The Parsing Haus is pleased to present this HausGuest guest post by Marco Cerritos, fellow member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Here, Marco interviews the creators of “How to Talk to Girls at Parties”–Neil Gaiman, who wrote the short story on which the film is based, and Director John Cameron Mitchell. Enjoy!
The celebrated work of author Neil Gaiman has taken readers to all kinds of magical worlds in novels like “Good Omens,” “Beowulf,” “Coraline” and “American Gods” among many others. But on this particular day he has traveled to San Francisco to promote the film version of one of his short stories, “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.” Paired with the film’s director John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”), the duo seem giddy and full of energy right before its screening at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival. As Gaiman later explains, part of his excitement is to see how the film plays with its first festival audience outside of its Cannes 2017 world premiere.
The story of an alien group visiting London in the 1970’s and getting enraptured in the punk rock music scene has had a bumpy road since that infamous Cannes premiere but Gaiman and Mitchell are the first to admit their first isn’t for everyone. In fact, they wanted to make a film that stayed true to the short story’s eccentric twists and turns and that demanded a polarizing final product. The good news is the people who like “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” will really like it, including the built-in fans of the original story. Helping to bridge the gap is casting Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman and Ruth Wilson as part of the punk rock loving alien troupe.
The following is a transcription of my conversation with Gaiman and Mitchell about the film, its Cannes premiere and what audiences can continue to expect from their work.
Q: Do you like traveling from city to city when it comes to these press tours?
Neil Gaiman: No. I don’t, really. This press tour is special because this is the first time John and I have been answering questions about this movie since Cannes and people aren’t asking us the questions we are used to getting. When you do these interviews you become your own press release. You spend the first two interviews figuring out the things you want to say and once you’ve honed them, everyone else comes in and asks you the same questions and you’ll give them the same answers. You’ll end up going mad by day three.
Q: From the journalists’ perspective it’s hard to build a rapport with someone when you only have a few minutes to talk to them. I have interviewed both of you before but I don’t expect you to remember me from the hundreds of other critics you’ve talked to over the years.
Gaiman: I’m glad you looked ridiculously familiar.
John Cameron Mitchell: It’s always easier to do interviews for something you love. When you’re a movie star you’re always doing interviews for things you have to promote and don’t care about.
Gaiman: When I did interviews for “Beowulf” those were very difficult and no fun.
Q: I’ve heard that was a tough shoot so I can only imagine having to talk about it.
Gaiman: Putting the movie together was fun but when I saw the finished product I thought to myself, this isn’t what I thought we were making.
Q: Since we’re being candid, how do you feel about the process of promoting this current movie?
Gaiman: I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever been more baffled than coming out of the screening at Cannes where we got a standing ovation that went on for fifteen minutes. Then the reviews came out and the guy from Variety said “this is the worst movie I’ve seen at Cannes” and then the next review from the BBC said “this is the worst film I have ever seen.” Then I thought to myself, I used to be a film reviewer. I was only a film reviewer for two-and-a-half years but I saw many films that were much worse than this.
Mitchell: It was kind of cool to read those reviews.
Gaiman: The audience loved it and audiences at Cannes are not polite. If they did not like it we would’ve known.
Q: They also work in extremes, something is either the best or worst they’ve seen.
Gaiman: Yes. Eventually I think I said this is not a film for elderly male film critics at Cannes. The next day was our press day and we were terrified we were going to be asked questions like, “how does it feel to be the worst film at Cannes” but instead people kept telling us how much they loved the film.
Mitchell: With this film Neil and I agree that we are trying to make the favorite film of the fifteen-year-old girl that is inside each of us. Even at Cannes we had a full party on the beach with punk music and we made sure to get college students into the party for free.
Q: John, is “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” coming to the Criterion Collection?
Mitchell: They do have a deal with Warner Brothers. I had heard from someone at Warners that it was happening but then the guys at Criterion weren’t getting back to me so I don’t know for sure.
Q: Since you’re both traveling from city to city getting a lot of the same questions, is there one question you wish people would stop asking you?
Gaiman: For me it’s when people ask, “what’s happening with the Sandman movie?” One day there will be a Sandman movie. I never have an answer because I don’t own it or control the rights. I was 26 when I made the deal, I knew what I was getting into. It’s not mine to control.
Q: There was also a long wait for “Good Omens” and that finally got made.
Gaiman: “Good Omens” was interesting.
Mitchell: It’s going to be great.
Gaiman: He’s seen a five minute sizzle reel. “Good Omens” is really weird because I look around and can’t believe I’m showrunning the most expensive thing the BBC and Amazon have ever made. Everybody’s being great and it’s all happening. Making “Good Omens” is something that I did for Terry Pratchett. It’s taken years of my life and I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t Terry’s last request. Terry and I had been looking for a writer and showrunner and then he wrote me a letter saying, “you don’t have time but you have to do this because you’re the only one who cares about ‘Good Omens’ as much as I do.” And then he died. Bastard.
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” opened May 18 in limited release.
Thanks to SFFCC Member Marco Cerritos for this HausGuest post!
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