Presented in competition, Richard Kelly’s ‘Southland Tales’ is a futuristic story which takes place in the city of Los Angeles, fallen victim to a nuclear attack in 2008, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions which precipitates America into war.
'Southland Tales'director Richard Kelly, actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson © AFP
In order to be able to respond to the fuel scarcity, the company USIDent designs a generator of inexhaustible energy which operates thanks to ocean currents.
In this city on the brink of chaos, we follow the criss-crossed destinies of Boxer Santaros, action film actor stricken with amnesia; Krysta Now, ex porno star in the midst of reconverting; and twin brothers Roland and Ronald Taverner, whose destinies becomes confused with that of all mankind.
Kelly, first noticed in 2001 with his ‘Donnie Darko’ is making his Cannes baptism.
"It's a comedy about the end of the world," explains Richard Kelly. "Southland Tales explores where our country is heading and our current dilemmas as concerns alternative energy and terrorism, as well as our civil liberties which are taken away from us one by one, or even the potential effects of the degradation of the environment on human behavior, its neurological impact and consequences on global warming."
Director Kelly, actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, as well as producer Sean McKittrick, attended the press conference May 21st to answer questions from journalists about ‘Southland Tales’.
Selected excerpts :
Richard Kelly on his political views of the United States: "The film is meant to be a tapestry of ideas. The biggest issues we are facing right now are security and alternate fuel, our increasing obsession with celebrity and how celebrity intertwines with politics and how they are becoming very coarsely related.
We are seeing a very intricate tapestry and it isn't simple. I think the film is meant to be experienced like a puzzle and to approach a lot of these issues with a sense of comedy. And I think you need more than one viewing to fully comprehend the intricacies of the puzzle.
There is no simple solution to our dilemma right now as a country and as a planet."
The actors on discovering the screenplay:
Sarah Michelle Gellar: "I think its rare that someone presents such a full concept. Usually they'll give you a script, and ‘Do you like it?' and ‘Here's my idea'.
With Richard, it's a fully interactive process and it's not just he comes with visual ideas, but with movies to watch, books to read and ideas. He was so collaborative. And I think a lot of times when you work with a writer/director they're so protective of their material. Richard's whole idea was to do an ensemble piece. It was a wonderful learning experience."
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: "Richard had asked to meet with me before I read it. What he presented was really hard work. I thought it was really beautiful in terms of its color.
At some point after reading the script, I realized that I had my own interpretation of it as Boxer Santaros and Jericho Cane, his alter-ego, but at some point I certainly put all my trust in Richard as a director. I had a lot of questions that I knew would unfold as the story was told."
Richard Kelly on the atmosphere of the film: "The screenplay was written over 4-5 years and over the years, it became more and more political. The movie is intended to be a patriotic piece in the sense that let's use comedy to try to solve some of these problems."
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the director: "Richard Kelly is an ambitious guy. And he writes very ambitiously as everybody who has now seen the movie knows and you know his work from ‘Donnie Darko.’ I was interested in, intrigued me, that sort of challenge. That type of energy that Richard has is very infectious. After reading the script, very ambitious, very daring and pretty ballsy, that intrigued me."
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on being in Cannes: "This is a dream come true for me and I think of all actors who inspired to come here. We all recognize that there are a lot of actors out there that have tremendous careers and a lot of success and never make it to Cannes and never have a movie that's selected. I'm excited, I'm proud, I'm proud of what we did. It's great; I'm thankful."
Richard Kelly on the music in the film: "It's the spiritual center of the film; it's pop art, but it's political. It's aggressive in its confrontation and I think we need more art like that.
It was very important for me to work directly with the musicians, even in pre-production. I met with Moby before we started shooting a frame of film. It is a very confrontational film: there's vulgarity, a lot of black comedy, a lot of violence.
To balance that out, it was very important to me to have this aching, heartbreaking, beating heart and that was Moby.
In terms of all the pop songs, I'm very meticulous, I had Frank Black and the Pixies, a lot of British bands. We also used a lot of older musical selections, jazz from the 1950s, Louis Armstrong. We did a lot of research and found a lot of older pieces."
© Festival de Cannes
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