Thanks to Joblo for pointing us towards RopeofSilicon.com‘s awesome interview with director Michel Gondry, where the fantastical French filmmaker shares info on his upcoming flick "The Science of Sleep," his soon-to-be-filmed comedy "Be Kind Rewind," and the extended DVD release of "Dave Chappelle’s Block Party."
Gondry has earned a reputation for mind-blowing, multimedia-mixing visual sensibilities (see his early music videos for Bjork, The Chemical Brothers, and more in his collected works), a signature he employed to great success with 2004’s "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." After a brief detour into concert documentary with this year’s "Dave Chappelle’s Block Party," Gondry is returning to the narrative form this summer with the whimsical romance "The Science of Sleep," which currently has a Fresh Tomatometer of 83 percent, thanks to a screening at Sundance earlier this year.
Check out the RopesofSilicon interview to read why Gondry goes for difficult camera tricks in "Science" ("You shoot underwater which is uncomfortable and dangerous but it would have been boring on blue screen"), what he’ll do with the cut scenes ("I’m going to do a B version of the movie on the DVD that’s made up entirely of the deleted scenes, it will be 45 minutes long") and why Kirsten Dunst didn’t sign on for the ambitious pic ("She was supposed to be in The Science of Sleep but she got a little scared and decided not to").
Gael Garcia Bernal holds his breath underwater for reals in "Science"
Gondry also dishes on the special effects (or lack thereof) he’ll use for "Be Kind Rewind," which follows a man (Jack Black) who accidentally demagnetizes all the tapes in his friend’s video store, then attempts to re-shoot all of the lost films:
"The Science of Sleep" hits theaters in New York and LA August 4.
