Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevoditelj: Igor Pureta Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

I made a film that was impossible to make,

Napravio sam film koji je bilo nemoguće napraviti

but I didn't know it was impossible,

iako ja to nisam znao

and that's how I was able to do it.

i zato sam ga i uspio napraviti.

"Mars et Avril" is a science fiction film.

"Ožujak i travanj" je film znanstvene fantastike.

It's set in Montreal some 50 years in the future.

Smješten je u Montrealu kojih 50 godina u budućnost.

No one had done that kind of movie in Quebec before

Nitko prije u Quebecu nije napravio takav film,

because it's expensive, it's set in the future,

jer je skup, smješten u budućnosti,

and it's got tons of visual effects,

ima tone vizualnih efekata,

and it's shot on green screen.

i sniman je na zelenom platnu.

Yet this is the kind of movie that I wanted to make

Ipak, htio sam napraviti ovakav film

ever since I was a kid, really,

otkad sam bio klinac,

back when I was reading some comic books

još dok sam čitao stripove

and dreaming about what the future might be.

i maštao o tome kako bi budućnost mogla izgledati.

When American producers see my film,

Kad američki producenti vide moj film,

they think that I had a big budget to do it,

misle da sam imao velik budžet za to,

like 23 million.

oko 23 milijuna.

But in fact I had 10 percent of that budget.

Ustvari, imao sam 10% tog budžeta.

I did "Mars et Avril" for only 2.3 million.

Napravio sam "Ožujak i travanj" za samo 2,3 milijuna.

So you might wonder, what's the deal here?

Možete se pitati, u čemu je stvar?

How did I do this?

Kako sam to napravio?

Well, it's two things. First, it's time.

Dvije stvari su u igri. Prva je vrijeme.

When you don't have money, you must take time,

Kada nemate novaca, morate uzeti vremena,

and it took me seven years to do "Mars et Avril."

a meni je trebalo 7 godina za "Ožujak i travanj".

The second aspect is love.

Drugi aspekt je ljubav.

I got tons and tons of generosity from everyone involved.

Dobio sam na tone velikodušnosti od svih koji su bili uključeni.

And it seems like every department had nothing,

Činilo se kao da niti jedan odjel nema ništa,

so they had to rely on our creativity

pa su se morali oslanjati na kreativnost

and turn every problem into an opportunity.

i pretvoriti svaki problem u priliku.

And that brings me to the point of my talk, actually,

To me, zapravo, dovodi do cilja mog govora

how constraints, big creative constraints, can boost creativity.

kako ograničenja, velika kreativna ograničenja, mogu pojačati kreativnost.

But let me go back in time a bit.

No, vratit ću se kratko unatrag.

In my early 20s, I did some graphic novels,

U mojim ranim 20-ima, napravio sam nekolicinu grafičkih romana,

but they weren't your usual graphic novels.

no nisu bili uobičajeni.

They were books telling a science fiction story

Bili su knjige koje pričaju znanstveno fantastičnu priču

through images and text,

kroz slike i tekst,

and most of the actors who are now starring

i većina glumaca koji su uključeni

in the movie adaptation, they were already involved

u filmsku adaptaciju, su već bili uključeni

in these books portraying characters

portretirajući u knjigama likove

into a sort of experimental, theatrical, simplistic way.

na neki eksperimentalni, teatralni, jednostavni način.

And one of these actors is the great stage director

Jedan od tih glumaca je sjajan redatelj

and actor Robert Lepage.

i glumac Robert Lepage.

And I just love this guy.

Volim tog tipa.

I've been in love with this guy since I was a kid.

Volim ga otkad sam bio klinac.

His career I admire a lot.

Jako se divim njegovoj karijeri.

And I wanted this guy to be involved in my crazy project,

I htio sam ga uključiti u moj suludi projekt,

and he was kind enough to lend his image

i bio je dovoljno drag da svoju priliku posudi

to the character of Eugène Spaak,

liku Eugena Spaaka,

who is a cosmologist and artist who seeks relation

koji je kozmolog i umjetnik koji traži vezu

in between time, space, love, music and women.

između vremena, svemira, ljubavi, glazbe i žena.

And he was a perfect fit for the part,

Bio je savršen za ulogu,

and Robert is actually the one who gave me my first chance.

i Robert je ustvari onaj koji mi je dao prvu priliku.

He was the one who believed in me

Bio je onaj koji je vjerovao u mene

and encouraged me to do an adaptation of my books

i ohrabrio me da radim adaptacije svojih knjiga

into a film, and to write, direct,

u filmove, da pišem, režiram,

and produce the film myself.

i produciram film samostalno.

And Robert is actually the very first example

Robert je ustvari prvi primjer

of how constraints can boost creativity.

kako ograničenja povećavaju kreativnost.

Because this guy is the busiest man on the planet.

Jer ovaj tip je najzauzetiji čovjek na planeti.

I mean, his agenda is booked until 2042,

Njegov raspored je popunjen do 2042.,

and he's really hard to get,

vrlo ga je teško dobiti,

and I wanted him to be in the movie,

i htio sam da bude u mom filmu,

to reprise his role in the movie.

da ponovi svoju ulogu u filmu.

But the thing is, had I waited

No stvar je u tome, da sam čekao

for him until 2042, my film wouldn't be

na njega do 2042., moj film ne bi bio

a futuristic film anymore, so I just couldn't do that. Right?

film budućnosti više, pa nisam to mogao napraviti, zar ne?

But that's kind of a big problem.

To je velik problem.

How do you get somebody who is too busy

Kako postići da netko tko je prezauzet

to star in a movie?

glumi u filmu?

Well, I said as a joke in a production meeting --

Kao šalu sam izrekao na sastanku produkcije --

and this is a true story, by the way —

ovo je istinita priča, usput --

I said, "Why don't we turn this guy into a hologram?

rekao sam: "Zašto ga ne pretvorimo u hologram?

Because, you know, he is everywhere

Jer, znate, posvuda je

and nowhere on the planet at the same time,

i nigdje na planeti u isto vrijeme,

and he's an illuminated being in my mind,

i prosvjetljeno biće u mojoj glavi je,

and he's in between reality and virtual reality,

između stvarnosti i virtualne stvarnosti,

so it would make perfect sense

pa ima savršenog smisla

to turn this guy into a hologram."

da ga pretvorimo u hologram."

Everybody around the table laughed,

Svi oko stola su se nasmijali,

but the joke was kind of a good solution,

no ta šala je bila dobro rješenje,

so that's what we ended up doing.

pa smo to i napravili.

Here's how we did it. We shot Robert with six cameras.

Ovako smo to napravili. Snimali smo Roberta sa šest kamera.

He was dressed in green and he was like

Bio je obučen u zeleno i bio je

in a green aquarium.

u svojevrsnom zelenom akvariju.

Each camera was covering 60 degrees of his head,

Svaka kamera je pokrivala 60% njegove glave,

so that in post-production we could use

kako bismo u post produkciji mogli koristiti

pretty much any angle we needed,

bilo koji kut koji smo trebali,

and we shot only his head.

i snimali smo samo njegovu glavu.

Six months later there was a guy on set,

6 mjeseci kasnije, imali smo tipa na setu,

a mime portraying the body,

mimičara koji predstavlja tijelo,

the vehicle for the head.

vozilo za glavu.

And he was wearing a green hood

Nosio je zelenu kapu

so that we could erase the green hood in postproduction

kako bismo ju mogli izbrisati u post produkciji

and replace it with Robert Lepage's head.

i zamijeniti ju s onom Roberta Lepagea.

So he became like a renaissance man,

Postao je renesansni čovjek,

and here's what it looks like in the movie.

a ovo je kako to izgleda u filmu.

(Music)

(Glazba)

(Video) Robert Lepage: [As usual, Arthur's drawing

(Video) Robert Lepage: [Kao i obično,

didn't account for the technical challenges.

Arthurov crtež nije računao na tehničke izazove.

I welded the breech, but the valve is still gaping.

Zavario sam stražnji dio, no ventil još pušta.

I tried to lift the pallets to lower the pressure in the sound box,

Pokušao sam dignuti palete da bih smanjio pritisak u rezonantnoj kutiji,

but I might have hit a heartstring.

no možda sam pogodio samo srce.

It still sounds too low.]

Još uvijek zvuči prenisko.]

Jacques Languirand: [That's normal.

Jacques Languirand: [To je normalno.

The instrument always ends up resembling its model.]

Instrument uvijek na kraju nalikuje na svoj model.]

(Music)

(Glazba)

Martin Villeneuve: Now these musical instruments

Martin Villeneuve: Ovi instrumenti

that you see in this excerpt,

koje vidite u ovom isječku,

they're my second example of how

su moj drugi primjer kako

constraints can boost creativity,

ograničenja mogu povećavati kreativnost,

because I desperately needed these objects in my movie.

jer sam očajnički trebao te objekte u svom filmu.

They are objects of desire.

Oni su predmeti požude.

They are imaginary musical instruments.

Oni su izmišljeni glazbeni instrumenti.

And they carry a nice story with them.

I nose lijepu priču sa sobom.

Actually, I knew what these things would look like

Zapravo, znao sam kako će te stvari izgledati

in my mind for many, many years.

u svojoj glavi, već mnogo, mnogo godina.

But my problem was, I didn't have the money

Moj problem je bio taj što nisam imao novaca

to pay for them. I couldn't afford them.

da ih platim. Nisam si ih mogao priuštiti.

So that's kind of a big problem too.

To je također velik problem.

How do you get something that you can't afford?

Kako dobijete nešto što si ne možete priuštiti?

And, you know, I woke up one morning with a pretty good idea.

I, jednog dana sam se probudio s poprilično dobrom idejom.

I said, "What if I have somebody else pay for them?"

Rekao sam: "Što ako netko drugi plati za njih?"

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But who on Earth would be interested

No, tko bi na svijetu bio zainteresiran

by seven not-yet-built musical instruments

za sedam instrumenata koji nisu napravljeni

inspired by women's bodies?

i koji su inspirirani ženskim tijelima?

And I thought of Cirque du Soleil in Montreal,

Sjetio sam se Cirque du Soleil u Montrealu,

because who better to understand the kind of

jer tko će bolje razumjeti

crazy poetry that I wanted to put on screen?

vrstu lude poezije koju sam htio staviti na platno?

So I found my way to Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil's CEO,

Našao sam svoj put do Guya Lalibertea, direktora Cirque du Soleila,

and I presented my crazy idea to him

i iznio mu svoju ludu ideju

with sketches like this and visual references,

s crtežima poput ovoga i vizualnim referencama,

and something pretty amazing happened.

i nešto porilično čudesno se dogodilo.

Guy was interested by this idea

Guy je bio zainteresiran za ideju

not because I was asking for his money,

ne jer sam tražio njegov novac,

but because I came to him with a good idea

nego jer sam mu došao s dobrom idejom

in which everybody was happy.

u kojoj su svi bili sretni.

It was kind of a perfect triangle

Bio je to savršen trokut

in which the art buyer was happy

u kojem je kupac umjetnina bio sretan,

because he got the instruments at a cheaper price,

jer je dobio instrumente povoljno,

because they weren't even made.

jer nisu niti napravljeni.

He took a leap of faith.

Napravio je skok vjere.

And the artist, Dominique Engel, brilliant guy,

Umjetnik, Dominique Engel, briljantan tip,

he was happy too because he had a dream project

bio je sretan također jer je dobio projekt iz snova

to work on for a year.

na kojem može raditi godinu dana.

And obviously I was happy because I got the instruments

I očito, ja sam bio sretan jer sam dobio instrumente

in my film for free, which was kind of what I tried to do.

za svoj film besplatno, što je otprilike bilo ono što sam pokušavao napraviti.

So here they are.

Dakle, ovdje su.

And my last example of how constraints

I moj zadnji primjer kako ograničenja

can boost creativity

mogu povećati kreativnost

comes from the green,

dolazi iz zelene,

because this is a weird color, a crazy color,

jer ovo je čudna, luda boja,

and you need to replace the green screens eventually

i morate u neko doba zamijeniti zeleno platno

and you must figure that out sooner rather than later.

i to morate shvatiti prije, bolje nego kasnije.

And I had, again, pretty much, ideas in my mind

I imao sam, opet, ideje u glavi

as to what the world would be,

kakav bi svijet trebao biti,

but then again I turned to my childhood imagination

no opet sam se vratio mašti iz djetinjstva

and went to the work of Belgian comic book master

i otišao do radova belgijskog majstora stripova,

François Schuiten in Belgium.

Francoisa Schuitena u Belgiju.

And this guy is another guy I admire a lot,

Ovo je još jedan tip kojemu se mnogo divim,

and I wanted him to be involved in the movie

i htio sam da bude uključen u film

as a production designer.

kao produkcijski dizajner.

But people told me, you know, Martin, it's impossible,

No ljudi su mi rekli, Martine, nemoguće je,

the guy is too busy and he will say no.

čovjek je prezauzet i reći će ne.

Well, I said, you know what, instead of mimicking his style,

Rekao sam, znate što, umjesto da oponašam njegov stil,

I might as well call the real guy and ask him,

mogao bih nazvati stvarnog tipa i pitati ga,

and I sent him my books,

i poslao sam mu svoje knjige,

and he answered that he was interested

i odgovorio je da je zainteresiran

in working on the film with me

za rad na filmu sa mnom

because he could be a big fish in a small aquarium.

jer može biti velika riba u malom akvariju.

In other words, there was space for him to dream with me.

Drugim riječima, postojao je prostor za njega da sanja sa mnom.

So here I was with one of my childhood heroes,

Dakle, s jednim od svojih heroja iz djetinjstva

drawing every single frame that's in the film

sam crtao svaki kadar iz filma

to turn that into Montreal in the future.

kako bismo stvorili Montreal iz budućnosti.

And it was an amazing collaboration

To je bila čudesna suradnja

to work with this great artist whom I admire.

raditi s ovim sjajnim umjetnikom kojemu se divim.

But then, you know, eventually you have to turn

No, znate, na kraju morate sve te

all these drawings into reality.

crteže pretvoriti u stvarnost.

So, again, my solution was to aim

Dakle, opet, moje rješenje je bilo ciljati

for the best possible artist that I could think of.

na najboljeg mogućeg umjetnika kojeg sam se mogao sjetiti.

And there's this guy in Montreal, another Quebecois

Postoji tip u Montrealu, još jedan iz Quebeca,

called Carlos Monzon, and he's a very good VFX artist.

zvan Carlos Monzon, koji je iznimno dobar umjetnik vizualnih efekata.

This guy had been lead compositor on such films

Bio je glavni kompozitor na filmovima

as "Avatar" and "Star Trek" and "Transformers,"

kao što su "Avatar", "Star Trek", "Transformers",

and other unknown projects like this,

i ostalim nepoznatim projektima poput ovih,

and I knew he was the perfect fit for the job,

i znao sam da je savršen za posao;

and I had to convince him,

morao sam ga uvjeriti,

and, instead of working on the next Spielberg movie,

i, umjesto da radi na sljedećem Spielbergovom filmu,

he accepted to work on mine.

prihvatio je raditi na mojem.

Why? Because I offered him a space to dream.

Zašto? Jer sam mu dao prostora da sanja.

So if you don't have money to offer to people,

Ako nemate novaca da ponudite ljudima,

you must strike their imagination with something

morate potaknuti njihovu maštu nečime

as nice as you can think of.

najljepšim što možete zamisliti.

So this is what happened on this movie,

To je što se dogodilo na ovom filmu,

and that's how it got made,

i tako sam ga napravio.

and we went to this very nice postproduction company

Otišli smo u odličnu agenciju za post produkciju

in Montreal called Vision Globale,

u Montrealu zvanoj Vision Globale,

and they lent their 60 artists to work full time

i posudili su nam 60 umjetnika da rade cijelo vrijeme

for six months to do this crazy film.

6 mjeseci, kako bi napravili ovaj ludi film.

So I want to tell you that, if you have some crazy ideas

Dakle, htio sam vam reći da ako imate lude ideje

in your mind, and that people tell you

u svojoj glavi i ako vam ljudi kažu

that it's impossible to make,

da ih je nemoguće ostvariti,

well, that's an even better reason to want to do it,

to je samo razlog više da želite to napraviti,

because people have a tendency

jer ljudi imaju tendenciju

to see the problems rather than the final result,

vidjeti probleme radije nego krajnji rezultat,

whereas if you start to deal with problems

no ako se počnete suočavati s problemima

as being your allies rather than your opponents,

kao da su vam saveznici, a ne protivnici,

life will start to dance with you

život će početi plesati oko vas

in the most amazing way.

na najčudesniji način.

I have experienced it.

Iskusio sam to.

And you might end up doing some crazy projects,

Možete završiti radeći neke lude projekte,

and who knows, you might even end up

i tko zna, možda čak završite

going to Mars.

na putu za Mars.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)