Welcome back to The Wood, a whenever I want column where I give Hollywood a really hard time. Today I'm taking a break from my useless rants so you can read the words of someone, I don't know, qualified?
I've been hearing that Director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth and so much more) has been hard at work on a futuristic water thriller/musical with A.R. Rahman (Jai Ho!) and I had to get the inside scoop. If you don't think that sounds interesting, check your pulse, because you might be a moron. This is the first in a series of what I hope will be interesting interviews with filmmakers that matter.
I caught up with the celebrated and cerebral Elizabeth director over Skype (he's in India) and got a chance to ask him about his new movie, what he cares (and tweets) about, what he thinks about new media, culture, so much more. Oh, and I also asked him about his friendship with Heath Ledger and why people kiss his feet at the airport.
The interview speaks for itself, and I will leave the talking to the wiser man in the room, but let me just say one thing about Shekhar - one look at Shekhar Kapur's warm smile and you know you've met this guy before and you love him. But let there be no doubt, behind his inviting nature, Shekhar Kapur is a serious man.
Q: Shekhar, thanks for doing this. What's the weather like in India right now?
A: The political weather is fascinating. Parliament has just passed a bill, which, if it becomes law, will bring in sweeping changes never seen in any part of the world. It states a full 33% of all seats in all Houses must be occupied by women at any one time! That's pretty progressive anyway you look at it and makes me proud. Imagine a third of the whole legislature in the US being women by law!
Otherwise, your spring is our summer. I think Mumbai is forever summer.
Q: I was at JFK airport with you once and I distinctly remember a young Indian man coming up and touching his head to your feet. Forgive my ignorance, but what does this mean?
It's a sign of acceptance of superior wisdom. Or the acceptance of a master. Completely misplaced in my case on both counts! But we in India always differentiate between knowledge, wealth, power and success on one hand and wisdom on the other. The belief is that wisdom comes only with life experience.
Q: OK. Everyone's trying to guess what your next project is. A Google search shows us that people are sizzling about what has been described as "futuristic water thriller/musical." I've read the story has components of Blade Runner, Star Wars and Dune. As much as you can, please tell us about this intriguing project and what the hell a "water thriller" is.
A: Imagine a world that has divided itself into those that have water and those that do not. And imagine those that own water now use water as a weapon of social and political control against those that are "water starved."
Imagine also a world in the future where water scarcity has driven rural populations into overcrowded and dense mega-cities. Where an Upper City has been built on top of the Lower City, and where the borders between the two cities are as zealously guarded as between Gaza and Israel. Or the US and Mexico. And the Upper city takes all the water, and drip feeds the Lower City. Imagine a revolution that has been so ruthlessly subdued by water corporations by cutting off all water supplies that the people are too frightened to fight back, and revolution has been driven underground.
Now imagine the most beautiful heartbreaking love story between a young 'water warrior' from the Lower City and a girl from the Upper City. A love story that has such power, that it ultimately bring the barriers between the two cities crashing down, and water back to the people.
And now finally, imagine music by A.R. Rahman. For Paani is a musical like a modern West Side Story.
Q: So is it for sure your next project? When can we expect it?
A: I begin principal photography in October.
Q: Eying anyone for roles?
A: Oh yes, but not at liberty to reveal yet. But I have always worked with people that can transform themselves into the part, make it completely their own. Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth when she was unknown, or even Heath Ledger in Four Feathers when he was relatively unknown.
Q: Speaking of which, it's no question you are "an actor's director." Who is the best actor or actress you've worked with?
A: Now I am in trouble! Cate Blanchett is an easy choice, but for those of your readers that have seen Bandit Queen, the pivotal part played by Seema Biswas would be equally competitive. Geoffrey Rush as Walsingham in both the Elizabeths. And please watch Heath Ledger in Four Feathers again or Djimon Hounsou. I have always been supported by my cast. Without them, I am lost.
That's not a fair question.
Q: Sorry. Kinda. You bring up Heath Ledger, who you became very close with on the set of Four Feathers. What was your friendship with him like?
A: "Like a brother from another mother" is how Heath described his feelings for me. Like kindred spirits that found each other was how I would describe it. Far beyond an actor/director relationship.
Q: I follow you on Twitter (@shekharkapur). You often take to your account to bring up important political issues and give us hints about things you're working on. You talk about everything from quantum physics and mystics, to sex and government. In your mind what are the biggest issues facing India right now? The World?
A: India -
a. A skewed development model that is creating an increasing divide between the incredibly wealthy and the incredibly poor. Unfortunately we have not been able to get rid of Western development models and find our own.
b. A country already in the middle of an acute water crisis.
c. The Talibanization of Pakistan that is increasingly making India a target.
The World - The social disorder and chaos created from environmental refugees will be uncontrollable. How do you handle 250 million people migrating to another land in search of food and water? These migrations will new hotbeds of discontent and terrorism. The next wars will be the known as the "environmental wars" and not just the "water wars."
Q: Speaking of Twitter, what do you make of the emergence of "new media"? How powerful is social media? What does it all mean for a filmmaker like yourself?
A: We have a choice. We either become part of new media, or like a tsunami it will wash over us. But of we embrace it, it is the most powerful communication tool. And we are just watching the tip of the iceberg. Social media is about to change the way we think and behave. The way we create communities. The 'geographical' community is already giving way to 'virtual' communities. Even the concept of nation states is about to be undermined, and the new battle zones will be 'Blogistans'.
I am a story teller and tell stories in the two hour movie format not because I decided to do so, but because the technology and delivery system set those parameters upon me. New media will set different parameters, like short form and more interactive story telling. The first weekend is not longer sacred as Twitter will tell the world about the film as it is happening. But that is just the beginning. We will probably telling stories in real time, as we create films with multiple story lines and interactive audiences in control of the way the plot or characters move. Running time of films will be the choice of the viewer as they move between the film and its video game and back, controlling the direction of the film themselves. Films will then be called "Multiple Universe Entertainment Modules."
But, thank God, story telling will survive. Stories are our ultimate survival kit as we try and create finite sense of an infinite universe we do not comprehend.
We are already seeing the fall of the 'gatekeepers' (music companies, studios) and the rise of the 'platformers' (Google, Facebook, Twitter), which allow the consumer to co-create content.
Q: What was your favorite movie of the year?
A: Avatar, of course. And the French film A Prophet.
Q: Always love catching up with you, sir. Any parting words for the web?
A: The Web is like our Universe. To measure it you need to observe it from the outside, but then you may measure but not comprehend it. So like the Universe, you need to exist inside the Web to comprehend it.