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Bronson

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : In 1974, a hot headed 19-year-old named Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy) decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawed-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post office. After making off with only 26.18 British Pounds, he was swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to seven years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. During that time, Michael Petersen, the boy, faded away and 'Charles Bronson,' his superstar alter ego, took center stage...

Opens October 9, 2009 | Runtime:1 hr. 32 min.

Interview with Director Nicolas Winding Refn

Q: I heard that you grew up in New York. Do you think part of your films are influenced by American films?

Nicolas Winding Refn: Oh, very much! The "Pusher" films very much came out of my New York upbringing--making films about the urban environment. And when you are the ages of 8~17, which are the years of being creative--it definitely influenced a huge part of my filmmaking.?

Q: So how did you get into the film industry?

Nicolas Winding Refn: I entered the acting school, American Academy of Dramatic arts, but I was only there for a year! And My parents and my stepfather moved back to Copenhagen. Then, I started making very little budget commercials for some producers, and I also started short films at same time, which [I was] offered and turned into features. I did also get into film school but because of the "Pusher" offer, I dropped out of school to make those films.

Q: In this film, young Charles Bronson had a problem with school, and you also encountered some problems in school. In a sense, did you find you personally related to him?

Nicolas Winding Refn: I had some difficulty with the authorities in a school (LOL)

Q: But do you relate to him in a certain sense?

Nicolas Winding Refn: Oh, yeah. very much! I think that my movie became very autobiographical in a way, because I didn't make a movie about Michael Peterson (Charles Bronson's real name). Because I had no interest in Michael Peterson, or Charles Bronson which is a made-up personality, and I'm not part of the cult, or British. So he didn't mean anything to me. But I was interested in a concept of becoming a Charles Bronson. And in a way, throwing my own life in there to make it interesting for me to make.

Q: You take Charles Bronson's alter ego onto center stage, letting the audiences observe. How did you come up with that concept? It was interesting, rather than telling through the narration.

Nicolas Winding Refn: I conceived the movie like a one-act play, because of budgetary reasons. I only had a million dollars to make this film. So I had to come up with a thread: What was the great thread for this film? It started with him on a stage, talking about his life, like a one-act play. And that kind of started that whole accessibility of seeing this man--the man who has this alter-universe and his alter-ego is a ruler. Then this is how it plays out. And the movie is told in three levels. The first act is how Charles Bronson wants us to perceive his ego and narcissism. And the second act is Charles Bronson released from prison; you see his hard time adjusting to the real world. It's like he came out of an imaginary world to a real world--his difficulty in crossing that line. And in the third act, we are seeing Charles Bronson from our perspective.

Q: Well, how did you decide to make this film in the first place?

Nicolas Winding Refn: My friend and producer Rupert Preston is also the distributor of my films in the UK. We've worked together for 15 years. He said to me "I want to make a film about "Charles Bronson" because there's this project that he acquired for many years, and he's been wantimg to make a film about him. But my reaction was reluctant. But I think I became intrigued because I found the way to tell the prison story--not about the escaping, but staying in.

Q: One of the surprising element of this movie was the transformation of Tom Hardy. When you see his previous works, it's hard to tell it's the same guy!

Nicolas Winding Refn: He's like a comedian actor. He transformed himself physically and emotionally.

Q: Was this transformation a part of the reason you cast him? Was there any reason?

Nicolas Winding Refn: Well, he also very interested in Charles Bronson to begin with. He had a lot of knowledge and he personally knew him. So that kind of helped me to make this film. So I didn't have to spend time to get to know the family. But Tom wanted to make this film into a very authentic thing, which was great.

Q: So you didn't meet Charles Bronson personally?

Nicolas Winding Refn: I was never allowed to meet him. Because I'm not British and the Home Office wouldn't allow it. Also when they heard there was gonna be a film about Charles Bronson, it was such a hot issue that the government shut down all communication and wouldn't allow us any visit. Now after the movie's success in Europe, he's been isolated even more--all his drawings and writings were taken away, so he's completely isolated now.

Q: You didn't explore much of his love life. Was it because of the aesthetic reason?

Nicolas Winding Refn: It's because of a certain artistic license that very much eliminated part of his life and autobiography. It's that way--you have to take some part away--and again I'm also not interested in a bio-movie. So I didn't have a problem selecting a story that is based on Charles's life.

Q: After the success of the "Pusher" Trilogy, how much has changed on the business level and the personal level?

A: Nicolas Winding Refn: It's always good that people like what you make, and it definitely helped me to get a chance to make my next film, "The Dying of the Light." That will be released in the United States next year through IFC. But I don't think like that. I'm not that calculated. I just wanna make the film I want to make.

Q: Are you going to focus on English speaking films or are you going back to your country to balance out your filmmaking?

Nicolas Winding Refn: The kind of films that I make in English are just easier to distribute. I'm conscious of what I do. Making in English has a wider sense of distribution, but if you do it in Danish, given the kind of films that I make, it gets so damned limited. And it is difficult to survive.

Q: Could you talk about "Jekyll," the film you're gonna work on with Keanu Reeves?

Nicolas Winding Refn: Well, the only thing I can talk about is that it's a Universal Production and it stars Keanu Reeves, and that the script has been written. But I didn't write it, somebody else is writing it. And we haven't set the date for shooting yet.

Q: What did you learn from making this film?

Nicolas Winding Refn: I learned that you should just trust your instincts. That's the only one thing that nobody can take away. That's what it's all about! Just do it that way and don't think too much.