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MOVIE INTERVIEW
"Eagle vs Shark" - Interview with Taika Waititi
Rating:
PG-13
Distributor: Miramax
Released: June 15, 2007
Written
by
Sara Michelle Fetters
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Senior Theatrical Editor
www.moviefreak.com
a SIFF 2007 interview
Waititi Gets Odd
Eagle vs Shark Creator Takes Apart the Romantic Comedy
As oddly eccentric comedies go, you can’t find one more fitting the genre then writer/director Taika Waititi’s Eagle vs Shark opening in limited release today. A romantic comedic love story about two misfits, fast food worker Lilly (Loren Horsley) and video store clerk Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), who meet at a “come as your favorite animal” party, this is another screwball farce many are comparing to Napoleon Dynamite.
But that American independent and this New Zealand one aren’t carbon copies of one another, and if you don’t believe me just ask the director. “I think if you’ve seen a lot of films,” says Waititi, “then I don’t think you would make that comparison. This film probably has a little bit more of a story than Napoleon Dynamite and it [deals] with more real human emotion. It’s a little deeper, a little more romantic.”
Jermaine Clement and Loren Horsley in Miramax Films' Eagle vs Shark
“I really enjoyed watching Napoleon Dynamite; I had a lot of fun watching it. When something comes out that’s about nerds and does really well, and then every other film about nerds is always going to be compared to [that one]. But, I’ve always said [the film] was going to be compared to something, and there could be worse things for it to be compared to. But, I do agree that they are such different films.”
Developed at the Sundance Director’s and Screenwriter’s Lab in 2005, Eagle vs Shark takes the romantic comedy genre and then attempts to spin it right round on top of its head. Talking to the filmmaker, while this was never actually his intent he’s not about to not take pleasure in the fact everything ended up turning out that way.
“I never set out to make a romantic comedy,” exclaims Waititi. “I though, if anything, this would be a strange little comedy with some dark moments and a little bit of romance. But, then, when I really sit down and think about it I discover that it really is a romantic comedy deep down at heart, although I guess you would have to use that term very loosely.”
“In New Zealand, we don’t really make that many romantic comedies, at least none that I think I have ever seen. In a way, then, this could be the first New Zealand art house romantic comedy.” We laugh about that for a moment before the director finishes his thought. “For me, [romantic comedy] would be the last thing I would want to make as a quote-quote ‘serious filmmaker,’ I wanted to make an art house film that was full of drama and stuff like that. But, now that I have made this film, I’m really loving it and I think calling it a romantic comedy is actually pretty cool”
In many ways, subverting genres and trying to look at them in a different way is what keeps Waititi excited and energized. “I’ve always wanted to challenge myself with each project,” claims the filmmaker. “They tell you not to work with either kids or animals and most of my first short film [the Oscar-nominated Two Cars, One Night] about only kids, and my second one [Tamu Tu] had animals in it and now I’ve made the film I never, ever thought I would make and that’s a romantic comedy.”
The title of the film comes from the fact the two antiheroes meet for the first time with Lilly dressed up like a shark and Jerrod like an eagle. These two predators would never meet in the real world, one soaring through the skies while the other searches the ocean depths below. But in Waititi’s world, they don’t just meet but fall in love, even if finally getting to the point of doing so ends up being quite the massive struggle.
“That’s why I liked those animals,” he says enthusiastically. “They come from two really different worlds. They’re both very lonely animals. Very predatory. They don’t have many friends. I and do really like that they come from the sea and the air, to completely different environments. But, in the film, [we’ve] created an environment where they can sort of coexist.”
With a film like this one, casting is very important, but finding Horsley and Clement was as easy as picking up the phone. “I’ve known those two for about twelve years now,” states Waititi. “We sort of all meet together and work together in various ways. It allows for a very relaxed environment having my friends there working on the film, made it a lot easier.”
“Where it comes to Jemaine, I really like that he made [the audience] have to do some work to like him. I think some people react differently while other people find him unbearable, but I think he’s ultimately a really sad character. When you find out the reasons he is like he is I think you can start understanding, and even start empathizing, with him.”
Horsley, directorTaika Waititi and Clement on the set of Miramax Films' Eagle vs Shark
“I also think it is important that you are in the film from Lily’s point of view,” explains Waititi adamantly. “She is really compassionate and empathetic character. Some people ask what she sees in him, I think when you look at her background and how socially she doesn’t interact with anybody I think [Jarrod] provides a real sense of danger in her life. Some mystery, the allure of something different, maybe even dangerous even though he’s not dangerous at all except maybe within his own mind.”
But the eccentric characters aren’t the only place the director decides to take a few chances. “I’m a huge fan of animation in films,” he proclaims proudly. “I think it really adds something. I like that it parallels the story of the film; that it really relates to the kind of characters we are dealing with.”
“Everything in the film feels really handmade, like it is really awkward and clumsy. So stop-motion animation is a very clumsy kind of way of animating. You can kind of feel the human hand in it. I like that it communicates on a very basic level, sort of gives it to you like a child. It gets rid of all the words and the complications of words and just communicates with you on a very simple level.”
I can’t lie and say I thought Eagle vs Shark was a perfect film, I fact I am very upfront with Waititi about. What I can say I loved, however, is the music in the picture, a fact the director cannot help but take pride in. “Music is very important,” he explains. “These were the same songs I was listening to while I was writing the script, so I always knew it would be these particular songs that I wanted in the film. I also knew I wanted The Phoenix Foundation to score the majority of [it] and this music was something I ended up relying very heavily upon.”
Coming out of Wellington, New Zealand, The Phoenix Foundation aren’t exactly household names, at least not in America, but that didn’t make them any less of a joy to work with for the director or give him any sort of pause people wouldn’t respond to their music. “They were very easy to work with,” says Waititi. “We all get on really well. It was very collaborative and creative, and they were very open to suggestions as was I. They bring a lot to the film and the process of [scoring] the film was really a breeze. It was great.”
For me, the main thing I took away from the movie was that, at least in this filmmaker’s eyes, it can be a cruel world out there, but no matter who you are or where you come from love, in the end, can conquer that cruelty. Waititi chuckles a little bit, and I can hear him smile before it flashes across his face. “I think that is one of themes,” he agrees. “I mean, it is a cruel world and we all get bumped around. “
“I think one of the main things here for me is that nobody is cool and that I don’t any of us are truly equipped to deal with who we really are in the world. We’re all very awkward people bumping into things and we’re all really clumsy. I think one of our man things in life, then, is to find someone to interact with, to communicate with and to relate with. It doesn’t mean you have to be in love with them or that you have to have a relationship; it’s just the human contact. Meeting someone at a café, talking, making friends, just making contact with someone, [because] it is through human contact [we] can destroy all the bad stuff in the world. I think that is very important.”
After successful runs at both the Sundance Film Festival and now here at the Seattle International Film Festival, Waititi still can’t help but wonder what is going to happen to Eagle vs Shark now that mass audiences are finally going to get the chance to see it for themselves. “I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen,” laughs the filmmaker. “Part of me just doesn’t even want to think about it.”
“I think this, like Napoleon Dynamite, has the potential to really split audiences. Some people will really respond to it and really get into it on a deeper level, while other people will see it as a comedy with some weird bits in it while some just might not get it at all. Right from the start I never wanted to make a film that was accessible to the mainstream, because if you try to please every single person then I think you lose a lot of the poetry in your art.”
Waititi leans back and smiles, letting out a big smile as he does so. “It is what it is,” he exclaims. “I’m so happy already that the majority of people have responded positively to it. Already I’m really happy with the little journey that [the film] is on. It’s been great.”
(Click here for the review)
