cinechoc interview - march 1984

This interview is from the French magazine Cinechoc, n°1, March 1984. This magazine was published in the middle of the eighties. It specialised in popular movies like western, peplum, thriller, horror and erotic movies.

In most of your movies (Deep Red, Suspiria or The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), you seem to be obsessed by what the characters see. Where does your passion for the look come from ?
Since my childhood, I have been fascinated by the problem of truth. I discovered when I was very young that there was no absolute truth: when I was in School, I was told "history is like that", "philosophy is like that", and I started to tell myself that things could be different for me, and for the others too. Politicians too talk to me about truth, but nobody knows what it is. Is it yesterday's truth, today's truth, my truth, your truth...?
The way we perceive things depends on our state of soul. This is what happens in The Bird... or in Deep Red. My characters see something in some special circumstances , then the audience see's the scene in other circumstances, and the scene, itself becomes different because truth is always personal, subjective.

But you never cheat: the audience could have seen the important detail. How can you be sure that the audience won't see it ?
It is a simple conjuror's trick. Something is done with the right hand to draw the attention of the audience, and then the other hand can do anything. Only the right hand matters for the audience.

Do you write the story of a film around a particular set, or do you look for the set after having written the story ?
I build my scenes of murder around the set because I always look for them before writing the story.

The tricks with light make your movies noteworthy. How do you handle your cinematography ?
I use different lighting for each film. In Suspiria, I used coloured filters. In Tenebrae I used electronic lighting. It is a very white light called Pulsa which works at the rhythm of forty beats each second. It brings a new feeling, very frightening.

How did you find the painting for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and the drawing for Deep Red ?
It was difficult to find the painting. There are many naive painters in Italy. I've met many of them, and I made many attempts to find what I needed. The drawing in Deep Red was done by an artist from Turin. You certainly know that Turin is considered as an evil town. One of Hell's ten gates is supposed to be there and it is one of the points of the magic triangle Fulcanelli talks about.(1)

Are you interested in alchemy ?
Of course! It inspired me much for Suspiria and Inferno. I have even spent some time in the school of Rudolph Steiner, near Bale. I've learned about his doctrine, called anthroposophy, and I carry on studying magic. I don't believe in these things, but I consider all of this as a cultural experience and it sometimes allows strange, and often cruel, discoveries. I'm always trying to meet witches, alchemists and magicians...

How do you go about music, how do you work with "Goblin" ?
Music is written before the shooting of the movie. From the start, I have a theme in my head and we work on it. I was used to working with "Goblin", but the band has split. This is the problem with musicians; after two or three years they hate each other, maybe because they have lived and travelled together all the time. "Goblin" still exist but they are not the original members of the band. I keep on working with some of the early members of the band.

What can you tell us about your work with George Romero ?
We get along very well.

Why are there two versions of Dawn of the Dead ?
George has not submitted the movie to the US censorship: so he has left much more things in it. In Italy (and in France), your movie must be shown to the censors before it can be released. We were forced to cut some scenes. There are no big differences between the two versions, even though George has changed some small things in the sound (he has changed the level of the music for instance).

Have you other projects together ?
We will shoot the third part of The Night of the Living Dead. It will be called Day of the Dead (2). I shall work with Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead): I shall be the co-writer and the co-producer of this third movie (3).

Why has Deep Red been cut in France ?
I have no idea! Sometimes, an idiot arrives in a distribution company and this idiot decides to cut everything and anything. I have a version of Deep Red in which forty minutes have been cut; it is another movie, it has nothing to do with my movie. The most surprising thing is that the cut scenes are not violent but are rather narratives. Fortunately, the original copy was found (it lasts two hours and six minutes) and the complete movie will be released as a videotape.

What was your contribution to Once Upon a Time in the West ?
I was a co-writer: I had the idea of the finale.

You appear in conferences about detective novels. Why are you attracted to this type of literature ?
I like the cruel side of these books, and I enjoy police investigations. I am fascinated by the idea that the human thought can lead to the solution to a problem, to a kind of truth.

You film knives with a morbid love...
This is much more psychoanalytical than it could be believed: it comes from my dreams. I dream much. I find some knives are beautiful , others are phallic, and others are more frightening. There's always a part of yourself in your movies; if an artwork is watched with a peculiar mind, the soul of its author can be discovered.

Have you already been in trouble with your audience like Peter Neal, the hero of Tenebrae ?
It happened to me and it was very hard to bear. Some people identify me with their fears and think that I can help them to get rid of their frustrations. They confuse reality and fantasy. My movies are only entertainment, even though life can sometimes be a very cruel film.

What are your plans for the year to come ?
I have already told you about my plans with Raimi and Romero. I am now writing the story of my next work which will be shot in Zurich. (4)
After, I think that I will direct the last part of the "Maters" trilogy. (5)

Your plans are always linked to fantastic cinema. Will it always be so ?
Right now, I don't think about doing anything else. But it's difficult to predict the future. After The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, I said that I would never make another film!

Dario was interviewed in Paris by Caroline Vié and Claude Scasso

(1): Turin is the city where NONHOSONNO is being filmed
(2): It was not to be...
(3): The film was made without Dario Argento, because it was too expensive for an Italian production.
(4): "Phenomena", of course
(5): We're still waiting for it, Dario !

[interviste]

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