Nicolas Winding Refn admits "talking about remaking Logan’s Run is probably more fun than remaking it"
"Sometimes the idea is more interesting than the reality," the Drive director said, referencing remakes of Logan's Run or Barbarella
The Venice Film Festival kicked off this weekend, bringing with it not just a host of new movies getting their premieres, but also interesting conversations with the kinds of directors and creators who gravitate to one of Europe’s more out-there film fests. We previously reported on Harmony Korine talking about casting actual home invaders in his new home invasion film, and getting his soundtrack delivered to him over PS5; now THR has a more long-form conversation with director Nicolas Winding Refn, who’s got two entries at Venice this year: A restoration of his early Pusher films, and a 7-minute commercial for an Italian motorcycle company. (Carrying the cheeky tagline “Whoever said a movie can’t be seven minutes long?”)
The conversation is a wide-ranging one, covering, for instance, why Refn is making motorcycle commercials (“The future of cinema is so unpredictable. What’s the difference in making a seven- to eight-minute commercial and a feature film for the commercial market? There’s no real difference and there never was.”), or his decision to adapt the Famous Five children’s books for streaming TV, a noted departure from his usual gaudy, violent fare. Our favorite bit of the interview, though, comes when Refn acknowledges that he’s been loosely attached to quite a few more, uh, commercial projects over the years, notably remakes of Logan’s Run and Barbarella, and acknowledging that those movies are never, ever happening.
“Well, let me put it like this: Sometimes the idea is more interesting than the reality. Sitting around the table talking about remaking Logan’s Run is probably more fun than remaking it or Barbarella, for that matter.”
We have to appreciate the honesty, even as Refn makes it’s clear he’s still open to a call from Hollywood to come get lightly masticated by the superhero industrial complex. “I mean, sure I’ll make Batwoman, or Batgirl, whatever it’s called, if it came my way,” Refn says in the interview. “I love Hollywood, I love the machinery, I love the the campiness of it, the iconography and the excitement around it. I guess I’m still waiting for the right moment, but until that comes, I do very much prefer my freedom. Being free to do what I want to do every day is, for me, a very essential, very pleasurable experience.”