Quentin Dupieux Talks About Directing Rubber -- Yes, the Movie About the Killer Tire

There's an audience in the movie watching the proceedings. They're not painted as the most likable group. Do you have contempt for movie audiences?

No, no. To me it was just a good way to make fun of myself. Because the idea of a living tire is a bit dumb. I mean, it's cool; it's exciting. But after writing 20 pages, I realized that, OK, that's not enough. I cannot do what I want on 20 minutes with just this. Basically it's like replacing Jason with a tire. It's like making a slasher movie with a tire. OK, that's funny, but there's nothing really exciting about it.

But in a Friday the 13th movie there's not a scene of an audience watching Jason and then later poisoned.

I know, I know. But that's why. Because I was not interested in putting this story in real life. So that's why I shot it in the desert. Because the desert could be another planet. It's different. It's not like real life. There's no town, there's no nothing. So you feel like you're somewhere else, in a way. Using the audience probably... First, it was to make fun of myself. Like, OK, I'm writing something really stupid that I need to say that I know it's stupid. So I'm going to put some people watching. So that was a writing game: When I was bored by the tire, OK, I'm stuck here, what is it supposed to do now? I don't know. Let's go back to the spectators and say something about the tire. That was like, you know, a writing game.

Was it always a tire?

First was a cube invasion from space. But it was not one character -- it was an army of cubes. We did some tests with a friend and we shot in the street and with CGI we inserted some cubes. Then I realized that was not my cup of tea -- shooting an empty space, then working on a computer to create the character? I was already super bored about doing this. So instead of this big army in a sci-fi movie, I decided to go back and do something concrete. Not concrete... something organic, that you can touch. And just one character instead of an army. So, yes, it sounds strange, but that's how it happened.

Are you expecting a polarizing reaction? At the screening, it was a pretty mixed opinion.

I don't know. Honestly, like I said, I really did it for me, first...

But this is a movie about a killer tire. You either get it or you don't, right?

But I don't know what type of movie it is? For example the first screening only like five people saw the movie and we were like, "OK, we like it, but we will see." And with the screening we had a lot of reactions. So, yes, it feels good to see that some people react and like the spirit of it, but I was not trying to get some kind of reaction. I don't want to be provocative. I just did it like this, like a kid, without thinking about the whole thing. Yesterday I watched the 15 first minutes, I realized there's something really crazy -- 200 people are watching a tire rolling. The shot is super long and people are just watching this on the screen. And that's great and that's funny. I like this. But, no, I'm not conscious. I'm not tryin
g to do something to create some kind of reaction. I'm not like that.

There's a scene in the film where the tire sets its sights on the Hollywood sign. Is that saying something about your feelings toward Hollywood?

No. That's just a stupid joke. Because we are so small, we did the movie with nothing, basically. Fourteen days of shooting, we were so small , we had one trailer for everybody. When we arrived on location, people were asking, "So where is the crew?" We are the crew! Because we are so small, that was just a joke. It's not against Hollywood; it was like, again, making fun of myself. You know, the small, low, low budget movie waving at the Hollywood sign. I'm not saying anything about this and I'm not trying to be some kind of pirate -- I'm just doing it for fun. And even this, the Hollywood thing, it's more like that I know it's a small movie and I know it's not for everyone. And I know it's slow, I know it's special. I don't know what you feel when you watch it, but I know it has nothing to do with Hollywood.

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