Winterbottom, versatile director

Kenny Santana, Contibutor, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Welcome to Sarajevo back in 1997 was probably director Michael Winterbottom's only film shown in Indonesia's commercial cinemas.

However, the screening of his films -- Wonderland, The Claim, and 24 Hour Party People -- at the annual British Film Festival in Jakarta has certainly helped increase his reputation.

The Jakarta Post sat and chatted with the friendly 42-year-old director during the recent Rotterdam Film Festival to explore his films, British cinema and what it feels like to be in the director's chair.

Question: From Jude, Wonderland, to 24 Hour Party People, your films show you as a versatile director. Did you choose to be that way?

Mainly it just happened that way. I think, especially in the beginning, I was doing Jude from a 19th century novel. That I wouldn't want to do again so I decided to make a slightly less self-conscious thing. But in general I have quite a similar approach to most of my projects.

It's not about the genre. It's not that I'm interested in westerns or science fiction, I'm more interested in a more specific story. They may look more like one type of movie or another. But I think the question is if the story is interesting or not.

Which of your films do you think was a turning point for your career?

I hope a turning point happens sometime in the future (laughs). I don't know, you can't really answer that. You can't say a film is close to you or it's not. When you do a film, you spend so long in it. You have to really give the best of your time doing it.

There are some films when I've finished them, I think 'that wasn't a good idea like the others'. Even so, when you're making them, you have to put aside your critical judgment. You have to simply do what you can.

When you're making a film, it's not like watching a film, where you're judging it as good or bad. When you're making films, every day you are dealing with very specific problems. You can't really analyze whether it's good or not. You just do the best you can.

What's the worst thing about being a director?

Apart from doing publicity? (laughs). Being a director is a really nice job. You get a chance to choose who you like to work with. I have a lot of freedom about what I want to do.

When I started in the business, the problem perhaps was the actual filming process, because you began work with a crew that you didn't know, and you need a lot of trust in a film set. If you don't know them and they don't know you, it's very hard to get their trust. I used to be very tense making a film because there were lot of people on the set. There's a lot at stake. There's some people you like and some people you don't like.

Whereas now, having made more films, I know there are some people I worked with that I like. So its one of great choices now -- it's all about working together with a lot of great people as a team.

What's more important for you? Critics' reviews or box office numbers?

It's neither to be honest. Because in the end, the truth is, it's not meant to be horrible. When you make a film, you watch it a lot, for three or four years you watch it and you have your own views about it. I still have dreams about my films.

Obviously when I'm making a film, I want it to be critically and commercially successful. I want people go see the film. But in the end, it doesn't affect the way I feel about the film. I have my own view about the film. It's the experience working on them. It's such a long experience. That tends to be the thing that matters.

Last year was a box office disappointment for British cinema. Do you think British cinema is getting worse or better?

The truth is, as a director making films, the key thing is whether you're making films or not. It's not whether the other 15 people are making films -- that doesn't really matter.

Actually, last year was a big year commercially for film investments. It's often American money, British director, American distributors and so on. Almost just like any business, these days cinema is not a national business anymore, it's an international business.

But the worst thing about the industry is the way they show the films. Eighty-five percent of the cinemas in Britain, like everywhere else in the world, are multiplexes which are designed to be like America. The sort of films that are suited to places like that are films with that big American style. You go to a cinema like that and you feel naturally, that watching film is like that. There's not anywhere else to show your films. That is depressing. Why don't we see more Italian cinema, Chinese cinema, French cinema. That's the problem I guess.

Is there any movie comes out that you wish you did?

Well, not very often. One thing when you start watching movies, as a teenager, it's when you're most open to thinking 'I love this, I love that'. When you go on watching movies, you see a lot of great films. Partly having seen those, in a way it's harder for me to be surprised watching films today. Or you're surprised the whole time. But the last time I saw something wonderful and amazing was City of God.

Which British film you think is overrated?

I don't know. If I was reading an article by a British director who was slagging off my work, I wouldn't be very happy. But I think there's a lot of British films which are overrated.

Just tell us one.

Well, I never manage to sit all the way through Anthony Minghella's (smiles).