Actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet has had an interesting career. While he did TV work on his way up, even from a very early time in his career he was picking good projects. Starting with Catherine Hardwicke‘s “Thirteen” in 2003, by the time 2011 had rolled around he had already starred in films by Michael Haneke, Gregg Araki, Lars von Trier and more.
But perhaps it’s when he started working with Sean Durkin and the guys at BorderLine Films that he caught the directing bug. He’s starred in BorderLine cohort Antonio Campos’ “Simon Killer” and Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” But as you can tell from his responses in our Movies That Changed My Life feature, he’s had fairly arty taste from an early age (“Rudy” aside).
With his girlfriend Mona Fastvold, the duo seems to have made their own little cottage industry of filmmaking as well. They both wrote her (very underrated) directorial debut, “The Sleepwalker” and then co-wrote Corbet’s debut feature “The Childhood Of A Leader.” Their films thus far are unnerving and strange, but hauntingly compelling; hopefully we’ll watch this creative pair create gems for years to come.
In Corbet’s “The Childhood Of A Leader,” set in 1918 France, the film centers around a young boy exhibiting some terrifying behavior, hinting at the horror of the man he’ll become. Essentially, the idea is that he grows up to a totalitarian dictator, and this is his creepy origin story. Soundtracked by cult favorite Scott Walker, “The Childhood Of A Leader” is a bold and unsettling debut that announces the arrival of a creative force. On the eve of his film’s opening in the U.S., we spoke with the director about the formative movies that shaped his cinematic view.
The first movie you ever saw.
To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I remember the first movie I ever saw. My family loved Alfred Hitchcock and Powell & Pressburger, or pretty much anything that was appearing on Turner Classic Movies at the time. I’m pretty sure I didn’t start out with Jean Vigo though! It was probably “Terminator 2” or something.
The first moviegoing film experience you can remember.
I grew up in a small town in Colorado, so we had a local movie house called the Springs Theatre and a small multiplex in a mall situated next to a JCPenney. I saw everything that was available, though I don’t remember any of those movies being very special, or at least not as special as movies I was watching at home, but I loved the ritual of going to the movies on Fridays with my mom, like any kid.
The best moviegoing film experience you ever had.
Probably Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” in its initial release, which I think is a fairly common response from people my age. The marketing was great. It was an event. It was dirty. It was art. It was also devastating…when the credits rolled because we knew it was the last one from Kubrick we’d ever see. The stakes were high. I felt that same way this year watching Chantal Akerman’s “No Home Movie.” That was tough when it ended.
The first film you saw that you realized you too could be a filmmaker.
Most people who know me know that I often cite Claire Denis as having made the movies that made me want to make movies. “No Fear, No Die” was probably the movie. With limited means (or resources that somehow seemed eventually attainable to me), she lifted ordinary characters up into various states of grace. She made it look deceptively simple but so effective. It was inspiring.
The first movie you became obsessed with.
Truly obsessed? Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev.” It changed the way I thought of the medium. I’ve seen it many times, and it has a very special place in my life story, I think.
