Stephen Frears on Tamara Drewe, Directing by Ear and the One Comic Book Movie He Likes

The comic-book trend in movies is kind of out of control. Did you have second thoughts about contributing to that wave?

It was amusing that I was making a graphic-novel adaptation and it wasn't about a superhero. But since then, people tell you things, and I did find the form very, very interesting. It's been a really interesting film to make, and I think about it continually. It was much less laborious, you know? Normally someone walks in the room, you say, "Hi, how are you?" There's this naturalistic pattern. You can leave all that out.

And you're still thinking about it?

I tend to stumble on things. I spend years working them out. I stumbled onto making films about Tony Blair, and I'm still trying to understand him. He's so incomprehensible.

Do you think you have something left to say about Tony Blair?

No, I don't have anything left to say about Tony Blair. It's just that I stumble onto things and spend all this time trying to figure it out.

Do you think you got this form right? Would you revisit the graphic novel?

I don't have an opinion, really. It depends on the idea. I guess if it were done by someone as clever as Posy, I'd love to. It's inseparable from her cleverness: She has educated me in it. I remember Terry Zwigoff's films, which I found interesting but slightly outside my experience. Really, it's just a way to keep your mind fresh.

Many critics say there's nothing fresh at all about the comics genre.

It was fresh to me!

The complaint is that we lean on comics because everyone's out of ideas.

I don't really see those films. Being very old, I don't see the films you're talking about.

The Dark Knight? This is what passes for masterful cinema! Trailblazing art!

Right. Well, one thing about being old is that I don't have to see them.

Even if it's critically acclaimed and commercially huge?

I did see the Terry Zwigoff film -- the one with Steve Buscemi [Ghost World] that I thought was really interesting. I thought, "Oh, this is very new." But I didn't see The Dark Knight. I did see Avatar.

I think everyone saw Avatar.

I went with my daughter. She said, "It's a boy's film."

Was it?

It might be! I don't know anything.

When are you going to make a 3-D film?

I thought the first 10 minutes of Avatar were wonderful; I loved the 3-D there. Possibly never.

Tamara Drewe would have been great in 3-D.

Can't you go back and... oh, you know.

Convert it?

That's right.

It's the big new thing!

2001, they're doing.

What are you doing next?

I've got to get a job. I may make a film in Las Vegas. [Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog]. There's a good story in Las Vegas, New York, Curacao. What a combo! It's about sportsbook gamblers.

Drama? Comedy? Thriller?

Human.

Human?

Human drama. But all those things. Good fun.

They're cutting me off. This has been a pleasure. Good luck with the film, I look forward to the reaction--

I do, too. I hope we can bring the pleasure back.

How do you mean?

Well, when I grew up, you went to the cinema. There was no art house. There was just the one. This was in the '40s and '50s. There was no art house; there was only the cinema. You saw films made by Hollywood or the European filmmakers -- whatever. They were immensely entertaining and made by highly intelligent people. And then the world became divided. And my folly is to try to stick around! [Laughs]

I hesitate to use the word "resent," but do you... well, resent that change?

No. Look, it just used to be so much fun. Going to the pictures used to be very, very enjoyable. A lot of the pleasure seems to have gone out of it. So my futile task is to try to restore the pleasure to it.

Pages: 1 2