Jim Jarmusch talks to Bill Murray (main pic) on the
set of Broken Flowers. The film also features Sharon Stone (bottom) and Frances Conroy (right), of Six Feet Under fame
dramatic landscape.‘
‘l've also avoided American money for all my films except this one and [)Ulf'll by Law - Chris Blackball at Island Pictures financed that one. and the company went under as soon as I made the film. so no one really saw it in America. But he gives me complete control. as I‘ve had on all my films. They weren't able to distribute it properly. Those things are out of my control. I do the best I can and try to make a film and try and find good distributors for the film — you don‘t know what other factors are at play. It's always mysterious to me how films work at the box office. I am lucky to have a great distributor in the States. Focus Features. who financed this film. They’ve done a very good job. but I also think the film is resonating for people as an antidote to other large films. It didn‘t come out of a boardroom — it came out of a garage. It was built by hand as all my films have been.
'And it‘s found a place that people are appreciating. Again it's very mysterious to me — I don't know how to analyse it. People ask me if this is my most accessible film. and I don‘t see that at all. I find it a quiet. poetic and bittersweet film. I don‘t think of it as a comedy.
'It‘s strange these days. They take exit polls from the theatres to ask people what they think. Bro/mi I’lnii'vrs isn‘t the kind of film you can ask people right after. “Was it hilarious‘.’" They're still digesting it. The ending is a little odd and sad. so it‘s a hard film to define your reaction to. It‘s the first time I‘ve heard of exit polls outside of elections. The distributors want to tell me about grosses and per screen averages in the US. I don‘t know what any of that means. All I know is that it‘s done better than expected.‘
Selected release from Fri 21 Oct.
SIGHT AND SOUND
Mariah Carey isn’t the only musician to have made a terrible movie. Luckily Jim Jarmusch seems to bring the best out in rock stars on film. Here are a few of his conquests.
Tom Waits More instantly recognisable as an actor than the others on the list. thanks to parts in Short Cuts and his asylum dwelling in Bram Stoker 's DraCLi/a. Waits first entered Jarmusch's cinematic radar as Zack in Down by Law and later he sat pontificating with Coffee and Cigarettes.
John Lurie Renowned jazz musician. chief Lounge Lizard. aspirant artist and member of Waits' backing band. Lurie stayed true to form as a
sax player in Jarmusch's
~ 1980 debut Permanent Vacation (old skool rapper Rammelzee has a cameo here tool but led the action with debonair flair in Stranger Than Paradise and pimped up and locked down in Down by Law. A complete dude.
Joe Strummer Those hit and miss big screen Clash moments aside. Strummer's appearance in Jarmusch's sublime Mystery Train. as highly strung crim Johnny.
r w"; " remains his career high.
Strummer also acted alongside Jarmusch and Waits in Robert Frank's questionable muso flick Candy Mountain.
Neil Young If he was acting he wasn't doing a very good job but Jarmusch directed the band‘s Year of the Horse live rockumentary in 1996.
Iggy Pop Also caught chewing the fat in Coffee and Cigarettes (with Tom Waits. by far the best section of the moviel and even pops up in spooky h' Western Dead Man with a Johnny Depp. Not quite up there with his role as Uncle Belvedere Rickettes in John Water's Cry Baby. l'll grant yoo. The sight of Iggy in the bathtub on the stOOp is forever ingrained in our memory.
RZA Spotted with fellow Wu Tanger GZA and that well known hip hop aficionado Bill Murray in Coffee and Cigarettes. A novel pairing perhaps but the somdtrack to Samurai movie Ghost Dog is much more memorable. Honourable mentions also go to Jack and Meg White for sitting around looking suave and chatting.
2t) Oct—6 Nov 200i) THE LIST 21