Interview: Erick Zonca (Julia)

After watching Eric Zonca’s new film: Julia, you probably won’t feel joy, sorrow, anger, hate or happiness. You certainly won’t feel anything but compassion for the characters and you might actually have to work hard to understand why it’s worth spending two-plus hours in the theatre watching the follies of the despicable, alcoholic Julia.

The Dreamlife of Angels, Zonca’s first film, made a huge splash on the international film scene in 1998; ten years later his sophomore effort is serving up quite a different cinematic dish.

Julia, portrayed by indie ice-goddess Tilda Swinton, is about a woman whose life is so far-gone from her control that her pattern of self-destructive, self-serving, decisions serves to barely keep her head above water. So why bother going to see this on a spring weekend in May? I think maybe because we all know somebody like Julia (whether we want to or not) and because sometimes the best films aren’t the ones you love right away, but the ones that stick with your head and pickle to a certain perfection. I know that was my experience with Julia and I got a chance to sit down with director Eric Zonca to talk about his experience making the film.

Benjamin Crossly-Marra: I heard that Julia was inspired by a picture you saw while driving through Los Angeles, how did this picture come to personify Julia?
Eric Zonca: It wasn’t a picture, although for some reason that’s what a lot of journalists are writing. We were in the middle of writing the screenplay and, like you said, I was driving through the streets of Los Angeles and I saw a woman pass in front of me. She didn’t have red hair, but there was something about the expression on her face that I turned to my co-writer, Aude Py, and said “that looks like Julia.” The woman was driving an old BMW and we really just kept the idea of her and the car.

BCM: So you had already come up with idea of Julia before you saw that woman?
EZ: Oh yeah! I don’t know why journalists keep saying that this image somehow inspired the story. The script was pretty much all written, but I saw this image I was still trying to nail down Julia’s persona. You know when you see these women in LA they’re decked out in Gucci and Prada. They’re very image-conscious and I didn’t want Julia to be like that. The woman I saw in the car looked pretty beat up so we tried to make Julia look out of place against the glamour of LA.

BCM: When was the script completed?
EZ; Well it took me between four to five years. From 2002-2006 and during that time we were constantly trying to find money.

BCM: Is all of the financing European?
EZ: Yes, 100%

BCM: So what was it like shooting a European Film in the United States and Mexico?
EZ: It was very difficult, because first of all it was very hard to find a French producer who was interested in making an American film like this. Most of the film was shot in Mexico for financial reasons. I was dreaming of shooting mostly in America but it was going to be too expensive. But it was very nice because we really got to discover Mexico City. With Los Angeles it was very quick we only spent 8 shooting days there but afterwards spent two months in the editing room. It was very interesting because I didn’t really know Los Angeles. In fact, the first drafts of the screenplay were set in New York. But I eventually thought that the architecture of New York was too vertical and too stifling. I wanted more light, color and a flat horizon so I choose Los Angeles, which is actually a city that I had known nothing about.

BCM: What does the transition from Los Angeles to Mexico represent for Julia?
EZ: She’s a very violent woman in America. When she goes to Mexico and Tijuana she has to pretend that she’s a mother in order to get the kid back. To Mexicans she represents rich America. To them, even if she’s not actually rich they believe that she always has some access to money. That’s an idea that Mexican’s have of Americans that even if they are poor, they still have some sort of access to money or a way to find money. I think Julia’s character changed when she realized that people saw her in a different way. She’s used to people looking down on her and in Mexico they are somewhat intimated by her.

BCM: Speaking of Julia’s “change” in the film, I find that she never really changes that much. What do you think audiences will get out of seeing a character like that?
EZ; I don’t know. The idea was that this isn’t a moralistic film, so she never changes consciously. She changed because her life suddenly takes a certain turn and it’s a crazy road that she’s going down. She’s involved in violence and kidnapping but little by little she’s changing her relationship with the kid, but not by thinking about it. We didn’t want to make it a personal thing where she thought about it. We wanted her reactions to be reflexive. In American movies a lot of people start out bad and all of the sudden become “good” by the end of the film (except for maybe Tarantino films where he’s making fun of that). But in America maybe the audience will not like it, I don’t know.

BCM: I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the film the first time I saw it, but it’s one of those films I liked better after it sat with me for a little while. What do you think about that?
EZ: Well it’s very hard for me to see Julia objectively. When I see the film I see things I like and see things that I think I did wrong. But it’s more technical, like when we were running out of time at the end of the film I feel like a lot of scenes were rushed etc. But in terms of the audience I don’t know, Julia’s a hard and dark character but I wanted this to be a kind of “thriller” and in thrillers you have dark characters. But because it’s not a typical genre thriller, I think people get a little confused and don’t really know what to make of the characters. It’s a little bit like the end of “Killing of a Chinese Bookie” when the guy is standing on the sidewalk clutching his gunshot wound. I think a lot of people are like “so what?” The answer is not clear to them and this creates a sense of frustration with the film.

BCM: How do you relate with the camera when you’re on set?
EZ: Well for this movie I wanted to shoot handheld and over-the-shoulder. First, because we didn’t have the crew or the time to do tracking and dolly, plus I wanted a very physical movie. I wanted a lot of reactions rather than action so although the camera men wanted to shoot a lot of Tilda, I really had them go shoot the other actors and in doing so I think that really bolstered her performance in this film. We did a lot of shot-reverse-shot. I wanted it to really look like it was capturing life as it was going on. So I’m pretty happy with it. But there are some parts though where I don’t like it at all. For example the scene with Elena and Tilda I don’t like at all.

BCM: What was the big difference between shooting this and shooting Dreamlife of Angels?
EZ: Well this was much more physical. Also Dreamlife of Angels is about two girls and a city. Here it’s Los Angeles and Mexico City so we were moving around a lot with the actors and crew. So you have to really adapt yourself to the traveling. Dreamlife of Angels was simpler and more conventional.

BCM: Was Tilda Swinton always your first choice for Julia?
EZ: She was always my first choice. At one point we thought about Julianne Moore because we had the opportunity to ask her and she said yes, but we came back to Tilda in the end. She came on the set with a very seasoned attitude; she was ready for anything and very open-minded. She’s also full of energy she never tired when I changed my mind about things.

BCM: Would you ever consider making films for American studios?
EZ: Only if the producer was in-tune with the kind of films that I like to make. My friend Jean-Pierre Jeunet worked for the studio and made Alien: Resurrection and was not very happy. They don’t let you do the editing and even the majority of the shooting! So I would work with an independent producer. I need to be able to decide the shooting, directing and editing. Unfortunately, more and more of the European film industry is beginning to copy the American production system.

BCM: What are you working on next?
EZ: I have a French film that I’m working on with Vincent Cassel. I would love to work with Tilda again, and I’m thinking about that project but right now it’s still just an idea.

Magnolia Pictures release Julia in theaters today.