With ‘Fast Food Nation,’ presented in the Official Selection in competition, young American director Richard Linklater makes his first appearance at the Festival de Cannes - he will return on Thursday, May 25th to present ‘A Scanner Darkly’ in Un Certain Regard.
Greg Kinnear, Ana Claudia Talancón, Ethan Hawke, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Richard Linklater and Wilmer Valderrama on the Red Carpet at Cannes © AFP
Adapted from Eric Schlosser's eponymous best-seller, ‘Fast Food Nation’ casts a critical eye on fast food in the United States through the destinies of three characters: a marketing executive of a fast food chain, an employee of the same chain, and a clandestine immigrant working at the slaughterhouse.
For this feature film, Richard Linklater surrounded himself with an all-star cast headed by Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Patricia Arquette and Bruce Willis.
Eric Schlosser , author of the book and co-screenwriter of the film, explains that ‘Fast Food Nation,’ which depicts an imaginary fast food chain, Mickey's Fast Food Restaurants, required "characters representing all of the fast food industry: the minors who work there, those who work in the meat packaging plants, the community of ranches, as well as a fast food restaurant manager who represents the point of view of the big companies. The idea is that at the end, none of these characters are symbols but real, living, human beings."
For director Richard Linklater , "the people who were reticent about the book won't necessarily feel the same about the film. After all, the movie evokes characters that do what's best for themselves at given instants, characters each with a life, a job and responsibilities."
At the ‘Fast Food Nation’ press conference were director Richard Linklater and the film's stars: Ashley Johnson, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ana Claudia Talacon, Bobby Cannavale, Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Lou Taylor Pucci and Wilmer Valderramma. Also present were producers Malcolm McLaren and Jeremy Thomas.
Excerpts follow:
Richard Linklater and the genesis of the film: “From my perspective, I was a fan of the book and when Eric came to where I live in Austin, Texas, we met and talked about it.
I had the question for him that most people have been talking about ever since, which is, 'Is it a documentary?
It's a fantastic piece of non-fiction but I don't really do documentaries, so what is the movie, what is the shot.' Eric was talking about it as a character piece about the lives of people in this world but a fictional account located in one town. We took off from there.”
Eric Schlosser talks about how his book became a fiction adaptation : “I had been talking to a number of filmmakers about doing it as a documentary. It seemed like a very logical idea and then I met with Malcom McLaren and he had the idea of doing it as a fictional feature and it seemed like a totally insane idea.
He was very persuasive. I met with Rick and we thought this could be absolutely good or absolutely terrible and we spent a few years talking about it and working on it. What I liked ultimately about it was that it was a very bold idea and I feel as if the film was made completely independent of the Hollywood system and therefore could have some integrity.”
Richard Linklater continues: “I think it was bold of Eric, the author of the book, to say, ‘Let's throw away the book.' Through these people's lives and their jobs and what they're striving for will emerge all these issues you're talking about.
We didn't set out to make too strong a political statement. I think the film can only be seen in political terms, but these characters aren't thinking that way so much.”
Catalina Sandino Moreno on the similarities of her role to her last role as Maria, Full of Grace: “The fact that they're both immigrants is what I see in both characters.
With Maria, Full of Grace, she was a girl who got caught up in the moment and left the United States. She was not planning to leave Columbia.
But Sylvia, I think she planned to go to the US and leave everything behind and that's the big difference I see between those two people. That one had the strong American dream and the other one got caught in the moment.”
Ana Claudia Talancon on her character: “Anything it takes! I think it shows it very well. Coco would do anything it takes to have a better life and I love that about the character because it's not a good girl or a bad girl, she just wants to succeed.
She wants to have a better life and some more money.”
Richard Linklater on convincing Bruce Willis to be in the film: “He just liked the role and he wanted to play it. We just sent it out to him, you never know. I hadn't really met him before, but I was thrilled when he wanted to take the part. We needed someone like that to come in and kind of knock it out of the park for that scene. He's a real free thinker. I really like the guy.”
Richard Linklater on the last scene of the slaughterhouse: “Obviously that's real footage. We didn't think we would get that kind of access but they let us in under some very strict conditions about time. We couldn't bring equipment in. So much of this movie was made kind of on the fly where we had to insinuate the actors into real situations in the workplace.
We had a couple of hours to film all of it. It's tough imagery, but that was the way the narrative unfolds. It hints at it, you see it, the film talks about it. Eric and I thought it really needed to deliver that final [scene].
You had to actually see it. This movie is really about unveiling things and becoming aware and I think that's a reality everyone needs to know.”
Greg Kinnear on his role as Don Anderson: “It's not a typical conventional screenplay and I was reading it, and of course, as he was becoming aware of the ethical issues, I kind of had this sense that this guy, at the end, is going to stand up and scream, ‘I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore.' And he doesn't.
What I realized is that as much as that would be nice, the truth is that there are many people in these giant corporate situations that might be in situations where they are involved in things that they have questions with or ethically they are unsure of or uncertain about, but they're part of something bigger and they have families to feed.
He's not a good guy, he's not a villain, he's just part of something very, very large.”
Richard Linklater talks about expected reactions from the fast food industry: “We're already getting reactions from the fast food industry. They've hired agencies apparently that are going to be there when we come out, the movie in the states.
It's interesting. I've never made a movie that's suddenly threatening someone's corporate lines. They're doing fine. I think we know that their profits are up like the oil business.”
Ana Claudia Talancon, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson © AFP
Ethan Hawke on how hope is not enough: “Hope is a great pacifier. I know that it would be pleasing sometimes to see hope at the end of the movie, but it's really a lie.
Righteous anger can fuel people and can provoke change but hope often generates apathy. Many people sit around and hope and that's why there's such great apathy all over the world.”
© Festival de Cannes
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