Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva Discuss The WILD Opening and Fighting Snakes in 'Babylon’

I think what we have here in Hollywood is high Arts it's [Applause] [Music] party where would you go I always wanted to be part of something bigger yes let's go so I'm actually going to start with asking you guys about something that no one's probably asked you about yet that opening party scene man opening partition that goes on for 30 minutes Laurels and spring groundbreaking it's all I'm talking about it's so gnarly and gargantuan that I I had to start off by asking you guys what is one detail from shooting that sequence that you feel like you'll remember forever [Laughter] the like actual emojis that will literally happening um there's a lot of nudity yeah there was a lot of nudity as Gene says you she tells it better but yeah be careful where you get backed up yeah right while and and to keep the energy up every time it was so kind of hilarious we would all band together and we had the most incredible group of background artists you know composed you know Dances I think some people are actual porn stars just extras friends you know everyone kind of in there together and creating this atmosphere day after day after day hour after hour and it was just we'd all kind of pump each other up like a sport team going on to the field it'd be like all right come on come on and then we'd go for another take and then yeah three two one yeah literally Damien chazelle is able to cram so much in it and yeah one shot yes incredible yeah I've never quite seen it really and the camera is like capturing it on he's just waiting for you know to tell it that one take where everything falls into place it's wild pretty magical I can't wait for the world to see it it was my favorite scene in the movie another scene that I really really Jack and it reminded me about the last thing you and I talked about after I talked to you after bullet train because we were talking about the later stage in your career and I was watching it and I was wondering I wonder what further Reflections Brad is having on his own career after shooting this scene I've never thought that we were more important than the machine itself you know the film takes place when this new industry is is blooming and uh they're defining they're defining itself and making that big jump of course a lot of the silent artists were left behind and they moved to more theater actors for me no I I I've never I've always seen us as all part of a community and not that the thing does not exist with one of us it exists with all of us and and you see this lineage of all the people you've come before and I see this younger Generations coming up and Diego being one of them and doing fantastic work and it's all you just feel a part of this and this wonderful lineage of community that's that's the way I feel about it oh that's beautifully said and I love that you just said that about Diego Diego you you know man crush it you did crush it I mean he walked in you know and crushed he really did and Manny has such an interesting entrance into Hollywood and you did too because I was reading that Damien had you pretend to be a production assistant on a commercial that he was shooting with Brad is that how you guys first met can we hear more about that day yeah Damian called me and he told I was in Mexico and he told me like I want to direct this commercial and Brad is a lead but also you are going to get to know like the DP the custom designer blah blah blah but the idea like in the cruel is in the crew member of the commercial I was Damian's assistant and then the man told me like work as a Pao so the idea is like nobody has to know that you are the actor so I was working there like a PA giving coca-colas and bringing coffee to everyone and at some moment it was Mary Mary the custom designer we were sitting in a in a couch and uh Mary told you like Brock have you met Diego and it was like a little confusing and Damian was like I wanted to be a secret but is that Damien chasselle's mind like meta fictional sometimes but also like very creative you know like this is an opportunity let's do it let's pretend you're a PA why not it's a great way to meet that why not did that throw you first wait that wait what oh great that's so funny Margo I have had I've been so lucky and had the pleasure of being able to interview you in so many different roles and I read that you said this is probably the greatest role you'll ever play and when I saw you fight that snake I was like she's not wrong what would you like choreographing that scene and what was it like for the both of you watching her do that no shame wow no machine whatsoever we were all out in the desert and uh the freezing desert freezing desert I have no top on for all the things that were carefully crafted and choreographed this one actually kind of wasn't and it was a lot of me like flapping like trying to fling my arm around to fling this puppet snake up so it would look like it was real and writhing in the air and then just screaming and running after people and it was just it was a show like the way the way it looks on screen is actually a little bit how it was like I would run after Lucas and he's got the toilet seat around his name he TR I mean it was so it was so hard not to laugh but we we had a lot of fun and then of course there's you know Diego's character goes down and Brad's character goes down and it's just all hell breaks loose and then Lily's character comes in and kind of like bosses the situation but I mean it was it was insane we had real rattlesnakes uh that were full of Venom as well quote unquote the rap snack Wrangler said huge Rattlers it was it was just the whole thing was Madness like an average by snakes they're the 10 dead ones well thanks for sharing that that scene was just the best I love this movie so much and when I went home and reflected back on it I had such an outer body experience because I live here in L.A and I was like whoa how many people have like lived in my apartment that like worked in the movie industry and how many people are going to be having the conversations of having with you guys right now just like hundreds of years from now the sort of immortal immortalness of it was so that's why Damian's so amazing but I think what I took away the most was this is really a movie about people who want to make their Mark in the world and so I wanted to know what stamp do you want to leave on this big ocean we call the movie business that we're just like waves in well I you know I would say I mean the characters you see in all in different ways are all fighting for you know to have meaning to be loved and some about go about it in healthy ways and some of us don't but um it's just that just to be able to contribute to the you know to this this you know I mean I think of the stories I grew up with and how they affected me they got me out of my hometown and out to see the world so you know to be a part of that I you know and hopefully some some of the stories that I've been able to be in will do the same yeah what would you where would you guys land I think this is me leaving my mock this that's why I wanted to tell you this one part of this yeah that's why I wanted to be a part of this movie so bad I thought this is gonna be one that stands the test of time this is going to be a movie that people still watch in 10 20 30 plus years and I'll be a part of Hollywood history if I'm in this movie yeah yeah and that's how people is going to remember you as Nelly like she was crazy I don't know it's a dream and I like the idea of here Los Angeles not California Hollywood this is the place where the dreams come true right and at least for me it's it's happening so I think that quote is true you know when I first moved to L.A you know what shines on all the doors read no actors or dogs allowed I changed that good morning good job for you I'll do anything that's the they said to screw us Gina congratulations on this movie it's it's so good one of my favorite scenes is between Eleanor and Jack she's talking to him about the Twilight of his career and I was watching it and I was thinking about how you and Brad are these veteran actors and I wanted to know did the both of you reflect on the meaning of that scene we didn't talk a lot about it um because it's just so gorgeously written you know that it was just kind of all there on on paper but and and Brad doesn't have a lot to say but I mean working with him and it just the look in his eyes it was just it was like a heartbreaking you know because it's that what she says to him is what every actor fears and doesn't want to believe is true and it's um kind of devastating but then she ends up you know just she's right there telling him you're you're going to be immortal I mean people who aren't even born yet are going to know who you are and think they know you and and that is that magic that everybody kind of is attracted to though we all are it's like everyone in this room right like it's it's the immortal and mortalness of it it just that really stuck with me when you're like 50 years from now some kid's gonna see you and it's inspired I mean like that's so true for you too Gene and I just love your character Eleanor because first of all you have like the best characters with the most insane fashion sense ah yes just like the best but I know that Damien also made you base your character off various writers from that era right like Eleanor Glenn and Adella Rogers St John's I was wondering what you took from those people to sort of create your Eleanor well I mean again I always I don't I try not to go overboard with research because I feel like if it doesn't support the script then it's just going to be a conflict so I always let the script sort of be my my road map but he did he did uh mention um a couple people to me specifically Eleanor Eleanor Glenn and I found her really fascinating because she she was sort of a fairly proper English woman but at the same time she wrote very racy novels and she came to Hollywood because she obviously was attracted to this industry and you know she was one of the very first women to ever write a screenplay and she wrote um a movie that clarabo did and she coined the phrase it girl wow I didn't know that yeah yeah and uh she was she was really interesting that's really fascinating thanks for sharing that I love the conviction that Eleanor has and every time I've heard you speak publicly Gene like whether you're accepting an award you have this unalterable knowingness and presence oh my gosh thank you and it is so I just had to ask you where do you think that comes from well that's a very nice thing to say I I don't know I I guess um if you feel strongly about something then it's really easy to talk about it it's sort of like when you watch politicians and you can tell immediately or at least you should be able to tell immediately um some people get fooled um whether or not they really believe what they're saying or they feel passionate about what they're saying like the way when you listen to you know Obama's speak you know I mean you could tell or or Clinton too for that matter both super bright and you knew that they could just speak endlessly on a topic because they felt strongly about it and they knew a lot about it and they didn't have to stop and think or even you know look at notes or anything it was just kind of but I'm getting off topic but I um I guess part of it too is just you know doing it long enough you sort of feel more comfortable and every time I watch you I'm like how can I get that I love it well you just have to live a little bit longer a lot longer that's so funny is it important for you for a character when you're picking a role for your character to have that conviction too because I've noticed it when I've seen you in Watchmen or hacks or you know in this well no not necessarily because I certainly want to do things that are kind of very different from each other um that's sort of the goal as an actor to not do the same thing you know so no not necessarily but maybe I'm attracted to to Parts like that um like when I think about like say for instance the character I played in Fargo you know and people said oh she was scary I thought no she was just a really supportive mother [Laughter] I'm telling you it's that conviction it's so magnetizing and absorbing I love it about you so much I just want you to know when I watch um I have to ask you about the most outrageous party scene like known to man that's like literally right behind you what is one detail from shooting that sequence that you'll just remember forever well one thing that just made me laugh in retrospect and retrospect was the party scene at Jack's house the pool party where there's topless women and guys are jumping in the pool in their Tuxedos and everything and Eleanor is just kind of sitting there kind of just taking it all in I don't think it actually ended up as part of the scene I don't think we actually focused on Eleanor at all in that scene but when we shot it I didn't even realize until we were almost done that the whole time there were four young guys completely naked behind me throwing a football back and forth talk about being upstaged I didn't even know they were there when did you know this I well I because because the next scene is when we're all going to the desert to watch Margot fight the snake and there was a little scene which ended up getting cut where I'm squished in the back of this car with all four of those guys and they're like shirtless and drunk and I'm just you can tell Eleanor's just kind of in hog heaven she's like you know have any of you read any of my books and she's like oh and of course they're like clueless you know but wait that's amazing Damien we need to release that please that's literally iconic um before I leave Eugene that's that's an image I'll never forget I feel like this movie is really about people just wanting to leave their mark on the world so I wanted to know like what stamp do you want to leave on this industry in this massive ocean we call the movie industry that we're all just like waves in well I've always tried to when I was younger I would I would think okay I don't want to do anything do anything that'll embarrass my parents I know that's a silly thing for an actor to think I got no huge argument with a friend once who literally stopped speaking to me because I said that he said well you're not a real actor you know if you don't do you know nude scenes all this kind of stuff okay whatever but um I've always wanted it to be something that I would be proud of and not be ashamed of and that it was well written and and and um it was interesting because Charlton Heston who I would not normally quote Charlton Heston but he said something that I thought was very wise one time he said as an actor if I believe I have the power to make people feel something or think differently about something you know or Enlighten them about something he said I also have to accept the fact that I could affect them negatively not just positively I've always thought that was a really smart observation and so I try to I try to think about that I don't want to do anything that's damaging well if only that friend you got in a fight with knew that you were in the back of a car with four shirtless sweaty guys yeah we have to do we have to redefine the form map those dreams and print them into history look up and say Eureka I'm not alone let's talk about the opening party scene [Laughter] what detail from shooting that sequence do you feel like we'll just remain ingrained in your brain and for years and years to come like if you had to close your eyes and just think of like the imagery oh gosh should I be a little bit more obscure absolutely no the amount of skin um great way to put it yeah man hey right and the the large volume of white powder that was pushed out on a cart that was the first time on set where I realized oh my gosh this is how it was back in the day and how did not more people die every day it does smell like baby powder I think it was lactate powder that's just a funny question like baby powder it's just that there was so much of it I love that smell yeah it was definitely like no it wasn't baby powder it was lactate powder right what about you what's the it's the same as the amount of skin there's just so much going on and I was like I've never been so hyper focused on something where I had the trumpet in my hand and I was just like close your eyes pretend you're hitting a really high note because it's it's so distracting and also because there were so many moving Parts in that scene we really couldn't afford to get distracted so everybody was doing their own thing but the cameras forever moving so if you're you're doing that count and it's like by count 15 the Duty's supposed to have the champagne bottle like you know yeah in his back or whatever because everything's the dance you know so well how long did it take you guys to shoot that game I think we decided it was two weeks we forgot it felt like two weeks two weeks feels right yeah I think it was which feels like a year when you're doing it like over and over over and over again high energy fully committed yeah amazing background actors who are just like yeah well let's talk about you guys though fully committed that performance Lily was so good thank you it was just you were so um mesmerizing thank you and I know that sometimes actors can come to their characters more through finding how they dance so I wanted to know how did that performance help you find Lady Faye um well I started out as a dancer and then I kind of took uh singing lessons um on this side and then acting came last so I started out a musical theater and to have been able to do this film and get to use all three things that I've you know learned to do in my life was really rewarding and it almost felt like a nice Circle um but it was it was really fulfilling because I got to do you know stage performing again that day because I got to perform in front of all the background actors which I had not done in a long time since I was last time on stage so you're like I'm a triple threat yeah but I was like so nervous because like don't fall don't trip you know all these things yeah um Jovan I wanted to ask you thank you for answering that I was reading that you and Damien were texting a lot different songs to each other to help to sort of craft who Sydney Palmer is and I was wondering if there was a song specifically that resonated with you yes Lush Life by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman was one of the most beautifully written and performed solved but also one of the most like depressing and it's not that we felt that like Sydney was always depressed or anything like that we just talked about jazz music and which songs stayed with us the most like after we listened to them and that was that's one of my favorite ones is actually that whole album is called Lush Life but the the single Lush Life and Damien's I can't remember what Damian's was but he also has a way larger Jazz collection in his uh in his repertoire than I do so but yeah wow I love the way that you described that I feel that way when I listen to Thelonious Monk there's like it's impressing on your tone but yeah yeah it's so good and I know that you guys use Duke Ellington and Curtis Mosby as references so what did you pull from them to sort of craft yourself it was more just a conversation about those about these early pioneers and along with them I shared with uh Damien there was a it's on YouTube now I think but there was a round table on Charlie Rose I believe it was and it was with Stanley approach when Marcellus and Robert Greene were all different pioneers and Jazz but more contemporary jazz and they had this discussion about what music meant to them and what music or jazz music specifically how important it was to like the musical diaspora or whatever um and I kind of used that conversation to take I took like things from each of those guys as far as like how they spoke you know their personalities and things and I kind of took a little bit of from everybody to kind of build Sydney and Sydney wasn't solely based on one person so I had her freedom to kind of take some creative license and just have some fun right and that's what's so cool about all the characters in this film is there there's little parts of a bunch of different people like lady Faye for example of course there's anime Wong but partially inspired where does where does uh anime start and stop in your character and then what did you bring to ladies day I mean she was presented initially as anime Wong so a lot of research was done on her when we uh when I was casting and said you know this is a fictional character based on anime but here are some of the scenes that here are some of the scenes from films the great Classics that inspired it such as um Marlena Dietrich in Morocco is the inspiration obviously for the opening number in The Tuxedo so I think it's just we we still share a very similar characteristics with a little bit of both of them it's just sort of like making a little martini with a couple of ingredients so yeah it all came together just through again same same thing a little lots of chats about what we like what felt right we tried a different different a bunch of different voices and yeah well you make a stellar lady Faye Martini shaken not stirred I loved it what I really took away from watching this movie like when I went home was just this notion that it's really just about people who want to make their mark on the world and so I wanted to ask about the view what do you hope your stamp is on this like huge thing we call the movie industry like hundreds of years from now I think that's it it's just to be spoken about hundreds of years from now that'd be great I mean there's so many like that'd be cool yeah not to say it so casually but there are so many gifted artists that exist right now that are probably like out on the street that will never get discovered it's just like a weird thing of life and especially in this industry so just to be able to make a mark and to be remembered as an artist who always tried to push himself and enjoyed what he what he what he does I think that's what I would want people to think of me yeah as an actor who was given the opportunity to portray someone who paved the way a century ago you know and and being able to tell my version of this story and then um paying it forward and hopefully you know the younger generation will get to see it and it should Inspire them to also pursue their dreams without any obstacles like we once had we are going to be more than they ever bargained for what I do means something it's bigger than you [Applause] I was just in New York and I love La so I wanted to thank you for making films about LA because there's so many about New York and I was reading that um you shot this in 35 millimeter anamorphic format because you said that La is an anamorphic City and I love your perspective about La so I wanted to know what kind of character is LA to you who who is La well la has changed a lot for me ever since I moved here you know I'm still kind of figuring out who La is I think that's part of what's magical about it is that it is many different things and and really at its core it's just this completely unique singular almost kind of non-city City I think there's an irrationality to even the origins of La if you think of sort of building this town basically in the desert you know and how rapidly it grew Beyond anyone's expectations I mean you sort of see a little bit of that in this movie La going from you know kind of rural Cow Town basically to Major World metropolis and a lot of that has to do with the movies of course and this sort of the the the kind of Moths To The Flame sort of uh atmosphere that the movies uh spurred on um but you still feel that in La you feel the dreamers you feel the people striving you feel the Moths To The Flame you feel also the desperation of that you feel the good and the bad of it it's it's a kind of crazed again singular place um that has an energy that's really again unique I think in the world and so uh yeah for me you know with this movie at least it was really a matter of trying to capture that and do that Justice and sort of maybe see to what extent you know sort of where that came from yeah it's interesting that you said good and bad because when you when I think of La La Land I think of a film that's a Hollywood fantasy when I think Babylon I think of a Hollywood Nightmare and I was wondering did you did you ever think of Babylon as a companion film to La La Land how do you think they complement each other I do think they are sort of two sides of of this coin that is La maybe one is the dream the other is the nightmare uh I think of La La Land as this sort of uh you know Tender Love Letter uh uh of all my sort of most affectionate feelings about Los Angeles and this is maybe more of a poison pen letter but you know at the same time I kind of wanted to do everything in this movie I wanted this movie to sort of Encompass the full the full meal that is La the good and the bad there's a lot of love in this movie and it was a labor of love to make and and it kind of took many years for it to just sort of gestate and develop in my mind uh it was the biggest undertaking I'd ever done you know so it sort of took me a while a while to feel like I was ready to do it um but I think part of that has to do with fact that I wanted to try to do justice to both sides of the spectrum of La the sort of weird Paradox this contradiction of Hollywood of the movies of of Los Angeles that is um you know on the one hand the highest you know kind of the uh of humanity the sort of you know the the most beautiful people the most beautiful art the kind of like uh this sort of um you know Humanity approximating the Divine on the one hand and then on the other hand just the most sordid depraved like just kind of uh sometimes disturbing uh shocking outrageous kind of behavior that you could ever imagine and those two things coexist and they really coexisted In This Very Vivid way kind of this kind of Untamed way uh back in the early days back in the 20s I think Hollywood learned how to cover a lot of that stuff up and sweep it under the rug as time went on but back in the time of this movie it was all still new and it was wild and you still felt the circus roots and you felt this kind of energy in the air that was was completely insane I mean first of all I did a writing Workshop called making peace with Paradox and I think that you absolutely nailed the parent because I think that's life right is making piece of the Paradox and you enabled it because that is what La is there's like high highs and there's low lows and you talked about it being a labor of love in the 1920s and I know that you you did so much research you know you watched films from the era went through historical archives that all ended up becoming this 100 page single space document called the dissertation yeah and I was wondering out of all of that research you did I didn't call it the district that's how my producer referred to it sorry this is a dissertation you're giving me we started joking about it like that because it kind of felt like that it was like 10 years of research just sort of single space piled into this document I was like okay we got to find a story here amazing what was the craziest thing that you uncovered about the 1920s and in there's just stuff that left my jaw on the floor and that was what I wanted the movie to do to audiences I had this idea in my head as I think a lot of people do of the 1920s as this sort of um you know like the wildest thing people did was drink a little too much and dance to Charleston and maybe wear a bobbed haircut or something like that was the sort of that was what was wild back then and it's just not true you know the the I didn't realize how much cocaine use there was at the time how many drugs that now of course are illegal were legal at the time how much that sort of drug adult Behavior informed how they made movies how they partied how they lived um people dying young you know suicides drug overdoses just again these sort of extremes of behavior people becoming movie stars like that like overnight literally overnight uh and uh and then completely toppling over the next you know a year later I mean there was just this sort of um turbulence to the time that I just don't think many movies have have done Justice to yeah and I love that you made this because anyone going in thinking like oh my God this is like a lot or it's excess it's like well that's how it was exactly and I love um oh I just love that you did that obviously no one's ever gonna forget the Epic opening party scene what what was it like shooting that and or what was it like being in that chaos and is there one specific detail that you feel like well you'll just never forget it was sort of like a Vortex it felt like you know because we had this sort of incredible set that our uh production designer reflection Martin That's rebuilt and we had the whole cast there it was part of why I wanted to begin the movie with the parties that it's an ensemble movie so you have to kind of have a reason to have your whole your whole cast of characters in one space before they go their separate ways so you've got Brad Pitt you've got Margo you've got Diego calvo you've got flea you've got Jean Smart you've got the whole sort of Jovan legionly got music blasting so you know we're on set we've got the full cast we've got like 300 of the most you know I'd say the most uninhibited extras I've ever seen uh you know and uh you know the first few days it was hard it was challenging the logistics were really complicated you're trying to sort of get the steps right and trying to figure out how to shoot this but by day three day four it started to actually feel like a party you know so I think by the end we felt like we were kind of emerging from a two-week Bender of some kind where you know as far as I know no one was literally drunk or high though again who knows but we sort of felt like we were getting drunk and high on the atmosphere on the movie and and I think that comes across in the film total 100 is there one detail that oh one detail I mean you know sort of that remains rent-free in your mind uh well yeah I mean um I guess I mean it's sort of central to the scene but you know I just can't stop thinking about this dance that Margot does that um you know that she'd sort of been rehearsing for a while kind of you know figuring out sort of uh the broad Strokes for it just like in a dance studio and you know we sort of would do kind of small rehearsals with her and the choreographer but then once we actually started shooting it and she's surrounded by again very uninhibited extras and dancers in ridiculous costumes and like floating paper mache heads and stunts and you know animals I mean the whole thing having her in the center of that and what's amazing about Margot is that you know you can create the most sort of over-the-top spectacle of a scene but you put Margot Robbie in it and you still can only look at her that's the definition of a movie star and so it was kind of this amazing moment in the movie where her character is literally kind of becoming a star showing people that she's a star at that moment and and I think there's this meta thing going on where Margot Robbie the actress is doing exactly the same thing reminding us what that special something that's intangible that you can't really put into words uh is that a star has and you just can't take your eyes off her it's one of the most mesmerizing stretches of sort of performance uh kind of physical performance that I've ever seen an actor uh do on film she really is so absorbing and I was talking to Gene Smart about you know the character was based on and she was telling me how one of them had coined her name's escaping me had coined the it girl phrase that's Eleanor yeah yeah and watching Margot the crying scene I mean that was Unreal it was so well done I was so obsessed um all the characters and all the casts are amazing but there's another character in the film I wanted to ask you about and that is Singing in the Rain um I feel like that film is very much a character in yours and I wanted to know why that was instrumental to the story that you were trying to tell well you know it's it's the first time I ever encountered this period this transition in Hollywood history from Silent Cinema to sound Cinema was the way it's depicted it's singing The Ray um and so I think as I was making this movie it sort of uh bit by bit dawned on me then in some ways what we were doing was making this kind of you know darker R-rated like more extreme Counterpoint to sing in the Rain the sort of uh showing in some ways uh what I think is sort of closer to the truth of the the sort of more sordid reality of what was going on uh that you get a sliver of and sing in the rain which is has always been one of my favorite films um so it kind of felt like we could have this fun dialogue you know between the two movies and and and and in this movie without spoiling anything you sort of see a little bit the literal Origins for singing the rain as the as a movie so you kind of see you know it's a weird sort of indirect making of sort of origin story for singing the rain um because you're seeing the real things or let's say kind of a fictional version of the real things that ultimately inspired seeing in the rain and where that song came from and where the characters came from and who they were sort of spoofing and who they were drawing from um of course again Singing in the Rain gives you a very um you know sort of of family-friendly happy ending kind of version of it Babylon gives you something very different um but uh but I think it was important to sort of acknowledge sing in the rain and have that dialogue um between the two films I love that you add it in there and Brad in that scene is so iconic it's so funny I was talking to Brad and Diego about how they met because that was a really cool way you know he was obviously a PA on a commercial you were doing you had to meet in that way and just everything with yeah which was Diego's idea he was like I'm I just got to get on this set how can I be on this set and I think you know because it was like oh I remember also because it was covered so it was like it was a commercial I was doing with Brad before we shot Babylon and they would only you know you could only be on the there was no visitors instead so you can only be allowed because of sort of coveted numbers and stuff you could only be allowed if you actually had a job on set so Diego was like I'll be a PA I'll just go grab people coffee and stuff it's like really you want to yeah I mean it's so funny because it's literally like the character he plays in the movie I mean it's the same experience whatever I have to do to get on that set I'm doing and that's what he did it's the best it's the best chemistry test and I was also reading that Olivia walked through a lot of the lines and there's basically an iPhone version of this movie that Diego's in which I thought is really cool for me personally I wanted to ask you um you know Diego was a latinx character and is someone who's latinx I thought I wanted to know why you made that choice to tell a lot of the story through that lens because that meant a lot to me yeah I mean I you know it's I think a lot of what inspired me with this movie was when I would read things that felt like I hadn't seen them before uh in in depictions of old Hollywood for instance I hadn't realized to what extent those sort of early days of Hollywood were way more uh you know diverse than we than we often think and and uh and in some ways there was a kind of freedom and fluidity uh you know culturally ethnically linguistically gender-wise sexually to Hollywood in those early days that that got lost that's one of the things I think that really did get sort of changed and suppressed and uh uh eliminated in many ways once Hollywood became more of a big business a big industry and the code came in the moral codes came in and regulations and uh it just became less of that sort of free circus Town um so this movie is about in some ways you know that sort of transition and so it just felt right that you would have someone in the middle of that who again is not someone who you've seen before or in a movie about old Hollywood and it's also someone who would feel like both an outsider and an Insider you know who would feel like he was at home and not at home always at the same time that sort of tension um and he's got this dream a Diego's character man he's got this dream this Burning dream to be part of something bigger to be part of Hollywood um but the odds are stacked against him for so many reasons um but he happens to be at the right place at the right time when there's this kind of weird upheaval in the industry that allows him for fleeting moment to to uh to get a foot in the door um and uh yeah so it sort of you know felt like that was the right perspective in some ways to hinge the whole movie on and then through his eyes we'd get to know the sort of the more you know let's say traditional movie star types of kind of Hollywood of that time the people that sort of um uh maybe would be more recognizable like the the sort of Brad Pitt equivalent or the Margot Robbie equivalent of that time to get to discover those people Through The Eyes of a newcomer like uh like Diego playing a newcomer like Manny felt yeah just felt like the right choice I know that your great grandfather used to work for Paramount Pictures um in London after World War one and your great-grandmother was a British stage actress and your grandfather I think his name was John was actually also in film so I wanted to know how making this film may be changed wow I wanted to know making this film maybe changed your your understanding of um your own family history well it's funny because I think you know growing up I I certainly didn't feel like uh I had any family history in film it was so sort of long ago I mean the reality is that my grandfather was uh as a child was in I think two movies uh when he was like six years old and and uh partly because yeah his stepdad at the time worked at London Paramount office they were in England anyway so and that was kind of the extent of it so I remember sort of like you know I'd kind of uh I'd ask him questions but I would you know it's sort of what was it like I would never really maybe because he didn't remember that much but you know I I I I never felt like I got much in the way of uh of details but but it did feel like this sort of I don't know I could just tell there was so much more to that Iceberg than than I was uh than than I was seeing um of course yeah it's ironic to now be you know sort of making this movie at Paramount but but it's um you know it's also one of the few Studios left in a way that's still making movies like this and and and um you know has that sort of that kinship that connection that direct line to the origins of Hollywood and to the earliest days that you see depicted in this movie yeah I thought that there was that was pretty cool so I don't know it's right this whole film in general you can tell is the labor of your love you know it's it's a love letter to movies and I love movies and I know you love movies and I really think it's about people who want to put their own stamp on the world and so I wanted to know what what stamp do you want to leave onto the movie industry in this big you know I guess this big ocean that we call the movie industry that we're all just waves in uh yeah I I mean we I think that's exactly right we are just waves in this much bigger thing and I think um I don't know I I guess that's what inspires me to try to take the Long View you know and I just I just want to make things that stand the test of time that sort of uh feel like they're doing playing some small part in pushing the art form forward and trying to sort of um expand the definitions of maybe what you expect from a movie you know um so I don't know you know a lot of it's personal also it just goes back to movie experiences that I had growing up or as a sort of you know budding cinephile where I would see a movie go I want to do that you know it just sort of inspired me to try something like that or to take that kind of a risk or that kind of a leap movies where you feel the fearlessness you feel the you feel the the sort of restlessness with the limits of the form you feel like you know the sort of ambition to not just make another movie but to to make something that that you know shakes people and rattles people and shocks people and pushes things forward um so I think that's that's always the ambition um but it is about ultimately making something that's you know hopefully Timeless and that you know you can kind of come back to in 50 years 100 years you know if we're so lucky um and get something from

Channel: Fandango

Views: 80,173

Keywords: Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt interview, Damien Chazelle, Damien Chazelle interview, Diego Calva, Diego Calva interview, Jean Smart, Jean Smart interview, Jovan Adepo, Jovan Adepo interview, Li Jun Li, Li Jun Li interview, Margot Robbie, Margot Robbie interview, fandango

Id: yu-D6CcPTzo

Length: 42min 45sec (2565 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 22 2022