Neil Jordan is one of the great directors of his generation with such films as Mona Lisa, The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire to his name.
His latest film is Breakfast on Pluto and it is set in the 1970's. It follows the exploits of Patrick Braden [Cillian Murphy], an endearing, but deceptively tough young man who is also a transvestite. Abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown and aware from a very early age that he is different, Patrick survives this harsh environment with the aid of his wit and charm, plus a sweet refusal to let anyone and anything change who he is.
Check out the official site for Breakfast on Pluto
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did you come to direct this film?
Neil Jordan: I made a movie called The Butcher Boy that was based on a book by Patrick McCabe. I met him around that time and I got to like his imagination tremendously. Then the book he published afterwards was Breakfast on Pluto. I read it and it wasnt as structured a tale as Butcher Boy, but I said, Look, lets just see where this takes us.
DRE: Since you are both credited with the screenplay, what was the writing process between you?
NJ: He wrote the first draft and then I began to rewrite the second. I changed the book considerably, because for example in the novel, the boy never encounters his mother. Its almost like a mechanism to take him on a journey. The script became about this characters infectious goodness.
DRE: When we spoke in New York at The Good Thief junket and I asked you about the hermaphrodite bodybuilder and why that theme of blended sexual identity keeps coming up in your films. You said I dont know why that keeps popping up. But here it is again in Breakfast on Pluto .
NJ: I dont know, maybe I should finally come out [laughs]. I dont know whats going on, I really dont. I like people who find the way to be themselves by becoming other people, which is probably why I like actors. A lot of directors dont like actors, theyre afraid of them or they wish they werent there or they wish they were digital things. But I really like actors and the process of seeing somebody actually become somebody else is always to the part when acting begins. Sometimes thats why I like to work with people who are not actors too. When you see that happen its kind of extraordinary.
DRE: Breakfast on Pluto is also quite funny but when I asked you previously about making comedies you said you didnt think you were that good at it.
NJ: No Im not, except when its black comedy. This is a comedy thats wanting to be a tragedy and a tragedy thats trying not to be a comedy. It would be one of those deeply tragic, depressing, Irish stories if it werent for the insistence of the central character in turning it into a fairytale. The mothers gone, rapist priest, a bomb blows the village apart, kills his best friend. But Patrick insists on making life into a magic thing.
Pat had those little robins in the book, but they didnt speak. I thought, Maybe these robins can wander around and gossip in the ether and chat to themselves. Maybe they know stuff that the main character doesnt know.
DRE: You look at Cillian and hes a good looking man, how did you know he was going to be a good looking woman?
NJ: It wasnt important that he was a good looking woman. It was important that he was somebody who wanted to be the character. My first question actually was, Can anybody actually deliver this performance? So I tested Cillian and he gave it extraordinary emotion.
DRE: Youve worked with many of the actors in Breakfast before, how did that come about?
NJ: I sent Liam [Neeson] the script but I didnt think hed do it because he does big movies now. But he read it, he loved it and said, Look, if I can manage it, Ill do it. With regard to Stephen Reas part, I wrote that specifically with Stephen in mind. Then I rewrote it when he agreed to do it. Brendan Gleeson was great and I think hes an actor of genius with physical comedy.
DRE: The songs are such an important part of this movie.
NJ: The character lived through the lyrics of popular songs. Youve got a situation where the position of popular music in this would be part of the character and story. So it wont be just background. I said, Okay, I wont do the score. Ill go through all that music I have heard in the 70s and find out which fit the story.
DRE: Since youre an author as well as a screenwriter/director, how does that make a difference when youre directing?
NJ: If something isnt working, I can rewrite it very quickly. Its a great thing to be able to do because sometimes you conceive of things and they dont work or if the scene isnt coming to life in some way. I think of films as things that are dreamt up. I dont think of them as things that are directed in a certain way.
DRE: Your last Hollywood movie was In Dreams, which wasnt successful, does it make you not want to do these bigger budgeted commercial films?
NJ: I dont think Im good territory if I havent written the stuff. With regard to that, it was a script that Steven Spielberg was thinking of making himself. The story never entirely made sense. So when they asked me to direct it, we rewrote it but even at the end the story still didnt make any sense. Right now I dont care if its a big movie or a small movie, if I picture the whole thing myself.
DRE: Do you have bigger movies in mind?
NJ: Yeah Ive been trying to make a movie about the Borgia family for a while; it fell apart a few years ago. Its big and expensive.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
His latest film is Breakfast on Pluto and it is set in the 1970's. It follows the exploits of Patrick Braden [Cillian Murphy], an endearing, but deceptively tough young man who is also a transvestite. Abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown and aware from a very early age that he is different, Patrick survives this harsh environment with the aid of his wit and charm, plus a sweet refusal to let anyone and anything change who he is.
Check out the official site for Breakfast on Pluto
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did you come to direct this film?
Neil Jordan: I made a movie called The Butcher Boy that was based on a book by Patrick McCabe. I met him around that time and I got to like his imagination tremendously. Then the book he published afterwards was Breakfast on Pluto. I read it and it wasnt as structured a tale as Butcher Boy, but I said, Look, lets just see where this takes us.
DRE: Since you are both credited with the screenplay, what was the writing process between you?
NJ: He wrote the first draft and then I began to rewrite the second. I changed the book considerably, because for example in the novel, the boy never encounters his mother. Its almost like a mechanism to take him on a journey. The script became about this characters infectious goodness.
DRE: When we spoke in New York at The Good Thief junket and I asked you about the hermaphrodite bodybuilder and why that theme of blended sexual identity keeps coming up in your films. You said I dont know why that keeps popping up. But here it is again in Breakfast on Pluto .
NJ: I dont know, maybe I should finally come out [laughs]. I dont know whats going on, I really dont. I like people who find the way to be themselves by becoming other people, which is probably why I like actors. A lot of directors dont like actors, theyre afraid of them or they wish they werent there or they wish they were digital things. But I really like actors and the process of seeing somebody actually become somebody else is always to the part when acting begins. Sometimes thats why I like to work with people who are not actors too. When you see that happen its kind of extraordinary.
DRE: Breakfast on Pluto is also quite funny but when I asked you previously about making comedies you said you didnt think you were that good at it.
NJ: No Im not, except when its black comedy. This is a comedy thats wanting to be a tragedy and a tragedy thats trying not to be a comedy. It would be one of those deeply tragic, depressing, Irish stories if it werent for the insistence of the central character in turning it into a fairytale. The mothers gone, rapist priest, a bomb blows the village apart, kills his best friend. But Patrick insists on making life into a magic thing.
Pat had those little robins in the book, but they didnt speak. I thought, Maybe these robins can wander around and gossip in the ether and chat to themselves. Maybe they know stuff that the main character doesnt know.
DRE: You look at Cillian and hes a good looking man, how did you know he was going to be a good looking woman?
NJ: It wasnt important that he was a good looking woman. It was important that he was somebody who wanted to be the character. My first question actually was, Can anybody actually deliver this performance? So I tested Cillian and he gave it extraordinary emotion.
DRE: Youve worked with many of the actors in Breakfast before, how did that come about?
NJ: I sent Liam [Neeson] the script but I didnt think hed do it because he does big movies now. But he read it, he loved it and said, Look, if I can manage it, Ill do it. With regard to Stephen Reas part, I wrote that specifically with Stephen in mind. Then I rewrote it when he agreed to do it. Brendan Gleeson was great and I think hes an actor of genius with physical comedy.
DRE: The songs are such an important part of this movie.
NJ: The character lived through the lyrics of popular songs. Youve got a situation where the position of popular music in this would be part of the character and story. So it wont be just background. I said, Okay, I wont do the score. Ill go through all that music I have heard in the 70s and find out which fit the story.
DRE: Since youre an author as well as a screenwriter/director, how does that make a difference when youre directing?
NJ: If something isnt working, I can rewrite it very quickly. Its a great thing to be able to do because sometimes you conceive of things and they dont work or if the scene isnt coming to life in some way. I think of films as things that are dreamt up. I dont think of them as things that are directed in a certain way.
DRE: Your last Hollywood movie was In Dreams, which wasnt successful, does it make you not want to do these bigger budgeted commercial films?
NJ: I dont think Im good territory if I havent written the stuff. With regard to that, it was a script that Steven Spielberg was thinking of making himself. The story never entirely made sense. So when they asked me to direct it, we rewrote it but even at the end the story still didnt make any sense. Right now I dont care if its a big movie or a small movie, if I picture the whole thing myself.
DRE: Do you have bigger movies in mind?
NJ: Yeah Ive been trying to make a movie about the Borgia family for a while; it fell apart a few years ago. Its big and expensive.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
eddie615:
It was up for best picture and on almost every critic's Top 10 list. Also very popular. So I don't know if it is underrated.
rdpixie:
Oh Breakfast on pluto was good! I think if you want something random to watch this will make your day! 