Gondry's Film Commitments

Following Jonathan Glazer's excellent Bravia ad from last summer, the third installment in the campaign was lined up for Michel Gondry. He's now passed, citing 'film commitments' as his reason for not being able to shoot the spot.

It seems that Be Kind, Rewind is all but mass duplicated and on the back of the van, so which commitments exactly? Is the Blondie movie about to shoot? Possibly.

Let's discount the Ripley film - is there anything else? Only Tokyo, the anthology film to shoot in the city. This is what I expect we'll find out: Gondry is about to shoot his slice of Tokyo before doing the Rewind press tour; then the Blondie movie will roll; then, possibly, a collaboration with Dan Clowes and Jack Black on The Death Ray. Maybe. Perhaps. If it all pans out.

At least we know he's going to be on set rolling film for one project or another any week now.

And the new Bravia spot, if you had been wondering, is now going to be directed by Frank Budgen. Not a bad choice, but I would have plumped for Antoine Bardou-Jacquet.

Gondry Speaks, Babelfish Mangles

Courtesy of Babelfish, here are some slightly dubious translations from a Telerama Chat with Michel Gondry. Blondie, The Master of Space and Time, Science of Sleep Film B, Tokyo ... he touches on just about everything we've been curious about over the last few months.

Indeed, I met Debbie Harry and Kirsten, and this project allures me because I have an immense respect for this musician, who had artificial only color of her hair. We are in the search of a scenario writer or coscenarist and develop this project with heat. The paradox of Bleached [Blondie] is that it only represents the American fair diva surfaces some, because at the bottom it is real punk and one of the rare people to have established the link between the punk one and the rap in years hinges in New York.

In connection with Daniel Clowes, we worked on a project which did not succeed, [Master of Space and Time] but I hope well that one will be able to find another of them to collaborate with this brilliant creator.

This version included in the DVD [He's referring to Science of Sleep Film B] is made up exclusively of scenes not used in version A. It more abstract, and is anchored paradoxically in the real life, because one devotes more time to the secondary characters, like that of Alain Chabat or that of Miou-Miou, which plays the mother of Stephan. It is a way of working liberator very, because the principal film is not improved and there is thus any freedom to leave on tangents.

The third realizer of this triptych [Tokyo] is Mr. Bong. I am writing the scenario of my segment, which should be turned to Tokyo in October.

Tokyo Scorecard: Two Out Of Three Aint Bad

Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon Ho are all in negotiations to each direct one third of Tokyo, a Nipponese take on New York Stories-style anthology films. Shooting is likely to take place around July or August time.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers are to be given 'liberal access to city locations in return for the Tokyo-centric subject matter' - so, essentially it will be a propoganda film. Buy American!

All joking aside, I'm quite jealous. This sounds like a wonderful job to get as a director. And you know what, I'm a complete sucker for artists' impressions of places that are foreign to them. Can't wait.