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Interview with Director James McTiegue
By Heather Wixson With his new action flick, director James McTiegue returns to the action genre after his work on SPEED RACER with his martial arts escapade NINJA ASSASSIN. This project marks the fourth collaboration for McTiegue and the Wachowski Brothers. Recently, Heather Wixson had the opportunity to talk with McTiegue about working with the Wachowskis, the lasting legacy of V FOR VENDETTA, and what he hopes to accomplish with NINJA ASSASSIN. McTiegue and the Wachowskis knew shortly after finishing their work on SPEED RACER that the timing was perfect for NINJA ASSASSIN, especially since it had been a while since Hollywood had a good mainstream martial arts film that actually made it into theaters. “I definitely didn't come in as the Wachowski’s gun for hire on NINJA ASSASSIN,” explained McTeigue. “We always talk about the movies we're going to do so making this movie felt like an amorphous process for me. We have a great relationship and I love working with them. We always try to set the standard of making something original, which is a trademark of theirs and hopefully mine now too.” For those involved with NINJA ASSASSIN, creating an inventive film that still paid homage to classic martial arts films was key to the success of this particular project. McTiegue said, “I personally think there's too much being remade in Hollywood and I see it as a lazy way of getting an audience in the theaters. If I can keep moving forward making original pieces, that's what is going to make me happy as a director.” “I definitely see this as the time to introduce a new generation to martial arts films. If we can get someone who may not have ever wanted to sit down and watch a Bruce Lee film now go and seek it out, then I feel like I’ve done my job,” added McTiegue. McTiegue is very aware that he has come into the film industry within the context of one of the biggest modern film legacies- THE MATRIX. So, how much does THE MATRIX continue to influence this director? “I would say that all the things you do influence how you execute your future films...even something like reading books or just walking around different places,” explained McTiegue. “The thing about THE MATRIX is that every generation there is a film that comes around that changes how not only you make movies but how you watch them as well and THE MATRIX was just that.” “They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and it has definitely influenced cinema since it was released. For myself, I really hope that I have been able to develop my own style independent of THE MATRIX because if I haven’t, then I don’t feel like I’ve grown as a director and I always want to move forward,” McTiegue added. One of McTiegue’s more controversial films was V FOR VENDETTA, which opened to a lot of criticism from not only the film industry but the political world as well. “We made Vas a way of exploring the morality of terrorism and the role of government in everyday life,” explained McTiegue. “I find it interesting that in this country, you can go to war with Iraq and everyone's okay with that decision, but you try to give 40 million people health care, and everyone's up in arms. I wanted to look at what happens to society when you aren’t diligent with watching government and I still like what the movie had to say.” The challenges of opening a movie that was somewhat pro-terrorism (or at least painted terrorist acts in a justifiable light) in a post 9/11 world were something that McTiegue and the Wachowski’s were keenly aware of going into the project. “We were absolutely aware of the challenges with V FOR VENDETTA so we all felt that those challenges were exactly the right reasons to make the film,” discussed McTiegue. “We wanted to look around and ask "is the government really doing all this stuff?" within the context of Alan Moore’s world.” “We thought it was important to explore this mind frame of the government that said ‘you're either with us or against us’ and V FOR VENDETTA was the perfect vehicle to pick apart that narrow government vision. We just kept the time and place from the graphic novel the same but rolled with the idea of what happens when you stop checking in on your government and just let it do whatever it wants. I knew it would be a polarizing film but I was glad for that response,” McTiegue added. So what’s next for McTiegue now that NINJA ASSASSIN opens November 25th? He’s taking on the world of Edgar Allen Poe with THE RAVEN. “It’s like SEVEN mixed in the world of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories,” explained McTiegue. ‘It’s a fictionalized look at the last days of Poe and the story of a serial killer using Poe's stories as his methodology. It’s going to be very dark and graphic.” |
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