Ari Folman The Congress Interview

Ari Folman The Congress Interview

Cast: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Sami Gayle, Paul Giamatti
Director: Ari Folman
Rated: M
Running Time: 118 minutes

Synopsis: More than two decades after catapulting to stardom with The Princess Bride, an aging actress (Robin Wright, playing a version of herself) decides to take her final job: preserving her digital likeness for a future Hollywood. A Hollywood studio will control her captured -image', and she will star in any film they want with no restrictions. In return, she receives healthy compensation so she can care for her ailing son and her digitised character will stay forever young. 20 years later, under the creative vision of the studio's head animator (Jon Hamm, Mad Men), Wright's digital double rises to immortal stardom. With her contract expiring, she is invited to take part in -The Congress' convention as she makes her comeback straight into the world of future fantasy cinema.

The Congress
Release Date: December 4th, 2014
Website: Trailer

 

Interview with Ari Folman

Question: The novel's hero Ijon Tichy was an explorer and scientist, so how did you decide to make the main character of your adaptation an actress?

Ari Folman: Basically I feel that if you-re adapting a classic, you need the courage to be free and to not get trapped by the original text. I was looking for a new, more current dimension to the allegory of the communist era in the book. The chemical dictatorship in the novel was transformed during the writing process into dealing with dictatorship within the entertainment business, specifically, the film industry controlled by big studios. From there, the theme of an aging actress involved in the story was just a matter of process.

Question: Why did you finally settle on Robin Wright to incarnate your hero? Tell us about the relationship between her real life career/persona and her fictional alter-ego in The Congress.

Ari Folman: Thinking about the film, I always had the opening shot in my mind; where the actress is being crucified by her long-term agent. During the winter of 2009, while attending a ceremony in LA, I met Robin Wright by chance and spent the entire evening sitting across from her. I couldn-t resist placing the image of her in that opening shot, it was a perfect match. The next day I pitched the project to her, along with some illustrations of her drawn by David Polonsky on the previous night. Robin committed herself on the spot and that was where we started a 4 year journey together.


Question:The Congress presents a strongly dystopic vision of Hollywood and big studio movies – is that also how you view that part of the industry? Does your film reflect a fear for the future of cinema?

Ari Folman: While searching for a suitable location in LA to shoot the scanning room scene, I was shocked to learn that such a room already exists. Actors have been scanned for a number of years now – this technology is already here. Flesh and blood actors are not really needed in this "post Avatar era'. I guess its economics now that dictate whether the next generation of films will be with scanned actors, or with a completely new generation of actors "built from scratch'. As an optimist, I think the choice for a human actor will win out and I hope The Congress is our small contribution toward that goal.


Question: So many details in The Congress are "futuristic' yet still very current – do you see any positive aspects of living in another reality, behind an online avatar for example? Do you think it approaches the film-s idea of choosing your own reality?

Ari Folman: I think the chemical world outlined in Lem-s novel and in the film is a fantasy, but at the same time its still a major fear for those of us who travel in our imagination and our dreams. I have always had the feeling that everybody, everywhere lives in parallel universes, one, were we function in real time and the other, the universe where our mind takes us – with or without our control. Combining the two worlds into a one, is for me the biggest goal of being a filmmaker.

Question: The Congress was years in the making – can you tell us how you first came to the project and the journey of adapting Stanislaw Lem-s cult science fiction novel?

Ari Folman: The first time I read Lem-s novel was when i was 16 years old and a sci-fi buff, I fell in love with it. The second time was during film school, where I decided for the first time, that I wanted to do something cinematic with the text. It was only after digging deep into animation while making Waltz With Bashir that I had a vision of how to adapt it. It took me a whole year to write the script and I went far away from the original text, but always came back to it when getting lost during the writing process. I think the spirit of the novel is a huge part of the final picture and for sure, it is very present in the animated section.

Question: Age, free will and mortality are among the deep philosophical questions running through The Congress – what do you want your audiences to take away from the film?
Ari Folman: I think this is the beauty of filmmaking; once you finish your work, its not up to you any more, its up to the audience. All i need to do now is sit back and listen to them, maybe you-ll have a chance to learn what you really did.

I think the chemical world outlined in Lem-s novel and in the film is a fantasy, but at the same time its still a major fear for those of us who travel in our imagination and our dreams. I have always had the feeling that everybody, everywhere lives in parallel universes, one, were we function in real time and the other, the universe where our mind takes us – with or without our control. Combining the two worlds into a one, is for me the biggest goal of being a filmmaker.

Question: The film is unique but features what seems like an encyclopedia of significant references in terms of cinema and otherwise. Were there key films or other influences that served as guides or inspirations as you made this movie?

Ari Folman: The animated part is a tribute to the great Fleischer Brothers- work from the 30-s. It-s hand drawn, made in 8 different countries and took two and a half years to create 55 minutes of animation. It was by far the toughest mission of my life as a director. The team back home, led by the director of animation, Yoni Goodman were working 24/7 to ensure the animation from a number of different studios had a consistency in the characters from scene to scene. During the process we discovered that sleep is for mortals and animation for the insane! Elsewhere in the movie I try to pay tribute to my idol Stanley Kubrick twice; once with a reference to Dr. Strangelove and another to 2001: A Space Odyssey, still my favorite sci-fi movie ever.


Question: Age, free will and mortality are among the deep philosophical questions running through The Congress – what do you want your audiences to take away from the film?

Ari Folman: I think this is the beauty of filmmaking; once you finish your work, its not up to you any more, its up to the audience. All i need to do now is sit back and listen to them, maybe you-ll have a chance to learn what you really did.

The Congress
Release Date: December 4th, 2014