Regardless how one may feel about their films, there is no denying the vision and passion Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski bring to each of their films. Such is certainly the case with their latest work, Cloud Atlas, and it’s what has us looking forward to Jupiter Ascending in a few short weeks. Following their success with The Matrix, they were known to not give many interviews, but considering how much they (and Tom Tykwer) had to sell their David Mitchell adaptation, they embraced the press circuit.
A little over a year ago, for the DePaul Visiting Artists Series, they sat down for a 96-minute conversation that touches on all of their films, and much more. Thanks to /Film, they’ve notified us of its availability online, and we’ve highlighted one of the best sections below, in which Lana Wachowski convincingly argues Moonrise Kingdom and Snow White and the Huntsman are the same movie:
We watched these two movies I realized, unbelievably, that they are the exact same movie. I mean, they are the same movie. Everything is the same. The plot is the same. The characters, their themes. Their tone is different and the aesthetics are different — and that’s it. No one ever compared them, which is amazing. They came out in the same month, and nobody said, ‘Hey, you know what? These are the same movies.’ It’s like, girl runs away from a strange dynamic in which there’s a sexual tension with the blonde evil woman. They both end up meeting this “boy scout” huntsman who is this outdoors guy. They are afraid of the woods but then they become attracted to each other and have a slightly strange sexual encounter that then brings them into an eden all the while they are being pursued by a troupe of small men, dwarves, who hate them at first and then try to get them, hunt them wildly. But then sit around the campfires — both — and talk about farting and eating and stuff — both, unbelievably — and then have a change of heart, then helping them, rescuing them, saving them, while the evil blonde queen sends another embassary to hunt them down and eventually the boy scout guy/huntsman saves her and they go off.
She adds, “And what’s even interesting is both movies defy logic in the service of their aesthetic,” explaining how it would be ridiculous to have a castle on a beach in Huntsman, but it looks nice, and in Moonrise, how the tracking shot showing the many activities at the scout camp is unrealistic. She concludes, “That’s how powerful aesthetics are. You can even see through the aesthetic to see that the story is the same.” Also discussing the importance of going to see current films, their early inspirations, sexuality in their films, their love for Blade Runner, and much more, check out the full talk below.
What did you think of the conversations?