Highmore is just a very gifted child. When he came to audition for me, I was just sitting there and was blown away. He embodies something very truthful. There is nothing fake about him. He projects that onto everybody that is working with him.

ON: There are those that claim that J. M. Barrie was a paedophile. What is your opinion about that?

MF: I did a lot of research before I shot the movie. I knew that it would come up later but there was no proof to it. I wouldn't have made the movie if there would have been the slightest proof that he was a paedophile. He was asexual. He didn't like to be touched or touch others. The studio wouldn't have invested money in the movie, if they would have found the slightest proof that he was a paedophile because nobody would have gone and seen the movie. The press you know is hungry for that. They are looking for that. They want controversy. Controversy sells. I knew to begin with that this topic would come up. It's basically a rumour which came up in the second part of the last century. And it obviously doesn't help that Michael Jackson named his ranch after Neverland.

ON: Finding Neverland now is a big oscar contender.

MF: Is it?

ON: That's my question. Are you following these predictions?

MF: You know, if you would follow any predictions, I think, you would slowly go insane. If you have expectations that actually one would win an oscar than you are completely certified insane. So all you can do is hope that the movie finds an audience. If you get a price, great. You say thank you and it helps the movie. It helps your career. It's a nice thing to be recognized. But If yourself start predicting things like that, I personally think you must be in a loony bin.

ON: Do you see a difference now with Miramax promoting the film compared to the Oscar campaign of Monster's Ball that Lion's Gate did two years ago?

MF: Obviously as a director you are involved in the marketing campaign. The marketing campaign of a movie then calibrates on two levels. There is the marketing campaign for the film and there is the campaign they have for the awards. Obviously it is a whole different league. You can't compare. It is like apple and oranges. Lion's Gate is a wonderful company. I really love them. Artistically they are great to work with but marktingwise, you know, Harvey Weinstein invented the Oscar campaign. That didn't exist before Miramax was there. The funny thing is, it is an end of an era. The Aviator and we are the two last films of Miramax. Because Miramax will not exist anymore next year. They don't have the money they used to have. Harvey was able to have a good film but then pave through marketing and ads the path to the Oscars. Now with The Aviator and us he can't do this anymore because he doesn't have the financial resources. He is much more contained. His hands are tied. It is much more of a struggle. It will be interesting to see what happens. Universal with Ray is spending a lot of money. Fox is spending a lot of money on Sideways and Kinsey. Closer is going to spend a lot of money for their campaign. Million Dollar Baby Clint Eastwoods movie by Warner Brothers will spend a bucket. All these companies will spend more than Harvey has. So it will be interesting to see where we end up, when the others have so much money to spend.

ON: To wrap this up I would like to give you some keywords and you just tell me what comes to mind first. And then we are done.

ON: Peter Pan

MF: Child

ON: Box Office Numbers

MF: Nonsense

ON: Kim's Video

MF: I love it.

ON: Apocalypse Now

MF: Great Memory

ON: Academy Awards

MF: (after a short silence, Forster starts laughing, not sure what to say) There you go.

ON: Publicity Work

MF: Painful

ON: Ok. That's it. No more pain then.

09.12.2004 / rm, pj Photos