Terry Gilliam (TG)<\/strong>: Anything that is cheap, quick, clean and efficient, that\u2019s what we go for. There\u2019s lots of dialogue in the film that we recorded on an iPhone. Modern technology makes the process a lot easier. You go on the web and find things, like the sunset on the beach, and a lot of that was from Shutterstock. We mixed a lot of them together.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been intrigued by GoPro, so we stuck [cameras) all over the set. We didn\u2019t know exactly how they were going to be used, but as long as they were doing their surveillance, nobody played to them; in fact, you couldn\u2019t even see them, but they were right there in the scene recording.<\/p>\n
Of course, we cheat and lie through the whole thing; that\u2019s the process of making film. All that technology is very useful. It makes everything about filmmaking easier and cheaper, which to me is the key. The cheaper you can make a film, and the more you can say exactly what you want to say, exactly how you want to say it, and not have to listen to a lot of corporate leaders tell you what the public really wants, is key.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m constantly lurking around the web. It\u2019s infinite what you can find. You just have to do the work, but it\u2019s all there. The only thing that bothers me is that people don\u2019t use it enough for knowledge. Most of it is used for gossip and \u201cWhat am I eating?\u201d and \u201cWho am I sitting with?\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: What was the working with a smaller budget overall?<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: You cut through the bureaucracy of complex filmmaking. We have to create a world where everything in there is invented and created in one form or another. On a larger budget film, communications aren\u2019t as direct. Things end up costing more, because people will do three versions of something, just in case the director changes his mind. This there was no time for that, and everything moved fast.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very exciting to work like that, because there\u2019s no time to doublethink. It\u2019s all about, what can we do? How much we got? We can\u2019t do that? Okay, let\u2019s do that instead. It\u2019s a form of guerrilla filmmaking I suppose. It\u2019s wonderful, so I can\u2019t even imagine what it would be like back to have a bigger budget. I\u2019ve forgotten whatever that might have been. I just know what we\u2019ve got. (laughs)<\/p>\n Q: How did you develop the script?<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: This is very different than other films I\u2019d done because I didn\u2019t write the script. Pat Rushin wrote it, and I liked it. It was full of ideas, and I didn\u2019t do much fiddling with the script. I did more fiddling when we were editing. I start playing around in post [production] and rearranging things. I was cutting scenes in half.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re working with good actors, they\u2019ve got their own ideas. Hopefully we\u2019ve all convinced ourselves that we\u2019re making the same film, only in Bucharest (where it\u2019s cheaper than shooting in) London. Every day we changed things. A script is not a finite thing-it\u2019s the first stage. Then everything is changing and shifting all the time, and that\u2019s the fun of it, because you surround yourself with good, talented people.<\/p>\n Lucas Hedges (LH)<\/strong>: Pat and Terry were very diligent about changing words and lines.<\/p>\n Q: Billy Bob Thornton was set to star in the film when you first began developing the script in 2008. How did the conception of the film change when Christoph Waltz stepped in the role?<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: It wasn\u2019t the difference in the two actors. Each would have done it differently, no question, and they both would have been wonderful. But it didn\u2019t come together then. I went off and made \u2018Parnassus,\u2019 and then eventually went back to see if we could make this. When Chrstoph\u2019s name came up, I thought, bingo.<\/p>\n The big difference was the fact that three years earlier we had a budget of $20 million, and then we actually ended up making the film for $8.5 million dollars. So immediately we changed the shooting location from London to Bucharest.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in a very different world relying on actors that I really love working with, some who are friends, and one I\u2019ve worked together with before, to come on and work for scale. The film changed enormously. It was nice being in Bucharest because it\u2019s such an odd, interesting city. That immediately infects what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n The lack of money meant that you couldn\u2019t have normal proper costumes, so you had to fake it. (\u2018The Zero Theorem\u2019s costume designer) Carlo Poggioli had to make things out of plastic table clothes and shower curtains. He found a wonderful Chinese market outside Bucharest, where you bought fabric by weight, not by length.<\/p>\n Q: Lucas, how did you become involved in the film?<\/p>\n LH<\/strong>: I sent in a tape to Terry as an audition, and then a week later I got cast. That was very strange, especially for a role of this proportion-that doesn\u2019t happen. We arranged to talk on the phone and Terry called me. When we spoke, his energy was absolutely incredible-he was insane! He was going on about what was going on in (Bucharest, where the film was filmed), and about Vlad Tempish and Dracula, and it was lovely.<\/p>\n It was clear right off the bat that this is a man who doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else in the world. He\u2019s an individual. Hearing him for the first time was something I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: When I saw \u2018Moonrise Kingdom,\u2019 there was one guy that popped off the screen for me. It turned out to be this one. I\u2019d never seen him before, and then he sent that tape in. I had only taped one (other) kid in London. This one kid was kind of interesting, and he was the only person I started putting on tape. Then Lucas\u2019s tape came in and I said that\u2019s it! It was simple as that<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t have a single doubt. He just cracked it, and he was the character. Then I called him and tried to frighten him off. and I failed. (laughs) He was really thrown in the deep end with someone like Christoph.<\/p>\n LH<\/strong>: It was a scary transition, going from Brooklyn to Romania, and to working with Christoph., both from a filmmaking standpoint and a social standpoint. But it really became a home and it really worked out.<\/p>\n Q: Terry, some of your previous films, including \u2018Brazil\u2019 and \u201812 Monkeys,\u2019 represent dystopias, and some people have suggested that \u2018The Zero Theorem\u2019 does, too. Do you agree?<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: This (film) isn\u2019t a dystopia; it\u2019s a utopia. It\u2019s a wonderful world. Everybody is dressed smart, and they\u2019ve got a lot of color. They\u2019re bouncing around the place, and cars are zipping back and forth. Shopping is 24 hours a day, every day of the week. What more do you want? <\/p>\n Qohen\u2019s workplace, Mancom, is full of rollerblades, scooters and zippy clothes. It\u2019s a fantastic place. There\u2019s only one guy that is the dystopia element, and that\u2019s Qohen, who makes himself miserable. He needs a kick in the ass. (laughs)<\/p>\n If you think the world we\u2019re living in now is a dystopia, maybe you\u2019re right, but we\u2019ve been looking forward to this time for so many years. Now we have all the goodies. I didn\u2019t choose this-this is what the world has become. It seems we\u2019re more infantile. When there\u2019s something interesting, you want it now. People say, \u201cI\u2019m not going to work towards it. I\u2019m not going to wait. I need it now.\u201d That\u2019s infantile, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n For me, coming to New York is like Qohen going out his front door. In London, we\u2019re overwhelmed by stuff, but it\u2019s provincial, and everything looks small compared to walking into Times Square. Where do we fit into it? Are we just these little dots that connect? Are we just becoming social insects like worker bees? Our job is to keep tweeting and connecting and spreading those pheromones, and they go through the ether across a great distance.<\/p>\n Many people prefer the virtual world to the real world; it\u2019s kind of sad really. Nobody has to have their individual opinion. People are constantly communicating. \u201cShould I say that?\u201d \u201cHave I gone too far?\u201d \u201cHave I offended?\u201d \u201cAm I rude?\u201d<\/p>\n My feeling is that people have to start being individual. I\u2019m obsessed about offending people. You get a discussion going. You might start talking about things rather than ducking and diving. I watched my daughter say, \u201cThat was very rude.\u201d It was an idea and a thought.<\/p>\n LH<\/strong>: It\u2019s a matter of what perspective we see it from. We see it from Qohen\u2019s perspective and I guess his perspective is very much nihilistic, dystopic and sad.<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: That\u2019s really it. He\u2019s the odd man out.<\/p>\n LH<\/strong>: I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a way of looking at the world we\u2019re living in now from a certain perspective that makes our world look dystopic. I mean, maybe it is or maybe it isn\u2019t, but it depends on whose eyes you see it from.<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: My tendency in films is to see the less good things in society and the world we\u2019re living in. At least those are the things you can criticize and comment on, and it might possibly change something in some small ways. It\u2019s not likely (laughs), but we can pretend we have some potency in our ability to help change the world. (Lucas has) to believe things like this, as he has his whole life ahead of him. But I\u2019m old, and I know the truth! (laughs)<\/p>\n Q: With \u2018The Zero Theorem\u2019 being available on Video on Demand, what are your views on that platform, and how it relates to the distribution of your films?<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: It\u2019s what the world has become. With small distributors, and Amplify (the film\u2019s distributor) being one, they don\u2019t have the kind of money that Hollywood has to get the audience\u2019s attention. So basically we\u2019re relying on people who might like a Gilliam film, or want to see a Christoph Waltz film, take an interest. It\u2019s a way of getting people see the film, and hopefully they\u2019ll get the word goes out, and say, \u201cOh, it\u2019s a great film.\u201d<\/p>\n I see people on Facebook saying, \u201cOh yes I saw it on Video on Demand, but I can\u2019t wait to see it on the cinema.\u201d Other people are saying \u201cI\u2019m waiting to see it on cinema, if only there was one within a thousand miles of my house,\u201d and that\u2019s the problem. So maybe Video on Demand is the only way some people are going to see it. The reality is that when I look at my past films, they\u2019re made for a big screen. But I know in reality more people have seen them on DVDs than in the cinema, so it\u2019s just reversed the process a little bit.<\/p>\n Q: Terry, can you offer any updates on the status of \u2018The Man Who Killed Don Quixote?\u2019<\/p>\n TG<\/strong>: After (\u2018The Imaginarium of Dr.) Parnassus,\u2019 I worked for a year on a half on \u2018Quixote,\u2019 but it fell apart. I just wanted to work, so I asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s out there? Anybody got a job for me? My agent said, \u201cWhat about \u2018Zero Theorem?\u2019\u201d I asked, \u201cYou mean they\u2019re still interested? Okay, yes. Let\u2019s go.\u201d But the difference was the budget went down to 8 and half million dollars. (laughs) Actually, it was 7 and a half million dollars, but I got it up to $8.5 million.<\/p>\n Right today I don\u2019t know (the future of \u2018Quixote\u2019). I previously knew, but I don\u2019t know anymore. I got an e-mail the other night, so I\u2019m not going to say anything\u2026A man\u2019s got to keep a mind occupied and pretending is the best way to go through life.<\/p>\n LH<\/strong>: Growing up I went to DVD stores with my dad. I don\u2019t feel comfortable watching movies on demand. I\u2019ll get to theater when I get to the theater. TG<\/strong>: Films are pretty extraordinary, and we\u2019re pretty lucky to be able to make them because they\u2019re so intense when we\u2019re doing it. At periods like this there\u2019s nothing before and nothing after; it\u2019s that moment. You have to be in the moment the full time you\u2019re there. Then it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n Then hopefully, when you look back at your films happily and proudly, and say, \u201cYeah, we did all right there.\u201d All you need to look back and not feel ashamed or that you were compromised to the point that you didn\u2019t do what you were capable of. I\u2019m very proud of what we pulled off frankly.<\/p>\n
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\nQ: What are your overall feelings about being a filmmaker?<\/p>\n![\"Interview:](\"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Interview-Terry-Gilliam-and-Lucas-Hedges-Talk-The-Zero-Theorem.png\")
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