Jean-Jacques Annaud: Mountains, Mantras, and a Movie Star

Q: Or cut off your drinks.

A: Exactly. I was absolutely thrilled. I went to [former Sony executive] Marc Platt on a Friday and I said, This is it, this is going to be my next movie. I'm dropping everything else. Unfortunately, this is not a movie you're going to like--it's about redemption and it's going to cost $80 million. On Monday, they called and said, Are you crazy? We love it, it's wonderful. That Wednesday, I got this very unexpected call from CAA, asking me to meet with Brad, who'd read the script. I hadn't thought of Brad at all.

Q: Who were you thinking of?

A: When I write, I never think about who's going to play it. I go for the character. [But by this point] I was thinking of Ralph Fiennes. Daniel Day-Lewis was also on my unconscious list. But I thought, with Brad, after all, why not? I must say he charmed me so much for the right reasons. The movie's all about the ego, and about success versus respect, and how a character who does everything for what he believes to be success realizes that he was wrong, and goes through a gigantic transformation and becomes another man. When Brad explained to me why he loved the script, I said to myself, "A man with such dedication to what the movie's about will go with this." He's a very sincere guy. He's almost what we, as foreigners, think of as the ideal American--he has this sort of simplicity, honesty. When he believes in something, this is it, he believes in it entirely We had planned a lunch--we were both very busy--and at five o'clock we were still discussing it, canceling meetings.

Q: Did he want changes in the script?

A: Just before starting principal photography, he came to me and said, "I'd like to talk with you about the script. I'll tell you what I think, you tell me what you think. The boy [Dalai Lama] was saying a prayer in one of the earlier drafts that I loved. Can you put it back?" He didn't ask for anything to be put back for his part, but for the movie he wanted a very lovely, famous prayer about the abandonment of the ego.

Q: When you met Brad Pitt, neither Seven nor 12 Monkeys had come out.

A: I thought he was very good in what I had seen. To me, what I have seen of an actor is important, but what's more important is what I see of the person I meet. It's very often not the person I'd seen. I felt enthusiastic, and was not disappointed after that. I was thrilled and surprised to see the level of involvement he could give me and the level of emotions that he went through. He's incredibly dedicated. Because he's such a good-looking young man and easygoing in a way, you don't expect this kind of intensity. That was a gamble that I was willing to take. I like working with unknowns, or beginners. When I used Christian Slater for The Name of the Rose, I was very anxious because he had a big part opposite Sean Connery. It's a great reward for a director when it works. Taking an actor you have seen before in the same part is reassuring, but not very exciting. What's exciting is saying, "My God, is he going to be able to make it work?"

Q: So you had a star who trusted you.

A: It came very naturally. When I met him the first time I said, I must warn you, it's going to be a very tough shoot. You're going to be at a very high altitude, you're going to be hanging on top of precipices and you're going to have headaches. This is all part of it. He's saying, Oh, this is great. We were sitting at the Bel Air Hotel, and I said, This is easy to think all of this now, but when you're there, and there's no toilet and it's cold and the food is terrible, that's the real challenge. He said, Yeah, yeah. And he never complained. We never, never had a row, the two of us, not even one word. I knew it was tough on him. Very, very tough.

Q: Were there moments in his performance where he showed something special?

A: There was one scene, a very difficult scene, where he went for everything he could give. No limits. He was trembling. Everyone around the camera had tears in their eyes.

Q: He seems to like taking roles where he can escape being perceived as a pretty boy.

A: Precisely, because he is an honest man. This image doesn't suit him well. Of course, a lot of men would love to be sex symbols. Brad just hates it. He's very shy. I have one scene where you see his torso. He doesn't like it, though he'll do it for the scene.

Q: Did he buff up? Harrer was a genuine athlete.

A: Brad doesn't eat well and doesn't exercise. But he has a very good body. It's genetic. During the shoot, he did mountain climbing, because he had to and he did it for real. But nothing like bicycling, not even once. It's stunning. He lost a lot of weight and still looked quite good.

Q: When did it hit you that you were directing a star?

A: In Argentina. He came in under another name at the airport, then we had security to transfer him to a private plane of the president. The security service of Argentina had sold their own badges to something like 800 people. Fans. We were shooting at a remote road crossing, not even a village, with just a gas station and a restaurant. The next city was two hours away. Out of nowhere, there's 200 people in the restaurant. Brad gets there, and 600 people are banging on the windows. The next day, we were put in an army camp. This movie was about getting a serene mind, about a man who wants to abandon his ego. When I saw these screaming girls, I said to Brad, We only have one way out of here--address the problem. We did a press conference surrounded by 2,000 girls. We had all the cameras and the media. We had to raise our voices, because they were screaming. What we said at the press conference ended up working. I addressed the cameras and said, Please, I'm asking all of you Argentinians. We are here to work. It's a very difficult movie. If you love Brad, let us work.

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