MovieMaker brings you an exclusive interview clip with Nicolas Winding Refn, director of Only God Forgives, as he elaborates on the process of maintaining and defusing the intensity on the set of his latest film.

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What Refn himself described as a modern western set in the Far East, Only God Forgives places its star Ryan Gosling (along with Kristen Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm) in a bloody, neon fever dream of Bangkok’s underworld. The film has turned out to be one of the year’s most polarizing, being nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, but failing somewhat to build box-office momentum during its theatrical release this summer. Still, in typical Refn manner, it remains an uncompromisingly stylistic and formally brilliant cinematic experience.

Of all working directors, Refn is most adept at managing the balance between moments of calm and moments of unbearably condensed energy in his films—which must require a delicate hand for his collaborators. “Most of the time you try to keep a light mood,” the Danish director explains in this interview, “or else you’d just go insane if everything was so intense.” Watch the video below to hear what else he has to say.

Only God Forgives opens on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, October 22, 2013. MM

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