Marc Forster Q&A

The 'Finding Neverland' director discusses new thriller 'Stay' with Mark Salisbury.

Mar  1 2006

In an exceedingly short space of time, Swiss filmmaker Marc Forster has, with 'Monster's Ball' and 'Finding Neverland', emerged as a gifted director of actors. His latest, 'Stay', is a smart, trippy, mind-bending thriller that's deliberately more arthouse than mainstream, more Nic Roeg than M Night Shyamalan.

David Benioff's script sold for $1.8 million with David Fincher attached to direct. What attracted you to the material?

When I first read the script I wasn't that interested, but I couldn't get it out of my head. A few months later I read it again and realised that underneath the story was another level that was fascinating, more of a visual, emotional tale, which had an experimental, abstract feel to it. I met with [producer] Arnon Milchan who produced 'Brazil' in the '80s for Terry Gilliam. He said, 'I want to go back to those times. I give you total creative freedom to create something abstract and interesting.' So I thought there's a possibility to make a very different kind of movie.

Some critics have referenced 'The Sixth Sense' when discussing it. But while that film purposely tried to deceive its audience, with 'Stay' you're upfront from the very beginning that something's not quite right in this world.

Some people don't see it that way but I really didn't try to trick them. When the movie begins there's a morph between Ryan Gosling and Ewan McGregor. I wanted to show that the two of them are linked. When they meet for the first time, the way I shot the scene and cut it, you have the feeling that there's an identity issue, that either is a reflection from one another or they might be the same person.

The film is full of subliminal imagery designed to affect an audience on a subconscious level. How did you go about creating the visual world with its dislocation of space and time?

First of all I thought there shouldn't be any cuts between scenes, there should be seamless transitions. And I felt because of the nature of the script that I have this complete freedom to move people in space and time. There are little, interesting visual clues throughout that when you see the movie you can't even digest; it's more in your subconscious than anything else. When Ryan Gosling's in the park I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to have the world around him be in normal speed but the fountain itself, the water, is in slow motion, for a few seconds. When Naomi and Ewan are in their apartment, the background always changes out the window. People don't really see these details unless you watch the movie several times.

Why are Ewan's character's trousers so short?

The explanation is that when he kneels next to Ryan on the street at the end, from Ryan's perspective, when he looks at him, his pants are up. So from his perspective he sees short pants.

Some have found the ending a little underwhelming.

What bothered me in the script was that it was sort of 'Twilight Zone' at the end and I tried to steer away from that because I felt the ending shouldn't be the point of the movie. The point of the movie is the journey, the ending should be part of it and be more a blend of the entire story and not just the big reveal moment. So you have more of an open ending and different interpretations if you would like.

All your films have tended to involve loss in one way or another and Henry's threatened suicide drives 'Stay' too.

At first I didn't realise, and the more I got into movie the more I became aware of it, and there was this funny, interesting, personal parallel between the storyline and my own life because my brother committed suicide. Obviously when you lose someone who you love, you always have this guilt that was there something you could do to save them. When Ewan says to Naomi, 'You shouldn't take those pills' and she says 'I can't work any more creatively when I take them', this was something my brother always said.

Did you design the film for multiple viewings?

Yes, because some people who enjoy the movie will watch it multiple times and see the clues because in every scene there are clues. Even I started forgetting them after a while because we worked so hard to put so much into it that when I watched the movie I started forgetting. These visual clues are there, literally in every scene.

How much is the ghost of Nic Roeg hanging over the film?

Always the ghost of Nic Roeg accompanies me wherever I go. I love Nic Roeg tremendously, 'The Man Who Fell To Earth', 'Performance', 'Don't Look Now', but also in 'Petulia' which he shot, you still feel Nicolas Roeg's ghost in the camerawork.

Naomi Watts gives a very raw performance in 'Stay', one that seems to anchor the film emotionally.

The reason I cast Naomi is because she reminds me a little bit of these actresses from the '30s, or even earlier, from the silent movie time. But at the same time I always felt she should be like an angel and that's how we lit her and that's how we portrayed her. The lighting is always beautiful on her.

Your next film couldn't be more different. 'Stranger than Fiction' starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman seems like a Charlie Kaufmanesque comedy.

I loved the script. Of all the scripts I've had a chance to work with, I think it's the best-written. I think it's really phenomenal. It isn't so much Kaufmanesque, even though I love Charlie Kaufman, it's less intellectual and more emotional. From all the films I've done it's a mixture of the emotional tone, the understanding of the movie, the artistic achievement, everything blends together from all the films. What I've learned from each film is a blend of it.

Which Will Ferrell will we see in this movie?

Obviously he won't be the slapstick Will Ferrell. It's much more of a reserved performance.

You've been developing an adaptation of 'The Kite Runner' for DreamWorks. Is that your next film?

Probably. Not 100% because the deal is still not made but I think that it will happen.

And is it true you're attached to direct a remake of '36 Quai des Orfèvres'?

No. They offered it to me but I turned it down and I don't know how it got on imdb. We've been trying to get it off imdb for months and it's somehow still there!

'Stay' is released on Friday.

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