Michel Gondry

for i-D - 2000

“When I was younger I wanted to be either a painter or an inventor. But being an inventor required too much scientific learning and I could never be bothered. But experimenting on camera was a good crossover of those desires. I could discover techniques without having to work in a team or with a big computer. I was in art school and then I played in a rock band in Paris in the early 80's. One day I bought a camera to shoot some animation stuff for our music and from there I started to direct videos. I never thought of myself as a director, I just liked doing animation in my room. It sort of went from there.”

From humble beginnings 36 year old Michel Gondry has since become one of the most sought after video and commercial directors in the world. As well as Bjork's number one choice (he's done over six promos for her from Human Behaviour to Bachelorette) his work for the likes of The Chemical Brothers ('Let Forever Be'), Daft Punk ('Around The World'), Cibo Matto and The Rolling Stones has managed to be both technically and creatively innovative and still get constant MTV rotation. Alongside adverts for Gap, Smirnoff and Polaroid his work for Levi's put him in the Guinness Book Of Records as the director to win the most ever awards for a single advert. So it's perhaps not a great surprise to learn that Gondry has just started shooting his first feature film, Human Nature, written by Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman, starring Patricia Arquette and Rhys Ifran and co-produced by Spike Jonze. And unlike the majority of directors who make the move to Hollywood Gondry's determined not to get stuck up in the studio system that waters everything down to it's lowest common denominator.

“I'd been in Los Angeles for about a year and I was trying to read as many scripts as I could but they were all really boring to me - I really ended up thinking that all scripts were boring and you just have to make them good as movies. But then Spike (Jonze) gave me the script of Being John Malkovich and I couldn't believe how entertaining it was. It was original, fun, deep and entertaining. I was really happy to see that a good script could exist but then I was depressed because I didn't have one. But then I met with the writer and he gave me his script for Human Nature and I liked it immediately.”

“There is so much communication and politics before you even get to the first day of principal photography - It's unbelievable how long it is and how many stages you have to pass by and how many people you have to convince and how many times you think that everything is going to collapse. It's really a miracle to end up actually shooting a movie. A lot of directors will juggle three to five projects until they finally get one going but for me it's impossible to find five projects I liked and I didn't want to have to sacrifice Human Nature. When I found this one I really concentrated on it and I took all the chances I could.”

Describing the film as 'a tale about human nature, frustration and sexual education' Gondry is keen to use some of the more surreal elements that often pop up in his work such as the use of over-stated background projection and picture morphing in the movie.

“I don't see the point in becoming a boring director and doing exactly the same as everyone else. I'm not trying to say that I'll be more interesting than anyone else but at least if I can bring something new and challenging then I have to do it. I will make it just like my universe. Even though the story by Charlie is really strong I will try and make it mine too. I'll use techniques and skills I've learnt from doing videos but in a really narrative way, not just to be flashy, but to help the narration. I want to shoot half of the movie on stage and half outside. I like the mix of both - it's like the comedies from the 1950's. It's not so it looks old-fashioned but really to experiment with what is real and what is not and focus on how to tell a story.”

“The thing is it's scary but on the other hand I've got such a great script that everyone likes that it gives me an amazing strength to feel confident. Everytime I start a commercial or a video I always go through a stage where I don't know exactly who the characters are because it's very short - you've got to build up a background very quickly to give something to fit your actors but here we've been talking so long about the story that I know each character inside out and I've got great casting. I really feel great about it - I know it'll be perfect. The story is very articulated - there are a lot of locations, a lot of scenes - so production wise it's not an easy task, but the story is so good I feel confident.”

Gondry's positivity is unlikely to have been hampered by the success of Being John Malkovich, a film that five years ago would have been almost unthinkable in the staid world of Hollywood movie studios. But despite now having Oscar nominated writers and producers on board Gondry is keen to keep the crew as eclectic as ever with soundtrack duties possibly going to his mother.

“She did the music for a short film I did which I thought was really great. She plays piano a bit like Debussy, Ravel, and I did some modern orchestration to it. It's not official yet though but I'd really like her to do it.” Although Gondry isn't turning his back on video work the film world is where he wants to remain. Hollywood, hopefully, will never be the same again.