Michael Haneke’s Funny Games is a remake of his 1997 hit transferred to an American setting. A dark and unsettling tale it follows Anna (Naomi Watts) her husband George (Tim Roth) and their son (Devon Gearhart) to their idyllic holiday home in the Hamptons. But once there they meet a pair of charming strangers (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) who begin to terrorise the family and shatter their notions of security.
Funny Games is a tough watch, have you had the experience of meeting anyone who has just come out of a screening of it?
I met with some journalists, and there was one who hadn’t seen the original and knew nothing about it, and had just seen our film two hours before meeting me. That was pretty interesting, he was saying that as soon as he saw it he hated it, but that he liked it now. But he’s not sure how he’d feel when he came to write about it.
Michael Haneke seems to be playing a game with the audience. How aware were you of his intentions on this movie?
He was doing a shot for shot, frame for frame remake of his original movie, so he had another film that was basically his storyboard. So as far as my character looking at the camera and things like that, I didn’t really question it.
Every time I tried looking too much into my character I would hit a wall, because I don’t think that was the point.
I didn’t make a back-story for this character, I didn’t try and understand the psychology of why this person was doing what he was doing, I just accepted that he was doing it.
Michael seems to be saying that the audience is somehow complicit in the use of screen violence, isn’t he?
Yeah, he’s a really smart guy. I think he realises that if you want to really scare someone there’s nothing he can do that’s worse than what your own imagination can do. One thing I remember him saying when we were shooting, especially with me being American, is that all the films that are popular and violent don’t show real violence.
All the punches have sound effects, they happen very quick, it’s more about ego. I think there’s a part of him that’s saying ‘you’re watching all this violence, but this is really what it looks like, are you really that fascinated with it?’. It’s horrible.
How familiar were you with his work?
I wasn’t at all. I watched it when they talked to me about the project, I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do the project or if they even wanted me to do the project. I thought it would be quicker and easier to watch the original Funny Games to see what it was all about.
You have some harrowing scenes where you’re terrorising the boy, played by Devon Gearhart, whose parents your characters are holding hostage. Is it tough to do those scenes with someone so young?
He’s a really good actor. To tell you the truth it’s kind of eerie when you see a kid who’s so good and so young.
He has a process, before he would do a scene his mother would be there and they would sort of go into a corner and any time Devon needed to cry they would have this process they would go through. He was really professional.
I knew I wanted to have a good relationship with him off set because of some of the scenes that we were going to be asked to do. So we just became friends.
What did you do to develop a fraternal rapport with Brady Corbet, your partner in crime?
To tell you the truth every actor on the set was really talented and really professional. So we knew what to do. It was basically as simple as running our scenes together.
With Devon it was a little bit more a case of wanting to make sure that he wasn’t afraid of me, but there were times when it was hard to scare him.
There’s a scene where he was fighting me off, but because we were buddies it was really hard, I couldn’t scare him.
Despite the dour material was Funny Games a happy set to be on, as often seems to be the case with darker pieces?
Everyone was laughing all the time. For me, in a weird way, I feel like I have the least demanding role. I basically needed to stay cheery and positive and it would read as completely horrible if I did that, which was my job.
Everyone had a good time, unless Tim, Naomi or Devon needed to stay in a place where they needed to concentrate on being tortured or torturing themselves. It was really hard on Tim because he has kids. It was really difficult for him, I think he probably had the hardest role in the film.
Was it a very different experience working with a director who comes from a European, non-English language tradition?
Every director is different, the thing about Michael is that he is so very intelligent. Normally I’m put off if the director is very controlling or very precise about where I stand, what I touch, what I don’t touch, where I am in the frame.
The difference with Michael that I found as I was shooting it was unlike other directors I’ve worked with who are controlling he has a reason for everything.
There was never one time when I said ‘why?’ where it wasn’t something that he had thought about a million times and had a reason for.
It seems clear from the films you’ve done that you’re drawn to work that takes you out of a comfort zone, is that the case?
I do make things hard on myself. It’s a combination of things, one thing that my father installed in me is a pretty strong work ethic. So I respond well when I’m working hard, I feel good about myself if I’m doing that. So it’s that and also I enjoy working with artists in this business, with artistic people.
Is there no urge to sell out and see what that’s like?
Every day, man. Every day. It’s not just to see what it’s like, it’s about money. It’s difficult.
Is it possible to combine artistic integrity with commercial success?
It’s tricky, there’s no handbook, you’re really on your own path. Naomi’s been able to do it. I wonder how it’s going to end up, if I’m going to be able to achieve that or if I even want to. It’s tricky.
Funny Games is released 4th AprilMichael Haneke’s Funny Games is a remake of his 1997 hit transferred to an American setting. A dark and unsettling tale it follows Anna (Naomi Watts) her husband George (Tim Roth) and their son (Devon Gearhart) to their idyllic holiday home in the Hamptons. But once there they meet a pair of charming strangers (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) who begin to terrorise the family and shatter their notions of security.
Funny Games is a tough watch, have you had the experience of meeting anyone who has just come out of a screening of it?
I met with some journalists, and there was one who hadn’t seen the original and knew nothing about it, and had just seen our film two hours before meeting me. That was pretty interesting, he was saying that as soon as he saw it he hated it, but that he liked it now. But he’s not sure how he’d feel when he came to write about it.
Michael Haneke seems to be playing a game with the audience. How aware were you of his intentions on this movie?
He was doing a shot for shot, frame for frame remake of his original movie, so he had another film that was basically his storyboard. So as far as my character looking at the camera and things like that, I didn’t really question it.
Every time I tried looking too much into my character I would hit a wall, because I don’t think that was the point.
I didn’t make a back-story for this character, I didn’t try and understand the psychology of why this person was doing what he was doing, I just accepted that he was doing it.
Michael seems to be saying that the audience is somehow complicit in the use of screen violence, isn’t he?
Yeah, he’s a really smart guy. I think he realises that if you want to really scare someone there’s nothing he can do that’s worse than what your own imagination can do. One thing I remember him saying when we were shooting, especially with me being American, is that all the films that are popular and violent don’t show real violence.
All the punches have sound effects, they happen very quick, it’s more about ego. I think there’s a part of him that’s saying ‘you’re watching all this violence, but this is really what it looks like, are you really that fascinated with it?’. It’s horrible.
How familiar were you with his work?
I wasn’t at all. I watched it when they talked to me about the project, I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do the project or if they even wanted me to do the project. I thought it would be quicker and easier to watch the original Funny Games to see what it was all about.
You have some harrowing scenes where you’re terrorising the boy, played by Devon Gearhart, whose parents your characters are holding hostage. Is it tough to do those scenes with someone so young?
He’s a really good actor. To tell you the truth it’s kind of eerie when you see a kid who’s so good and so young.
He has a process, before he would do a scene his mother would be there and they would sort of go into a corner and any time Devon needed to cry they would have this process they would go through. He was really professional.
I knew I wanted to have a good relationship with him off set because of some of the scenes that we were going to be asked to do. So we just became friends.
What did you do to develop a fraternal rapport with Brady Corbet, your partner in crime?
To tell you the truth every actor on the set was really talented and really professional. So we knew what to do. It was basically as simple as running our scenes together.
With Devon it was a little bit more a case of wanting to make sure that he wasn’t afraid of me, but there were times when it was hard to scare him.
There’s a scene where he was fighting me off, but because we were buddies it was really hard, I couldn’t scare him.
Despite the dour material was Funny Games a happy set to be on, as often seems to be the case with darker pieces?
Everyone was laughing all the time. For me, in a weird way, I feel like I have the least demanding role. I basically needed to stay cheery and positive and it would read as completely horrible if I did that, which was my job.
Everyone had a good time, unless Tim, Naomi or Devon needed to stay in a place where they needed to concentrate on being tortured or torturing themselves. It was really hard on Tim because he has kids. It was really difficult for him, I think he probably had the hardest role in the film.