“They gave up on me a long time ago,” filmmaker Richard Linklater joked this afternoon during a press conference in Berlin for his latest flick, Blue Moon.
The veteran Golden Bear winner was referring to the Hollywood film industry, and what he believes they have given up on is his ability to make traditional, commercially-minded movies.
“We do whatever we want,” Linklater added in reference to Blue Moon. “This was a small-budget movie. There’s no test screenings or anything like that.”
Blue Moon is Linklater’s 25th film and his ninth collaboration with his longtime muse, Ethan Hawke. The pair were characteristically cool this afternoon at the press conference. They were joined by Margaret Qualley (The Substance) and Andrew Scott (Ripley), who also star in the movie.
Unlike most press conferences this year in Berlin, most of the questions were centered on the film and its content. There was, however, a sprinkling of questions about politics and global affairs. At one point, Linklater was asked whether he believed art, including his films, must carry more offensive themes to contend with the “offensive times” we live in.
“Movies have always been escapism,” Linklater responded. He was quickly followed up by Hawke, who used the question to galvanize audiences to go out and support subversive filmmaking.
“For great offensive art, audiences have to care. They don’t sell. You guys, the community, has to make it important. For offensive art to have a place in our conversation, it has to be cared about,” Hawke said. “When we prioritize money at all costs, what we get is generic art that appeals to the most amount of people.”
Hawke added: “It’s a dance we all do together. If you love offensive art, demand it because people don’t think they’ll make any money.”
Written by Robert Kaplow, author of the novel Me and Orson Welles, which inspired the Linklater film of the same name, Blue Moon profiles the final days of Lorenz Hart, part of the hit songwriting team Rodgers & Hart. The film is set primarily in Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943, the opening night of Oklahoma!, which marked Rodgers’s first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement.
Financed by Sony Pictures Classics and Renovo Media Group, the film continues the former’s relationship with Linklater, which dates back to the release of his first film, Slacker. This relationship has continued with Linklater’s films Suburbia and Before Midnight, and the distributor is also well acquainted with Hawke, having put out his films Before Midnight, Maggie’s Plan, Maudie, and most recently, Strange Way of Life from Pedro Almodóvar.
Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in the U.S.
Blue Moon screens this evening in Berlin.
