A Conversation with filmmaking legend Peter Hyams
To coincide with the home entertainment release of legendary action director Peter Hyams’ Enemies Closer, which finds him reuniting with long-time collaborator Jean-Claude Van Damme, The Fan Carpet’s Paul Risker had the privilege to speak with the veteran filmmaker.
Whilst the plan was to discuss his latest foray into action cinema, the conversation took a slight detour in which Hyam’s shared with us his thoughts on Van Damme the actor, whilst also offering us his thoughts on the creative process and a life time of artistic learning and endeavours.
From music and photography to filmmaking, what was it about the creative process that interested you?
I’m the third generation of my family who has worked in the arts. My father worked on the Broadway theatre for thirty years, and my grandfather worked in ballet and music for fifty years. I went to art school from the age of six, and like a lot of art students I attended a number of schools and conservatories. I started studying photography classically, and I was also a musician or a quasi-musician – I played a lot.
I come from a very political family – a blacklisted family. I began writing when I was very young and to me the synthesis of writing, music and photography was documentary film which I was drawn to. But after a few years I found that I was more concerned with taking a photograph that was good looking than a photograph that was accurate. I was even more interested in writing something that had more of an effect on people than something that was factual, and so I was looking to make regular feature movies.
Do you think that there is a comparison that can be drawn between writing and conducting music with the filmmaking process?
It’s funny because I sketch before I write. So I write from the way that I sketch, and I photograph the way I draw. However, the meter of a scene and the meter of the film are very musical. I personally think it is based unconsciously on heartbeats, where suspense films are approximately 60-70 beats per minute, and chase movies are around a 100-140. I believe it actually affects people because it’s the heartbeat.
One of the things most filmmakers including myself do when they finish the movie is when editing apply a temp score, and more often than not it’s best to choose a score from the composer you are working with. But every time you run a big action sequence or a fight with a good music cue, you start to laugh because the cuts come right on the beats of the music. It happens every time, and I don’t think there is anybody who’s made films who has not had that experience.
From script to final cut, do you end up with a film that is completely different or does it emerge as written the majority of times?
Well I come from the theatre, and I believe in getting the script right. I believe the singer’s job is to sell the song and not the singer, and the film director’s job is to sell the story and not the director. However, when you make a film the things that you thought worked don’t work when you preview it, and then the things that you thought didn’t work do in fact work. There are famous stories of great filmmakers like Fred Zinnemann who’s High Noon which previewed poorly, and afterwards he walked out and said, “I think we need a cock.” You can’t imagine High Noon being shot without a clock but it was. It’s not always exactly as written, but I don’t believe in shooting a film until I feel the script is right.
During your time in the industry how do you perceive the evolution of the action film?
Well the biggest difference with some glaring exceptions is that the spectacle of the superhero films is so fantastic, and I mean exactly that when I use the word fantastic. But I am not sure that the audiences really fear for or are as with the protagonist as much as when it is a normal person in a normal sequence. I would say that is the biggest change where for example you see a car do an incredible stunt and a lot of the audience will think they CGI’d the car, as opposed to when you were really doing it. So I don’t think there is the same level of engagement, but again with some major exceptions such as the work of David Fincher or Steven Spielberg. Their work feels different, because it is not a case of every building in the world collapsing.
It is often argued that everything goes in cycles, and while things go out of fashion they ultimately come back into fashion. Do you think this applies to action films or do you think how it is done now is here to stay?
In the midst of all of these fantastic films there are also films such as Brokeback Mountain, Chicago and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I think good films work and anybody who makes a good film, then people will go to see it.
Studios are more concerned with those dreadful words tentpoles, and so they tend to want to make Iron Man 27, but you can’t blame them because as long as people flock to see them then that’s what they will do. Yes I do think there are fashions, and part of this fashion is fuelled by the extraordinary explosion of the technique of making films. But I’ll quote my dear friend Stan Winston who sitting and talking to me one day said, “The greatest thing that ever happened to Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott was that the shark and the alien didn’t really work very well.” So they both made these absolutely brilliant films by implying rather than stating. Maybe if they were to make those films now they wouldn’t be as good or maybe they would, because after all they are both talented filmmakers.
How did you become attached to direct Enemies Closer?
I have a long history with the producer of the film and Jean-Claude. They came to me with the film, and I read the script and thought it was interesting. I thought it was a real challenge to try and make a film like that in a short amount of time with night exteriors, mountains and water – all of the things that are difficult to do.
Jean-Claude was initially going to play the part of the hero that in the end was played by Tom Everett Scott. I told them that didn’t really interest me, and I’d be more interested in doing the movie if Jean-Claude played the bad guy. So we fashioned a part for a bad guy that was crazy and lethal. I had seen the film JCVD, and in that film I saw that he could do these funny things. Jean-Claude bought into it – he had a certain reservoir of trust with me because we’ve done work that he’s been proud of, and so we came up with this character. He threw himself into it and he was incredibly brave, and I do believe it’s one of the best performances of his career.
How do you view Jean-Claude’s evolution as an actor from the first time you worked with him to now?
Well he’s grown as a man. He’s always had sincerity and that is one of his most endearing qualities. But now he is a complicated man, and I wanted to bring that out – I wanted to bring out what people haven’t seen before. He just threw himself into it, and he even had that mad hair colour. But then Jean-Claude does not tend to do things by halves.
You have spoken before of how painful a process looking back on your films is, as you habitually notice all of the mistakes. As that changed or is it still…
No it’s much worse. I have never seen a film I have made once I am done. I tried looking at one the once and it was just so painful. It is kind of like being a dermatologist where all I see are the blemishes – the things I’ve done wrong. I look at a film a thousand times when I can do something with it, but once I can’t do anything then I don’t watch it again.
ENEMIES CLOSER IS OUT NOW ON BLU-RAY AND DVD COURTESY OF ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT