MICHEL GONDRY: It's running?
MALE SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
It is.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: [LAUGH]
MICHEL GONDRY: What about my make up?
I know my nose is always shiny.
I don't care.
OK, also, we speak English?
OK.
I remember when we shot Science of Sleep, you were
hiding from the camera, especially
in the first scenes.
And it's interesting.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: But I remember, I don't know, it has
nothing to do with this, but I remember, I must have been
used to so many years of hiding because I was on my
mother's sets when she was acting, and just hiding to
look at the scene.
So I was in this position of trying to find the place where
nobody would say, go away and just being like a mouse.
And spying on the scenes and loving it.
And then suddenly, when I was, I don't know, 12 when I did my
first film, I remember hearing people say, move away.
And I always thought it was me.
MICHEL GONDRY: [LAUGH]
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: And no, this time it wasn't me.
MICHEL GONDRY: That's great.
Actually, I had the same feeling with Mos Def.
Mos Def, he is so oblivious of the camera, that he would
always end up to have his back like blocking the view.
Sometimes I just have to ask him to go away.
At least, if you don't want to be in the show, don't stop the
others from being in the shot.
But I have to say, in counterparty,
he has a great presence.
Because he's not--
if you put the camera here, he's not going to feel that
the camera. is there.
And I think you have this quality too.
That you can be scrutinized by the camera, or I guess, the
microphone or whatever.
And it doesn't feel you're
communicating with this equipment.
You're still communicating with the other
person or the audience.
But a lot of peoples have--
to me I see that as, they have a little eye
inside of their eye.
So if, for instance, if I look at you and I'm aware that the
camera is here, I'm not really looking at you.
In fact, I'm looking at the camera here to make sure the
camera looks at me.
And a lot of actors have this problem.
It's very hard because you want to help them to be
communicating with the person, to create the moment.
But they have little eyes in the white of their eye that is
looking to the camera, and it's horrible.
You coming from, probably, the most famous couple from this
era in France?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, because I was young when I
started, I didn't think, ooh, I have to be as
good as them, or--
I was just having fun with the films.
And with the album, I did think--
I was preoccupied, yeah.
And that's why I chose to do it in English, was because I
didn't want myself to be able to compare the words with what
he had written.
Because it was too strong for me.
MICHEL GONDRY: Using the foreign language, it's a very
good help for this kind of--
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: It was easier for me, much easier.
Because I remember, I tried to write, and it was so
dreadful, in French.
And I read stuff.
And maybe I could've read a masterpiece, I
wouldn't have seen it.
I was just pushing everything away.
MICHEL GONDRY: Yeah, there's too much things interfering.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah.
MICHEL GONDRY: But there is this relation that's really
complex and interesting because all those guys that
worked on this album are direct influenced by what your
father did.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, yeah.
MICHEL GONDRY: And basically their music is a tribute.
Without you, way before they met you, the music is a
tribute to what your father was doing.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: But each time I could hear that
something was close to one of my father's songs in the music
I was really proud.
It was in the words that I didn't want to be like a pale
copy of something he had done.
In the music, they came out like tributes.
MICHEL GONDRY: Yeah.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: And we were all aware of, not my
father's presence, but it was like, everybody knew what I
had in my head, that he was--
that I thought about him all the time.
And Air, and Nigel, and Jarvis, and Neil Hannon, too,
they were all very, very discreet about him.
And I was always starting to talk about him.
It was strange, yeah.
MICHEL GONDRY: Yeah, that's interesting, yeah.
But I think it's a nice loop that comes back to a sort of
healthy place.
The way inspiration and tribute and then coming back
to where it started, and somewhat in a different
generation.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Mmm.
MICHEL GONDRY: So we're talking about
being in the studio.
And I like the idea that the studio is a place where things
are created.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, well for me it
was also just being--
because I wasn't composing any music.
And I was trying to write lyrics, but I wasn't
very good at it.
And I was very embarrassed about myself,
and what I was writing.
So at the beginning, I was really enjoying just being a
witness of their work.
And just being able to be there whilst they were
creating something, and instrument after instrument.
It was such a magical time for me.
And with Nigel behind the commands.
But I remember, before we started going in the studio, I
remember just talking to Nicolas and Jean-Benoit, for
such a long time because I was so scared to start something
that I wanted to talk about what it was going to be like,
and what kind of music, and the words were so
important for me.
So what lyrics, and after a while, they just pushed me and
said, we can't just talk about it for years.
You have to go in the studio and see what happens.
And it's true because maybe nothing could've happened.
And it just did.
And with no pressure.
Until we weren't happy, we could go on.
And that was a great luxury to have that.
MICHEL GONDRY: So they were really probably so pleased to
be next to you.
And I think sometimes, even if you don't physically or
actively participate, if you're there next to the
person, it makes all the difference.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: I think it did make
a difference because--
MICHEL GONDRY: Because they feel they are doing it with
you, even though you weren't singing.
Although where they would feel like just record like session
musicians, and then you come to do your vocals.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Exactly.
I would have hated to just receive a CD with all the
tracks and then just go in the studio and record it.
I wanted to be there.
I wanted to be a part of everything.
And I know that they knew that.
I needed that time, also, for myself, to be able to go
behind the microphone and just try things.
MICHEL GONDRY: That's nice.
It reminds me, I did some video with Bjork where she's
hardly not in it.
We flew over Iceland, and we took a lot of pictures.
But I was scared to death in the small plane.
We went to this airport, and they have some crashed plane
on the side, and we're have to go in the same one.
And she would go, always, with me.
And I think the fact that she was there, and even if she's
not in front of the camera, it's like it goes through me,
like waves or something.
And I think I always try to work this way.
Even if the artist is not in front of the camera.
He has to be behind or it's a collaborative [INAUDIBLE].
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah.
And Nigel was very important, too, because
he was a great judge.
And I felt very close to him in his--
every judgement he had on the lyrics, mainly, for me.
He was a great support.
Also, to be able to think about subjects I wanted to
talk about.
And just to make it feel personal, I had
to do it that way.
MICHEL GONDRY: How old is he?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Nigel?
He's exactly my age.
He's 35.
MICHEL GONDRY: And so he worked
with Beck and Radiohead?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: He worked with Beck, with
Radiohead, with Paul McCartney.
I was very intimidated at first.
Especially once the music was, not finished, but there were
times when I had to try and put my voice on.
I was so embarrassed, thinking he's worked with such talent.
MICHEL GONDRY: He has the same feeling,
probably, towards you.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: He can see I'm a fake.
[LAUGHTER]
MICHEL GONDRY: So are you going to tour with the band?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: I don't think I can.
I don't think I'm capable of doing something.
But maybe later.
Maybe when I won't feel I have to, I'll want to do it.
But for the moment, I'm just too nervous about it.
MICHEL GONDRY: Well, don't you think this nervousness is
going to give something to the concert?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: No.
MICHEL GONDRY: Oh, I think so.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: No.
MICHEL GONDRY: But I think the awkwardness is very--
he gives you a different level of
connection with your audience.
And I find that with Bjork.
Bjork, OK she's a very professional singer.
And she's done a ton of concerts.
But she doesn't connect with the audience
in a classical sense.
She's not going to talk to the microphone and say, hey, New
York I love you.
All this bullshit.
She's on camera.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: No, of course, but she's such a
performer that something--
MICHEL GONDRY: I know but, I think--
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: --is happening.
MICHEL GONDRY: What I like the most in her concert is this
non-connection she makes with the audience.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, but no, the thing is, I'm
worried that--
and really, it's not fake modesty or something.
But I'm just worried it will be very boring.
Because I'm not a performer, so [INTERPOSING VOICES].
MICHEL GONDRY: Well, to me what's boring is
professionalism.
There is some quality in not being in
control of the situation.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, but also, the thing is, for
this album, because we did it all together with Air and
Jarvis, the fact that I would be on stage on my own without
them doesn't make any sense.
MICHEL GONDRY: Well, of course, but why don't
you tour with them?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Well, they have their
own album to release.
MICHEL GONDRY: All right, well that's different.
But I think you should tour with them, yes.
I saw them in Los Angeles.
And they were doing the songs.
The singer that was doing their big hit at the time--
I forgot her name-- and she was so shy.
It was a great moment.
Obviously, she was just coming from one song, and she could
hardly sing.
And it was a great moment because the audience just
wanted go with her, and help her.
And it was really--
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: An American singer?
MICHEL GONDRY: Yeah, it was in--
I don't know if she's American or English.
It's that song that goes [SINGING].
It's one of their big hits.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah, and she sings on
the album, or she?
MICHEL GONDRY: Yeah, yeah, that was the singer on the
album, but she sing few songs, or maybe only one.
But she came for this song.
I can't sing it, but it goes [SINGING].
Do you know it?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: [LAUGH]
MICHEL GONDRY: So anyway, yeah, you
should tour with them.
You should not tour with the professional [INAUDIBLE].
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: Yeah.