Un Amour De Sorciere.
A.K.A.
Witch Way Love.
Un Amour De Sorciere.
A.K.A.
Witch Way Love.
For her return to the cinema, Vanessa Paradis will be starring with Jean Reno and joining up with Jeanne Moreau, with whom she sang a duet for the opening of the Cannes festival.
This fantastic trio will be playing in "Witch Way Love", written and directed by René Manzor (The Crossing), and filmed in Venice, New York and France.
This romantic comedy is distinguished by special effects carried out at the time of filming by some remarkable magicians; which is not surprising, since the producer, Christian Fechner, is a master of the subject. He also produced "Elisa" recently.
About "Witch Way Love": Interview with René Manzor
This film isn’t a commonplace mixture: love, suspense, comedy, white magic and black magic. Who is the author and how was it concocted ?
René Manzor:
In fact Christian Fechner asked me to write the screenplay nearly two years ago, now. The story had to combine humour and romanticism, revolving around a couple played by a French actress and an American actor.I had a free hand within the broad framework of the theme. After a year's work, the script was shown to the actresses and actors; preparation and filming followed.
And the witchcraft ? Was that your idea, or the producer's ? We know that he is a keen practitioner of the conjuror’s art....
René Manzor:
I was I who made Vanessa a modern witch, without thinking of the
consequences that could have.... I lay claim to the idea. But afterwards
it was only thanks to professional magicians that we were able to put it
into pictures without having to rely on digital fakery.
Describe the setup to us in a few phrases....
René Manzor:
Once upon a time there was a witch who couldn’t fall in love. She meets someone who has decided never to fall in love. In spite of all her powers, our young and seductive Morgane is unable to make her love potions work. But the choice of her heart, an American inventor, ends up succumbing to Morgane’s charms, against his own resolution. It’s a collision of magic and science, of the paranormal and pure reason. The moral being that love is stronger than everything, and that it is the real magic. So it’s a modern fairytale, at the opposite end of the world from "The Asses' Skin", for example. The locations and the sets are very realistic, totally contemporary.
Why did Christian Fechner choose you ?
René Manzor:
For a number of reasons, I think. We got to know each other when he was producing the television series Cold Sweats. He had seen my previous films, "The Crossing" and "Code 3615 Father Christmas", two titles which already called on fantasy and the imagination. Lastly, I had been living in the United States for five years, so I could write and film simultaneously in French and English, in accordance with the producer's wish to make this film a work for the international market, made in a double version.
What do you learn when you write and direct in the United States ?
René Manzor:
You learn both efficiency and modesty. To write screenplays which will be filmed by others; to become a sort of "script doctor"- The Hollywood ghost-writer .But that’s not useless. It’s a whole methodology, which is very valuable afterwards when you go back to France... it’s easier to see the advantages and drawbacks of their system, but also of ours. Here, the author is absolutely in charge of a work. Over there, I learned that you absolutely need a partner. But I’ve been delighted with the way things have gone, since I’ve only encountered artist-producers. The first was Alain Delon; next, my brother, Francis Lalanne. Then George Lucas, for whom I directed some episodes of the series "Young Indiana Jones". And now, Christian Fechner. I’ve had a lot of luck in meeting all these men who have been my mirrors and have helped me to progress. In America, you often have to deal with multinationals and boards of directors. In France you talk to human beings.
Apart from Vanessa Paradis, how was the rest of the casting of "Witch Way Love" decided ?
René Manzor:
For Eglantine, Morgane’s grandmother, we wrote down our choices separately
, and we had all written the same name: Jeanne Moreau. And the worst of
it is that this was before the famous evening of the Cannes festival, where
Vanessa and Jeanne sang "The Whirlwind of Life" together. I know that people
won't believe us, but it’s true all the same... It was an exceptional encounter,
for Jeanne is a very great lady and an immensely talented artist,
with whom each conversation is a marvelously enriching time. We worked
together a lot refining her role.
For the young American, we went to the casting agencies, and we chose a rising star, a stage actor, Gill Bellows, who was also in the film "The Escapees", like a new James Dean being taught about life by Tim Robbins.
As for Jean Reno, that was also a great moment for me, as he is an actor of total generosity, always paying attention; you play him like a Stradivarius. He is at once heavy and light, solid and vulnerable. He’s a delightful person, with whom understanding was total. I think that that will come over when it’s screened.
What was your working method with Vanessa Paradis ?
René Manzor:
As I was away from France, I had White Wedding and "Elisa" shown to me. I was astonished by the contrast between the power of her acting and her "little bird" appearance. The set purpose in my writing was to turn my back on all the "Lolita" aspects of Vanessa Paradis. I made of Morgane a young woman who is also a mother; at once a fairy, a will o’ the wisp, elusive, but also a spellbinder; roguish, teasing and very feminine. I hope that audiences will be surprised by the Vanessa that they are going to discover...
Why all these film locations, from Venice to Namibia, from the Basque Country to New York by way of Vietnam, Paris and the Massif Central ?
René Manzor:
Because we are witnessing the duel between two great families of witches, the representatives of good against those of evil. And everyone covets Morgane’s offspring. The baby witch guarantees the survival of these families - from which comes a pursuit which resembles at times an uncanny thriller, and which unfolds to the four corners of the globe. So you will be a little afraid, but you will laugh a lot too, at the same time as being wonder-struck. The cinema is there, to make us dream, to move us, and to help us live... I hope that this film will succeed in that, because we certainly need it.
What is the style of the film ?
René Manzor:
It’s "The Sleeping Beauty" - 2000 AD version. There’s a coma in a hospital,
with modern medical apparatus. But if the situation is always realistic,
the reading of it is not. There, the staging, the lighting, intervene to
give the scenes a fairytale look.
How did you balance the real magic and the special effects, which were done in post-production thanks to new technology ?
René Manzor:
The magicians were permanently at my side, and I asked them to be my advisors in certain scenes so as not to have to resort to virtual reality. Ultimately actor and conjurer do the same work: drawing your eyes to one thing, while another thing happens elsewhere. That’s what they call misdirection. I learned a lot while filming these visual tricks. At the end of it, 90% of the illusions were done directly on set using conjuring techniques and special effects and only 10% by computer. That was a tremendous time, and I learned a lot during filming. The actors too, come to that ! And I’m sure that the result will be terrific, since I think that too much virtual reality can end up killing cinema... What can you do in the genre that’s better than Spielburg's dinosaurs ? My aim is to recreate the wonderment as simply as in the time of Melies and the travelling cinema...
And as an additional difficulty there was the double French / English version...
René Manzor:
That’s right; everything was filmed twice. So there were two films in the end, one in French and the other in English, which means two lots of editing, two of mixing, etc... But in the end, that’s also a chance for "Witch Way Love" to exist in markets other than just the French screen, and that’s what counts ! I think that it’s an additional opportunity for our cinema: to conserve its roots but at the same time setting out to conquer foreign countries, which are sometime stubborn, by moving beyond the language barrier.
It’s a universal film ?
René Manzor:
In a certain way, yes, since it includes numerous key themes of literature, like the search for the father, the struggle between good and evil, the consequences of a pact, the awakening of a sleeping princess, a love that is stronger than death...and the notion of the pulse of life, the search for eternity across the generations; all those things underpin the story of "Witch Way Love". We were, with great modesty, halfway between "Faust" and "Starwars" !
Interview conducted by Michel Pascal; Paris 11th August 1996.
Translated from French by Malcolm Douglas.