Writer/Director Xavier Gens, Action Designer/2nd Unit Director Jude Poyer and Actor Nassim Lyes talk to The Inside Reel about environment, inspiration and intent in regards to their new action film: “Mayhem!” from IFC Films.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 What have you done?
00:27 You woke up the beast.
00:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:34 --is the aspect of environment.
00:40 Because obviously, this pushed you a lot.
00:44 But you have to know where your boundaries are.
00:46 Jude can find the boundaries, and then
00:47 Xavier can find the balance in the emotion.
00:50 Could you talk about finding that line for you,
00:55 about what you could do, what you would want to do?
00:58 And then, obviously, Jude designing that to his strengths,
01:02 but also to what the story needs in the environment.
01:05 And then Xavier taking that and editing it
01:07 into this dance that has to happen for the story to move.
01:14 When you know very well someone you work with,
01:17 and it's just a trust relationship.
01:21 Basically, we know each other so--
01:23 I think we know each other so well now for four years.
01:27 Jude is a bit like my brother.
01:29 We talk together about movies.
01:31 We go to see movies together.
01:33 We eat movies.
01:34 We piss movies.
01:35 We sleep movies.
01:36 [LAUGHTER]
01:38 We love movies.
01:40 And when we talk about-- and we are from the same generation.
01:44 I've been growing up in different countries,
01:47 but watching the same things.
01:49 So basically, it's like, OK, this guy
01:51 is exactly my copycat in a way.
01:54 And I'm his copycat because basically, we
01:57 grew up with the same culture.
01:59 And we were lucky enough back in the '80s
02:02 to grow up with not 10 streamers streaming crazy things all
02:07 over.
02:07 Basically, it determined one vision, one point of view
02:12 on cinema.
02:13 And I think we are probably the last generation
02:17 lucky to have experienced that.
02:19 Because you can talk with Jude.
02:20 You can talk with Gareth Evans.
02:22 You can talk with many other directors or actors
02:26 or technicians in the movie industry.
02:29 We're between 40 and 50.
02:32 And they grew up with the same cultural element,
02:35 getting feed all together.
02:38 So there is a generation.
02:40 We are like a brother growing up in the same place.
02:43 But we just grew up in different places.
02:45 But basically, we had the same movies and the same culture.
02:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:51 I'm asking for a simple favor.
02:58 Get something for me and Lonnie.
03:00 It's yours.
03:00 [SCREAMING]
03:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:05 Get up.
03:08 We got to go.
03:09 [SCREAMING]
03:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:16 I'm going to find them.
03:20 You woke the beast.
03:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:25 [LAUGHING]
03:28 Locked in and I'm lethal.
03:31 You guys don't realize what you got yourselves into.
03:35 This will not bring your family back, Sam.
03:38 We all watched "Joes" when we were around 10 years old.
03:43 We all watched "Mad Max."
03:44 We all watched--
03:45 "Hard Boiled."
03:46 We all watched "Hard Boiled" beginning of the '90s.
03:49 So we were all traumatized by this action film,
03:52 traumatized by the purest sense of cinema.
03:55 And I think the common point we have together
03:59 is that love of cinema.
04:00 Because that's the main motivation, the main--
04:03 and that's why we are friends, because that
04:06 creates a strong friendship.
04:08 And we are like-- when we talk about action,
04:11 this dance is kind of easy, because I'm
04:13 in charge of the film.
04:15 But when I talk to Jude about it,
04:17 we know exactly where we have to take care
04:20 and where we have to stay together.
04:22 There's that very trusting relationship about, OK,
04:26 that's where you have to start your cutting point.
04:31 Jude was coming to see me on set and say,
04:33 oh, this is the moment when you have to bring
04:35 your drama to the action.
04:37 So knowing the previews, I was trying
04:39 to figure out what's going to be the shot to bring us
04:42 to the action.
04:43 And it's super easy.
04:45 And I think there is no ego about this.
04:47 It's just trusting and friendship relationship.
04:51 And that's the way it should be everywhere.
04:54 The problem with Hollywood, in my opinion--
04:56 because we are very independent.
04:58 We did that movie independently and far
05:00 from the Hollywood system.
05:03 So that brings us not only higher by studio,
05:06 but we do the movie by pleasure only.
05:09 And it's only thinking about the pleasure of making it.
05:13 I think maybe you want to add something, Jude, about it.
05:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:19 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
05:22 [SCREAMING]
05:25 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
05:28 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
05:31 [SCREAMING]
05:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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05:49 [SCREAMING]
05:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:55 [GRUNTING]
05:58 [SCREAMING]
06:01 [GRUNTING]
06:04 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
06:06 It was an unusual situation as well,
06:08 because often with a movie with such specific action,
06:15 a second unit-- normally, a second unit will handle that.
06:18 And what you can sometimes find is
06:20 you feel like you're watching a movie with two directors,
06:23 and it's quite a schizophrenic thing.
06:25 There was very, very little second unit on this.
06:28 Even though I worked on the previews, most of the action
06:32 was main unit with the main cast and with Xavier there.
06:36 And it's just a comfortable collaboration.
06:40 And that's a rare thing.
06:42 And I think that's what maybe one of Mayhem's strengths is,
06:46 or something that it stands out for,
06:47 is that the action and the emotion
06:50 work together tonally and not against each other.
06:55 Because for me, it's like Xavier is--
06:58 when we're doing action, he's the great conductor
07:00 of the orchestra.
07:02 And it may be that I've composed it,
07:04 and it may be that I'm talking to the musicians.
07:07 But Xavier is making sure that the whole piece works.
07:11 And that was just such a wonderful thing,
07:14 because if we're doing an action scene, and it's very specific,
07:18 and it might feel like a second unit,
07:20 but Xavier is talking to Nassim as a director talks
07:26 to an actor about the emotional requirements
07:28 or where the character is at this point in time.
07:32 And I can focus on how to make the technique sell
07:35 or how the camera can help make an impact look more painful
07:39 or show a technique better.
07:42 That was an unusual situation, I have to say.
07:46 The first fight of the film, the one you designed in France,
07:51 that the only fight happening in France for that scene,
07:54 I remember telling--
07:56 we were talking together with Jude.
07:59 And at some point, one of the intention was, OK, this fall,
08:03 the guy falling on the floor, let's try to not cut.
08:07 Let's try to feel the impact.
08:10 And Jude designed everything to make it possible,
08:13 to make it happen.
08:15 And he found the right technique to make this possible as well
08:19 with all the layers, because Jude as well is super strong
08:23 regarding visual effects, editing,
08:26 because we have to say he's editing on set the scene.
08:30 So he's not only designing the scene,
08:32 but he's framing and he edits.
08:35 And so we can see the final scene on set
08:39 at the end of the day.
08:41 It's not like three months later on editing.
08:48 It's on the moment, and that's super important.
08:50 [SCREAMING]
08:54 [YELLING]
08:57 [SCREAMING]
09:01 [YELLING]
09:05 [YELLING]
09:08 [SCREAMING]
09:11 [YELLING]
09:15 [YELLING]
09:18 [YELLING]
09:21 [YELLING]
09:24 [YELLING]
09:30 And that helped you as an actor, right?
09:32 Nesima, I'll let you guys go, because that
09:34 all that work together.
09:36 Yeah, of course.
09:38 The way that Jude works, editing in real time,
09:42 that's also amazing, because as an actor,
09:45 you have the reward of your day of work.
09:47 Like in the end of the day, you see the scene,
09:49 and you're like, oh my god, yeah, we did that.
09:51 And you have the results straight away.
09:54 And that was the first time for me
09:56 working with someone with this kind of a setup.
10:00 And also, it's great, because Jude knows exactly,
10:06 for example, for the elevator scene,
10:10 there was sometimes after one shot, because you think it's--
10:15 there's a lot of--
10:16 I don't know how many shots there is in the elevator scenes,
10:18 but maybe--
10:19 I think we have about 90.
10:21 I think--
10:21 Ah, 90, yeah.
10:22 Way more.
10:23 I think so.
10:23 I was thinking around 76, no?
10:26 I will check.
10:27 Maybe a little bit.
10:28 But there's a lot.
10:30 And so having Jude on the editing part after each shot
10:35 was amazing, because he was like, OK,
10:37 Nassim, with the British accent.
10:39 No, don't have it.
10:41 Like, put your arm a bit higher, and do it again.
10:45 And it was like, and then he was like, no, again, again.
10:48 And in the end, that's amazing, because as long as he doesn't
10:57 have the perfect result, we don't go forward.
11:01 And that's why the ending result is just
11:05 like a big slap in your face.
11:08 And you're like, wow.
11:09 So for me, it was-- yeah, it was--
11:11 that's my favorite method.
11:12 But as a French actor, it's hard,
11:14 because I've done other movies since then
11:17 with a bit of action.
11:20 But it was not like this.
11:21 And sometimes you're like, ah.
11:23 Now that I know that we can do this, and you don't do it,
11:28 you feel like, you're like, mm.
11:30 Well, whatever.
11:31 Next movie with Jude.
11:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:33 You walk with the beast.
11:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:37 [INAUDIBLE]
11:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:42 [GRUNTING]
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11:46 [GRUNTING]
11:47 [SCREAMING]
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11:54 [GRUNTING]
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11:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]