Rian Johnson is one of this new directors that I enjoy following because I can relate to his trajectory and the way he talks about his work and career. (i.e. ‘I have very few social skills’)
After winning a Sundance Prize in 2005 at age 30 for his first feature film, Brick, that he had spent 6 years in the making, Johnson took his time to come out with a radically different-in-tone second feature, Brothers Bloom, and his latest film, a sci-fi thriller, Looper is out as we speak. (or as I write, really)
Johnson, who is a film-school kid, generally receives positive reviews from critics and cinephiles for his work but his first two features were not box office orgies.
If you feel there are similarities with Aronofsky‘s chronology, you might be right. Not than there is any other extra conclusion to take out from that realization but well, doesn’t hurt to notice random stuff, right Sherlock?
The excellent website making of met with Johnson between Bloom and Looper and Johnson talked candidly about his ‘career‘ (he puts the quote, not me) and how he works as a writer-director.
Using the same technique I displayed for Lena Dunham’s video, I decided to break the interview down into chapters for you so you can select what interests you, if everything doesn’t interest you; but if you are both a writer and a director, I would recommend to go for the full length version.
Use the Next or Prev arrows to move from one chapter to the other. Enjoy!
Thanks to @nofilmschool
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October 30, 2012 at 7:25 pm ·
Thanks for posting this interview! Rian Johnson is so humble, and he reminds me of a boy I used to babysit who also ran around with his friends and a camera. They wrote the funniest scripts, and often times, filmed some interesting stuff. After hearing that Looper is mind-bending and well-directed from several of my coworkers at DISH, I decided to look into Johnson’s work. The Brothers Bloom was excellent, and he definitely nailed the story telling aspect in that film. I can imagine that it would be difficult to pick a favorite part in that movie since the acting, the writing, and the cinematography were all so beautiful! I’m psyched that my Blockbuster @Home has such a variety of movies because I’ve been able to easily add Brick and Looper to my queue, even though Looper is still in theaters. Too bad he forgot that sketchbook; it would’ve been cool to see how his ideas originate!
October 31, 2012 at 1:06 am ·
Hahaha, yes, totally agree about the notebook! And I like the way he placed himself, that he didn’t BS with empty sentences as if he had done that all his life and it was only natural for him to talk about what he is doing. Would be interesting to listen to him today in a similar interview, just to see the evolution of the discourse.