00:00That version of Hitler that I wrote shares nothing with the real guy other than that moustache, really.
00:10He is conjured from the mind of a ten-year-old, so he can only know what a ten-year-old knows.
00:15And I had no real interest in writing an authentic portrayal or when I played him.
00:23He had no interest in actually putting in the effort or putting in the research because I just didn't think he deserved it.
00:30And I don't want to give him the satisfaction of me actually having to read about him and study his nuances and his mannerisms.
00:39I was like, screw this guy, I might not do that.
00:42Can we put your feet to the fire a little bit on that one?
00:45Because it is Hitler. I mean, we identify him as Hitler.
00:49Would you not agree that a lot of the jokes and power of the jokes derive from the fact that this voice in the air of this boy is Hitler?
00:57And that a lot of the humour comes from the fact that the ultimate fashions.
01:01Yeah, absolutely. But there's only one moment when I'd use some of one of his speeches from one of his rallies.
01:08And there's a moment when he gets very serious and it's really JoJo's conscience kind of trying,
01:14the sort of dark side of his conscience trying desperately to hold on to him.
01:18And everything else, I tried to write him as, you know, there's versions of myself in there and, you know,
01:24and how I used to think when I was a kid and how I, you know, how children perceive the world.
01:29All of that kind of is filtered through that character.
01:32And he is just essentially, yes, it's funny because it's like those ideas and those things being said coming out of the mouth of this, you know, this tyrant.
01:41But aren't you worried that in truly fictionalising him and turning him into a buffoon, you may be diminishing the threat?
01:47Not worried at all.
01:49But that's what satire does. You invert. So you make someone who's unserious, serious. You make the serious unserious.
01:56And that's how you skewer power. That's the nature of satire.
01:59I think there's also something else because it's the point of view of a child.
02:03You're saying, I mean, what's scary to me is that a child's view is cartoonish, you know what I mean?
02:09And there's this cartoon kind of character friend that's this extremely dangerous person.
02:14But, you know, in the mind of this child and it really makes you understand indoctrination of children in a way.
02:20You know, and I appreciate it on that level.
02:27Martin Scorsese said some of the movies now being made, particularly the superhero movies, a theme park rise, they're not cinema. Agree or disagree?
02:37Agree.
02:42He's absolutely right. And I've always said this.
02:48Disagree.
02:49Yeah.
02:50Well, having worked for Marvel, I know he was specifically talking about the Marvel films.
02:55I know how much work goes into breaking stories for those films and how much work goes into shooting and post-production.
03:02And basically it's all based on story for that studio.
03:06And at the end of the day, it's whatever's in that rectangle, if it's affecting people emotionally or, you know, it doesn't matter if it's too colourful.
03:13I guess it's too colourful for him. But it's, yeah, all the costumes might not look Italian enough.
03:20My favourite characters are ones who are desperate to be liked or desperate to be loved or desperate to be accepted or cool.
03:33And who are just overcompensating so much that they become acerbic and really kind of like, you know, just horrible.
03:39And I like writing horrible people who aren't necessarily villains or, you know, it's more that they are just trying so hard to have an opinion or trying so hard to be cool.
03:52What was the genesis of that idea?
03:55I think it's just from wanting to be liked or myself.
03:58About the boy and...
04:00Oh, the genesis of this film?
04:01Yes, yes, yes.
04:03It's inspired by a book that I read in 2010 called Caging Skies.
04:08And the book is very much a sort of darker piece and it's a darker relationship drama about this boy and this girl.
04:17And so the bones of it, you know, of the film are within that, which is a boy who's in that youth discovers his mother is hiding a girl in their attic.
04:25And that was what the only sort of real thing I took from that.
04:28And then I added things, I don't really know how to make a straight drama.
04:33I don't think, you know, I'm not sure I'm capable of that.
04:36And so I had to add in things that would make it more interesting to myself and sensibilities that are specific to how I tell stories,
04:45which is humor, fantastical elements, little heightened moments, and just imaginary character.
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