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

Q: Did you suspect he was a passionate Nazi?

A: What I assumed was that Harrer's demon was selfishness, ego, a fight for personal success. I talked to him recently, and he seemed to corroborate this. Yes, he was enrolled as an instructor for the elite troops which were the SS. He did not perform as an instructor, because he went on this expedition. He did not commit any crime. I'm sure he was flattered, being picked as an instructor of the elite group. No one knew then that the SS was going to do what they did later on [e.g., run the concentration camps, among other things]. What I did appreciate is that he's admitted he was an anti-Semite in those days. It had been the shame of his life. Another reason I assumed he had [guilt] in his heart was his intensity to show commitment for human rights, for nonviolence, for equality of the races. When you have nothing to reproach yourself for, you don't go screaming into the streets that all races are equal. It wouldn't occur to me, for instance.

Q: He had something to make up for?

A: He spent most of his active life after coming back from Tibet working for those causes. Deep inside, I think it all comes from this incredible ego he had. This was a man racing for success. In my view, he didn't give a shit about any political commitment. If Germany had been Marxist, he would have been Marxist to the limit. He had only one commitment, himself.

Q: In your script, you have Harrer guilty about leaving behind his unborn son.

A: That was the missing part of his book that we invented. But it proved to be true. We created the pregnant woman without knowing there actually was one. I didn't want to meet with Harrer, because [when I was working on the story] I was not sure if I would like him, and I wanted to be free to invent my own character. He needed to have done something really terrible in order to be carrying guilt, and we came up with the idea of his leaving his pregnant wife. Then the Indian government, not knowing how to refuse us [demanded that] all living beings portrayed in the movie agree [to the portrayal]. We got permission from the Dalai Lama right away, but I was worried about having to show the screenplay to Harrer. I told him he was going to be horrified when he read the script because he was a villain. I said, We had to invent that you were married. He said, Oh, but I was married. I said, It's worse, your wife was pregnant. He said, Yes, she was pregnant. The hair on my arms was standing up.

Q: If it had come out before you started the movie that Harrer was guilty not just of abandoning his wife and kid, but of being a Nazi, would it have made a difference?

A: Yes, it's true that if I'd known, I would have used it as a part of the story.

Q: Is there concern this will tarnish the movie?

A: It's difficult to know. It would be a disaster if this were the story of a great man who was supposedly a famous anti-Nazi. Then we would be in trouble. [But] this is not what the movie is about.

Q: You make the kind of movies studios are terrified of, and you go to places where they have no control. Does the distance allow you to keep a good rapport?

A: The fact is that I'm definitely a Frenchman, living in France. I'm very happy meeting in Los Angeles, and I have an office there. The clear rule is, If they don't like me anymore and I don't like them anymore, I can fold my bags and get on a plane. We keep a very good balance this way. I don't feel dependent on the Hollywood system. At the same time, I must admit I have very good friends and supporters in Hollywood. Precisely as you said, I do things that are so bizarre for them, that either they just let me do it, or they just don't.

Q: They probably don't know how to fix your movies, so they let you alone.

A: I have some difficulty explaining to my French colleagues, who are so against the Hollywood system, that it is possible to be oneself within the system. Be out of the system within the system as long as you have a decent relationship with the people. I also try not to hide anything. When I'm not happy with something, or think I've screwed it up, I say it very openly.

Q: Some foreign directors come here and seem to lose their bearings making Americanized fare.

A: What I'm doing is totally different. I carry on being the same person wherever I am. I know one thing for sure. I'm not an American filmmaker and cannot be, even if I want to. I'm good at what I know. I've been living quite long in this country and like it very much. But as a foreigner. Every week I'm offered strictly American movies, but there are so many directors better at it than me. Even Jean Renoir didn't do well when he was here, because he tried to make American subjects. It's unwise.

Q: Are you getting better with each movie you make?

A: I'm getting older. I'm pleased I still have great enthusiasm, passion, necessity, but now I also have this whole serenity, which is better. I see things in perspective. I suffer like everyone. I have doubts. But, as the Buddhists, I'm trying to dive inside the ocean, remembering the waves are there, but it's quiet down below. The trouble with that is, of course, I get less depressed when I'm in a bad mood, but less pleased when I'm in a good mood.

Q: What's easier? Working in a Hollywood system where you have to deal with Mark Cantons or trying to direct a live bear as you did in The Bear?

A: Making a movie is a very, very difficult enterprise. If you go into the business thinking everybody's going to bow in front of your hem, you're wrong. I'm always prepared for an uphill battle. So I'm not depressed when Canton says I'm his friend. I know I'm in trouble, but it's fine. When a bear doesn't do what I wish him to do, I understand. He's a bear, he doesn't give a shit what I want. When I was a kid in film school, I imagined that when you have success, it gets easier. It doesn't. Your ambitions are growing, your budgets are growing. Each time you have to fight like you're a beginner.

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Michael Fleming wrote "Casting Glances" for the June '97 issue of Movieline.

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