Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/82522
home and far more in control." POST: You've worked with editor Kevin Messman on several of your films, including Life During Wartime and Palindromes. How does that relationship work? SOLONDZ: "He doesn't come on the set really. He gets all the dailies and then starts putting the material together while I'm still shooting, and then within a week or two of the wrap he usually has an assembly that I can view. Then we start, and I'm there with him every day as we work through it all." POST: Who did the visual effects work and how many visual effects shots are there? SOLONDZ: "All the visual effects work was done by Fly Studio in Montreal, but I never even went to Canada. It was all done remotely. We'd send them the files of what we wanted and they would send the finished effects back to us. People will be really sur- prised to find out that there are a lot of CGI shots in the film — in the three figures! But they're nearly all invisible. "I love working with visual effects and all the technology because you can use tricks and all kinds of things to heighten a dramatic effect. There are some obvious shots, like the one where we blur the 'Toys R Us' logo for legal reasons, and the scene where Abe turns yellow from hepatitis. We tried using make-up, but we knew we'd have to add CG to that, and we actually did both of those at Goldcrest." POST: How important are sound and music to you? SOLONDZ: "They're both a huge part of my movies, and I love working on all that in post. Michael Hill was my music supervisor and he helped us gather all the music togeth- er. We had just one song especially written, for the scene in the bar where Abe goes to meet Miranda and her ex. Eric Offin, who also did Life During Wartime, did all the sound design and mixing at Gigantic in New York." POST: Did you do a DI? SOLONDZ: "Yes, at Goldcrest. The DP did his pass and then I'd go and look, and then whatever I had notes on or wanted to change, we'd do. The DI is just a great pro- cess for refining and fine tuning the look of the film. I'm a big fan." Goldcrest called on Quantel's Pablo. POST: Did the film turn out the way you originally envisioned it while writing the script? SOLONDZ: "It never does (laughs). But if you're lucky, it turns out better. It's always a surprise, because in post you always discover exactly what you have wrought. But I'm very happy with the film." POST: As a filmmaker you're often accused of being cruel and perverse — how do you plead? SOLONDZ: "Those are the nice things people have called me. I am human, and I don't really relish people saying bad things about me, but I understand that my movies always generate an ambivalent response. very cheaply, so everyone's doing it. In that sense, it's a good thing since it's democratized the whole process. But the problem is, it's harder than ever to actually make any profit from your work. That's partly to do with the troubled economy, but I think it's also a by-product of the rise of the Internet, and all that comes with it, including piracy and all the competition. "People have so many options at home now, it's hard to get them to go out to see a small indie film. So it's pretty grim in that regard. Of course, there will always be surprises that come out and take the world by storm — but for every one of those films, there will be many that hardly anyone will see. " I wish I had a stronger character and was indif- ferent to all the criticism. That would make life much easier." POST: In your previous films you explored some pretty dark subject matter — including murder, suicide, rape, child molestation and abor- tion. This isn't nearly so provocative. Are you get- ting mellower? SOLONDZ: "I don't know, but I did delib- erately avoid controversial subjects with this." POST: Is film dead? SOLONDZ: "Not yet, but it's hard to see how it will survive, given how fast things are evolving in technology. I love film, but it does seem very last century now." POST: How's the indie film scene? SOLONDZ: "It's always been a struggle, and it still is. The irony is that thanks to all the new, cheap technology, there is now a glut of movies being made. So many kids now have access to equipment that enables them to make movies POST: Is Hollywood healthy or sick? SOLONDZ: "Financially it seems to be doing just fine. The problem is there's no middle ground anymore. They either make these huge big-budget event movies for $200 million and more or cheap movies for $20 million. But in between, there's hardly anything, which is sad." POST: Have you ever had any interest in doing a big-budget mainstream movie? SOLONDZ: "Not really. It's never been my ambition. I'm just not interested in those kinds of projects or stories." POST: Is it true you wanted to be a musician originally? SOLONDZ: "I did, when I was a child, but sadly I just didn't have the talent." POST: You also acted for a while. What happened? SOLONDZ: "It wasn't like a big ambition that I took seriously. I had fun doing it at the time, but I don't miss it, and I don't have any cravings to keep doing it." POST: What's next? SOLONDZ: "I have a script that's set in Texas and now it's the same old thing — if we can get the financing for it. That seems to be the biggest hurdle now." www.postmagazine.com Post • September 2012 17 All of the post was done at Goldcrest, NY. Montreal's Fly Studio supplied the majority of the VFX shots.