After creating many of the most brilliant music videos and the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry is considered by many to be one of the greatest film visionaries ever. His latest project, Dave Chappelles Block Party, is a bit more human and real. Back in 2004 after Dave Chappelle made his $50 million deal with Comedy Central he decided to give something directly back to the people he loves. With Gondrys cameras following him the entire time Chappelle organized a massive Block Party in Brooklyn with musical guests such as Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jill Scott and most amazingly of all a stage reunion of The Fugees. Before the show Chappelle traveled back to his hometown of Dayton, Ohio to give out free tickets and transportation to the show to many people including two very funny young men and a local marching band.
I got a chance to talk with director Michel Gondry about directing Dave Chappelles Block Party, his upcoming film The Science of Sleep and being scared of Charlie Kaufman.
Check out the official website for Dave Chappelles Block Party
Daniel Robert Epstein: Were you just taking a picture out the hotel window?
Michel Gondry: Yes I bought this camera. I already took 20 rolls but I havent seen anything yet. It has a very good lens.
DRE: I remember when we spoke a few years ago you had said you use a lot of small cameras to do experiments with.
MG: I was probably talking about my Bolex camera. Its very good because its totally self-sufficient. You can just crank it up. A digital camera needs to be hooked up to a computer. With a film camera at least you have something physical.
DRE: Do you ever use any of the little experiments in work we can see?
MG: Sometimes, yes. For some videos I used some black and white film that I processed myself.
DRE: Do you always process your own film?
MG: No just sometimes. My first job was to shoot and process line tests for animation. At the time they were shot on celluloid. I used to shoot animation tests. I would shoot on my Bolex to see if the animation was working. I would shoot it and go into the bathroom, process the film, dry it and then my friend Jean-Louis [Bompoint] would edit it together. In fact thats how I started to work in this business.
DRE: Wow! Youve been working with this guy for 20 years.
MG: Longer, we first met in 83.
DRE: Now youre in charge.
MG: I went to a big market in Lille, which is north of France, where everyone wants to sell everything on the street. Thats where I bought my first Bolex. Jean-Louis was worried because he was the director at the time, I was just his helper. He asked me why I needed a camera and I told him I wanted to experiment.
DRE: Did you know Dave Chappelle before you started Block Party?
MG: Not personally. I knew his show and we had a good meeting. Obviously he could see I was very ambitious. It was not only about doing the most fabulous concert but about the artistry of the film as well. Its not about making money to Dave or me. I liked Daves ambition to create a moment that will remain in history.
DRE: What was your setup for the concert?
MG: I wrote a diagram where all the cameras would be. After I met Dave my initial idea was to have the musicians in the greenroom watching the concert before they went on. You can see the show on TV and have this constant back and forth. Then Dave wanted to go to Ohio to invite some people and then follow them. It became more about giving voice to all those people like the marching band and the two kids from Ohio who peed on the golf course. We were just going to a location and interact with them.
Specifically, I wanted each cameraman to be there as if they were each the only camera. They shouldnt worry if the camera is missing something. I wanted shots as long as possible. As I was watching the film yesterday I felt that I was really there. The camera movement was very organic and a lot of that came from [cinematographer] Ellen Kuras. She works very much in this spirit and I really wanted to have as much of that as possible.
DRE: Im sure youve shot plenty of live bands before. Had you ever done like a full blown concert like that?
MG: No, never. Ive been asked many times, but it was not interesting to me. I didnt want to dedicate so much of my life to just shoot something for somebody. I want to be my own voice. In this case Im not my own voice, but I think that the subject is wide enough that it is interesting.
DRE: Were you able to inject your own voice into the film?
MG: Its not my voice but more like my art. Its more about trying to peel off the familiar. I want to get the opportunity to enjoy this side of people and I think thats what Dave and I had in mind. To spend time with them and let them lose a little bit of the surface to see whats inside them.
DRE: Have you worked with many hip-hop artists?
MG: Not much. Ive only done a couple of hip-hop videos. I like this music. I think it is some of the most modern and progressive music in some ways and in other ways its backwards. It can be a little bit immature and not very progressive. But the selection of people we had were really interesting and I like the fact that the women dominate the scene.
DRE: How much was Dave involved in the editing process?
MG: He was pretty involved but obviously not the entire time. He would come once or twice a week. I think he wanted to make sure that the general message stayed the same. People have frank opinions but we didnt want to be too negative or dull. We shot just around the election in 2004 when Bush won and it was ironic because the last state they were counting the ballots was Ohio where we shot. It was a big bummer after he was elected. So we wanted to give a positive message.
DRE: Certainly one of the best moments is when Erykah Badu takes her wig off.
MG: For a long time that almost didnt go in there. But its a nice moment that people remember and that really reflects what this movie is about.
DRE: Were you in the control room during the whole show?
MG: I started first in the control room, but I couldnt control anything because nobody could understand me. So I gave up and I made decisions like Lets take the marching band and put them in this little yard and Lets go to the rooftop and ask Fred Hampton Jr. to interact with people and shoot them. I was trying to create little situations, because I had one day. We had four days in all but one day with all the artists and the concept to have a theme for it all. So I wanted as many situations as possible.
DRE: How far in advance did you know that The Fugees were going to be on stage together?
MG: Maybe five minutes. Two days before in Ohio, Dave was on the phone with their manager who was flipping back and forth between saying there were going to be there or they might not. It was amazing and I still cant believe it.
DRE: You shot The Science of Sleep after this obviously.
MG: Yeah but I did the animation for Science of Sleep before the concert and then I did the concert and then I did the live part of Science of Sleep after.
DRE: Is Science of Sleep in English?
MG: Mostly in English.
DRE: It seems like a very personal film. Did being with Dave and being in Ohio for the first time influence you in any way?
MG: That influenced me in that I found that the less you plan, the more you get. Science of Sleep is a complicated story with a lot of characters and sets. I wanted to leave room for randomness and happy accidents.
DRE: How was Ohio for you?
MG: When you leave New York you find there is a lot of space. Thats the first impression. Ohio is very mellow and I think that is why Dave lives there. People are white and black there but that doesnt make much difference.
DRE: Is there going to be a lot of extra stuff on the Block Party DVD?
MG: Yeah, tons of stuff because we shot a lots more film and video of those kids from Ohio. Then we show the same people 18 months later.
DRE: Did you meet Kanye at the show for the first time and thats how you ended up playing drums on Diamonds From Sierra Leone?
MG: Actually I met him before. He was a big fan of my videos. We wanted to work together. So later on he asked me to play drums.
DRE: When we spoke last time you mentioned that you were really impressed by Cody Chesnutt after he was in the movie. You said that you might want to do something with him. Did that ever come about?
MG: He is so wonderful and we want to try and do something with animation. Maybe I would do an animated doodle.
DRE: Was Science of Sleep the first screenplay you wrote?
MG: Yeah.
DRE: How was that process?
MG: I started to write it a long time ago. First it was three pages, then eight, 40, 80. Then 130 pages then 80 again. It was very scary and very different. I had worked with Charlie Kauffman who is one of the best writers around so I felt very nervous. I wanted to do it without any restriction. Even financial restrictions are not so drastic in comparison to opinions and your own restriction.
DRE: Did Charlie give you notes?
MG: No. I was too scared to show him.
I talked about it with Spike [Jonze]. But I was too fragile to face Charlies point of view because maybe I would give up altogether. I really wanted to be on my own and try it. Now I cant wait to show it to Charlie.
DRE: Was your writing process structured once you were getting to the end?
MG: No, it was not like that. There would be one week where I would write 100 pages then I wouldnt write for six moths. Its completely erratic and out of control. I couldnt write anything and then during Christmas I dedicated myself one day and I wrote the whole storyline.
DRE: You said that Science of Sleep is very autobiographical but youve been writing it for many years. Your point of view must have changed drastically over the years.
MG: I kept rewriting it. But youre right, Im following some events that happened to me in my life that changed my point of view on relationships. I included some of my other experiences and I enriched the two characters and their relationships from my experience over the years.
DRE: What scenes are animated?
MG: Most scenes that are animated occur in dreams but then there is a blend between both. The dream starts to be more realistic.
DRE: I have this problem where sometimes I have dreams then two days later I have a memory from a dream that I think is real.
MG: And you dont know if its dream or real.
DRE: Yeah. Im like, Wait a minute, that didnt happen.
MG: Its very true. Its complex, sometimes you wake up from a dream and the dream has created a memory in the past. Sometimes I wake up and Ill be like I remember I was at apartment in 1992 in London and what happened to this apartment? But its purely made up in the dream. Its like you dream in the past.
DRE: Yeah, its confusing.
Last time I asked you what superpower would you want to have. You said, I want to go travel back in time and get back at all my old girlfriends.
MG: Yeah, sounds like me [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] It just makes me think at this point that you are, Im not going to say powerful, but youre at the point where you probably could get back at your old girlfriends.
MG: Some maybe. Believe me I think about it sometimes. Recently I met again this girl I hadnt seen in years that I was deeply in love with when I was 15. We were very close and she ended up dating my friend. When I saw her I was like, Why did you go out with him? She said, Well I was in love with you but you would never make your move.
DRE: Oh man.
MG: Just for that I kissed her then.
DRE: When youre shooting a movie thats as personal as Science of Sleep do you go back to your family at the end of the day?
MG: If I had been with my family I think it would be difficult to face the responsibility at the same time. Its interesting how it works. When I did Eternal Sunshine, my son was living in Paris and I was in New York. It took me forever to finish the thing. So I took my son here. Now my son lives with me here in New York. Then I went and shot Science of Sleep in Paris. So my son was in New York and I was in Paris shooting in the same building where my son lived with his mama. Every night I would go back to my house and I would be very lonely and scared.
DRE: I read that your next film is going to be based on the book, Master of Space and Time [by Rudy Rucker].
MG: Yeah, were still are developing it. Its a long process.
DRE: Who is writing that script?
MG: Rudy [Rucker] will probably have some input in it, but Dan Clowes is writing it.
DRE: Do you want to make more music videos?
MG: Yeah, I would like do two or three a year. Id like to do one for The Roots of Questloves hair. I want to have all of the rest of it down in his hair like in the cartoon where the fleas on the dog are in an orchestra.
DRE: A couple of months ago Jim Carrey said that the two of you had dinner together. Did you talk about another movie?
MG: We dont have a movie yet but we may work together in the future. We both would be happy to.
DRE: Even though it had only been a couple of years, how do you look back on Eternal Sunshine?
MG: Its hard to tell because my personal life was in chaos so sometimes I associate that with it. All the work I do is very imprinted with the emotion I experience during the making. Then when I watch it its hard to separate from that. Now after working with Charlie I feel Im going to be judged harder on my other work but so far Ive had a very positive response so I feel relief. But I was really scared especially writing on my own
DRE: Do you have any tattoos?
MG: No. Im against tattoos.
DRE: Why?
MG: Like the Holocaust stuff with the tattoos. There are some wives of officers that had big, nice tattoos and they would get them in shape for lamps. For this reason I think I would be very reluctant to get a tattoo. My son, whos 14 sometime, may say I want a tattoo. I would say You are not having a tattoo, as long as you live with me.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
I got a chance to talk with director Michel Gondry about directing Dave Chappelles Block Party, his upcoming film The Science of Sleep and being scared of Charlie Kaufman.
Check out the official website for Dave Chappelles Block Party
Daniel Robert Epstein: Were you just taking a picture out the hotel window?
Michel Gondry: Yes I bought this camera. I already took 20 rolls but I havent seen anything yet. It has a very good lens.
DRE: I remember when we spoke a few years ago you had said you use a lot of small cameras to do experiments with.
MG: I was probably talking about my Bolex camera. Its very good because its totally self-sufficient. You can just crank it up. A digital camera needs to be hooked up to a computer. With a film camera at least you have something physical.
DRE: Do you ever use any of the little experiments in work we can see?
MG: Sometimes, yes. For some videos I used some black and white film that I processed myself.
DRE: Do you always process your own film?
MG: No just sometimes. My first job was to shoot and process line tests for animation. At the time they were shot on celluloid. I used to shoot animation tests. I would shoot on my Bolex to see if the animation was working. I would shoot it and go into the bathroom, process the film, dry it and then my friend Jean-Louis [Bompoint] would edit it together. In fact thats how I started to work in this business.
DRE: Wow! Youve been working with this guy for 20 years.
MG: Longer, we first met in 83.
DRE: Now youre in charge.
MG: I went to a big market in Lille, which is north of France, where everyone wants to sell everything on the street. Thats where I bought my first Bolex. Jean-Louis was worried because he was the director at the time, I was just his helper. He asked me why I needed a camera and I told him I wanted to experiment.
DRE: Did you know Dave Chappelle before you started Block Party?
MG: Not personally. I knew his show and we had a good meeting. Obviously he could see I was very ambitious. It was not only about doing the most fabulous concert but about the artistry of the film as well. Its not about making money to Dave or me. I liked Daves ambition to create a moment that will remain in history.
DRE: What was your setup for the concert?
MG: I wrote a diagram where all the cameras would be. After I met Dave my initial idea was to have the musicians in the greenroom watching the concert before they went on. You can see the show on TV and have this constant back and forth. Then Dave wanted to go to Ohio to invite some people and then follow them. It became more about giving voice to all those people like the marching band and the two kids from Ohio who peed on the golf course. We were just going to a location and interact with them.
Specifically, I wanted each cameraman to be there as if they were each the only camera. They shouldnt worry if the camera is missing something. I wanted shots as long as possible. As I was watching the film yesterday I felt that I was really there. The camera movement was very organic and a lot of that came from [cinematographer] Ellen Kuras. She works very much in this spirit and I really wanted to have as much of that as possible.
DRE: Im sure youve shot plenty of live bands before. Had you ever done like a full blown concert like that?
MG: No, never. Ive been asked many times, but it was not interesting to me. I didnt want to dedicate so much of my life to just shoot something for somebody. I want to be my own voice. In this case Im not my own voice, but I think that the subject is wide enough that it is interesting.
DRE: Were you able to inject your own voice into the film?
MG: Its not my voice but more like my art. Its more about trying to peel off the familiar. I want to get the opportunity to enjoy this side of people and I think thats what Dave and I had in mind. To spend time with them and let them lose a little bit of the surface to see whats inside them.
DRE: Have you worked with many hip-hop artists?
MG: Not much. Ive only done a couple of hip-hop videos. I like this music. I think it is some of the most modern and progressive music in some ways and in other ways its backwards. It can be a little bit immature and not very progressive. But the selection of people we had were really interesting and I like the fact that the women dominate the scene.
DRE: How much was Dave involved in the editing process?
MG: He was pretty involved but obviously not the entire time. He would come once or twice a week. I think he wanted to make sure that the general message stayed the same. People have frank opinions but we didnt want to be too negative or dull. We shot just around the election in 2004 when Bush won and it was ironic because the last state they were counting the ballots was Ohio where we shot. It was a big bummer after he was elected. So we wanted to give a positive message.
DRE: Certainly one of the best moments is when Erykah Badu takes her wig off.
MG: For a long time that almost didnt go in there. But its a nice moment that people remember and that really reflects what this movie is about.
DRE: Were you in the control room during the whole show?
MG: I started first in the control room, but I couldnt control anything because nobody could understand me. So I gave up and I made decisions like Lets take the marching band and put them in this little yard and Lets go to the rooftop and ask Fred Hampton Jr. to interact with people and shoot them. I was trying to create little situations, because I had one day. We had four days in all but one day with all the artists and the concept to have a theme for it all. So I wanted as many situations as possible.
DRE: How far in advance did you know that The Fugees were going to be on stage together?
MG: Maybe five minutes. Two days before in Ohio, Dave was on the phone with their manager who was flipping back and forth between saying there were going to be there or they might not. It was amazing and I still cant believe it.
DRE: You shot The Science of Sleep after this obviously.
MG: Yeah but I did the animation for Science of Sleep before the concert and then I did the concert and then I did the live part of Science of Sleep after.
DRE: Is Science of Sleep in English?
MG: Mostly in English.
DRE: It seems like a very personal film. Did being with Dave and being in Ohio for the first time influence you in any way?
MG: That influenced me in that I found that the less you plan, the more you get. Science of Sleep is a complicated story with a lot of characters and sets. I wanted to leave room for randomness and happy accidents.
DRE: How was Ohio for you?
MG: When you leave New York you find there is a lot of space. Thats the first impression. Ohio is very mellow and I think that is why Dave lives there. People are white and black there but that doesnt make much difference.
DRE: Is there going to be a lot of extra stuff on the Block Party DVD?
MG: Yeah, tons of stuff because we shot a lots more film and video of those kids from Ohio. Then we show the same people 18 months later.
DRE: Did you meet Kanye at the show for the first time and thats how you ended up playing drums on Diamonds From Sierra Leone?
MG: Actually I met him before. He was a big fan of my videos. We wanted to work together. So later on he asked me to play drums.
DRE: When we spoke last time you mentioned that you were really impressed by Cody Chesnutt after he was in the movie. You said that you might want to do something with him. Did that ever come about?
MG: He is so wonderful and we want to try and do something with animation. Maybe I would do an animated doodle.
DRE: Was Science of Sleep the first screenplay you wrote?
MG: Yeah.
DRE: How was that process?
MG: I started to write it a long time ago. First it was three pages, then eight, 40, 80. Then 130 pages then 80 again. It was very scary and very different. I had worked with Charlie Kauffman who is one of the best writers around so I felt very nervous. I wanted to do it without any restriction. Even financial restrictions are not so drastic in comparison to opinions and your own restriction.
DRE: Did Charlie give you notes?
MG: No. I was too scared to show him.
I talked about it with Spike [Jonze]. But I was too fragile to face Charlies point of view because maybe I would give up altogether. I really wanted to be on my own and try it. Now I cant wait to show it to Charlie.
DRE: Was your writing process structured once you were getting to the end?
MG: No, it was not like that. There would be one week where I would write 100 pages then I wouldnt write for six moths. Its completely erratic and out of control. I couldnt write anything and then during Christmas I dedicated myself one day and I wrote the whole storyline.
DRE: You said that Science of Sleep is very autobiographical but youve been writing it for many years. Your point of view must have changed drastically over the years.
MG: I kept rewriting it. But youre right, Im following some events that happened to me in my life that changed my point of view on relationships. I included some of my other experiences and I enriched the two characters and their relationships from my experience over the years.
DRE: What scenes are animated?
MG: Most scenes that are animated occur in dreams but then there is a blend between both. The dream starts to be more realistic.
DRE: I have this problem where sometimes I have dreams then two days later I have a memory from a dream that I think is real.
MG: And you dont know if its dream or real.
DRE: Yeah. Im like, Wait a minute, that didnt happen.
MG: Its very true. Its complex, sometimes you wake up from a dream and the dream has created a memory in the past. Sometimes I wake up and Ill be like I remember I was at apartment in 1992 in London and what happened to this apartment? But its purely made up in the dream. Its like you dream in the past.
DRE: Yeah, its confusing.
Last time I asked you what superpower would you want to have. You said, I want to go travel back in time and get back at all my old girlfriends.
MG: Yeah, sounds like me [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] It just makes me think at this point that you are, Im not going to say powerful, but youre at the point where you probably could get back at your old girlfriends.
MG: Some maybe. Believe me I think about it sometimes. Recently I met again this girl I hadnt seen in years that I was deeply in love with when I was 15. We were very close and she ended up dating my friend. When I saw her I was like, Why did you go out with him? She said, Well I was in love with you but you would never make your move.
DRE: Oh man.
MG: Just for that I kissed her then.
DRE: When youre shooting a movie thats as personal as Science of Sleep do you go back to your family at the end of the day?
MG: If I had been with my family I think it would be difficult to face the responsibility at the same time. Its interesting how it works. When I did Eternal Sunshine, my son was living in Paris and I was in New York. It took me forever to finish the thing. So I took my son here. Now my son lives with me here in New York. Then I went and shot Science of Sleep in Paris. So my son was in New York and I was in Paris shooting in the same building where my son lived with his mama. Every night I would go back to my house and I would be very lonely and scared.
DRE: I read that your next film is going to be based on the book, Master of Space and Time [by Rudy Rucker].
MG: Yeah, were still are developing it. Its a long process.
DRE: Who is writing that script?
MG: Rudy [Rucker] will probably have some input in it, but Dan Clowes is writing it.
DRE: Do you want to make more music videos?
MG: Yeah, I would like do two or three a year. Id like to do one for The Roots of Questloves hair. I want to have all of the rest of it down in his hair like in the cartoon where the fleas on the dog are in an orchestra.
DRE: A couple of months ago Jim Carrey said that the two of you had dinner together. Did you talk about another movie?
MG: We dont have a movie yet but we may work together in the future. We both would be happy to.
DRE: Even though it had only been a couple of years, how do you look back on Eternal Sunshine?
MG: Its hard to tell because my personal life was in chaos so sometimes I associate that with it. All the work I do is very imprinted with the emotion I experience during the making. Then when I watch it its hard to separate from that. Now after working with Charlie I feel Im going to be judged harder on my other work but so far Ive had a very positive response so I feel relief. But I was really scared especially writing on my own
DRE: Do you have any tattoos?
MG: No. Im against tattoos.
DRE: Why?
MG: Like the Holocaust stuff with the tattoos. There are some wives of officers that had big, nice tattoos and they would get them in shape for lamps. For this reason I think I would be very reluctant to get a tattoo. My son, whos 14 sometime, may say I want a tattoo. I would say You are not having a tattoo, as long as you live with me.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
That's cool his drumming is still in use!
Tattoos suck.