When I did 'Black Swan' there was fear of losing yourself.
But this was about losing your home.
I like this guy.
Darren, thanks so much for your time.
I don't think you've ever made a movie that was
universally thought of in one way.
'Black Swan', 'Requiem of a Dream'
everyone walks out of those movies going
with a moment of 'oh my god what did I just see?'
Right?
Do you get off on that?
Do you get off on the audience reaction?
I want people to have an experience like they've never had at the cinema.
That's for me the greatest gift possible.
Is people just being moved to talk.
For me disposable meals, fast food, disposable music
that's not my interest.
I'm trying to make products that are well crafted
and have a lot of depth that people will cherish.
I'm glad you mentioned music
because there is none in your film.
Despite having one of the best composers in the business working on it.
You giant weirdo.
So take me into that decision.
Why did you get this fantastic composer and then go
"maybe not"?
Well, I love Jóhann Jóhannsson's work
and I was thrilled to work with him, and we worked really hard together on music.
And that music I'm pretty sure won't disappear.
We're talking about turning it into an opera at some point.
But it really came from Jóhann.
When we started to put the music up against the picture
the music was exceptional
except it wasn't really helping the scenes.
And what we realised is the entire movie the audience is leaning forward into Jen's emotions
to try to figure out what she's feeling, and how she's feeling.
And she is such a good transmitter of emotion
that the audience is following along
The second you put a little music into it
it tips it.
Yeah right.
And that's where music...
Music is a great enhancer when you need it.
But Jen really didn't need it.
You were with her the whole time.
And so Jóhann made the brave decision, he was like
"I don't think we should put music in this."
I would resist it because, music for me is such an important part of my films.
But then I realised that it was making a whole different feeling that was weird for people.
One of the most iconic musical scores of the last 15 - 20 years
is the music you had in 'Requiem for a Dream'
and it has since been used in trailers for everything
How do you feel about that?
That iconic theme being used in like
Lord of the Rings trailers and stuff like that?
I'm very happy for Clint
because I think he does well off of it
and it helps with his own fame and all of that stuff.
and it's great for him and his work.
For me...
it ultimately takes away from the impact of the film a little bit.
When new, younger audiences come to see it
and they go 'oh I've heard that before.'
And they don't have the same feeling.
And it's unfortunate. Clint did incredible work with it
and it's beautiful but
I unfortunately can't control those things.
So take me back to that house, where you were writing this fever dream of a movie
What was going on in your head?
I don't know, I had this idea of trying to do
what first started with a home invasion film.
Which I think is a great genre, it's very scary
everyone can relate to people coming and taking over your home.
Or even having a guest that really sucks
that relative who won't get the hell out of your house.
They're still there, I had to come to America just to get rid of them.
But we all relate to that
so I knew that was a really good place to start.
When I did 'Black Swan' there was that fear of losing yourself
This was about losing your home.
But then I realised there was another connection going on which was this larger story
about our home this planet, the home that belongs to all of us
And there might be a way of making a metophor out of that.
Telling the story of mother nature in this home.
So it kind of works on two levels
There's a story of a husband and wife dealking with a home invasion.
And there's also this story of Mother Earth dealing with people who aren't invited.
Obviously the religious iconography is rife throughout it.
I wondering, what role does faith play in your life?
Like, do you adhere to something
Or you're borrowing stuff from childhood
Where does it sit?
For me I think
the Bible is filled with incredible stories that belong to everyone.
And from those stories there's a lot of power that comes out of them.
I think fighting over who they belong to
and fighting over if they really happened or not
That to me actually is the worst part about them
What's exciting to me is when you think of them in the same way as, you know
Everyone understands the story of Icarus.
We know it didn't happen but we understand the moral.
So it doesn't matter that fight.
We can learn a lot from those stories because they are the oldest stories we've been telling
And they're all part of world culture.
It's interesting, the movie's just coming out now
and people are only just reacting to it
But what I've found is everyone you talk to that has seen it find's something completely different in it.
Which is cool.
But one of the things that really stood out to me
and I wonder whether it was top of mind for you
Was this portrait of fame and narcissism
and the effect on those around the famous person
Was that something you were conscious of or was that something that emerged naturally?
It really was
it emerged out of it.
For me it was more about worship.
But I think when you cast Jennifer Lawrence
Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris
all people that deal with celebrity culture
People started to make those connections
that we were somehow making a statement about that.
I think the statement that's in there is good
and it works with the other ideas in there
But to be honest, I wasn't fully conscious of it when we were making it.
Awesome.
Darren, you're an absolute pleasure to talk to.