Cinema is Dope » People: Vincenzo Natali

The SPLICE Interview with Vincenzo Natali at 42 Sitges Film Festival

blake — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:55:43 +0000

Interview Table of Contents:

North American Release Date?

What is SPLICE?

Any Limitations in Realizing SPLICE?

Realizing The Character of DREN With A Human Actress, CGI, Practical Effects & More

Delphine Chaneac as DREN

Ripped From Today’s Headlines

Less is More

Shooting Scenes With DREN

Digital Effects & CGI

Yes well made and bloody good fun smart sci-fi cinema can be really fun! Splice is the surprise hit of 2009 for me in cinema. Not that it should have been an outright surprise but in just how well it turned out. It’s a film you walk into with high expectations not only from the hype but having Guillermo del Toro on board as an executive producer and directed by Vincenzo Natali. In many ways for me Splice felt like a milestone film as it has a character that is fully CGI in places that feels incredibly involving and brings with it a palette of emotions and humanity that is rare in the over CGI jungle of film where emotion and humanity tends to be the last thing you ever find. I credit this with Natali’s direction to have the character of DREN be realize not only through CGI but also through puppetry, the works of KNB with real prosthetics and practical effects, as well as actress Delphine Chaneac who helps to bring the audience into her character without missing a beat. This layered combination stands head and shoulders over all the mindless CGI-ish and imaginary film characters that came before her.

Seeing Splice before a packed audience for its world premiere at the 42 Sitges Film Festival where everyone in attendance ate up everything the film threw at it was a true treat. Since it doesn’t play like your typical creature sci-fi film with telegraphed story points or routine conventional arcs, throughout its running time you really have no idea what is going to happen next, which at one points culminates in the wildest moment in cinema in 2009 (yes wilder than noted scenes in Antichrist or Enter the Void)… which literally had me and the entire audience going, “Oh my God! I can’t believe I’m seeing this,” followed by strong applause. A well made sci-fi film seems rare these days, save for films like Moon, and SPLICE is a welcome breath of fresh air not only for sci-fi cinema but also in there approach for crafting believable worlds, creatures and characters in a ripped from the headlines type of film that soars. Equal parts melodrama, family bonding, terror, roller coaster ride and out right horror, SPLICE is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat and by the end you will probably be telling yourself that you had no idea a smart sci-fi film could be so much damn fun!

With that said it was great to sit down and talk with Vincenzo Natali the director of SPLICE, whom I interviewed almost immediately after the first time I had seen it during a morning press screening (later that night I saw it again for the second time at its official world premiere). With the film fresh in my mind it was great delving into his thoughts on the film and various aspects of it. I also wanted to allow him to set it up and talk to audiences directly in it to frame what the film was about as there had been too many wondering if it was yet another SPECIES type of film (which I personally felt was made more confusing by a lot of initial artwork that looked too much like the SPECIES artwork). So sit back and enjoy this roughly 9 minute interview and lets hope it hits US shores in movie theaters before March of 2010 (which can always change depending on which distributor picks it up).

Also, be sure to read posted by Kurt Halfyard’s review of SPLICE at Row Three (here).

Sitges Film Festival 2009:
::: Official Site
::: Sitges Official Facebook Fan Page
::: Variety on Sitges ‘09
::: ‘Visage’, by Tsai Ming-liang, opens the Noves Visions category
::: Malcolm McDowell to receive the Grand Honorary Award at the opening, which will moved up to October 1st
::: [REC]2 to open Sitges 09
::: Alien is the inspiration for Sitges 09
::: The latest and most eagerly awaited genre films at Official Fantàstic Section
::: Animation, international variants of horror and 3D film
::: Sitges 09 will be recalling certain flashes from the 80’s

Is Independent Cinema Dead? – Vincenzo Natali, Director of Splice

blake — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:55:08 +0000

This marks the debut of an ongoing interview series where I ask key people in the film industry the hot topic question, “Is Independent Cinema Dead?” I hear this debated regularly in the media and in the blog-o-sphere but rarely do I get to hear from actors, directors and people actually making movies what they find to be the state and health of indie cinema. So with a series of planned interviews at the 42 Sitges Film Festival I sought out in nearly all my interviews to ask this question and get their insight into this ongoing topic and debate. Vincenzo Natali who directed Splice intrigued me especially with this question as I asked him to also speak at it by bringing emerging aspects of technology in cinema into this conversation including 3D. Whether you agree or disagree I hope this adds some healthy discussion to this and be sure to check back for future updates in this series.

For those wondering if I liked Splice or not… I absolutely loved it and thought it was one of the real surprises of 2009. I actually saw it twice at 42 Sitges Film Festival including its official world premiere screening. I’ll have an interview with Vincenzo Natali on Splice posted soon and a review of it up (expect the review next week).

Splice (2009) – Daily Movie Wallpaper – Vincenzo Natali

blake — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:00:52 +0000

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The Daily Movie Wallpaper
Saturday, September 5, 2009

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Nikkatsu Noir Contest from Cinema is Dope – Enter Today
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This Guillermo del Toro produced sci-fi thriller from filmmaker Vincenzo Natali will screen in competition at the upcoming 42 Sitges Film Festival and count me in as being very excited to see it. I was lucky enough to get one of the promotional books for this film back at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008 which were pulled rather quickly once they realized how many huge spoilers were contained in it (well I probably have 3 or 4 books actually). The character designs and attention to detail was staggering and it seemed like this film was a real labor of love that could be something special. I have no idea how this film will turn out, the images like this one look outstanding and I covered my ears from those that saw a working print while at screenings in Cannes this year.

Related Coverage:
::: 42 Sitges Film Festival

Image Source:
Official still that was used in the original international release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile