Guy Ritchie: Getting Ritchie

Mr. Madonna speaks to Movieline.

________________________________________

Q: Getting back to Swept Away, how is it different from the original?

A: The first one was political and appropriate to the time. This is more about ecological issues, which seems to be a political agenda we all felt strongly about. In the original, the lady was a rich bird from Milan, with a rich husband from Milan. They were obviously Catholic. The fisherman was just a poor communist fisherman. Mine is about a rich American drug conglomerate governor who has brought his wife on the make to exploit nature. The fisherman is a fisherman, after all, and his livelihood is threatened by overfishing, chemicals, greed. That is our template.

Q: This is the first film you've made in which there is a romance.

A: Yes, but I hope not in the traditional sense. I never fancy making a film where the woman is redundant and gorgeous. I wanted to make her tough. So it's not a traditional love story. I mean, she takes a thrashing. She does take a bit of a kicking, which should make some people rather uneasy. But the film is essentially about getting what you need, not what you want. That can lead to some politically incorrect actions.

Q: The original was pretty sexy--these two roll around on the beach together. Does yours have that?

A: It does. But I just get so bored of romances being predictable. I like the idea that this was so edgy. You almost couldn't get away with this film now. You can get away with wiping out the entire population of Somalia because they are the enemy, but you cannot slap a woman. There is something interesting about that, not that I'm advocating slapping a woman. But it is a much hotter potato dealing with a woman who needs a slap.

Q: This is a complex character for Madonna to play because she goes from being a woman in control to being controlled. How do you coax that kind of performance out of her?

A: She knew where we were going and I was aware of the pitfalls that someone like her could fall into, where with any other actress they wouldn't give a shit. Because it is her, the critics are going to be tougher. I was very aware of that.

Q: Describe one of those pitfalls.

A: However you slice it, it's Madonna. It's hard for people to digest that they are not looking at Madonna. Once you deal with someone who is rather controlling from the offset, who has a larger-than-life personality, at least you feel comfortable from that position. Then you can slowly transform that personality.

Q: This is not a cakewalk, in terms of what you put your wife though. Does such an experience place a strain on a marriage?

A: Funnily enough, it didn't. We got on very well during the whole process. It was just work, she acted very professionally. I was very happy. Outside of that, it just made it all rather convenient because you could talk about things over dinner.

Q: Madonna is known for being a perfectionist. Who asked for more takes, you or her?

A: We struck a happy balance. She trusts that I'm not going to make her look like a twit. I trust her in that I know she's going to memorize her lines.

Q: How do you explain her film career?

A: Some of the films that she's done, they were essentially meant to be small pictures. Studios ride on the fact that she is Madonna and that they're going to get a lot of publicity because of who she is, and turn what is essentially a small picture into a commercial picture. Which it wasn't meant to be. Then it ends up being rather embarrassing for everyone.

Q: Why do you think people have been so critical of her acting?

A: She is a very capable woman. She is a very capable actress. She pays attention and she has heart and soul. What goes against that is the fact that she's Madonna. That works against her, in terms of people digesting her work. Truth is, if she wasn't Madonna, no one would ever say, "Isn't she a terrible actress?" You can't really blame people, it's just the way we're designed.

Q: The British press was hard on her performance for the London play Up For Grabs.

A: It was so fucking...I was there on opening night. Tell you what, however you slice it...I'm not biased, genuinely not. I know when she's doing something that is not very good and I know when she is doing something that is good. She was just magnificent--there was no question--on opening night. She was magnificent and there's no one that was going to say anything different apart from these begrudging critics that were going to kick the shit out of her. I don't know what the fuck she would have had to do for them to give her a round of applause. As someone trying to be objective, this was a very, very good performance. If it was anyone else, they would have said it was a very, very good performance. They haven't been cruel, but it's fucking begrudging. It is something that has to be taken into consideration. But she doesn't read the papers and so she doesn't know and so she doesn't care. She doesn't want to do a bad job, she cares about doing a competent, very good job. She wants to do everything she does very well and she does do that well.

Q: You've mostly directed men. Is there a different set of muscles you have to use to direct women?

A: Not really. Truth is, I am a guy's guy and I like doing guy things. I'm more drawn to that. But I'm heterosexual. I love ladies and I'm interested in that kind of stuff, too.

Pages: 1 2 3