JAInterview2

ML: You mentioned that you view the world in psychological rather than political terms. Is psychology a long-standing interest of yours?

JA: Very much so. It's probably a function of having a father who's a neurosurgeon. I've always been interested in aberrant mental states, clinical psychology, etc. When I was in college years ago I wrote my thesis on paranoid schizophrenia. It helped me understand a lot of the people I was hanging out with. [Laughs.] What interests me the most, though, is how aberrant mental states can play out on a cultural scale.

When I was in graduate school I studied how German civilization completely unravelled during the Nazi period - how people who were actually insane took over what had been one of the most advanced civilizations in the world, the civilization that had produced Goethe and Schiller and Beethoven.

ML: Do you see that kind of thing happening here, in America? Could America devolve into a tyranny?

JA: As a rule, history never repeats itself in exact ways. And beside that, America has a very powerful middle class that always keep things in check. But at the same time, I don't think people realize how quickly things could go south and get very, very ugly.

Obviously we wouldn't want someone like the terrorist in KALIFORNISTAN running our country. An ideologue who thrives on paranoia and misogyny, who directs his animus at America's middle class and its tradition of political freedom. That would be a disaster, don't you think?

ML: [Laughs.] Yes. Tell me about the humor in KALIFORNISTAN. It has a very dark satiric edge. It reminds me of what you did in the early days of Libertas.

JA: Well, I'm an Italian. Humor is the way Italians deal with pain. That's our gift to the world, you might say. It's why Dante wrote his great poem about a journey to hell - and made it, you know, hilarious.

Terrorism is such a painful subject that I think you almost have to deal with it through some form of satire. There's almost no other choice, because otherwise you're never going to get an audience to watch this kind of thing. My family originally comes from the Naples area in Italy, and I think I retain that earthy, dark Neapolitan kind of humor. I love depicting grotesques, for example. And I've known a few of them in my life.

Actress Govindini Murty in KALIFORNISTAN.

<< Kalifornistan to Open Free Thinking Film Festival, Nov. 12th, 2010! See HERE. >>

An exotic dancer is attacked by a terrorist in KALIFORNISTAN.

ML: Tell me about the production history of KALIFORNISTAN.

JA: It began as something simple. I wanted to make a movie about terrorism. I wanted to set it in Los Angeles harbor, because I find the area very dark and atmospheric. And I wanted to put a beautiful woman in the center of the story who's in jeopardy. Those were the basic elements.

Gradually, over time, I decided that I wanted to get into the terrorist's head more - to actually tell the story from that character's fractured, bizarre perspective. I wanted the film to become more of an experience than simply a linear narrative, to get under the terrorist's skin. I started to treat the film less as a conventional thriller, and more as German Expressionism, you might say. As a kind of diary of this guy's thoughts and emotions. Also at the time I'd been reading Camus' THE STRANGER, and that had a big impact on me.

ML: In what way?

JA: THE STRANGER is written in the first person by a character who is obviously not aware that he is, in essence, a sociopath. That's the source of the novel's mordant humor, and I thought that would be a great approach cinematically in terms of depicting a terrorist. The terrorist at the center of KALIFORNISTAN has no conception of how insane and self-absorbed he is, and that's the source of the film's humor. It's the basic gag running all the way through.

Govindini exudes tremendous self-confidence, because movie acting is a relatively easy challenge compared to the other challenges she's faced in her life. Personally, I think that what makes a woman sexy on-camera is self-confidence ... and Govindini radiates it. That's also why, as a woman, she's been able to do things like go on The O'Reilly Factor or MSNBC - these very heated, testosterone-fueled settings - and express her opinions without backing down ... and look great doing it. [Laughs.]

ML: Something I noticed is that she conveys a lot of emotions in the film with relatively little dialogue.

JA: Women do that all the time. [Laughs.]

The idea was to treat her character almost like a woman in a silent movie. Someone very sexual and instinctive - but also tragic, and reticent as a result. Like a character Theda Bara or Pola Negri would've played. She's quiet and mysterious - she speaks mostly with her eyes.

PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6

CONTINUE TO THE NEXT PAGE =>

ML: KALIFORNISTAN stars Govindini Murty. She plays the exotic dancer stalked by the terrorist in the film.

JA: That's right.

ML: So what was it like directing your wife?

JA: Does any man direct his wife? It's usually the other way around.

ML: [Laughs.] Of course! Tell me about her character in the film.

JA: In KALIFORNISTAN, Govindini has to be believable not only as an exotic dancer, but as someone who can realistically confront a terrorist. As anybody who knows Govindini will tell you, that's not a problem. [Laughs.]

Govindini Murty alone in LA Harbor in KALIFORNISTAN.