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Hollywood Reporter
Aug 26 2014
Venice Vet Fatih Akin Talks Completing His 'Love, Death and the Devil'
Trilogy With 'The Cut'
3:44 PM PST 08/26/2014 by Ariston Anderson
Akin also reveals how Martin Scorsese helped him get his
long-gestating movie made
In 2009, director Fatih Akin came to the Venice Film Festival with his
intimate culinary comedy, Soul Kitchen. That movie went on to win the
festival's jury prize, and he returned the following year to head the
debut film award jury. Now he's coming back yet a third time with The
Cut, the German-Turkish director's biggest film to date.
The $21 million movie shot across three continents completes his
"Love, Death and the Devil" trilogy. His 2004 film Head-On, which won
the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear, made waves as an unlikely love
story between two Turkish immigrants in Hamburg. In 2009, his film The
Edge of Heaven, about two parallel deaths turning worlds upside-down,
took home best screenplay in Cannes.
The Cut, co-written with Mardik Martin (Mean Streets, Raging Bull)
looks at the evil inherent in mankind. The film stars Tahar Rahim (A
Prophet) as Nazareth Manoogian, a blacksmith who is separated from his
family by Ottoman soldiers in 1915 at the start of the Armenian
Genocide. Miraculously, he survives and learns that his twin daughters
have as well. He embarks upon an odyssey halfway around the world to
find them.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Akin ahead of The Cut's world premiere
on Sunday.
How does it feel to be coming back to Venice after your success with
Soul Kitchen?
I remember Venice as a very "hippie" place, very chill. People move
from point A to point B by bike. The quality of the films is very
exciting and high. There is a focus on fresh and alternative
approaches in cinema. For Soul Kitchen, Venice was the best thing that
could have happened to it. Being back makes me feel very happy, like
being in a room without a roof.
Where did you get the idea for the trilogy "Love, Death and the Devil"?
Love, death and devil are three films that are my personal laboratory
to understand the human being. But I'm afraid three films are not
enough to understand the human factor.
When did you start conceiving of the idea for The Cut?
The first idea goes back to 2007. I dreamed about making the ultimate
film about losing one's home and identity and finding a new one in
America. I delayed the project when I realized how expensive it would
really be. When another project of mine about Hrant Dink (the Armenian
journalist who was shot in Turkey 2007) collapsed, I turned back to
The Cut. With the financial success of Soul Kitchen in Europe the film
was "bankable."
What was the writing process like, collaborating with Mardik Martin?
I am a German writer. When I decided to shoot the film in English,
which was absolutely necessary for the freedom of the casting, I
needed more than a translator. I needed a screenwriter, who had
knowledge about the material. So the name Mardik Martin, who has an
Armenian background, came up quite quickly. Mardik Martin is the
former writer of such immortal films as New York, New York, Mean
Streets and Raging Bull.
Through Martin Scorsese, and the connection we have because of the
World Cinema Foundation, Mardik Martin and I came together. I visited
him in Los Angeles for 10 days and we went through the whole script.
Once he was involved it was clear that it was not just about finding
the right language. Mardik turned everything upside down and cut the
budget, so making the film became realistic.
Tahar Rahim plays a silent character in the film. How was it to tell
the story mostly through images rather than dialoge?
It felt very comfortable. You didn't have to focus on the talking at
all. You went straight to the essence of a scene. You start to think
differently. You even stop talking so much as a director. After this
film, I would like to shoot silent films forever!
What was the biggest influence of the film?
There is a very long list of inspiration and role-models. But the most
important influence is America, America by Elia Kazan, the story of a
Greek emigrant who travels from Anatolia to New York, shot in the
1960s. Before doing The Cut I saw it again and again and again,
studied every shot. Knowing Kazan went through all this made me feel
safe and protected.
There are eight co-financing countries involved. What was it like to
put together such a large project independently?
Such a film is only possible if your partners are cinema lovers --
fair, full of passion, faithful and loyal, partners who believe more
in the artistic result than in the box-office. And we had such
partners. I am deeply grateful for their support. This film was mainly
produced by Fabienne Vonier and Karl Baumgartner, who passed away in
2013 and 2014 respectively. Without the passion of these two, this
film would never have been made.
What new projects are you working on?
After such a film I would like to do a little, low budget film in
Germany. I am wondering if this is still possible for me or not. It's
a dark film, maybe a thriller. After that, I am planning to do a
children's movie.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/venice-vet-fatih-akin-talks-721727
Aug 26 2014
Venice Vet Fatih Akin Talks Completing His 'Love, Death and the Devil'
Trilogy With 'The Cut'
3:44 PM PST 08/26/2014 by Ariston Anderson
Akin also reveals how Martin Scorsese helped him get his
long-gestating movie made
In 2009, director Fatih Akin came to the Venice Film Festival with his
intimate culinary comedy, Soul Kitchen. That movie went on to win the
festival's jury prize, and he returned the following year to head the
debut film award jury. Now he's coming back yet a third time with The
Cut, the German-Turkish director's biggest film to date.
The $21 million movie shot across three continents completes his
"Love, Death and the Devil" trilogy. His 2004 film Head-On, which won
the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear, made waves as an unlikely love
story between two Turkish immigrants in Hamburg. In 2009, his film The
Edge of Heaven, about two parallel deaths turning worlds upside-down,
took home best screenplay in Cannes.
The Cut, co-written with Mardik Martin (Mean Streets, Raging Bull)
looks at the evil inherent in mankind. The film stars Tahar Rahim (A
Prophet) as Nazareth Manoogian, a blacksmith who is separated from his
family by Ottoman soldiers in 1915 at the start of the Armenian
Genocide. Miraculously, he survives and learns that his twin daughters
have as well. He embarks upon an odyssey halfway around the world to
find them.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Akin ahead of The Cut's world premiere
on Sunday.
How does it feel to be coming back to Venice after your success with
Soul Kitchen?
I remember Venice as a very "hippie" place, very chill. People move
from point A to point B by bike. The quality of the films is very
exciting and high. There is a focus on fresh and alternative
approaches in cinema. For Soul Kitchen, Venice was the best thing that
could have happened to it. Being back makes me feel very happy, like
being in a room without a roof.
Where did you get the idea for the trilogy "Love, Death and the Devil"?
Love, death and devil are three films that are my personal laboratory
to understand the human being. But I'm afraid three films are not
enough to understand the human factor.
When did you start conceiving of the idea for The Cut?
The first idea goes back to 2007. I dreamed about making the ultimate
film about losing one's home and identity and finding a new one in
America. I delayed the project when I realized how expensive it would
really be. When another project of mine about Hrant Dink (the Armenian
journalist who was shot in Turkey 2007) collapsed, I turned back to
The Cut. With the financial success of Soul Kitchen in Europe the film
was "bankable."
What was the writing process like, collaborating with Mardik Martin?
I am a German writer. When I decided to shoot the film in English,
which was absolutely necessary for the freedom of the casting, I
needed more than a translator. I needed a screenwriter, who had
knowledge about the material. So the name Mardik Martin, who has an
Armenian background, came up quite quickly. Mardik Martin is the
former writer of such immortal films as New York, New York, Mean
Streets and Raging Bull.
Through Martin Scorsese, and the connection we have because of the
World Cinema Foundation, Mardik Martin and I came together. I visited
him in Los Angeles for 10 days and we went through the whole script.
Once he was involved it was clear that it was not just about finding
the right language. Mardik turned everything upside down and cut the
budget, so making the film became realistic.
Tahar Rahim plays a silent character in the film. How was it to tell
the story mostly through images rather than dialoge?
It felt very comfortable. You didn't have to focus on the talking at
all. You went straight to the essence of a scene. You start to think
differently. You even stop talking so much as a director. After this
film, I would like to shoot silent films forever!
What was the biggest influence of the film?
There is a very long list of inspiration and role-models. But the most
important influence is America, America by Elia Kazan, the story of a
Greek emigrant who travels from Anatolia to New York, shot in the
1960s. Before doing The Cut I saw it again and again and again,
studied every shot. Knowing Kazan went through all this made me feel
safe and protected.
There are eight co-financing countries involved. What was it like to
put together such a large project independently?
Such a film is only possible if your partners are cinema lovers --
fair, full of passion, faithful and loyal, partners who believe more
in the artistic result than in the box-office. And we had such
partners. I am deeply grateful for their support. This film was mainly
produced by Fabienne Vonier and Karl Baumgartner, who passed away in
2013 and 2014 respectively. Without the passion of these two, this
film would never have been made.
What new projects are you working on?
After such a film I would like to do a little, low budget film in
Germany. I am wondering if this is still possible for me or not. It's
a dark film, maybe a thriller. After that, I am planning to do a
children's movie.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/venice-vet-fatih-akin-talks-721727