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CNN Live Sunday

Interview with John Malkovich

Aired January 13, 2002 - 15:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's snow boots, ski hats and suspense at the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance is held in Park City, Utah every year and it can be a new filmmaker's best chance, maybe even their only chance to get their work seen by Hollywood's top agents and studios.

It's about experimenting and taking chances and become a magnet for some of the biggest names in the industry.

"The Dancer Upstairs" is typical of the films shown at Sundance. IT is edgy, it is full of surprises. Javier Bardem stars in the film based on the true story of a police detective who spends 12 years hunting the leader of Peru's leftist guerrilla group, Shining Path. The film also marks the debut of actor John Malkovich as director. Both artists are joining us today and I want to welcome both of you to our show. Good afternoon.

JOHN MALKOVICH, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Good afternoon.

JAVIER BARDEM, ACTOR: Good afternoon.

LIN: John Malkovich, let me start with you. This is your directorial debut. Was it hard for you to surrender the performance?

MALKOVICH: No, not at all. I directed many, many plays, and I love watching good actors. So if I'm directing something, I never, ever think about acting in it. I'm very relieved. Because a director also gets to get up later in the day.

LIN: And you are the boss. Why did you pick this story?

MALKOVICH: I really couldn't say. I'd been interested in the history of Sindero Leminoso. I had traveled in Peru, in, I think, 1986, which was sort of the heyday of Sindero. And I suppose my interest in it started there, and then Nicholas Shakespeare, who wrote the novel "Dancer Upstairs," he wrote a long piece called "Searching for Guzman" for a "Granta" the English literary magazine which I liked a lot. And them when the novel came out I read it immediately and really loved it, and our company, Mr. Mudd, took an option and we started writing the screenplay.

LIN: Javier Bardem, is this a love story to you? Is it a political drama? Is it a political statement? How do you feel about the story itself and your character?

BARDEM: Well, I do feel that it's a lot of things at the same time. That's why it's so interesting, I guess. It has political background, of course, but it's not only that, I guess. It's a movie about the dark side of a human being.

LIN: Tell us about your character, Augustine Rejas. He is described as a policeman who is searching for a known terrorist, a man who left behind a world of his own to pursue his own ambitions.

BARDEM: Well, he's a normal person. This policeman is trying to, like he said in the movie, trying to find a more honest way of practicing the law. He has been a lawyer and he quit because he felt that it was impossible for him to make justice in a country where everything was almost -- almost everything was corrupted. And it's a kind of realistic person but at the same time he is very realistic. So, that is his fight, right? His fame.

LIN: John Malkovich, how did you want to make sure Javier played out this role so it didn't come across as some sort of lecture or political statement, but that this is really a compassionate story about a very complex man on what sounds like a very personal mission, and struggles of his own?

MALKOVICH: Well, I always saw Rejas as a modern man who essentially takes on this task simply because he was asked. And I don't -- I don't think he certainly even believes in the validity of the side he's fighting for, or at least in the their moral or ethical validity. And I don't think he's even particularly against the idea of a revolution in this particular country, although we don't set it in a particular country. We set it in Latin America in the recent past. And what I tried to do is make a very modern story and a very modern character. And I think, more or less, we succeeded, I hope.

LIN: Talk about the story line, very quickly, to give us an appreciation for this man's journey.

MALKOVICH: Yes, the story line is that Rejas is based on the character Vidal, who is the policeman in Peru who captured Guzman in 1992, and he is also the policeman they sent back out to capture Vladimir Montesinos last year in Venezuela. And it's the story of how they track Guzman and how they finally capture him, and it's also the story of Javier's relationship between his wife and his daughter's ballet teacher, and it's quite a complex, complicated, quite a dense story.

LIN: John Malkovich, how do you think the events of September 11 might play to the advantages for your film? Do you think American audiences are going to be more receptive, do you think they are going to want to tune out because part of the subject matter is dealing with terrorism in a foreign country?

MALKOVICH: You know, people have asked me that. I really have no idea. I mean, I would hate to think that my film, and our film, benefited from something so horrific. I would say this -- I think rather than people looking at, say, the way the violence is shot in the movie, or the way the bombings are shot or the destruction and the havoc that they wreak, and thinking about how its technically done, I think, perhaps, they'll be more likely to think about how it feels.

LIN: How it feels.

MALKOVICH: And what it really is, and what it means.

LIN: All right.

MALKOVICH: And that is a good thing.

LIN: It is a good thing. I just wanted to ask Javier Bartem, how did it feel to be directed by John Malkovich? A legend?

BARDEM: Well, it is great. It is easy. It's an honor to be directed by him, because, well you know he's looking after you, he's taking care of you and he's one of the greatest actors in the world. So, you have to relax and enjoy the trip.

LIN: Sounds like you did. Looking forward to seeing the results of the debut of this film at Sundance. Thanks so much, both of you. Nice to meet you both.

MALKOVICH: Thanks for having us.

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