Death at a Funeral (2007)
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Interview with Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz attended the 60th Edition of the Locarno Filmfestival with his new black-humour movie Death at a Funeral. His movie was programmed for the Piazza Grande and he wanted to see how the huge audience of the Piazza Grande reacts on his comedy. OutNow.CH got the chance to interview him privately in the very relaxing and beautiful garden of a five-star villa close to Locarno.
» Das Interview in deutscher Sprache
OutNow.CH (ON): First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your wonderful movie Death at a Funeral. I really liked it a lot!
Frank Oz (FO): Oh, thank you!
ON: The film has quite a lot of black humour in it. Is that the kind of humor you like?
FO: Yeah, well, I like edgy, subversive humour.
ON: The British, in general, are known as the "Gods of Black Humour", like Monty Python or like...
"Where's the pool?"
FO: Well, I am not aware of that, and I have to take your word for because I don't know that to be true. Whether Monty Python is "dark", I'm not sure. It's certainly quite "smart". But I understand what you're referring to...
ON: Up to you, what is the main reason why the British are so special in this genre?
FO: See, I'm not sure if the British are special in that genre since there are also Japanese and American movies which are dark and funny. So, I really don't understand why the people consider the British to be the only ones to produce real black humour movies.
ON: Jokes about death are a delicate issue. Did you have to set a line of respect where you had to say: "Now, that's going too far!" or "That's too much!"
FO: No, I didn't. See, we didn't make jokes about death. All we did was we had a funeral. But there were no jokes about death. Everything happened around the funeral, but we didn't make fun of death or make jokes about it.
ON: The writer of Death at a funeral, Dean Craig, is several years younger than you. Was there a "generation gap" between the two of you when it came to how to deal with the funeral topic? How they should be and so on.
Smalltalk & Sushi
FO: No, it had nothing with generations in a sense of comic and serious sensibility. Well, we both weren't talking about the funeral but about everything around it. The only thing we discussed was the way how we should bring the coffin in, whether to have it brought in head first or feet first. And I think we didn't discuss anything about funerals after that.
ON: And in general, what were your experiences working together with such a young writer, Dean Craig?
FO: Youth has nothing to do with it. It's all about talent. You know, whether you're 90 years old or whether you're 19... all that matters is you have talent.
ON: Have you experienced similar situation to the ones in the movie?
FO: No, I never have. The situations shown in the movie are heightened for comedy. There are exagerated. And Dean hasn't experienced these things, either. It's just that you write out of your imagination. But no, I haven't experienced anything like that.
ON: Are you going to attend the screening of your movie on the Piazza Grande? And what do you expect from the audience? How will it react?
FO: Oh yes, I'm definitely going to attend the screening. But I have no idea whatsoever how the reactions are going to be. I hope it's laughter!
ON: Have you already been to other screenings in other countries?
FO: Yes, I have been to screenings in the United States and in England as well. It's been very nice. We got very good feedback for the movie.
ON: How long did it take to find the right cast for Death at a funeral?
FO: We cast about 1½ to 2 months when I was in London. I was in a room and our casting director brought in dozens and dozens of people.
ON: So, you found the right cast within quite a short time?
FO: I guess so. Although, Simon was the last one to be cast. In fact, we didn't cast neither Peter nor Vaughn to the last minute. So, those were the concerns, but otherwise everything turned out as planned.
ON: Death at a funeral was shot in 7 weeks. Is this a short or a long shooting for a feature movie?
FO: Oh, it's a very short time!
ON: Why did it only take 7 weeks to shoot it, then?
"Is it movin'?"
FO: We just couldn't afford it for much longer. I've done, in the past, very big films: 50 million, 80 million films. I wanted to do something small - and Death at a funeral is 10 million. If you've only got so much money you simply can't go longer. So, we budgeted it and we had to have it down to 7 weeks of production. The budget only allowed so much time. Then, it was only in one location which was a tremendous help.
ON: During the end credits there are some very funny outtakes shown. Was it difficult to have the cast stay earnest and serious despite the humours scenes?
FO: I think it was extremely difficult for the first assistant director to keep ME serious since I was having so much fun. We all had a great time on the set although we worked very, very hard. And yeah, sometimes it was difficult for me not to laugh.
ON: And how did you manage to get back on the serious way?
FO: Well, the first assistant director is actually trying to keep it all together. I wasn't helping at all. I don't try to stay serious. I join the laughter and don't care. It wastes money, but honestly, I don't care to turn people serious. I mean, we laughed until we stopped laughing. And it worked. We really had a great time with great people.
ON: You directed some very successful movies. Which one, according to you, is your best work so far? Which one did you enjoy most to shoot?
"Got some Valium?"
FO: I enjoyed Death at a funeral to shoot most - for sheer fun. And then Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Those two were the most enjoyable movies to shoot. There were others which were very, very difficult. But there's a certain enjoyment and satisfaction in having done the difficult ones as well, because they were so difficult to shoot.
ON: Then, what are your future plans? Are there any projects in the pipeline?
FO: No, I don't have any. I'm currently reading a lot of scripts, but so far I haven't found the right one. I'm still hoping to find something promising.
ON: You worked in front as well as behind the camera. On which side do you prefer to work?
FO: I definitely prefer to work behind the camera. I love directing. Actually I always wanted to become a theatre director, but I ended up directing films.
ON: Would it be possible then to see a theatre directed by you?
FO: Sure, I've already directed theatres. It's just that when you're successful on one thing you keep on the same track. I'm still waiting to fuck up badly directing films, and then I'd go back to directing theatres.
ON: Now we end our interview with some pop-up words. What comes to your mind when you hear: "Yoda"?
FO: Character
ON: Humour
FO: Laugh
ON: John Cleese
FO: Friend
ON: Funerals
FO: Sad
ON: The Queen
FO: The Queen?!
ON: Her Majesty "The Queen"
FO: Royalty
ON: Switzeralnd
FO: Beautiful
ON: Hollywood
FO: Exciting
ON: Steve Martin
FO: Friend
ON: Okay, that's it from my side. Thank you very much for your answers!
FO: You're welcome!
