Michael Haussman : Dream Hunter
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Renowned commercials (Kodak, Replay, Armani, Guiness, etc.) and video director (Madonna, Chris Isaak,
etc.), Michael Haussman, after several award-winning short films, gives us his first feature-length effort,
surrealistically entitled "Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest". He pays tribute to his masters, Kusturica,
Wenders and Jarmusch and makes his childhood and manhood dreams a reality with this love-dedicated road-movie.
Haussman, a long-time music fan, persuades Nick Cave to act and John Cale to compose the music, which
permeates the whole movie. The international cast rather suits this journey between two beds and two
dreams. Michael Haussman is like his celluloid creation: tremendous and generous. Let's just hope he
comes back soon to give a new life to our endangered fantasies. Interview by Jean-Paul Coillard, photos : DR and Jean-Paul Coillard |
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- It's your first movie, was it an old dream for a great video and publicity director to make a movie? - Yes. That movie was 8 years in the working, because I kept changing the script and rewriting. I left NY 6 years ago and came over to Europe. I'm influenced by Sam Shepard, Hemingway, Burroughs even, the people writing about displaced Americans in the sense that, if Martin Scorsese can tell you a great story about neighbourhood guys, you can only write about what you know and I've always been influenced by writing about travelling. So the script evolved in 8 years' time and gained so many things. I had to do certain things before I could do something else, very metaphorically like the young man, he can't go on with his life until he can turn the page on his relationship. It was a dream to do it, because everytime I was doing a commercial or a music video, I was turning it into a mini-movie, so the first time being on a set and making a movie was the most comforting place to be. I've always thought in terms of film in everything I've done and suddenly it was like being let loose. If you do commercials and music videos, it's 3 minutes long or 30 seconds long, you can master that, because it is a short period of time that you're dealing with. With movies, it's so different. When I finished the movie, I felt so good, but I also felt like a 4 year-old, because with movies, a whole power was opened, I felt very young and good in a way, because the whole world opened suddenly. - Is video a good school to make a movie? - I think so. It depends on how you look at it. If a person makes music videos in the Hollywood sense or personal ones, I think you can tell what people are gonna end up doing commercial or more personal films. For me, I thought it was a great school, because everytime you're filming, you're learning. - In your movie, the hero is very vulnerable, is it why you like this character so much? - Yes. Here's a guy who had his heart literally removed by this girl and when you're heart-broken, especially when you're young, you feel there's no point in living anymore. You feel so vulnerable and I wanted to capture a guy who's travelling and looks like he just got punched in the stomach. If you look at the movie, it's very simple in the way it's laid out. Some people may not get the reason for this whole travel, but the sub-plot, this journey, is what the movie is all about. At the end, he realizes that, throughout the travel, he has changed, through all the people he met along the way. It was the purpose of the movie. - How did you persuade Nick Cave to be involved in this movie, because he's usually reluctant to act? - It was funny, I sent him the script. He read it and called me back. He said it was great and he was really complimentary so I asked him to act and he said he really wanted to do that. So we started talking about the character. He said he'd been sent lots of scripts and he didn't want to be a lead character. Since this wasn't a lead character, it was a role he could relate to. When I went to London, it was the beginning of our friendship. We talked a lot and shared things. He would come to the editing room, as a friend, just to give his opinion on certain scenes, whatever. - Would you work with him in the future, in videos, for example? - No, I'm not interested in making music videos for anyone I'm really close to, I think you risk destroying a relationship, because suddenly you're making a video, it's a publicity for them and you see a different side of them. For movies, yes. As a matter of fact, when I was with him in London, he said he'd like to have a role in my next movie and I'll definitely find one. I definitely want to work with him, not only in the capacity of acting, but musically, I know he would have loved to have sunk his teeth into the composing of the whole thing. And I think his main influence is film music anyway. - In the movie, Henry says he's Lola's fan. What do you think is the difference between a fan, a friend and a lover? - I think at that stage, he's just trying to get through, but I also think that it lets the audience know that he's slipping away by the way he's talking to her. It's almost like his goals changed and it's an important thing, because earlier on in Paris, he says that he loves her and he wants everyone to understand, but at that point, he just wants to see her. I wanted the audience to feel at this stage things were going desperate. - The cast of the movie is very eclectic and international, like the landscape. How did you choose the actors? - When I wrote the movie, I had Karine in mind to play Teen, because I knew her at the time. When I wrote about Jerry, I had Nick Cave in mind, but I had no-one in mind for the other ones. I just made a few castings. For the young man, I looked in London, NY, LA, all over. I chose Ticky Holgado through watching him in "Delicatessen". Ewen Bremner read for the lead character and I thought the character of Chaz would be just perfect for him, and he accepted. - Is this movie a kind of homage to your masters in cinema like Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch? - I was influenced by a lot of people. Philosophically, I'm influenced by Wim Wenders without a doubt and Jarmusch is influenced by Wenders himself. But I think my main influence is Emir Kusturica. After I saw "Underground", I looked at my script again, because suddenly this man is able to introduce music, characters, light and make them all work together. - The soundtrack is very important for a movie. Did you choose the artists on it? - Yes, every single one. A lot of it was also chosen before I ever shot. I gave 6 different CDs to all the actors and told them "This is what influenced me when I was writing". It stayed the same. - Music is very important in your work... - I have a really funny relationship with music, because it's really important to me and at the same time, I love silence. When I'm shooting in Spain, I don't want to bring a modern CD with me, I want to be with flamenco, people. Music comes to me in ways that are really funny. Lee Hazelwood is influencing me right now, you get into a kind of vibe and follow it. I like that with music. It's so important. - This movie is a kind of quest for several things, which one is the most important to you: maturity, dream, love? - To me, it's freedom, freedom to move on. We have a hard time to free ourselves up from our past and old relationships. I know so many people that make these things linger for 5 years. It's so hard to turn that chapter and move on in your life. I think it's part of maturity. But above all, it's opening your eyes. My biggest dream would be for all America to see this movie, because that's the biggest problem with this country. It's the most close-minded country I've ever seen in my whole life. - It's a bit like the American myth of the road... - Yes, but it's new kind of road. If I was making this movie today, I think I would approach it in a completely different way, because of the invisible road of computers. - At the end, the hunter is hunted. Do you think we can't escape our fate? - I have a funny relationship with fate, 'cause I always think that fate sometimes means you sit back and things happen. But I think you send out the signals and things make themselves happen because you want them to happen. I love the idea that the hunter's hunted and also the fact that doing it without consciously knowing is interesting. When I was young, I was with a friend and we saw these great-looking girls. He said "Don't look at them, because it doesn't give them a chance to look at you". It always works that way. - Do you believe in angels? - I have a funny relationship with religion. I relate them to the things we don't know about and I like to believe there are angels that know more than us and look after us. I think I'm still searching for religion, trying to find an answer. The message in this film is that you can run around and look for an answer all you want, but all you're really gonna find is understanding within yourself. At the end of the movie, that's all he understands. - What are your musical tastes? - I love Nick Cave, no doubt about it. I love the concept of Marilyn Manson. Lee Hazelwood's new stuff is great. I have such an aversion to any kind of pop, my ears turn off to it and we seem to be surrounded by so much bullshit. Anything that provokes emotion is great. I got turned on recently to all the back stuff on Sublime. They got really interesting lo-fi sounds. Rap used to be good, Snoop was great, but it's become such trash. There are so many fakes, it's hard to pick through them. Manu Tchao's album is brilliant, I've been listening to it in Spain and it's great ! Interview by Jean-Paul Coillard |
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