There are very few films that have had an impact on those whoâve seen it then Quentin Dupieuxâs Rubber, first at Cannes and then at Fantastic Fest a few months later. The reaction wasnât always positive, but it was a movie that was very hard to forget since it was so uniquely original.
While it must have been a tough act to follow, what Dupieuxâknown among musical circles as electronic recording artist Mr. Oizo (pronounced âwazoâ)âcame up with was Wrong, an equally odd comic tale starring Jack Plotnick (âReno 911â) as Dolph Springer, a man who wakes up one day to find his dog Paul is missing. In trying to find Paul, Dolph goes on a journey that puts him into contact with all sorts of eccentric characters including one Master Chang (played by William Fichtner), a pet detective (Steve Little from âEastbound & Downâ), a French-Mexican gardener, and the pizza parlor phone girl (Alexis Dziena) who sleeps with the gardener thinking its Dolph.
Way back in January 2012, what seems like a lifetime ago, ComingSoon.net was at the Sundance Film Festival where Wrong premiered, and we took the opportunity to sit down with Dupieux to talk about his movie. (Incidentally, since this interview, Dupieux was back at Sundance this year with the follow-up to Wrong called Wrong Cops, and heâs already finished his next film RealitĂŠ, although thereâs no word when we may see either of those.)
ComingSoon.net: I know this is something youâd been thinking about when we spoke for âRubberâ which was last year? Or was it the year before?
Quentin Dupieux: It was probably two years ago. I donât know. Iâm still confused.
CS: I know, itâs all blending together with how time flies. So did this just come out of an idea of a guy who lost his dog and you worked things out from there?
Dupieux The first idea was to make something about an empty space, like something missing. Usually, I just pick up the good ideas, I donât know how. I just have this good filter. I see ideas and I pick up the good ones, so I tried to write a few scenes about this guy missing his dog and it felt great. I was excited about it, so I decided to keep on (going). Thatâs how I work. I usually start with a blank page, âOkay, letâs go. This,â and then after five pages, Iâll keep it somewhere but this time, it was like I wrote it from A to Z.
CS: Just sat down and wrote it from beginning to end?
Dupieux Iâve been changing stuff, of course, but I did it in a month, it just came out.
CS: Youâve been doing movies and short films for a long time and theyâre very visual so as you write, do you start drawing out ideas? There are quite a number of striking visuals in the film, just like in rubber.
Dupieux Thatâs just the inspiration on the set. I never plan anything and because Iâm shooting with this small camera and no lights, I have time on the set, so I can go âOkay, weâre shooting here, whatâs the best angle? Whatâs the best way to make this scene?â I do everything on the set, but when I was doing short films and promos, I used to draw of course, to prepare myself, but now I donât want to say that Iâve done a lot of stuff because Iâm young and this is only my third movie, but now this side of the job comes naturally. Iâm more worried and give more time to the actors. I love to work with the actors, I love to talk with them, because I know that the camera is something that I will find, Iâm not worried about the camera.
CS: You do your own cinematography too.
Dupieux Yeah, yeah, thatâs part of the job for me. No, not the job, the joy. I have to do it myself and the best thing is when Iâm shooting, nobody sees what Iâm shooting. We donât have a monitor, we donât have any other screen. Iâm the only one viewing the movie while weâre shooting, which creates something really interesting, because I used to do commercials and also my first feature film, we had the classic set up, like 35 (mm) camera with video monitor and ten people watching the video, and this creates letâs say an embarrassing situation because while youâre trying to find something, you know a lot of people are watching you, and theyâre just waiting, watching, so itâs a bit like being naked, so now I think Iâm getting better as a director, because nobody watches me.
CS: I find that interesting because there was less time between âRubberâ and this movie than there was between your first movie and âRubber.â
Dupieux Iâm going to speed things up.
CS: But itâs amazing to me that youâve also finished albums in between, because it takes a long time to make music as well.
Dupieux Yeah, yeah.
CS: So are you just a workaholic that you have to be working all the time?
Dupieux But you know what? I also have time to chill, and Iâm not working that much. I just decided to do it this way. For example, after months of writing, you can decide, âOkay, Iâm going to give it to someone else, ask for some advice, rewrite stuff, trying to make it perfect.â The thing is that you realize that perfection isnât that interesting, I decided, âOkay, I wrote it, I should keep it like this, because itâs good like this.â Of course, I can make it better, I can try and work three more months on it to make it better, better, but whatâs the point? I like it like this. Letâs do it.
CS: Is it easier to get financing now after âRubberâ because people can understand your vision and what you want to do?
Dupieux Yeah, well letâs recreate the story: My first feature was a flop, so it had been quite difficult to do another movie after this one, after âSteakâ but then my friend Gregory Bernard, producer of âRubberâ and âWrong,â he just found some money and said, âOkay letâs do ÂRubberâÂ
â and we had a very small amount of time to do it, but that was part of the excitement. Okay, letâs do a movie in twelve days, letâs go, letâs go, letâs go, you know?
CS: Twelve days, thatâs pretty amazing.
Dupieux Yeah, thatâs how we did it and now, I have to say Iâm addicted to this. To me, the idea of working three years on a movie is a nightmare. A nightmare.
CS: You have some bigger name actors in this including William Fichtner and Alexis Dziena who weâve seen in quite a few movies. How did you go after them and had any of them seen âRubberâ and knew going in your style of filmmaking?
Dupieux It was different for everyone. For example, Bill who plays Mr. Chang, never heard about me. His agent just sent him the script and he just loved the script without knowing anything about me. Iâm quite proud of it, because Iâm pretty sure that he receives a lot of scripts.
CS: Iâm sure. Heâs a busy guy.
Dupieux Yeah, and I think Alexis knew âRubberâ or maybe just the trailers, and I also think she knew my music and she also loved the script.
CS: Mr. Chang is a pretty specific character and Iâm not sure that anyone besides Bill could have pulled that off.
Dupieux I know. Iâve been lucky. We knew we needed someone with a big charisma like this for Mr. Chang so Iâve been super-lucky to get Bill.
CS: What about Jack Plotnick?
Dupieux Heâs just a genius. He was in âRubberâ and I knew when we did âRubberâ I had to do more with him. In âRubberâ he had two or three scenes and this scene where he dies, just pure genius. Heâs dying for three minutes. And then working with him was such a joy. The communication between us was so perfect that I knew I had to give him the first part, so I wrote it for him. âWrongâ has been written for Jack.
CS: Your movies have a very deliberate pace and the dialogue is delivered in a specific way, so is it hard to explain to actors like Bill and Alexis that thereâs a very specific way you want the dialogue delivered?
Dupieux No. Strangely, they all get it, probably because we just met. I think the script speaks for itself. What you saw on screen is exactlyÂ
no improv. We just shot the script, so I think they just got it.
CS: But it has to be delivered in a specific way. Some of the lines only work because theyâre delivered in such a deadpan way.
Dupieux I know, I know. I think my script must have some kind of rules and when you read it, you know how it has to be. For example, Bill told me that he loved the part, he loved the script, but he knew he had to find something special for the character so he came up with this crazy strange Indian-German accent, which suddenly creates the character, so I guess this comes from the stupid gag is that heâs named Master Chang and heâs a white dude. So I think for this point, Bill must have thought âOkay, I need to create something.â Honestly, theyâre all perfect in the movie. I think theyâre all perfect in the tone, so I guess Iâm getting good at directing actors because I donât see anything in this movieÂ
theyâre all tuned.
CS: Yeah, it does seem like theyâre all on board. With these movies, youâre definitely working outside reality although there are semblances of real situations. Even sight gags like the clock changing from 7:59 to 7:60, weâre seeing a normal world thatâs outside reality.
Dupieux I have to say that reality is fantastic and I donât see the point of shooting reality on screen unless you have something you want to tell to the world. Like for example, something terrible happened to you and you need to share this experience with the world, thatâs fine, so letâs do it and letâs try to be realistic. I understand this but my vision, when I go to the movies, I just want to be somewhere else. It should be like a trip and it doesnât have to be crazy but just for example, letâs say even if I hate âPiratesâ movies when you watch a pirate movie, youâre in a different world. I think movies should be like this or if someone needs to share something, like a personal experience, and put it on screen, thatâs fine with me, but trying to reproduce the reality, I think thereâs no point. To me, the best movie ever is a dream, something where you donât understand everything but you feel something, because thatâs the power of dreams. When you suddenly wake up and youâve been through something you donât understand, but you were feeling different stuff from real life.
CS: Itâs funny you should say that because I have some pretty crazy dreams and if Iâm watching a movie and itâs not as interesting as my dreams, I figure Iâd be better off at home sleeping.
Dupieux (laughs) Iâm with you. Totally with you.
CS: The last time we talked about music since thatâs obviously a big part of you life and you mentioned you werenât really comfortable doing the score for âRubberâ so you collaborated with someone. For the score for âWrongâ you collaborated with someone else named âTahiti Boy.â How did you find that guy and how did you approach the music differently this time?
Dupieux Thatâs really funny. I was editing the movie, I was finishing editing, so obviously when I edit the movie I need music, because sometimes youâre stuck. You canât edit without the music because it makes no sense, so I had to do it myself. Basically I did the whole movie, the first version of the editing, was covered with a few demos I did, so I did first all the music myself, but then I knew that it was too much like wanking, because I wrote it, directed it, shot it, edited it. I knew that I needed some kind of input from somewhere and then I was giving away my old analog equipment on Twitter. I was moving and we were changing flats in Paris and because now Iâm making music on the computer, I just found all these old great drum machines, but I had like five of them and they were there for nothing because I would never use them again. Iâve been excited by these drum machines like ten years ago, but now they donât mean anything to me and I thought, âThis is sad having these great drum machines for nothing.â They were covered with dust, so I said, âOkay, Iâm going to give them away on Twitterâ so I just said, âHey guys. I have like the 808, 909, 606 and theyâre for free. Who wants them?â Randomly, I picked some guys and I gave away my drum machines and I found this guy I knew from another friend and he said âYeah, you should give him the 808â which is the best. The friend told me âThis guy is great. Give it to him because he will use it, he will make music with it.â I had this meeting with this guy, heâs in Paris, and I made an appointment, âYeah come and meet me at this cafĂŠ at 2:00 tomorrow.â The guy comes and Iâm with the drum machine in the bag and then we talk a bit and then two days later Iâm like, âThis guy should do the soundtrackâ randomly, because the feeling was nice and we had a good conversation and I knew he was the right guy. Donât ask me why, I donât know. I just had a very good feeling with this guy and I was right. He started working on the soundtrack and he did a great job.
CS: I get the impression youâre someone who does a lot by instinct. You get the idea for something and you go for it.
Dupieux Yeah.
CS: Since youâre doing so much by yourself, do you ever do something and wonder âMaybe this is too crazy and I need to tone that backâ? Do you ever question what youâre doing or do you decide âThatâs what Iâm doing.â
Dupieux No, I mean I started shooting short films when I was 15, so I know when Iâm doing something good. I donât know why but I know it and when Iâm confused, I can talk with the actors, with my producer, and we find a solution very quickly but usually, for no reason, I know this is good. And to answer your question, they trust me because when you know something and feel good about something, everybody trusts you.
CS: As a filmmaker, how important is commercial success to what you do?
Dupieux Thatâs the only thing. I just want to be able to make another one and another one and another one, so like I said, my first movie was a flop.
CS: What do you consider a flop? That no one was able to see it?
Dupieux No, because it was like a real movie in the industry. It cost a lot of money and so the distribution had big expectations for the release in France and nobody liked the movie, so that was a problem. If you know my story and my music, I did this stupid hit at the end of the Â90s, âFlat Beatâ with the Flat Eric doll and I directed the Leviâs commercial, too, and that was huge. In Europe, we sold three million copies of the record, we sold some puppets. I had this experience so the only thing Iâm looking for is that I want to be able to do more movies. Of course, if âWrongâ tomorrow is a huge success and everybody loves it, I would be very happy, but Iâm not looking for this.
CS: Are you going to release a soundtrack for âWrongâ as well?
Dupieux Yeah, itâs done, itâs done.
CS: Are you going to wait for a theatrical release to put it out?
Dupieux Exactly. We will try to put it out a month before the movie release, but itâs done but we did it with the David, Tahiti Boy, the same guy, so we just transformed the soundtrack into a record, just like with âRubber.â
Wrong opens in select cities on Friday, March 29, following its run on Video on Demand. You can see where itâs playing theatrically (and download that soundtrack) on the Official Site.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)