Maps to the Stars

[03]

great film. good to know we are supporting jenkins blog.

[Alexandro]

this is one of the reasons the film works so well, I think:

The Dissolve: Here's a paraphrase from my favorite review of Maps, from Mubi critic Miriam Bale: "Bruce Wagner wrote this film as a broad comedy, but it isn't directed that way."

David Cronenberg: It's almost true. There are elements that are broad comedy, but I can quote [Maps star] Julianne Moore, in fact, who said she thought Bruce's extreme hyper-emotionality and humor and my cool, neutral observational direction made a really good combination. And I think that's sort of a more detailed version of what this critic was saying. If you had a director who really went with that other stuff, you would get a very over-the-top, exaggerated, and to me, maybe a false movie instead of what it is—which is still funny. But the humor comes from within the characters, from the observation of the absurdity of the human condition, rather than a sort of self-parodying thing, or something that you could've done with it. And I think that's correct.

The Dissolve: So you're fighting against that aspect?

Cronenberg: I mean, in a way... I remember Truffaut saying all those many years ago, as a director, you would direct against the script. And then, when you're editing, you edit against the directing, you know? And it's really trying to find a balance. It's a tricky thing. You don't just go with one tone and do that at every part of the process, you have to have balances and checks and so on to come to something interesting. And in this case, particularly, I think you would lose some of the real... Well, there's a sort of sadness at the heart of the film, which you would lose if you did it as an absurdist comedy only.

http://thedissolve.com/features/interview/933-david-cronenberg-on-the-hollywood-horror-of-maps-t/