Director Tarsem Singh reins himself in for the sci-fi melodrama Self/less.
Den of Geek: What attracted you to this material?
And I just thought I wanted a thriller that was cinematic.
So when this thing came along, I said, Good.
Does not depend on visuals to drive it.
And immediately New Orleans came along.
And I went, Ive shot there.
Why was the city important to you?
Well, if somebody is told, You dont know where were going to ship you.
I think people, if they want to go hedonistic, youd end up in Vegas or New Orleans.
I couldnt think of another better place for him to recuperate.
When that was in New Orleans, I just said, Wow.
Its perfect, because that is where most of the story happens.
I just made an effort towards it.
I wanted to do one visual film.
It was a personal film.
Youve done a lot of fantasy…
That was the key word.
I said, Anything thats not fantastical.
I said, Of course it can be slightly in the future, but just not fantastical.
Are there science fiction films that you drew on as inspiration?
I would have liked to have gone there.
You sit down in hammocks and do drugs and say, Hey!
I had the same trip this guy did!
That is one way to go, which is originally what I thought of forThe Cell.
So, of course the unknown technology, we dont know what it is.
So thats where we took our brief from.
Its just MRI machines and stuff like that done with a makeshift lab.
So it wasnt really so much sci-fi…just MRI machines but a little bigger.
They take your blood jot down.
You walk around in the poor areas.
Everybodys got their blood throw in and an agent.
10,000 bucks or whatever it costs.
They get that guy, take a liver and give it to you, and you go away.
Its not going to stop.
Its going to get bigger and bigger.
We also seem to be in this state where people want to live other lives.
They want to live on a reality show.
They want to be a celebrity.
Theres a movie calledSecondsfrom the 60s which is similar to yours in that people can…
Love that film.
Its a film school film that they always show you.
You see it inSeconds.
You see it inThe Twilight Zone.
Theres films from way back that this theme has always been part of.
The theme is what interested me.
Some of them did brilliantly.
I thinkSecondsreally holds up because its so stylistic.
AndThe Twilight Zoneepisode was incredibly hokey.
But the subject matter is the same.
Hopefully this one is like older wine in new bottles.
The shots in your films are composed so beautifully…
I tried in this one not to, but I cant shoot as if my grandmother shot it…
But they are great to look at.
And also the action scenes; you know where everything is happening.
Why is it so difficult for a lot of directors to do that?
You make it look easy and its not.
I dont know that its difficult.
I just said, It just isnt in my DNA.
I am a guy who shoots like that.
I tried to shoot it crappily, for lack of a better word.
It basically looks like how I want it to look.
I dont want to fight my DNA.
Tell me aboutThe Panopticon.
Thats your next project.
I think it fell apart just because I think the deal couldnt be worked out financially.
It was an apocalyptic pop in of story?
it wasnt so much.
But it was going to be incredibly stylistic.
Just the numbers just didnt match up.
Theres about three or four projects.
I dont know if Im allowed to talk about them.
I will know within a week.
One is for TV of all things.
Do you think youd ever possibly shoot a film with two people in a room talking?
Id love to, but it just depends if I can get someone behind it or not.
Self/lessis out in theaters Friday (July 10).
