Nicolas Winding Refn turned up the charm Friday night at the L.A. Film Fest, delivering a crowd-pleasing introduction for his highly anticipated crime pic, Drive. Part acceptance speech, part promotional spiel, and part comedy roast, Refn's delivery included nods to his wife Liv, Ryan Gosling, Prada menswear, a studio head in the making, his rumored Wonder Woman project, and Alejandro Jodorowsky -- wildly entertaining and all too rare, as far as these things go.
It was the North American premiere for Drive, which started out strong in May at the Cannes Film Festival. (Refn took home the best director prize; read Stephanie Zacharek's review here.). Refn was joined by stars Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, and Christina Hendricks, who each got their turn to be roasted by their droll director.
Moments before dropping his intro to a packed house, Refn stopped to chat with Movieline. Acknowledging the legacy of the muscular '60s, '70s, and '80s films that could be seen as precursors to Drive, Refn had to navigate the line between being influenced by genre films of the past and making Drive feel contemporary. "I didn't want to get into what they call a retro kind of feel, but of course you watch and you see what's out there and what works."
What intrigued him on a more visceral level about a story about a driver was the concept of speed -- a "sexual arousing," he explains. I was hit by a car when I was six, so it must have done something to me. I don't have a license, but I like the sense of speed -- of being in a car that goes fast."
One of Drive's villains is played, perhaps unexpectedly for many moviegoers, by Albert Brooks. He plays Bernie Rose, a Hollywood producer-turned-gangster who fatefully crosses paths with Gosling's quiet, focused (and unnamed) Driver. And if that sounds like a surprising casting move, you're not alone.
"I've wanted to do these for a long time," explained Brooks of the call he got to play Rose. "You know, most casting is so -- I hate to use the word cliché -- but the same people play the same role over and over and over. You know, the bad guy in every movie is the blond German guy. So he had the sense to know that people who can do that aren't necessarily who you think they are."
Refn, however, had seen something slightly sinister in Brooks for years. "He told me that when he was a young guy and he saw Lost in America and I was yelling at my wife," Brooks recalled. "He sat in the theater and went, 'This guy scares me!'"
Between the film's startling performances, neo-noir turns, bold (and beautiful) visual style, and pulsating, operatic soundtrack, which meshes Riz Ortolani's Addio Zio Tom love theme and tracks by the likes of Glass Candy's Johnny Jewel, Drive is without question one of the more exciting new films of 2011. When it debuts nationwide in September, expect to see a lot more of Refn doing the press rounds.
Next: Refn's L.A. Film Fest intro
Nicolas Winding Refn, introducing Drive at the 2011 LA Film Fest:
"I would like to thank Rebecca and David for the festival and showing this film which you are about to see. I would like to thanks FilmDistrict for releasing it in 2000 prints, September 16... please tell all your friends. You know, you have to do these things. So, anyway. I want to thank Prada, for my clothes.
Now, I want to thank Ryan Gosling, because he gave me the opportunity to come to Hollywood and do this movie with him. It all started on a very strange blind date between us that led to a very strange, not sexual encounter, but it led to a mental creation between us. And of course, we couldn't have done that without Jim Sallis's book called Drive, which I highly recommend. He's a very, very good writer.
I want to ask and thank very much Alejandro Jodorowsky, who, you know, coming from Europe to America I always thought I was going to fight the devil, and he told me that if I wanted to make my kind of films in Hollywood I just had to smile and nod a lot every time people talk to me. So I smile and nodded a lot, and it worked out. That's why I wanted to thank the producers, especially Mark Platt, who was kind to me and supportive from the beginning. He was really a true champion of what we wanted to make. And Adam Siegel and David Lancaster.
This is independent filmmaking, so when you watch the list of the various executives it's like reading the phone book, but I do think that the producers should thank Adam Siegel, actually, because he's the one who found the book and had the idea to make it into a movie originally, eight years ago. He's a very good producer, he's up and coming, he's going to run a studio someday, and it's Adam S-I-E-G-E-L, and he works at Universal. If you have any projects that you want to do, he's open for any new ideas. So if there are any filmmakers that want to get their film made the right way, I suggest you call him. I guess you call Universal and they'll transfer you. And that was Siegel, S-I-E-G-E-L.
I want to thank my mother, because ever since I was born she said I was a genius at whatever I did. And I want to thank my wife Liv... She always tells me when I'm wrong -- and she always says it in a very cold, Scandinavian, passive-aggressive way. But she's the kind of woman that all the other actors are very envious that I have, so I'm a very lucky man.
So let's meet the cast, who actually made this film. Let's start with Ryan Gosling. [To Gosling] I love you.
I want to thank Christina Hendricks. You know, some years ago I said I wanted to make Wonder Woman, and if I ever get to do it, she's going to be it.
Bryan Cranston: He's probably the only American actor who could read the phone book and still make it great.
Ron Perlman: You know, Ron's Ron Perlman. What else can you say, it's like hiring Frank Sinatra.
Now, I had to move this around because Albert wanted to be last, just so you know. Because, he said, 'Then I get the 'And,'' because he didn't get any money making the money. So, we should bring in what I consider and what you will see, one of the great American actors, he's from Washington, D.C. -- Oscar Isaac.
Now, an institution of Los Angeles: And Albert Brooks. Very soon you'll be seeing another film between Albert, myself, and Ryan. He's going to be writing a comedy for us. Thank you and enjoy the film!"