Advertisement
Michael Haneke Plays Funny Games With Naomi Watts
Writer-director returns to the scene(s) of an earlier crime
(Page 4)
MM: When you were writing the original, at what point did you realize that the killers needed to turn to the audience and address them as collaborators?
MH: Very, very early on. Those scenes where the two boys turn to the camera and address us were essentially why I made the film. The point was never just to write a thriller—I can write a thriller every year if I want to—the intention was always to give people what they want and show them that they are being jerked around. Critics have said that I’m trying to have my cake and eat it, too, but the best way to demonstrate to viewers that they are being manipulated is to expertly manipulate them. You can’t talk about violence without depicting it; some movies have tried, but nobody saw them—they weren’t interested! So you have to find a way to grip the audience, then show them what you’re doing. That was the reasoning behind Caché as well: You show people something and then you slowly take away their ability to trust in the reality of what they’re seeing.
MM: Your films have a habit of taking the bourgeoisie to task. What specific bone do you have to pick with the middle class? Complacency? Blithe ignorance to cause and effect?
MH: It’s the class I’m most familiar with, so I tend to stick to stories about them. It’s more reporting than anything else. I mean, the killers in Funny Games belong to the same class as the family they’re terrorizing… and people have tried to find psychological reasons for why they’re doing these things. “Oh, their mother didn’t love them enough when they were infants, right? That’s the reason they torture them!”
MM: You even have one of the characters say just that…
MH: Right, and it’s obvious that he’s just playing with their heads! It’s utter nonsense. For me, sociological reasons aren’t necessary; in fact, they become very reductive. They tend to put the world on a very simple denominator. Reality is much more complicated.
MM: So can we expect you to just start remaking your entire oeuvre, film by film, now?
MH: It’s odd you say that, because right after I signed on to do this, somebody approached me to remake Caché for Hollywood. And I said, ‘Thanks, but I’m not interested.’ I’m not even sure I could rewrite Caché to make it fit for an American setting, to be frank. It would be tough. [Ron Howard is tentatively attached to remake the film in 2009.] Funny Games was a special case.
MM: But you’re okay with another director remaking it?
MH: You mean, am I okay cashing Holly-wood’s checks for not doing any work and not being responsible for the outcome? That’s the real question here. (laughs) Believe me, I’m fine with that.
MM: Given that you’ve remade this film 10 years later, are you worried that you’ll be asked the exact same questions about this version that you were in 1997?
MH: Like a question-for-question remake of an old interview? (laughs) Why not? You can just go back and transcribe the old interviews. See? I’ve just saved you a lot of hard work!
Michael Haneke’s Funny Games U.S. will be released by Warner Independent Pictures on March 14, 2008.
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Del.icio.us
Reddit
YahooAdvertisement
COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Kaela on 4/01/08 at 8:26 pm
I spent 16 dollars on this movie. It was boaring and predictable. Not interesting or thirlling. A waste of my time and money. I don’t know how I would get ahold of someone to get my money back but If anyone knows please contact me.
- Comment by Dave on 5/24/08 at 3:31 am
i want to see a movie about a canal boat holiday
....is a great way to combine tranquility with activity in a vacation- Comment by john evo on 6/20/08 at 12:38 pm
How Kaela could describe this movie as either “boring” or “predictable” is beyond me. The only way you could find it predictable, apparently, is if you saw the original. It was a deeply disturbing movie. A movie you think even more about the next day than when you saw it. I think of it as an exercise in setting up audience expectations, over and over, and then delivering something quite different. This is not your typical format, and is why the movie is anything but “predictable”.
- Comment by Warhammer Online on 6/28/08 at 3:41 pm
Seems interesting.
This story was published in the Winter 2008 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Match Point
Order this issue | Subscribe to MM
Latest from the blog:
In Theaters Now: Hancock & The Wackness
This July 4th weekend box office demonstrates what America is all about: Big superheros and movie stars battling it out against a potential independent gem.
Posted 07.4.08 | In Theaters Now | No comments yet...
Other recent posts:
Posts people are talking about:
SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS
Advertisement
