Opening this week is director Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go.  Based on the acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, the film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley and it recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival/Toronto International Film Festival.

I managed to see a screening here at TIFF and the film really hit me.  Normally when I see a movie, I immediately want to talk about it with friends.  But after watching Never Let Me Go, I didn't want to talk to anyone.  That's because the film deals with big issues and it tackles them without telling you how to think - which is one of the best parts about the Alex Garland script and Mark Romanek's direction.

The other day I sat down with Romanek for an extended video interview.  We talked about making the film, his thoughts on film vs. digital, 3D, the changing movie industry and the difficulty of trying to get any movie made, music videos, and so much more.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say:

Finally, here's a bunch of movie clips from Never Let Me Go in case you want to check them out.  I definitely recommend this movie.

Mark Romanek

  • What's the last week been like promoting his film
  • :45 - We talk about how when the movie ends you need some time to think and you don't want to talk about it
  • 2:20 - Did he have a lot of studio notes?
  • 3:55 - How quickly did he join the project and then start filming
  • 4:35 - The editing process - how tough was it.  He talks about how to find the right tone and how quickly to release info in the movie. Talks about what he cut.
  • 5:55 - His thoughts on film and digital
  • 7:45 - How David Fincher gets his movies to look great even though they are shot digitally.  Romanek has a great line about the difference of shooting film and digital.
  • 8:50 - Does he think digital cameras will eventually get to the point where they look exactly like film
  • 10:20 - His thoughts on 3D.  Would he ever shoot it in 3D and does he think it's a gimmick.  Talks about what he collects…
  • 10:58 - Talks about a 3D film he wanted to do 15 years ago that was an Merchant/Ivory type film set in Egypt and people thought he was crazy
  • 11:35 - Reveals he really wanted to do Hugo Cabret
  • 12:30 - Talks a lot more about 3D and we get into Citizen Kane
  • 13:40 - What will be on the DVD/Blu-ray of Never Let Me Go - says they have a lot of drawings, pictures, behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes.  He talks about not wanting to reveal how everything was done and destroying the illusion of how movies are made
  • 15:45 - Will he make another project soon. Reveals he almost made a number of projects like a cop movie with Tom Hanks, the James Frey book A Million Little Pieces (until Oprah), Wolfman.
  • 16:50 - Talks about how hard it is to get a movie made
  • 18:30 - His thoughts on movies possibly coming out in theaters, DVD and On Demand on the same day
  • 20:05 - Is he thinking about developing anything for TV
  • 21:45 - What are the music videos people always want to talk about. He mentions Johnny Cash. I mention Weezer.

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