Posted by Mr. Beaks

(This is Part II of an interview that begins on Ain't It Cool News.  You might want to read that first.  I set it up real nice, and ask a bunch of probing questions.  Also, there's an introduction by Moriarty that's probably very complimentary.  I like Moriarty.)

John LeCarre has proven a terribly difficult author to adapt.  His novels have baffled some very fine filmmakers.  I think they’ve all struggled to find the emotional core of his stories because they’re often so busy with such subtle espionage.  You solve this by engaging us emotionally in the very first reel.  But once you do have to get into all the intricate plot mechanics, how do you keep us engaged?

Sometimes you have to expose the plot and present characters.  If I could, I really would have taken all of that out, but you have to use it.  The trick is trying to create the most interesting way to do this.  What I do is, when there’s something on like dialogue, I try to create a different story or thing with the image.  Like the golf course scene.  That scene used to happen in the pub, but then we were walking in Kibera on this railroad track in a slum, and we see this wall.  And inside this wall there’s this beautiful green golf course.  It was amazing.  It was like Hyde Park.  And I said, “I need to do this shot on the golf course.”  So we took it from the pub and put it there.  Now, while you’re hearing the dialogue, the image is telling you something else – this idea of two worlds.  In the film, there’s another point where I have the same comment.  There’s a little moment in the kitchen before they have this party.  We have the servers in the kitchen, it’s very busy and noisy, and we cross the door into a different world.  I tried to explore this world.  What planet is this where we live?  It’s like two planets.  It’s kind of a visual comment on the story.

Ralph Fiennes is a little more dashing than the typical Le Carre protagonist.

Well, in the book, actually, he’s single.  He’s charming and good looking.  Everywhere he goes, when he works in different countries as a diplomat, he always has affairs with his colleagues’ wives.  All the women like him.  He was supposed to be like this.  But he doesn’t like to have any involvement.  That’s why he never got married.  He lives, but he doesn’t touch things really.  He lives in his cocoon, his garden.  He does what must be done, but he really doesn’t get in contact with things.  Then, when he starts searching for Tessa, she teaches him what is happening.

The location that serves as the terminus for these characters is lovely.

It’s called Lake Magadi.  It’s near Nairobi – a two and-a-half hour drive.  It’s a dry lake, and it’s really amazing.  There are so many colors – blues and pinks and whites.  It’s fantastic.

Had anyone shot there before?

I don’t think so.  Yeah.  They have a very small film industry.  There were three or films shot there before us:  Nowhere in Africa, Out of Africa, and that Angelina Jolie movie.

Beyond Borders?

No, no.

The Tomb Raider sequel?

Yes, maybe that.

There are a lot of folks touting this as an Oscar film.

Really?  That’s good news.

(Laughing)  But I think this is interesting because The Constant Gardener is a very cerebral film, and those sometimes have trouble connecting with Oscar voters.

But the love story’s very moving.  At the end, I think it’s very sad and very emotional.

True.  But it’s not a classical, straight ahead narrative.

What I like about the script is that it’s multi-layered; it’s not “this is the good, this is the bad”.  It’s not like that. 

You present the political dilemma, but there’s no preaching.

There was, but I cut it.

Really?

Yeah.  There was a documentary.  At one point, Tessa would go on the internet and watch this documentary that preached against pharmaceutical companies.  And it was my voice preaching, too.  “See what they do!”  (Laughs)  But I decided to take that out.

That’s the kind of thing that can stop a film cold.

Yeah.  “Here comes the director sending his message!” 

That reminds me of that scene in Salvador where James Woods launches into a lecture about the evils of America’s involvement in South America.  You’re like, “No, no, you’re already making this point.  You don’t have to tell me.”

Again!  Yeah, I’m glad I decided to go more subtle.

Shooting in Kenya must’ve been difficult, particularly since the book on which your film is based was banned for a time there.

Once they approved, all the doors were opened.  This was work done by our producer, Simon Channing Williams.  He told the government that we were going to do the film anyway – if not in Kenya, then we would go to South Africa.  I don’t remember which minister said it, but he said, “Well, if you’re going to do it, do it here.  At least, you’ll bring in some money.  And, at the end of the day, this will bring some visibility to the country.  People will know there’s a country called Kenya.”  After he agreed, all the doors were really opened. 

Having made two visually striking films back-to-back, I have to imagine that you get a lot of scripts from the studios.

I receive quite a few.

Do you have any interest in making a mainstream studio movie?

I want to at least, for the moment, produce films from Brazil.  More control, you know?  In the future, if something really interests me – like with [The Constant Gardener].  I wasn’t planning to do a film in English, but just because I read the script and liked it, I did it.  But the plan for the moment… I have two projects that I want to shoot in Brazil.  And actually, as a career, I would like to do what [Pedro] Almodovar does – produce Brazilian films for an international audience.  That would be the best.  Maybe do one film in English here and there.  (Laughs)  But I have no plans to move here, and have a career here. 

The films that you’re going to do in Brazil, are they anything like what you’ve done before?

The two other projects that I’m working on are really more philosophical.  One’s about happiness around the world.  And the other one is about death.  It’s about the meaning of life, actually, our relation with our death.  I never think about one character; it’s always multi-plot stories about something else.  I love [Robert] Altman, because he does the same thing.  Or [Pier Paolo] Pasolini.  Directors who think in multiple stories.