 The Interview:
So Giles! How's your day going,
man?
Great, thanks!
I realize that “THE ROOM” isn’t
a horror film in the traditional sense, but are you a fan of
the genre?
Absolutely. I’m quite the
compulsive DVD buyer, so I always have a stash of 20-plus
horror films that I still have yet to view…
What are some horror flicks that
you remember seeing as a kid?
“POLTERGEIST” remains as one of my
all-time favorites. And strangely enough, I’ve been obsessed
with the trailer for Tobe Hooper's “THE MANGLER” since I was
a child. I just bought the DVD and will be checking it out
soon, finally! Growing up, my favorite films were more
“fantastic” than just horror, like “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE
THIRD KIND” and “GREMLINS.” The mysterious feel about them
really hooked me. (It was the same thing with) “ALIEN” AND
“ALIENS”, too.
So what are you watching these
days? Any U.S. horror releases grab your attention?
At the moment, my favorite kinds of
horror films are the “SAW” and “HOSTEL” types. Pushing the
(envelope) further and further with each one. And I just saw
the new THE HILLS HAVE EYES (which was directed by a young
French director, by the way), and found it interesting to
see how you can still scare the shit out of audiences with
scenes set in full daylight.
 “THE
ROOM” has some serious references to Kubrick’s THE SHINING,
my favorite being sort of “THE SHINING IN THIRTY SECONDS.” I
assume you’re a fan of the original film?
Of course! Because the most
frightening thing about “THE SHINING” is that it doesn’t
contain many scenes of violence (except at the end). More
than half of the film is just mood – and of course Jack
Nicholson, who is one of the greatest, if not “the” greatest
genre actor ever.
What’s your favorite moment in
that film? And PLEASE don’t say looking that saggy old set
of tits in room 237.
Ahhh, busted! Well, my favorite
part of the film is the first half, particularly the part
when Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann is telling Danny
about the “shining” power. This is just sheer screen magic.
And personally, I prefer that to the "horror" sequences.
How did you get the idea to
incorporate your film with “THE SHINING” references?
Well, with “THE ROOM”, everything
went very fast: I started writing the script in May 2005,
and completed the film (first print) in January 2006. So… it
was finished in quite a rush. And during that process, I
sort of set my ideas aside, and tried to find references
from other horror films that could be integrated into “THE
ROOM’S” script, to suggest that there is a link between
reality and fiction (for those who haven’t seen the film:
either you didn’t understand what I just said, or you just
guessed the ending).
 Okay,
so let’s talk about the casting process. You have some
seriously talented actors in this picture. Where and how did
you find these maniacs?
The part of the man with Down’s
Syndrome I wrote with Pascal Duquenne in mind. He won the
Best Actor award in Cannes ten years ago with “THE EIGHTH
DAY.” For the part of the crazy father, I wanted an actor
who was completely willing to play along with the “Nicholson
impersonation” thing. That was also part of the “fiction
invading reality” idea. Philippe Résimont is the best at
using both aspects to bring that role to life. The part of
the pregnant sister was written for Caroline Veyt, who
played in my first feature film “LAST NIGHT ON EARTH.” And
as for the part of the mother, we cast stage actress
Françoise Mignon, who seemed to offer the perfect transition
between total coldness and extreme bursts of passion.
Was the character of Max always
written as he appears in the film, or did Philippe expand on
your ideas? The guy is a total fucking spaz and I loved
every minute of his performance!
I have to say that the script was
really tight and with a 24-day shooting schedule, we didn’t
have time to improvise a lot. But Philippe is an amazing
actor, and the thing that is incredible about him is his
precise control of his body and expressions, and the perfect
understanding he has about a director’s choices. He
immediately understood what I wanted him to do, and we did
improvise some bits and pieces, particularly to expand the
mad side of his character. For instance: the scene where he
licks Melinda’s face is take ten of that shot, and we only
did the licking there in that particular take. I suggested
it to Philippe and that he should do it without Caroline or
the crew knowing about it. So she was pretty horrified when
he did it after nine regular takes, and her reaction is
genuine, which shows in the film!
 Here’s
a question that I am dying to know the answer to: did you
always know about what horror lay in “THE ROOM” itself, or
did that idea develop over time? Did you ever consider a
lesbian pillow fighting contest featuring a bunch of young
high school girls?
(laughs) Well, it was a lesbian
pillow fight originally, but it didn’t work at the test
screenings, so we cut it and shot this extravagant scene in
a big 1,200 square-foot studio instead. More seriously
though, Butcher, I had a general idea of the feeling I
wanted to convey to the audience, and it expanded and
defined itself during the three months or so that it took us
to work on pre-production and shooting.
Was Caroline Veyt actually
pregnant during the shoot?
She wasn’t, but she sure looks like
it, thanks to the great work of our prosthetics guy, Lionel
Le. But the most bizarre thing is that she got pregnant a
month after the shooting was over, and she just gave birth
to a little girl named Penelope. So when she came to
premiere she was already pregnant, and people were wondering
if we’d been fooling around…
You have some wonderful special
effect sequences in the film. Do you know how many effects
shots you have?
I’m the producer/director/writer on
the film and I don’t even know the answer to that. I should
just fire my own ass!
 When
you came up with odd, creative imagery like flowers growing
out of the living room floorboards, what inspired you to
come up with this stuff? Did it come from dreams? Do you
just close your eyes and see it there? Are drugs involved?
Spill the beans, bitch!
Well, I was just writing my ass off
to complete the screenplay in the month I had, and I got to
the last part of the film where everything is revealed
(sorry - no spoiler here, friends), and I was thinking about
the most incredible visual things that could happen (on a
tight budget), and I was like “okay, there’s all those
flowers growing, and then the furniture starts changing
places” and so on and so on. This was quite spontaneous
writing… and it’s amazing on-screen.
What element of “THE ROOM” are
you most looking forward to people seeing?
The sequence inside “the room” and
the whole third act, as a matter of fact. I was just in my
element shooting those parts… I really prefer that to the
more “family” kind of scenes at the beginning.
OK, I think I’ve drilled you
enough. So what are you working on now, Giles?
I’m finishing two screenplays in
English, both thrillers. One is about an incredibly cruel
kidnapping, and the other is about a serial killer. I will
work on the financing and production of those two from
September on, and I hope to be able to shoot them sometime
in 2007. I am looking for co-producers, so…
Now, Giles. You are aware that
we can barely afford paper for our copier, right?
(laughs) I was aware and I was
joking. I'm actually surprised that you guys can afford a
copier!
Well, actually…we stole it.
Thanks for your time Giles. Any final thoughts or comments?
You haven’t seen anything yet! (I
just love that sentence).
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