Christopher Guest

Now THAT’S what you call a TANGENT, ladies and gentlemen! Forgive me!! I tease you with the promise of an interview that—if I may be so bold—unlocks all of Christopher Guest’s life and work, only to begin prattling on about a silly PHOTO SHOOT!? Let me grab my voice recorder already and tap this keg of PULITZER-BAIT. I’ll pause it every so often to explain the significance of certain portions that may seem unremarkable to the less-perceptive listener. At points when you feel like your mind’s on the verge of being BLOWN, just massage your temples vigorously until the sensation retreats.

Ok, FINALLY, we’re rolling!

ME: It’s been nearly a month since we met in Toronto. What’s been occupying your time since we last spoke?

Christopher Guest: Well, it’s kind of been the same as it was the week before we met. Nothing very different. Just doing what I do.

(pause tape)

BAM! Right off the bat! This is what I LOVE about Christopher Guest! He respects his audience’s intelligence and realizes that no one likes being spoon-fed all that “open WIDE, oozhie-BOO, airplane- coming-into-the-hangar silliness.” An artist not only has a responsibility to deliver you the fruits of his or her imagination, but also to stoke the fires of your OWN imagination. What do YOU think Guest’s day-to-day work involves? Now turn that into a short story or a painting or a ballet. He understands the importance of MYSTIQUE. If you start regurgitating all the particulars of what you do then there’s no mystery left and the honeymoon is OVER! We’re barely out of the gate and he’s already told us VOLUMES about himself and the importance of humility. “Just doing what I do.” This is not someone who’s drunk on the glory of his accomplishments. Not even TIPSY, I’d wager!

(click)

ME: You’ve made the film and I suspect you’re caught up in the gears of the promotional machine. How do you cope with this phase of the process?

CG: In between now and the next few weeks I have, I would say, probably 200 interviews, so that’s what I’m looking forward to.

(pause tape)

I almost feel SORRY for the guy! Can you even IMAGINE having to conduct 200 interviews in a single YEAR, never mind a few WEEKS?! If each interview lasted just 20 minutes, that’d take over three solid days of NON-STOP talking. GAH! You’d have to have a cell-phone surgically attached to the side of your FACE and be talking almost around the clock!! And you wouldn’t be able to sleep because you’d have all those interviews with the Chinese and Australian press in the middle of the NIGHT!

But the reason he submits himself to this almost never-ending stream of interviews is SIMPLE: he believes in his movies and he wants the world to KNOW about them, even if it means he has to sacrifice the convenience of anonymity, even if it means allowing people he’s NEVER met to form an opinion about not just his work, but also what kind of person he is in the FIRST place! He’s not afraid to be KNOWN!

(click)

ME: Given the fact that For Your Consideration skewers the whole “Oscar buzz” industry ritual, was it strange taking this particular film to the Toronto festival, which has a reputation for starting so much of that chatter?

CG: Well, it wasn’t strange for me because I don’t really get caught up in that other world. I’m not really that connected to the media so I’m not really aware of what’s going on in that regard so it didn’t really affect me.

ME: So you’re fairly disconnected from your movies’ receptions once they’re out in the world?

CG: Yes, I’m entirely…yes, that’s true.

ME: I’m sure that’s a healthy way to keep insidious mental hang-ups from creeping in, at least.

CG: I find it works for me, I can’t say anything about other people. I don’t read anything about my movies before or after I do films, or any part of show business. I think that keeps me in a kind of place where I can do the work that I need to do.

(pause tape)

I don’t know about YOU but I find this part FASCINATING!! He SHATTERS the stereotype of the insecure comic who grew up being the class clown, acting out for attention every day just to get other kids to notice him, CRAVING that affirmation. Guest doesn’t seem to CARE about all that. You almost get the sense that he’d be more than happy making a $12-million comedy and just showing it at family gatherings! His sense of self doesn’t HINGE on whether or not you laugh while watching his movies. For me, personally, there’s something incredibly FREEING about that!

And in case you were wondering if this same technique works for TERRY GILLIAM or WOODY ALLEN or STEVEN SPIELBERG, you’ll have to ask THEM! Guest isn’t so presumptuous that when you ask him a question about himself, he starts telling you what works for JERRY BRUCKHEIMER! He doesn’t want to be the spokesperson for ALL actors and directors EVERYWHERE. You almost get the sense that he’s tempted to apologize for being the spokesperson for HIMSELF!

(click)

ME: Even if you’re unplugged from the media coverage of Hollywood, as a director you must be a connoisseur of film.

CG: I wouldn’t say I’m a connoisseur of film. I like certain films but I don’t pretend to be a connoisseur of films, no.

ME: Does it surprise you then that you ended up in this line of work, since most artists tend to gravitate toward the medium they’re most passionate about and consume most avidly?

CG: Well, my passion is more specific, in the sense that I’ve always liked doing comedy. I’ve always liked doing music. I like acting. And apparently you need those things in movies.

(pause tape)

This is why the vast majority of magazines can’t AFFORD me! I didn’t even have to come right out and ASK Guest the secret of his unique approach to filmmaking and he’s already forking over the BLUEPRINT! If you’re not frantically scribbling notes in the margin right now, you’re INSANE!! He’s all but printed you out MAPQUEST directions on how a person can START out reading a magazine on the toilet, PROCEED a quarter of a mile and then BEAR RIGHT into the pantheon of Hollywood’s most visionary auteurs! Going to film school and seeing THOUSANDS of movies CONSTRICTS the mind! (If you don’t believe me, there are multiple scientific studies that PROVE it’s quite possible!)