Interview Highlights of 2009: Quentin Tarantino, Jason Reitman, Rachel Weisz, More

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Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino on his respect for the modern-day film critic - “I like reading good film criticism. If I think they’re off base and they just reject my aesthetic, that’s one thing. But if they actually have something thoughtful to say one way or another, that’s good food for thought.”

Writer and director Quentin Tarantino poses for the HollywoodChicago.com lens in this exclusive,
off-the-red-carpet portrait with his career achievement award on Aug. 18, 2009 at the summer gala
for the 45th-annual Chicago International Film Festival premiere of his new film “Inglourious Basterds”.
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Writer/Director Bobcat Goldthwait on his goal in making movies - “I’m trying to make movies that I would go to. If it works for other people, that’s awesome, but I spent most of my career just reacting to whatever was offered me or trying to pursue the things that Lance is trying to pursue - meet women and get rich. It doesn’t work and it’s not very fulfilling.”

Writer/Director Mike Judge on ideas he’s had for Beavis & Butthead since the show ended - “I like to leave the door open, but it seems like every time I do that someone announces it as happening. Right after the movie, I said, “No way I’m ever doing that again. Screw these people.” But then I end up missing the characters. When I was writing Idiocracy, the guy I was writing it with, Etan Cohen, and I kept coming up with ideas. I wanted them to just randomly end up working tech support. You have a computer problem and you end up getting Butthead. (Laughs.) Or something like that. Etan was buying a car at the time and we would talk about the tactics that car salesmen used and how Beavis and Butthead would be funny in that world. We could see how all those tactics would play on them. I also had an idea that was probably too quickly after September 11th where they would get involved with some group the government was looking for. The promise of 70 virgins would motivate them…the CIA would be after them…”

Actor Richard Dreyfuss on the cycle of life - “When you walk by a window when you are 10 years old, you look 10, you feel 10. There you walk by when you’re 15 and you’re 15. But when you get to age 45, there is a little disconnect, as if the film is out of synch. And at 55, there is a definite disconnect between what you’re seeing and how you’re feeling. And then one day you walk by a window and you say, who the f**k is that? And you realize that’s you, and it’s an old Jewish man in the window.”

Woody Harrelson still scanning the red carpet perimeters for potential zombies at the Chicago premiere of “Zombieland” Sept. 28th 2009. Photo credit: Joe Arce/HollywoodChicago.com

Actor Woody Harrelson on the influence of the real world on the popularity of zombie movies - “I think that a lot of it does have to do with having eight years of an administration that made us believe that zombies are taking over. Then again, I do think that maybe the vampires are a little bit ahead right now.”

Writer/Director Michael Moore on disappointment with President Obama - “Well, that’s because we were SO exhausted after eight years and everybody just wanted change immediately. But we know what the reality is. We’ve got the best guy we can get in there right now. He’s a smart guy. He comes from the working class. He’s gonna do right by us. I believe.”

Writer/Director John Woo on China - “The country is changing in a good way. Because I care about China, I love China, I want to see the country get better and better. I was touring in Bejing a few years ago, there after a long absence. I was quite amazed to see many happy faces. The young people all are smiling and realizing they have hope and a better future.”

Writer/Director Spike Jonze on “Where the Wild Things Are” - “I don’t find life to be that simple. I’m more interested in trying to capture what life is like. Life isn’t simple. Life has a lot of grays. Things can be contradictory. Relationships have a lot of different sides to them,” Jonze said. “You’re just trying to put in everything you can. If you’re exploring a theme, you’re going to try to approach it from all sides of that theme as opposed to just ‘it’s like this’.”

Actor Willem Dafoe on the process of a difficult film like “Antichrist” - “I never think of what I do as therapy but what I do is very personal, so how can you not take it personally. That’s the only way you don’t become cynical about what you do. It has to stay personal. You’re exploring how you feel, seeing how your brain works, your relationship to other people, challenge what you think about who you are, the myth of personality, etc. You’re playing with a lot of things that aren’t intended as therapy but bringing your life into your work. These are things I think about anyway but they’re focused in a constructive way.”

Willem Dafoe on the red carpet for the Chicago International Film Festival premiere of Antichrist.
Photo credit: Joe Arce/HollywoodChicago.com

Actor Martin Landau on the secret to great directors - “That’s the secret - casting the right person, somebody with the range and understanding to play your character, and then opening a door and creating a space for them to have fun. I haven’t been directed, literally, in thirty years by anybody. I haven’t been given a direction. I come in with stuff and I figure if they don’t like it they’ll tell me. They don’t tell me. I hit my marks, I say the words, and I go home. All an audience wants to believe is that what’s going on between two or more people is happening for the first time ever. That’s what you have to create in a positive sense. It’s a dynamic of behavior - what’s going on NOW. That’s what’s exciting about what I do.”

Actress Gabourey Sidibe on what attracted her to the lead character in “Precious” - “I felt like I knew her, certainly. I felt like I was related to her, she was a family member, a friend. But Precious is a person I didn’t really want to be a friend with, she had a little too much drama. But I did feel guilty because the point of Precious is that she did feel neglected and ignored. And I’ve been part of the people who have neglected and ignored her. That guilt opened my heart, and I felt so much more compassion for her.”

Actor Kellan Lutz (“The Twilight Saga: New Moon”) on the art of fan appreciation - “You give ‘em a hug, they wet your shirt and they freak out and faint. Then the paramedics are there. It’s great.”

Kellen Lutz of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in Chicago on Nov. 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Adam Fendelman of HollywoodChicago.com

Writer/Director Jason Reitman on the attachment to his lead character in “Up in the Air” - “This is very much about me. I’m a guy who collects air miles freakishly. I’m a guy who’s constantly thinking about the idea of living alone. I like being alone. I cherish my alone time. I love being on the road. I love being in planes. I can go days, weeks alone. And, yet, UI have a wife, kid, and I get to do what I want for a living. It’s not like I have an incomplete life. I guess this is what nags me. No matter how complete and successful my life is, I’m still very much drawn to the idea of waking up in a city where I know no one and have nothing. On this movie, I would just fly to a city and just live in a hotel for a few days. I guess that’s the part of me that’s really central to this story.”

Actor Sean Patrick Flanery on the cult success of “Boondock Saints” - “Everybody thinks they know. Executives say: ‘We do this for a living.’ Well, you f*cked up. You f*cked up! You didn’t put this in the theater, and with no advertising, people just picked it up and said: ‘You’re an idiot. This is a good film.’”

Actor Ernest Borgnine on if life is better now than it used to be - “I don’t think so. We’ve got faster automobiles, and everyone lives faster, but I don’t know whether it’s worth it or not. Because nobody stops to enjoy what life is all about. By going so fast, I think they’re missing out on a helluva lot of good stuff.”

For much, much more, check out our interview page here.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]