I interviewed Spurlock about this little while ago for triple j magazine, and found him A) very charming and B) pretty candid about the film’s goals. Here it is.

So this interview is just part of the ‘media impressions’ required by your sponsors, right?

That’s right. You’re complicit in this whole process.

I feel like a DVD extra or something.

You are a walking, talking DVD extra! But it’s not just you. What I love about the film is that it shows you how things are marketed, how that marketing turns into awareness, how that awareness turns into attendance…

In Greatest Movie, we see you getting your Don Draper on and trying to sell the concept to brands. Is this something that comes naturally, or do you hate the business of movie-making?

What I’ve learned is that if you’re going to be in this business, you really need to understand how to manoeuvre in this business. Pitching is one of those things that they don’t teach you in school. You’re thrown into the deep end as a filmmaker when you graduate from college and you’ve got to figure it out. I made it up as I went along.

Your last film, Where In The World is Osama Bin Laden…

Question answered by the way. President Obama, you’re welcome.

…that movie was also a kind of sales pitch, just one for tolerance and understanding. Greatest Story feels different because you’re compromised from the start.

Yeah. That’s part of what makes the film work. You see the corruption take place. After making this, I told people that when you get into business with a brand it’s not a 30% or 40% chance – it’s a 100% chance they’ll somehow infect the content.

“Transparency is the new objectivity”. Do you agree?

I think we live in a time where people have been jerked around and lied to for so long that the new thing is just to not jerk people around and lie to them. To finally say: “You know what? I’m going to do something nuts and tell you the truth.” We’re at the end of that rope, and people are tired of being bullshitted.

Is that really where we’re setting the bar? “I know you’re going to screw me, but at least you’re honest about it”?

Yeah! I think it is! That’s exactly where we are!

The movie shows how everyone has their own line between ‘what’s okay’ and ‘what’s selling out’. Where’s your line?

The line I didn’t want to cross was giving up control of the film. The greatest asset they got out was the movie marketing their products, but the greatest asset I got was the film itself. The minute I gave final cut over to a brand or a company, I compromised my ability to tell the most honest and open story I could.

Did a number of sponsors want final cut?

All of them. Every single contract.

They should at least put more money on the table. “Final cut? Ten million dollars!”

I would happily have given it to them for ten million dollars.

Are you worried the film makes product placement seem sort of fun and harmless?

There was a great thing that happened after the premiere of the movie at Sundance. We got a standing ovation for the brands. It was one of the most insane things you’d ever seen. A woman came up to one of the brand representatives and said “First I want to thank you, all your companies, for supporting this movie. I’m going to buy more of your products because you did – but I’m conflicted about it.” Luckily the irony wasn’t lost on her. And I hope that when people watch the movie, just like her, the irony of the situation isn’t lost.

While a lot of the doco is funny, I found the last ten minutes strangely moving, especially with that OK Go song rising up behind it.

What I love about the film is how it comes full circle. Everything I’m critiquing at the beginning of the movie are the tools I’m using to market the film at the end. So you see the snake eating its tail. The lyrics of that OK Go song are “We solved all our problems with bigger problems”. That’s the American way.

This interview first appeared in triple j magazine #53.

CASABLANCA

During World War II, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) finds it increasingly difficult to stay neutral as the enemy encroaches on his prized nightclub. Luckily, RoboCop arrives and kills all the Nazis with his Auto-9 pistol. Why does Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) barely appear in the film? Because RoboCop has no time for love. Instead, he travels to Germany to murder Hitler in the sequel, Casablanca 2: Nothing Personal.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Teenage genius and social misfit Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) invents facebook, potentially changing social interactions forever – but can he ever win at romance? He strikes a deal with a malfunctioning RoboCop, offering to repair his programming in return for some logical lessons in respecting women. Unknown to Zuckerberg, RoboCop downloads the entire Havard database and soon hundreds of mysteriously bruised fratboys turn themselves in to police.

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

It’s obvious that the Principal (Paul Gleason) cannot control this small group of unruly teenagers for even one day of detention. The city sends RoboCop to guarantee their punishment is enforced. There is no dancing, no kissing, no sharing of heartfelt stories. Boring? Maybe. But RoboCop makes damn sure the criminal, the jock, the princess, and the basket case don’t leave the poor nerd to write the entire essay at the end of the movie.

127 HOURS

Pinned in a ravine by a boulder, Aron Ralston (James Franco) doesn’t struggle for days before deciding that the only way he’ll survive is to sever his own arm with a blunt knife. No, now all that happens in the first five minutes. The rest of the film shows how he’s given a cybernetic arm to become RoboCop’s wise-cracking, boulder-phobic partner in the war against crime.

PREDATOR

After Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his men are spooked by the invisible alien that’s hunting them, firing aimlessly into the jungle, RoboCop appears. He’s dragging the dead Predator behind him. Dutch says: “This is now the most awesome film ever, isn’t it?” and RoboCop says “Affirmative”. Then they arm wrestle while power ballads play in the background. The end.

This article first appeared in triple j magazine #49.

JULIA’S EYES

Director: Guillem Morales

Starring: Belén Rueda, Lluís Homar

Country: Spain

I’m wary when I see a filmmaker “presenting” another’s film. I figure it usually just means trading a famous name on the poster for a giant-sized cheque. So far, though, Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) has managed to get two great Spanish horror films a wider release. First there was the excellent ghost story The Orphanage, and now comes Julia’s Eyes.

Belén Rueda plays twins: one who’s killed in mysterious (and, uh, fairly terrifying) circumstances, and her sister who becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened. Both suffer from degenerative blindness that gets worse with fear-induced stress. Julia’s Eyes isn’t remotely concerned with its mystery making sense. It’s bloody fantastic, though, at setting up smart, scary setpieces. Is there someone in the house? Why can’t I see his face? Some of its stylistic gimmicks would’ve failed in lesser hands, but here they’re used to make you feel like you’re going mad.

Julia’s Eyes isn’t as tight as The Orphanage, but they’re both great, old-school rollercoasters, genuinely scary and genuinely fun.

Other reviews this month: Get Low in cinemas; Howl and Unstoppable on DVD.

Issue #51 on sale now.

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS

Directors: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa

Starring: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann

Country: USA

FYI: I Love You Phillip Morris isn’t viral marketing for cigarettes.

It’s a comedy featuring major stars that’s taken two years to get a limited Australian release. Why? Maybe because it’s about a gay romance. I wanted to fall in love with this movie on principle – but despite being fast and fun, it’s missing something fundamental.

Steven Russell (Jim Carey) is a con man who’s used to living lies. When he ends up in jail for insurance fraud – because “being gay is really expensive!” – he meets the softly-spoken Phillip Morris (Ewan Macgregor). They fall in love, and Steve promises that they’ll never be apart again.

In Phillip Morris, Jim Carey acts like he’s starring in a glib, old-fashioned farce. (Like Lisa Simpson says: “He can make you laugh with no more than a frantic flailing of his limbs!”) Unfortunately, Ewan McGregor plays his role as a real human being. Their two styles completely fail to mesh, and their romance seems like it’s between different cinematic species.

Other reviews this month: Biutiful and Brighton Rock in cinemas; Megamind, Unthinkable, and Doors doco When You’re Strange on DVD.

Issue #49 on sale now.

TWILIGHT ZONE SEASON ONE

Creator: Rod Serling

Starring: Too many to name

Country: USA

Commentary tracks and deleted scenes seemed so entrancing when DVDs first appeared, huh? Man, the novelty wore off fast. Occasionally, though, pop culture archaeologists dig up something that makes it all worthwhile. The new Twilight Zone set, collecting the first season from 1959, is a time capsule: commentaries, lectures, old sponsor advertising, and creator Rod Serling’s original pitch to the TV networks. He sells his show like a pre-Mad Men Don Draper.

Unfortunately, those extras are only on the fancy blu-ray collection, but show itself is available on DVD. And it’s more than just a time capsule. It still feels alive today. Watching it will make you embarrassed for a lot of the TV we’ve made since.

The Twilight Zone took the burbling anxieties of the time – alienation, nostalgia, war – and turned them into 20-minute nightmares, week after week, aided by some of the best science fiction writers of the day. They created little morality plays with limited budgets, gorgeous black and white photography, and narration that sounds like poetry.

Other reviews this month: The Adjustment Bureau and Never Let Me Go in cinemas; the probably-better-than-the-original Let Me In on DVD.

Issue #48 on sale now.

THE MESSENGER

Director: Oren Moverman

Starring: Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, Woody Harrelson

Do you hate your job? Well, suck it up. In The Messenger, injured soldier Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is assigned to one of the worst jobs on earth: the Casualty Notification Team that informs the next of kin that a loved one has died in combat. They’re tough, tattooed soldiers who stick expressionlessly to a script. (Rule #1: no hugging.)

Will is taught the ropes by an eccentric mentor, played by Woody Harrelson as 50% laid-back charmer, 50% snorting bull. He’s good, but I was more amazed by Ben Foster’s jittery performance as Ben. Even when he sweetly connects with a new widow (Samantha Morton), he never seems less than dangerous. Director Oren Moverman was a writer first (including penning the Bob Dylan kinda-but-not-really biopic I’m Not There) and he doesn’t rely on battle flashbacks for instant drama. He just lets the characters tell their stories in long, painful takes.

If you skipped The Messenger because you were expecting another preachy anti-war weepy – it’s not. It’s unpredictable, moving, often mesmerising.

Other reviews this month: a rave for Aronofsky’s Black Swan, a boo for Romero’s Survival of the Dead, and a suspicious ‘huh?’ for Catfish.

Issue #47 on sale now.

BLUE VALENTINE

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Be warned: Blue Valentine will make you want set fire to the concept of love and bury its ashes where they’ll never be found.

Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) are a young married couple struggling to keep their relationship from falling apart. These painful sequences are intercut with scenes of them first falling in love, six years earlier.

It sounds sappy, I know, but Blue Valentine makes magic by picking the exact perfect moments to cut back and forth. It also has some of the best sex scenes in years. I don’t mean the most arousing – jeez, settle down, perverts! I mean sex scenes that show you things about who the characters really are and what they really feel.

It’s a testament to Gosling and Williams’ acting that I believed every second they’re on screen. It’s always weird to praise actors for ‘honest’ performances. They’re acting! They’re pretending to be people they’re not! Blue Valentine felt true enough, though, to successfully break my heart.

Other reviews this month: Rare Exports and Somewhere in cinemas; Me and Orson Welles and Breaking Bad season three on DVD.

Issue #46 on sale now.

THE AMERICAN

Director: Anton Corbijn

Starring: George Clooney, Irina Björklund, Paolo Bonacelli

They say that that history repeats first as tragedy, then as farce. The American has it backwards. After an attempt on his life, hitman Jack (George Clooney) goes into hiding in a remote Italian village. Sound familiar? It’s almost a mirror of the black comedy In Bruges, but this time it’s deadly serious.

Anton Corbijn’s first feature was the Joy Division biopic Control and while it was very, very pretty, it was emotionally cold. This time, the iciness suits The American’s brutal antihero. He drinks wine with a local priest, prepares for an upcoming assassination, grows attached to a local prostitute – and, slowly, remembers he has a soul. Playing a man who’s almost entirely unreadable means Clooney has to fight down his usual sparkly-eyed charm, but he shines when his hitman’s shell starts to crack.

The American isn’t much of a thriller. It’s slow, thoughtful, and happily pretentious. If you pretend it’s a foreign film from the 1960s, though, you’ll be primed to enjoy its excellent slow-burn drama.

Other reviews this month: the Australian drama Summer Coda in cinemas, and Fringe season two and the baby-horror Grace on DVD.

Issue #45 on sale now.

REPO MEN

Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik

Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga

Country: USA

In the near future, you’ll be able to extend your life by buying artificial organs. If you can’t make the massive repayments, a repo man – like Jude Law’s Remy – will break into your home, cut you open, and take them back.

That’s the premise of the sci-fi Repo Men, from first-time feature director Miguel Sapochnik. And while it’s great to see Jude Law embracing his receding hairline, his performance is pretty dull at first. His snarky voiceover is unnecessary, and every scene with his family is dead weight.

As Remy has a crisis of conscience, though, the movie develops its black sense of humour. Remy’s co-worker (Forest Whitaker) leaves a BBQ to “get more meat”, for example, and later there’s a bloody sort-of-sex scene that’ll make your jaw drop.

Repo Men borrows its future noir aesthetics from Blade Runner, and its big fight scene from Old Boy. It’s so indebted to other films that it’s like its own characters: mostly transplanted parts, but still capable of pumping blood.

Other reviews this month: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and the doco Food, Inc.

Issue #44 on sale now.

You know, Animal Kingdom is the Australian film I’ve enjoyed most in years.

Thank you very much. I haven’t seen the finished film yet, but I saw a rough cut a few months back and even then I was impressed. I thought that if it improves on this, it’s really going to be great. David’s ability to capture tone and mood is really chilling.

Do you approach an ensemble film like this differently than if you’re the leading man?

No, it’s the same. It has to be. On some level, whether you’re working on Neighbours or working on a 100 million dollar film, you still need to be as convincing as you can in front of the camera.

It’s interesting that lately you’ve played small – but important – roles in so many big films.

I know! I’m in Hurt Locker for about a minute, and people keep congratulating me. I feel like they’re mistaking me for somebody else. I was only filming for three days.

Did you intentionally decide to take these smaller roles?

Not at all. I want to play great roles, and I’d prefer to play leads. That’s my ego talking, I suppose. It can be much more satisfying to delve into something for a decent amount of time. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve dropped off the radar, but the best stuff that I was finding were smaller roles. So off I went.

I think you can frame this in a much more flattering light: you’ve put aside ego to choose the best films and not the flashiest roles…

Well, that’s honest, too. I’ve done things before that I haven’t been fully convinced by. I don’t want to fall into that trap again. It was very strange, though, to bookend these two great films – Hurt Locker and The Road – with their opening and closing scenes. And in between, I did Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories.

Uh, I hope Bedtime Stories doesn’t have too much in common with The Road.

Funnily enough, I was shooting Bedtime Stories when I had to fly to Pennsylvania for two days of The Road. I was in Goofy Adam Sandler World – and then I turned up on set to see Viggo Mortenson dying…

Are you a fan of award shows? Or do you avoid the Oscars like the plague?

My wife and I actually went to the Oscars this year. I was really adamant about hating award shows for the first 10 or 20 years of my working life. I still find them a bit silly, but I’ve become accepting of the fact they’re just how the industry works. It was really fun to go, and I was just really pleased for Kathryn Bigelow that her film did so well. It was unusual because twelve years ago I was also in a film that was up against a James Cameron juggernaut – Titanic. I still think that LA Confidential was the better film. So of course we’re all sitting at the Oscars this year going, well, I know how this is going to pan out. It’ll be Avatar. Kathryn might win best director, but James will win for his technological prowess…

As far as I’m concerned, Kathryn Bigelow deserved an Oscar for Near Dark in 1987! That’s an amazing film.

She’s an amazing filmmaker.

Do you think there’s a difference between being an actor and being a star?

I think a star’s someone who’s sitting at the top of the A-list. Someone who everybody knows, who can get any movie green-lit, who’s the first choice because it means bigger box office. And anybody who’s less known than that moves down the list – the B-list, the C-list. Obviously some people resonate with the greater population. They think: “I want him to be my hero”. Whereas with another actor, they might think: “Sure, he’s great, but he might be a bit confrontational, a bit dangerous. It’s great to see him in smaller roles but he might not be the guy I want to see as the lead.”

So they choose the actors who make them least nervous?

Yeah, that’s right: “At least we’ve got Tom Cruise…” But honestly – there aren’t many stars who aren’t also good actors, too.

This interview first appeared in jmag #40.