French filmmaker and DJ Quentin Dupieux directed a movie about a killer tire. I repeat: Quentin Duplex -- who also goes by the name Mr. Oizo -- created a full-length movie about a tire that kills people. A lot of assumptions could be made about Dupieux's feelings toward the American film audience -- who, in the movie, are obnoxious and are eventually poisoned -- or Hollywood in general. But! As Dupieux explains, he's just making fun of himself. OK?
Movieline met with Dupieux to... well, there's really no real way to fancy it up: Discuss a movie about a killer tire.
OK, What the f*ck was that?
Maybe... I don't know. The magic of it is related to the simplicity of the movie. Because the movie, if you watch carefully, you'll see that it's really simple. It's like a cartoon. It's very basic: It's one action, one frame. We're so used to movies that are formatted, we watch so much stuff -- TV, movies -- we are used to some kind of... I don't know how to explain. The fun with Rubber is that it's like it's shot by a nine-year-old kid. It's really simple. It's like I have this idea and I want to do it. A tire rolling on the plastic bottle? It's a good way to keep you interested, in a way. When everything is fast in today's movies, editing is quite fast. There's a lot going on so you never feel bored because it always, "something new, something new" and your rain is following the structure like this. So I think the fun with Rubber is that you have some time to watch. That's probably why you feel like that, you know?
But if someone goes to see this and just thinks that it's going to be about a tire running over some bottles, it's going to be a lot more complicated than that. There's a fake audience in the movie.
Yes, but that's also part of the magic. Let's say a 9-year-old kid wrote and directed it. So this kid knows nothing about structure and knows nothing about climax or creating some kind of structure that make you feel good when you watch it. So the way it's done, you know, one plus one plus one plus one plus one... I don't know how to explain how I feel about it. I think I'm quite a good technician because I know how movies are made and I did everything by myself. I did the framing, I did all of the camera stuff, I did the editing -- but I decided to go back to the '20s, do you know what I mean? So that's why I did all of the special effects without any computers. It's just what you saw has been shot. There are no wires, there's no CGI, we shot it for real. And probably that started the magic and, yes, it's a little bit more complicated than just a tire. But it's more the way I did it that makes it special. Because with this stupid pitch -- a living tire killing people -- you can make a big Hollywood movie. You can make a popcorn movie with this plot. It's just more the way I did it that makes it special.
You've now said this a few times, so did you approach this movie from the mindset of a 9-year-old?
A little bit, yes. Maybe without knowing it? That was not like a choice. I was looking for pure pleasure, like I was almost doing the movie for me. You know directors, even the big ones, have [to act like] kids, in a way. To make movies, you have to believe -- it's like playing with dolls, in a way. "OK, this is the bad character, here's the nice one..." And you create some kind of story. It's the same. Even if you're 50 years old and smart and you make a movie about something political, very serious, you're still kid telling a story. You know what I mean? So there's nothing special about approaching a movie as a kid. I just realized at some point that I was doing it.
There's an opening monologue that states that every decision in every film is based on "no reason." Is that what you believe?
Obviously it's a joke. But, yeah, if you start thinking like this, there's a lot of no reason in the movies. It's like in real life. It's a joke; I turned it into a joke. It's funny, but in a way it says something real. Yeah, movies, there's a lot of no-reason stuff, even in very classic films. So, yeah, that's a half a joke and half the truth. But, obviously, I did this monologue to take people's hand... like, "OK, come in. Come in, it's going to be funny. If you don't like it? Go away now." It was like a warning.
I will say that after that monologue I never gave too much thought to why the tire has powers.
When I wrote the story of the living tire, obviously I had to think like, "OK, do I have to explain why the tire is alive? Should I start the movie with the tire or do I have to show like the first moment of life?" And so, yes, I thought that was interesting if it's just a tire and it suddenly comes to life. But why? If you think about that, you think about sh*tty movies where, I don't know, there's a storm and then, suddenly, the tire is alive. But that's bullsh*t. That's why I decided to put this monologue in there. You're going to see something, but there's no reason.
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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