Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.09.2008, Side 14

14 | REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 14—2008
INTERVIEW BY SIguRðuR KJARTAn KRISTInSSon
Costa-Gavras is one of the biggest names in mod-
ern cinema and is responsible for many of the most
flabbergasting and controversial masterpieces of
the last century. He was born in Greece and expe-
rienced repressive situations as his father fought
with the left wing branch of the Greek resistance
during World War II. When he reached the age of
18, his adventure began when he immigrated to
his future home ground in Paris.
So tell me, you began studying literature but
not cinema once you arrived in france, was
that for some idealistic reasons?
I began studying literature at Sorbonne in Paris,
but I soon discovered the
charm surrounding motion
pictures and subsequently
that they actually had an insti-
tution providing education fit
for film producing. After that
great revelation I immediately
ceased my literature studies
and emphasized completely
on my film career. It had for-
merly been my aim to eventu-
ally become a writer and im-
pact people in those manners
but I don’t know; I probably
reckoned I had a better shot at
effecting people through the
screen. But of course all of it
was for idealistic reasons.
When you emigrated from
Greece it is said that your father’s back-
ground set back your opportunity to immi-
grate to the uSA. Why did you want to move
to America in particular?
It is right that my father’s past prohibited me from
moving to the USA, but he fought against the Ger-
mans on the Left Wing, with the Anti-Royalists.
That turned out to have a negative effect on both
him and his children later on. The reason for my
desire to move over to the USA was because I had
several relatives over there and would have had a
genuine family, but it was impossible for me to go
there. And as it turned out I am glad that I ended
up in Paris in the beginning of the New-Age com-
motion.
And how was it making flicks in Paris during
the 60s? Could you describe the prevailing
atmosphere?
To me it was quite easy getting into the scene
there. Everyone was welcome at the time so it was
considerably painless for young idealists to pro-
duce their cinema debut. The old heroes realised
the setting was constantly growing so they were
giving advice to youngsters as candy and the ac-
tors were into new and different projects so they
found it merely exciting starring in a film made
by an unknown enthusiast. The great advantage
of making films in France at the time was that the
state supported the industry quite a lot, which
must have opened a few doors. Paris was full of
life and you could find passionate artists at every
single café, enthralled with their own visions, try-
ing to mesmerize every by-passer with their, al-
leged, genius.
Most of your films can undoubtedly be cat-
egorized as political, so do you have a certain
message you’d like present to
the world or do these contro-
versial affairs presented in
your movies solely fascinate
you?
I keep saying that everything that
goes on in one’s mind is political,
all men’s relations and feelings
have a political connection. A lot
of my movies take on happenings
that really took place in the world
and most of these affairs are
extremely controversial, so my
movies maybe are more political
than most but in my opinion ev-
ery single film is political. When
screenwriters, producers and di-
rectors address thousands, and
sometimes-even millions, I look
at it as they have great political responsibility. The
power of film is staggering.
As you say you have adapted real life sce-
narios into movies quite a lot, have you ever
deliberated going all the way: simply making
a documentary?
With the bulk of my movies it would have been
tricky making a documentary for the events usual-
ly happened many years before I made them into
a movie, but I’ve never been particularly fond of
the documentary method. The elements of those
kinds of movies aren’t that exciting. I think when
you fictionalize a real scenario you can make it
much more powerful and you can make the mes-
sage maybe more as a metaphorical approach to
the dysfunctions of our society rather than simply
stating what went wrong at the isolated incidents
presented in the movie.
Your works often have a dark look and you
could even say they are rather bleak. Is it
your aim to make them more enlightening
than entertaining to the viewer?
Yes, why not? In my opinion entertainment isn’t all
about laughs and smiles but more about feeling
something real. It can also be entertaining wit-
nessing a tragedy as well as watching Americans
reciting lousy jokes. I mean, what is ‘entertaining?’
When you go see a film you sit in the theatre for two
hours and are maybe completely taken by a story,
and it’s much more important that you believe
what’s on the screen rather than you’re laughing
the whole time. I make movies about war, beliefs;
well, basically what it is being human.
When you had established a reputation in the
film industry you moved over to Hollywood
and started making movies in English. What
caused this transition?
No, no, no! I didn’t move over to Hollywood, that is
only a common misunderstanding. I had over the
years been offered to direct a lot of studio mov-
ies over in LA but I always refused, I didn’t feel
comfortable doing it. But then there was “Miss-
ing;” a story which really fascinated me about
affairs that I was familiar with in Chile and I did
all the shooting over there and later all the post-
production was done in France. And it’s the same
with all my movies. I think it’s quite dangerous
for Europeans to go to Hollywood; they could get
persuaded by the rotten industry. But it can’t be
denied that Universal produced Missing so it was
non-Hollywood made but it was produced with
Hollywood money.
Did you feel more noticed when you were
doing universal films since you received an
Oscar for example?
Well, when they asked me to make a movie for
them I said they would have to let me do it as I
wanted to, if they wanted to do it the American
way they should get an American to direct it. The
relationship was very clear from the beginning. So
I didn’t experience any notable difference at least
during shooting because I had my regular crew,
but it was maybe more accessible than my previ-
ous works because of the English spoken in it.
Have you ever wanted to work back on your
native ground in Greece?
I have for some time tried to find a Greek story
that I’d want to film, but I haven’t found it yet.
But you could say I had worked there quite a lot,
but for example I shot for my last film in three or
four weeks in Greece. It wasn’t supposed to be in
Greece though; the setting was just rather ideal.
But believe me, one day I will make a movie over
there.
What would you say were the highlights of
your career, and are you satisfied with it in
whole?
Satisfied? Well, I don’t know. My only regret is that
I haven’t done more movies already. It takes too
much time to make a movie! But when I look over
all my works I must say that I am proud of them all,
they are like my babies and I am not ashamed of
any of them. It is difficult to point out a favourite
but you tend to like the ones that are a success
the best. But you know, like the movie “Hanna K”
which received the worst feedback of them all, I’m
still proud of it.
Now that you’re coming to Iceland it must be
appropriate to ask whether you have seen
or heard anything about the Icelandic film
scene?
Very, very little. But before I come over I plan to
browse through some of the Icelandic films that
have been produced. I’m actually very enthusias-
tic about coming over and you have a cinema and
all, right? Well, at least I’m excited about getting
to know Iceland, but I’ve never been there before.
Hopefully I will have the chance to travel around
the whole country.
The Golden Greek
Costa-Gavras elaborates about the staggering power of film
The Reykjavík International Film
Festival, RIFF, begins September 25
and this year it should be bigger
than ever. The Greek director and
Oscar award winner Costa-Gavras
will visit Icelanders and Grapevine
was given to opportunity to con-
verse with him before his arrival.
A LoT oF MY MovIeS TAKe on HAp-
penIngS THAT ReALLY TooK pLAce
In THe woRLD AnD MoST oF THeSe
AFFAIRS ARe exTReMeLY conTRo-
veRSIAL, So MY MovIeS MAYBe ARe
MoRe poLITIcAL THAn MoST BuT In
MY opInIon eveRY SIngLe FILM IS
poLITIcAL.
fIlMOGRAPHY
Un homme de trop (1967)
Z (1969)
Missing (1982)
Hanna K (1983)
Madi City (1997)
Amen (2002)
AWARDS
Oscar for Missing
screenplay (1983)
Bafta Award for Missing
Screenplay (1983)
Golden Berlin Bear for
Music Box (1989)
COSTA-GAVRAS ON THE SET