Have you seen Sofia Coppola's Golden Lion winning drama Somewhere? Well if you have you'll remember the excruciatingly awkward yet fairly funny sequence in which Stephen Dorff's movie star Johnny Marco sits through a press conference dominated by stupid and pretentious questions ("Who is Jonny Marco?" being the one that stands out as the most reaching and self-important). If you've seen that then you'll have some idea what being in the room for the press conference of
True Grit was like at the start of the 61st Berlin Film Festival. Both Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, were in attendance and were joined by three of the film's stars, Josh Brolin along with Academy Award nominees Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld. But it was clear from the outset that the Coens (Joel in particular) shared a certain disinterest and even hostility for the whole obligatory event with Marco. And not without good reason if you heard the questions. There weren't any negative questions or thinly veiled personal attacks to rile the directors, but rather the inane and repetitive nature of what was asked seemed to drive them to extreme boredom. "What is your favourite gummy bear?" one journalist asked Steinfeld. "What was it like playing John Wayne?" another asked Bridges. The Coens themselves had to field the same question over and over again: "what made you remake this film and what does the original mean to you?" and they must have felt they were banging their heads on brick wall because it didn't seem to matter how they answered: the question kept coming back. It didn't matter how many times they said that they hadn't seen it since childhood or dismissed John Wayne and that 1969 film as an "irrelevancy", this question - with only minor variation - was asked over and over and over again. Usually growing in complexity and length each time whilst the length of the Coen's answers went the other way. The longer the question the shorter the answer. Lucky journalists got a few words. The less fortunate were greeted with cold silence. It was an odd game of cat and mouse, only the two were hopelessly mismatched.
That's not to say the whole affair was humourless or uncomfortable. Joel Coen emerged for the photocall sardonically snapping away at the waiting press on his phone. During the interview he interrupted his brother struggling to answer another "what does it mean to you?" query to sarcastically exclaim, "yeah Ethan! What does it mean to you!?" Jeff Bridges was amiable and polite in his responses as you might expect, often jumping in to fill silences and keep the wheels turning. But the most entertaining and effortlessly charming participant was without doubt Brolin. He made several funny remarks, the most memorable being when he interrupted Bridges extolling the virtues of John Wayne (who was not - I repeat NOT - an influence on THIS adaptation of the Charles Portis novel) to say he "loved his political beliefs". A line delivered dead-pan but which everyone found very funny - Wayne being a famous outspoken conservative and supporter of the HUAC in the 30s. A lot of attention was deservedly directed at the young Steinfeld, who was disarmingly confident: responding to a question as to what the project's biggest challenge was by saying, basically, that none of it had been a problem at all. "What was it like being surrounded by all those big men?" asked one lady - causing Brolin to joke that the question said more about the her than it did Steinfeld. But on this evidence - and on that offered by her brilliant and assured performance in the film itself - it would take a lot more than a few of Hollywood's most powerful and experienced male actors to intimidate this actress.
Ultimately there wasn't much to take away from the press conference other than the absurd spectacle of it and a few, oft-repeated, statements. Namely that John Wayne didn't influence Bridges and that the 1969 movie and the western genre didn't influence the Coens. They aren't fascinated by violence any more than it's a storytelling device to "keep the stakes high" and there is no contemporary sub-text intended in their telling of the story, which focuses on a young girl who is fairly shrewd with money - the question "is the film a comment on the financial crisis?" was answered by Joel Coen who said "I think you're possibly over reaching with that one." Possibly. You sit through enough of these things and it isn't hard to sympathise with the stars for looking like they'd rather be anywhere but here. Still: it beats digging a ditch, eh?
'True Grit' opened the festival out of competition, but the real stuff starts now with the first competing films being Wall Street drama 'Margin Call' (starring Kevin Spacey) and Argentine biographical drama 'El Primio'. Next week there is also a high-profile premiere for Liam Neeson thriller 'Unknown', which is set in Berlin, and Ralph Fiennes directorial debut 'Coriolanus'. Though arguably the most interesting official selection picks might be the 3D offerings which are hitting the festival in a big way this year. Last year Venice showed a few 3D films in one of their minor strands - a J-horror and a Chinese short animation - and Cannes has in recent years donned the tinted specs for the folks at Pixar, but Berlin has intriguingly gone a bit further. There are three 3D films in the "Wettbewerb" ("official programme" to non-German speakers) and one, the animated 'Tales of the Night' by 'Kirikou and the Sorceress' director Michel Ocelot, is actually "in competition". The other two are by two of the biggest and most well-regarded contemporary German filmmakers: Werner Herzog's 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' and Wim Wenders' dancing film 'Pina'. Is this proof of the coming of age of 3D? We will have to wait and see, but I'll let you know my thoughts during the next couple of weeks. Anyway, it looks to be an interesting festival and you can read all my reviews here up until it comes to a close on the 20th.