I think it was the day I was given a Pathe Baby camera, a hand-cranked model, for my sixth birthday, so it was in 1923 that I made my debut as a filmmaker and decided on my path. my love for cinema started with the talkies, around 1929/30s. the first time I heard a word coming from a screen was in White Shadows in the South Seas by Van Dyke and Flaherty, when Monte Blue suddenly said, "civilization, civilization." it was the first time I'd heard talking cinema. at that very moment, I fell madly in love.What did you do?
I produced and directed Le Silence de La Mer.
I think your first film should be made with your own blood.
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Do you enjoy editing?
Very much. It's without a doubt what I enjoy the most, that and writing. Writing and editing. In other words, the inspiration and the finishing touches.
Do you like filmming?
Not at all. Filming is absolutely horrible. I call it "tedious formality." I hate shooting. My only relief in the whole tiresome business are the wonderful moments when i am directing actors.
Are you hard on your actors, the people you work with?
No, not with the actors, that would be foolish. You can't be hard on any actor, of any kind. It is a fragile thing. It is hard to be in front of a camera and still look natural. I am much more demanding of those behind the camera.
How do you rate yourself as an actor?
Awful, like any amateur trying to do a job that is not his.
Did that make your mise-en-scene more difficult?
Not in terms of mise-en-scene, but in terms of where to place myself. In certain scenes, i am looking at the actors speaking to me, and it is obvious i am watching if they are doing what i asked.
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I think the greatest difficulty is portraying sexulity.
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I represent virtue.
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In terms of censorship, I am a puritan. That said, I can forgive anything as long as it has quality.
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what do gangsters represent for you?
Nothing at all. I think they are pathetic losers. but it so happens that the gangster story is a very suitable vehicle for the particular form of modern tragedy called film noir, which was born from american detective novels. It is a flexible genre. You can put whatever u want into it, good or bad. and it is a fairly easy vehicle to use to tell stories that matter to you, about individual freedom, friendship, or rather human relationships, because they're not always friendly. Or betrayal, one of the driving forces in american crime novels.
Do you know any gangsters?
yes, i knew quite a few, but they are nothing like the gangsters in my films.
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I assure you, alone in my room at 3:00am, i am not only modest but humble.
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I like to take risks.
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My films never follow the current trend.
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It's a film's duty to be commercial. Above all, it's a product.
It is the honest point of view of an artist: you have to please.
