Interview with Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin by Ruben Guzman, published on CONDUIT magazine, Spring 2007.

NOT ANOTHER INTERVIEW WITH GUY MADDIN WINNIPEG, Dec 2006 Q: Is there any question youd like me to ask you? A: No thank you. I prefer to be cross-examined, under oath. It would be unethical for me to offer up any suggested questions. Q: How did you find so many Greek tragedy characters in Winnipeg? A: We live in a very hostile environment here in Winnipeg the coldest city in the world, shivering along with a depressed economy and no sunlight for months on end. Only the aurora borealis to shed some light on our street corners. One has to be tough, almost a hardened stereotype, to survive such conditions. Very timeless interpersonal dynamics evolve among our people. The stories we live are the classics written by the immortal Greeks who recognized thousands of years ago the endlessly recurring patterns of life, love and loss. There isnt enough money, warmth or light for anything to fecundate into decadence. In other words, everyone here in Winnipeg is at least one character, or a combination of characters, culled from Euripides. Strangely, Ive even been Elektra for a long spell in my life. And I once lived with a Medea. Q: Living in the isolation of Winnipeg produced, amongst other things, most of your filmography. Now that youve been exposed to the noisy symphony of big cities around the world, how do you think this is affecting current and future projects? A: I like to think Ive become a little more sophisticated by the travel Ive done Ive been to most of the worlds cultural capitols. All this just sharpens my observations about Winnipeggers, how different they are form everyone else, but more importantly, how exactly the same as everyone else who ever lived they are. This travel has just increased my confidence that my take on people and movies is the one I should keep. GUY MADDINS FILMS Q: Which frustrated film project (we all carry a few of those in our bag) would you wish to have shot? A: Moby Dick. I have a script for it that is quite mad and very low budget. But Im having the darnedest time getting anyone interested to finance it. It doesnt need much money. Ill raise the money for it myself and make a fortune in profits, I swear, like Stallone did with Rocky. Hes one of the richest men in Hollywood; I can be the richest

of the Super8mm filmmakers!!! SOMEBODY ELSES FILMS Q: Which film(s) would you suggest to someone before (s)he jumps off a cliff? As a confirmation, that is. Something utterly, unbearably melancholic, for instance. A: Either De Sicas UMBERTO D. or Wylers CARRIE. Both of them strongly suggest that a leap off the cliff would save everyone a lot of trouble. But both are such wonderful pictures that they actually thrill me, make me want to live. But Im a filmmaker. Nonfilmmakers would just as soon catapult themselves into the abyss after watching these masterpieces. DOING IT Q: Filmmaking has always been more fun than therapy. Even Freudian. When youre making a film (from pre to postproduction), what excites you the most? A: I like writing the treatment and collecting ideas in a notebook the very earliest stages of the project, before anything has been compromised and I really love the sound design, one of the last stages, when all the heterogeneous shots are suddenly healed together into a living movie by the miracle of ambient sound and music. The actual shooting I hate, hate, hate. Im a nervous wreck during production and can only count down the minutes, starting on the very first day, until the shoot is OVER!!! Not a good attitude, I know, but Im just wired that way. I also LOVE wardrobe fittings with beautiful uninhibited actresses. Q: We know there is little difference between filmmaking and cooking, but, whats the difference between filmmaking and lovemaking? A: In filmmaking, Im on top. VASELINE (TM) Q: What do you owe to Vaseline? A: Halation! Erasure! Vagueness! All the things important to lovemaking. Q: Is there any difference between formaldehyde and Vaseline, in the sense that the former preserves things in time? A: That question is far too poetic to be topped by any answer. I love the question. Lets let it stand unanswered!

THE FUTURE Q: Speaking of preservation, what kind of taxonomy (law of arranging things) do you envision future film archivists will apply to your films. And/ or, in other words, how do you imagine your worked preserved in an imaginary, ad hoc film archive/ museum of the future? A: My daydreams around this subject often see my films rising in Historys estimation, like Vigos, long after my death. Lately Ive been less optimistic. I often see our entire culture being swallowed up by another and everything that went before being burnt like the Library of Alexandria. I see myself and my movies as so much dust. Art only gets you the slightest sliver of immortality at best, even if youre Hitchcock. When our Sun goes out God isnt going to sit around spooling our movies up onto projectors of a Sunday afternoon. But maybe in the next few decades the taxonomists will file me under N for Novelty. Ill be happy to be filed at all. I would prefer under E for Eccentric.
Ruben Guzman Spring 2007