Few filmmakers working today offer audiences a vision as unique, bizarre, and oddly touching as Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
The visually expressive director began his career as a cartoonist before transitioning into movies with works like the cult oddity Delicatessen and the whimsical, award-winning Amelie.
The latest movie from the eccentric French filmmaker is Micmacs, a comedy about a band of garbage dump-dwelling outsiders that is both an homage to silent film comedy and animation as well as an attack on international arms dealing. That description might make the film sound dark and strange, which it is, but like all of Jeunet’s movies, it’s also quite sweet and hilarious.
Metro caught up with the beloved filmmaker when he brought Micmacs to TIFF 09. The film is the product of a distinctly French sensibility (even starring France’s top comedic actor, Dany Boon), but surprisingly, Jeunet admitted that the movie originated out of the frustration he felt working on two failed American projects.
“After A Very Long Engagement I was offered a Harry Potter movie,” revealed Jeunet. “But everything was ready. The costumes and cast were already there. All I had to do was to put down the camera and say ‘Go.’ Life is too short for that, so I tried to do Yann Martel’s Life Of Pi instead. I spent two years working on it, but after a while it became too expensive. I decided to do another film.”
The screenplay was also inspired by a rather surprising source.
“My main reference on this film was Pixar movies,” admitted the director. “I love their work and I had the great privilege of taking a master class with them in San Francisco. For example, the heroes in Micmacs are based on the toys from Toy Story. There are seven characters and each has their own special gift that they combine to use together.”
The result is one of the best films that Jean-Pierre Jeunet has ever made, combining the gently sentimental comedy of his most recent work with the dark atmosphere of the his early films.
“It wasn’t easy to do, especially when we needed something at the beginning that was pretty dark to justify the revenge,” said Jeunet.
“But that’s how I designed it. It starts very dark and then little by little it becomes a comedy. That was on purpose. It was a kind of challenge I set for myself.” Fortunately for audiences, it was a challenge that clearly paid off.
