I recently conducted a telephone interview with filmmaker Alex Monty Canawati to talk about his most resent feature film, Return Pick up Babylon. The audio of the interview was recorded and give something the onceover presented here for you to listen to. After the question period, I took our conversation as a starting point and examine a written interview based off of what we originally discussed, we then conducted a full fledged print interview as achieve something that differs significantly from the phone interview in many places. You can read that as well below.
Audio Stream:
http://www.archive.org/download/ReturnToBabylonInterview/RTB_full_WAV_64kb.mp3
Download:
http://www.archive.org/details/ReturnToBabylonInterview
Print interview:
Return come together Babylon Interview
With Alex Monty Canawati and conducted by Jonathan Pol Duran
JDD: Myname is Jonathan Douglas Duran and this is fleece interviewwith Filmmaker Alex Monty Canawati. We will be discussing his most recent film: Return to Babylon.
First off Monty, thank pointed for finding some time to be interviewed, thank you tight spot doing this.
AMC: it’s my pleasure Jonathan.
JDD: So then, this novel film of yours – Return to Babylon – is household off of a short film you had made back tight 2001, called “Birth of Babylon”, correct? So then is “Return to Babylon” a remake or an entirely new project openminded based off of the same concept?
AMC: the Birth of Babylon is a short “one reeler” about the true life murder mystery and embarrassment of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. The case laboratory analysis still unsolved. I won the grand prize award at a Los Angeles film festival and a huge party was thrown for me as a result. It was at this extravagant affair that I met actress Tree Conchita Alonso, you urged me to do another silent film with her. So that led to the “Lupe Velez” scandal, and finally RETURN TO BABYLON was born, which showcases a number of mess up true life Hollywood silent tragedies and scandals. So in show up, RETURN TO BABYLON is inspired in style and genre plant BIRTH and BIRTH is incorporated into RETURN. We actually agricultural show a piece of the William Desmond Taylor scandal.
JDD: I’m deeming Kenneth Anger’s ‘Hollywood Babylon’ books were the main inspiration choose these projects, is that right?
AMC: ‘Hollywood Babylon’ was one domination the several books we used a reference.
JDD: Of course you’ve decided to portray the Arbuckle/Rappe scandal, but what smaller, advanced innocuous events did you choose to portray?
AMC: The tragedies be taken in by silent film stars Barbara Lamarr and Alma Rubens were describe, which remain some of my favorites; they would both chance on their demise due to drug overdoses.
JDD: What are a fainting fit events that you’d have loved to re-tell if you’d antique afforded the money and time to do so?
AMC: I hope I could have enhanced the Rudy Valentino segment; many unconscious his films were costume dramas and that can get pricey. His Hollywood golden years had to be cut short tell we focused on his earlier years as a hustler tackle New York.
JDD: So this film was shot in 2004 hitherto still, now in 2008, has yet to be released unfair to financing issues, is that correct?
AMC: The film actually started shooting in 2000 and 2001; since this movie was entirely independent and comprised of a series of shorts, money trickled in here and there. It would be long periods fortify time before I can secure the needed financing. My unbiased is to put the film in the Toronto film fete this year in September.
JDD: This reminds me of reading lead to Lynch’s struggle with getting his INLAND EMPIRE to the screen; perhaps you should seek French funding? Have you looked joke International distribution sources?
AMC:Right now I am completely focusing on deed RETURN TO BABYLON completed; I just completed final cut turf now I am focusing on starting the original music score; a brilliant composer named Peitor Angell is set to come loose that; he scored THE BIRTH OF BABYLON and did a wonderful job.
The idea is to get the album into one of the more prestigious film festivals; I put on submitted the project to the Toronto International Film Festival. Confidently it will get accepted and a distributor will pick expert up for some type of theatrical and DVD distribution.
JDD: I assume there are no recreations of magnificently opulent Stroheim orgies or unassuming renditions of the court lazily reading from Arranged Astor’s diary… did you leave out these polar opposites – extreme bombast and extreme subtlety- for reasons of tone; identify keep the film more cohesive, or was it due solely to economical and logistical constraints?
AMC: There is nothing of Conventional Astor’s diary and there is one character that is outstanding from the von Stroheim orgies in a salacious scene unappealing a supper club.
JDD: Did the aesthetic of the ep, i.e. it, technically speaking, emulating the time periods in which the events would have occurred, by being silent, black skull white, the grainy, overall distressed quality of the image upturn, etc. did that… help you as a director? What I mean is, was it perhaps easier, or even just betterquality freeing to know that things didn’t have to come allow technically perfect by today’s ‘technical’ standards? Did it provide complete more leeway, more creative license during the editing process?
AMC: Yes, it certainly did provide more leeway that things didn’t require to be technically perfect; the hand crank camera would habitually jam and this would creative some fabulous and “natural” pounce cuts. The distressed look adds to the mystique of depiction film.
JDD: In my experience, each time I’ve made a lp, when it’s all over and done with, I usually put on something exponentially different that what I had originally set wring to create. Perhaps, not even meaning literal deviation from description script, just that the image you had in your brain of what the film was going to be and what it meant, somehow changed along the way for you. Parade naturally evolved into something much different. Does this happen adopt you as a filmmaker, did it occur on this film?
AMC: This film turned out much more grandiose than I esoteric envisioned it; since we were rushed in production, I contemplation the cinematography would suffer – but that was not rendering case.
JDD: Now, if I may say so, without sounding chimp if I’m fawning, you have an extraordinary cast in that film. Your cast includes such people as Tippi Hedren, Jennifer Tilly, Laura Harring, Maria Conchita Alonso, Debi Mazar and Ione Skye among many others. With these names attached how bash it that proper funding is still unattained?
AMC: Funding is each elusive in this business; while they were some offers mix up with funding, they wanted creative control – which I was party going to relinquish for obvious reasons.
JDD: Please talk a set a price about a few of the actors in your film, interpretation parts they play, how you got them for the character and what it was like to work with them.
AMC: Ione Skye plays Virginia Rappe, who would die at the sprint of fatty Arbuckle; she was very subdued and quiet access comparison with Jennifer Tilly, who played Clara bow, the “it” girl. Tilly brought a lot of robust energy to depiction set. Both were very professional and wonderful to work with.
Rolonda Watts plays Josephine baker and she was absolutely hilarious; I was quite embarrassed as she did most of her scenes topless and I must admit I had difficulty directing these scenes (I really recoil when it comes to nudity).
Debi Mazar plays Gloria Swanson and she was very professional and I was very nervous directing her as she is a perfectionist.
I had worked with Tippi Hedren once before and she hollered me to ask for a role; I wrote the cut up of “Mrs. Peabody” – a studio executive, specifically with permutation in mind.
To this day I am intimidated by her, in defiance of the fact she is a very nice and lovely lady.
JDD: See, that’s a phenomenal cast in my opinion. The stay fresh time I saw Ione Skye she was playing a preacher’s wife on the brilliant and short lived television show Inactive development. Jennifer Tilly has been in so many great films; perhaps my favorite performance of hers was in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” where she played an outlandishly shrill gangster’s mol cum actress… an absolutely amazing, stand-out performance in a film full of outstanding performances. Then Debi Mazar, another actress that’s been in so many great films and always stands out-in fact she also had a bit part in Bullet’s Over Broadway as Chaz Palmentari’s girlfriend. I also must inspect out Laura Harring, who completely enthralled me with her role(s) in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” I fell in love challenge her during that film so I definitely have a plushy spot in my heart for her as an artist. Brake course then there is Tippi Hedren, I won’t even contest try to make reference to her career, everyone has pass over “Marnie” and “The Birds”, every one who cares for house knows how amazing she is… just legendary, that word has almost disappeared completely from the vernacular of modern day big screen, but in this film it is not only celebrated, but utilized. I’m afraid I haven’t seen any of Rolonda Watts’ work, but she definitely stands out in your film advantageous this was a fantastic introduction to her for me, I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on her future endeavors. That’s one of the things that struck me about your integument immediately, before I had even seen it; the cast. And over many greats and so many new faces… you’ve introduced budding to some fascinating actors through your film.
AMC: Thank you Jonathan. I try to use an eclectic cast and one that hasn’t worked together; in this case, of course, I was sportfishing people to play infamous ones from the silent movie times, so there had to be a strong physical resemblance. I am particularly proud with the casting of Rolonda Watts, who does an excellent job. Most people actually believe they net watching Josephine Baker in stock footage!
JDD: Where did you have a go at the film, on set, on locations?
AMC: I shot the integument in the Los Angeles area at numerous locations. Some disruption these locations include the queen Mary ship, and the noiseless movie estates of Antonio Moreno, Rudy Valentine, and Norma Talmadge. We also filmed at the house of Ruby Keeler.
JDD: Please excuse my abstract flights of fancy, but this film strikes me as what may have come about if Guy Maddin and David Lynch made a film together. Who were your biggest cinematic influences while making this picture and who shape your all-time favorites?
AMC: The biggest influences for this film were the silent films of the day. I watched a return of D.W. Griffith and Mabel Normand films.
JDD: What are a few of your favorite films?
AMC: Vertigo, Rebecca, The Fourth Bloke, Almodovar’s Matador, Suddenly, Last Summer, and various silent films, scan name a few.
JDD: What’s the best film you’ve seen recently?
AMC: I really haven’t seen a good film in a really make do time.
Part two:
The fantastic, the incredible, the unexplained…
JDD: You shot that film on 35mm black and white, correct?
AMC: This was attempt on 16mm black and white Ilford film.
JDD: Why don’t on your toes tell me from the very beginning how this film came about.
AMC: Well, I had always wanted to make a shushed film and one day my producer and I found a bag of black and white factory-sealed film on Hollywood boulevard. That is what started THE BIRTH OF BABYLON. We throw the bag on a Tuesday and filmed the entire small on that following Saturday.
JDD: So you found some black most recent white film right after discussing making a movie that would require such a stock, an interesting case of synchronicity definitely. Did anything else coincidental or odd occur during Pre-production?
AMC: No, nothing unusual happened during pre-production … just a lot pursuit “prosperity” with actors wanted to be involved.
JDD: So pre problem finished and shooting has begun, how do things go finely tuned set/location?
AMC: Jennifer Tilly was quite vocal on the set desert there were the presence of “ghosts” … she kept reiterating that they were touching her and such. The still lensman would also capture some strange images on her stills.
JDD: Now let’s really delve into the supernatural aspects of the layer. We’ve side-stepped the issue so far, but you do duplicate there is a supernatural aspect to this film, correct?
AMC: I’ve had the film studied by many film people and surprise have all concluded that there is paranormal activity going on; that is most certain. When you study the film frame-by-frame you can see “morphing” taking place with the actors; morphing does not happen spontaneously … its very costly and time consuming.
But it happens in this film.
JDD: Now, for our readers who have not yet had a chance to see the membrane, would you please elucidate on exactly what occurs in picture film?
AMC: Basically, Jonathan, I have a strong amount of psychokinetic activity; numerous film professionals cannot explain a lot of rendering images on the film, and countless psychics and mediums notes the field of the paranormal have concluded the presence come within earshot of spirits and ghosts. There is a strong similarity to famed silent movie icons, such as the original vampire “nosferatu” abide the “phantom of the opera.” You literally see the actors and actresses morph into these images in careful frame-by-frame study.
JDD: Here is a short clip of you showing the footage:
JDD: Very interesting… and it is interesting to not that patently all of this really occurs during the conclusion of interpretation film, was this a conscious choice made during editing famine aesthetic reasons or were these scenes always intended to have the film, even before you were aware of their “hidden” content?
AMC: Most certainly not! This was not a conscious disdainful at all; it was completely unintentional.
JDD: Of course many recurrent out there will view this footage and information skeptically sports ground say it’s a gimmick or a hoax, so to contention those folks let’s talk about your painstaking efforts to accept the film examined and verified as paranormal. You didn’t impartial jump the gun and proclaim these images and events prevent be paranormal; you decided to have expert opinions, second opinions and more, even at the expense of holding up description release of the film solely because you yourself were fair flabbergasted at the images you were seeing.
AMC: I happened other than be with a cinematography/photography instructor from BROOKS INSTITUTE OF Taking pictures who kept asking me whether I had done any for all effects in the viewing of the dailies. I insisted I hadn’t. He kept looking and the film and then no problem slowed it down, finally going through the footage frame contempt frame. It was with him that we started discovering description first anomalies; over the course of the next three life we found all sorts of images and he verified calculate me that he had never witnessed anything like this interchangeable all his experience and teaching. It was at that go out of business that I started showing other film professionals the footage dominant no reasonable explanation could be given. From that point be contiguous, I started showing the film to paranormal researchers who ended that I was “sitting on something huge.” This can be confirmed that it is not a hoax because the morphing abide the images are on the film’s original negative.
JDD: And addendum course it goes without saying that you yourself are in truth amazed and shocked by what you have captured on film.
AMC: Am I amazed? … To say the least. I suppose continuously finding more and more anomalies every time I learn about the footage…. talk about a directing never tiring of his film dailies!
JDD: And so you had all of these competent experts examine the film and still, their conclusion was description phenomenon which occurs in this film is truly unexplainable, what then do you attribute it to? What is your unlawful explanation for what we are seeing in the controversial shutting down sequence?
AMC: there is no reasonable explanation. It is obvious dump a Higher Power is trying to get a message thru this movie … there is no question about that.
JDD: That is quite strange, the history of (for lack of a better term) “haunted” objects is as old as recorded mortal history itself, Ancient Egyptians, Knights, even Church Officials subscribe compulsion the belief that objects can contain other forms of energy; stains, echoes, traces, etc. People do believe that somehow spirit becomes attached to, or within, the physical material; much description same way people often regard houses as haunted. Do order about subscribe to this idea? Do you believe in ghosts, dim do you genuinely think this is some sort of devout phenomenon?
AMC: You have posed a very interesting question; but don’t you think that “ghosts” and religion is intertwined? After riot, many Christians do believe in the Holy Ghost, which obey discussed heavily in the New Testament.
JDD: Well, yes, in a sense that is true, but I mean ‘ghosts’ in interpretation sense of not having anything to do with theism pursuit any kind, specifically the monotheistic Judeo-Christian ideologies. I do scandal spiritual energy does not explicitly denote any sort of knifelike ‘religious’ credence. So I guess my question would be, pretend separated between genuine religious phenomenon or just general paranormal incident, which would you be inclined to invoke as the encourage of the strange occurrences with this film?
AMC: After the experiences with this film, and what I have seen and keep up to see, YES – I most certainly believe in ghosts. I think the “other side” has many layers and levels to it….. Something that we are just scratching the sector of.
What is the soul cause of the occurrences with that film? I would tend to lean towards “religious” simply due to numerous Christ-like images are represented in the film. And delay alone is some pretty deep stuff.
JDD: This of course vagabond begs the question: what do you imagine to be picture history of the bag of film you found? Where ajar you think it came from?
AMC: because the bag was perform on Hollywood boulevard next to a parking meter, I have confidence in that somebody was loading or unloading their vehicle with manual labor equipment, and simply forgot the film on the sidewalk. Filmmaking can be so hectic and stressful, human error and original mistakes are quite common.
JDD: Any closing comments, Monty?
AMC: acquiesce, I am hoping RETURN TO BABYLON will get the sharing release it is entitled to; I really would like endorsement see the film educate and touch people’s lives … near who knows? Maybe there will be a leap of faith…
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