What follows is a converstaion between two functioning adults. , Kacey McDougall:O.K., could you just... fees (0) ) | io ae va N oes, Atom Egoyan: Yeah, I’ll be speakig at this level here... km:I’ll have to br4ing it down just a tad...0.K. tell mel about your new film, Exotical...I saw it yesterday, it’s still fresh in my mind, it’s the last thig I saw...actually I saw a film to- day—I see a lot of simi- lar ideas. People behind one- . way mirrors for what- ever reason, because of their that’s holding [the characters] Dealing with that how they do it. So, like, what that’s different, how do you gression from the other films ae: Well...I think for the first time, able to articulate their emotional acters in the other films don’t seem ters seem to be completely dumb- complete paralysis on a very direct in this film, the people are obvi- they’re able to talk about it as well. ferent type of viewer identification. to indicate that, it wasn’t some- to be the obvious way that this gressed is the right word, but it differnt way than the others... : km: Yeah, it seemed like a lot gentler of a film, like the scene witht thewhere the man who had lost his daugh- ter comes to the gut that had found her, and all these relationships seem to cvome togaether which is one of the great things I like about your films, is how you start off with all theses disparate people and events and they are slowly wovean together into this climax. But, yeah, like people actually coming to terms with it. ae: Right. km: So what was it like shooting with Arsinee (Egoyan’s wife) pregnant on the set and everything? ae: Oh, ah it was a very, very, tense situation in as much as to shoot her in that sort of a role required a degree of abstraction on my part as to what it was that she was actually going through... km: Yeah. ae: ...and I find that that part of the process is a bit frightening in that as a film-maker yu’re capable of doing that. But on the other hand, we both agreed that it was a very provocative and rich metaphor to use in the contexrt of the film... km: Yeah... ae:But I do find it very strange giventhe fact that now we do have this child, who’s so cearly a really beautiful presense in our lives, but at the time we were shooting, I just wasn’t able to project anything into that belly other than what this character was going through, as opposed to what Arsinee was going through. km: That’s odd. So, how is it being a father? ae: It completely...uh...transforms your sense of process. I am, by nature, very self-absorbed and that’s what you have to ber in order to create things I think, and yet you don’t want to deny yourself pleasures of dealing with someone else’s entryinto this world. So I’m going through a massive re-evaluation, I think, of everything that I thought was really important to me...Like these festivals. I used to really love travelling and I used to really love talking about my movie,and being away from home, and now really do feel a sense of, uh... km: Wanna get back... ae: ...loss, yeah. I seem to making these trips really short. km: Do you think that...do you think this change in...I mean like, it just seems to me that that change seems a lot like the change in the film as well. Becasue all your characters in you other films are totally absorbed in themselves, and they are unto themselves. And then in this film we actually se this gap being bridged, where these people are coming out of their own guilt or whatever...state they’re in that’s keeping them behind...looking out..I mean that sounds... ae: It’s very, very mysterious how one’s carreer or one’s processes develop, I mean that you hope you are able to mature, and you hope that you have aligned yourself with certain forces and certain sources of inspiration that allow you to do that... km: Yeah... ae: And it’ a difficult thing to talk about because you have to trust that that half..; km: Is intuition.. ae: ...Is intuitively being extended. km: Yeah. So you’re sort of at an interesting poin t right now where you’re getting a lot of _distribution is Europe, in Canada, you’re an art house favorite, have you had any approaches from south of the border’?.. ae: Oh yeah, tons, I mean, it happens all the time. I’ve got an agent now in Los Angeles as well, I get a couple of scripts every week, now, but they’re mostly...terrible, you know, and I have no illusions about the system down there. The films I make and the ones I’m proud of are the ones that couldn’t be made within that system, you know. They can be distributed within that system, as newcomers we’re picked up by Miramax, and we get a very wide release. But there’s no way with that script‘ that could have presented it to any of the studios and hope to have the freedom that I had, making it this way. So, the question has to be why would you want to make the film down there? km: Yeah. Well I guess you don’t need to... guilt, or, uhm a situation back from relationships. uncomfortablensess, and are you dealing with see this film as a pro- you’ve done? maybe, the characters seem state in a way that the char- able to. The other charac- founded, or in a state of sort of emotional level, whie ously dealing with that, but So maybe that invites a dif- I mean, the response seems thing I planned. But it seem film..I don’t know if pro- certainly is developed in a What follows is a converstaion between two functioning adult: Kacey McDougall:0.K,, could you just... eet N, EAKS Atom Egoyan: Yeah, I'll be speakig at this level here... km:I’'ll have to br4ing it down just a tad...0.K. tell mel about your new film, Exotical...I saw it yesterday, it’s still fresh in my saw...actually I saw a film to- lar ideas. People behind one- ever reason, because of their that’s holding [the characters] Dealing with that how they do it. So, like, what that’s different, how do you gression from the other films ae: Well... think for the first time, able to articulate their emotional acters in the other films don’t seem ters seem to be completely dumb- complete paralysis on a very direct in this film, the people are obvi- they're able to talk about it as well. ferent type of viewer identification. to indicate that, it wasn’t some- to be the obvious way that this gressed is the right word, but it differnt way than the others... km: Yeah, it seemed like a lot mind, it’s the last thig I day—I see a lot of simi- way mirrors for what- guilt, or, uhm a situation back from relationships. uncomfortablensess, and are you dealing with see this film as a pro- you’ve done? maybe, the characters seem state in a way that the char- able to. The other charac- founded, or in a state of sort of emotional level, whie ously dealing with that, but So maybe that invites a dif- I mean, the response seems thing I planned. But it seem film..I don’t know if pro- certainly is developed in a gentler of a film, like the scene witht thewhere the man who had lost his daugh- ter comes to the gut that had found her, and all these relationships seem to cvome togaether which is one of the great things I like about your films, is how you start off with all theses disparate people and events and they are slowly wovean together into this climax. But, yeah, like people actually coming to terms with it. ae: Right. km: So what was it like shooting with Arsinee (Egoyan’s wife) pregnant on the set and everything? ae: Oh, ah it was a very, very, tense situation in as much as to shoot her in that sort of a role required a degree of abstraction on my part as to what it was that she was actually going through. km: Yeah. i a and I find that that part of the process is a bit frightening in that as a film-maker yu’re capable of doing that. But on the other hand, we both agreed that it was a very provocative and rich metaphor to use in the contexrt of the film... ki eah... ae:But I do find it very strange giventhe fact that now we do have this child, who’s so cearly a really beautiful presense in our lives, but at the time we were shooting, I just wasn't able to project anything into that belly other than what this character was going through, as opposed to what Arsinee was going through. km: That’s odd. So, how is it being a father? ae: It completely...uh...transforms your sense of process. I am, by nature, very self-absorbed and that’s what you have to ber in order to create things I think, and yet you don’t want to deny yourself pleasures of dealing with someone else’s entryinto this world. So I’m going through a massive re-evaluation, I think, of everything that I thought was really important to me...Like these festivals. I used to really love travelling and I used to really love talking about my movie,and being away from home, and now I really do feel a sense of, uh... Wanna get back... loss, yeah. I seem to making these trips really short Do you think that lo you think this change in...I mean like, it just seems to me that that change seems a lot like the change in the film as well. Becasue all your characters in you other films are totally absorbed in themselves, and they are unto themselves. And then in this film we actually se this gap being bridged, where these people are coming out of their own guilt or whatever...state they’re in that’s keeping them behind...looking out..I mean that sounds... ae: It’s very, very mysterious how one’s carrer or one’s processes develop, I mean that you hope you are able to mature, and you hope that you have aligned yourself with certain forces and certain sources of inspiration that allow you to do that... km: Yeah... ae: And it’ a difficult thing to talk about because you have to trust that that half..; ki is intuition... a is intuitively being extended. km: Yeah. So you’re sort of at an interesting poin t right now where you're getting a lot of distribution is Europe, in Canada, you're an art house favorite, have you had any approaches from south of the border’... ae: Oh yeah, tons, I mean, it happens all the time. I’ve got an agent now in Los Angeles as well, I get a couple of scripts every week, now, but they’re mostly...terrible, you know, and I have no illusions about the system down there. The films I make and the ones I’m proud of are the ones that couldn’t be made within that system, you know. They can be distributed within that system, as newcomers we're picked up by Miramax, and we get a very wide release. But there’s no way with that script‘ that could have presented it to any of the studios and hope to have the freedom that I had, making it this way. So, the question has to be why would you want to make the film down there? km: Yeah. Well I guess you don’t need to...