7. James Gray Tells Cannes Critics To "Go F*** Themselves"
The Criticism: The Immigrant, his new film screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is ponderously paced, and not that good.
The Response: Gray, a rather friendly and unassuming-looking man, became incensed when hearing that people had complained about the length and pacing of his movie, remarking, "My movie is an hour and forty-eight minutes and lets scenes play, and...if the problem people have with the film is the pace, f*** em, because were in Cannes, and this is not the place to be watching 'Transformers 3,' and they can go f*** themselves. Its not that much work, and they should be ashamed of themselves." Gray's tirade continued, "Movies are not barium enemas, youre not supposed to get them over with as quickly as possible. This is a place where films are supposed to be a certain thing where they take their time and you should think about them. Its supposed to be a place where cinema is something for thought, not fast food. If thats what they want they should stay home. Plenty of movies for them in the multiplex, is what I would say." Though Gray's remarks must have had his publicists doing backflips, one has to admire the balls and the point that he's making; Cannes
is the right location for this sort of experimentation, and while I agree that the film needs tightening up in the pacing department, his 2-hour movie is positively snappy compared to some of the three, even four-hour pics that played at the fest this year.