Gaspar Noé, the director of controversial “Irréversible” and “Vortex,” wants to venture into uncharted career territory: Making a children’s film.
While Noé is known for rape-revenge stories and psychedelic sagas such as “Enter the Void” and “Climax,” the filmmaker told Variety that he is looking to make something a little more unexpected next.
“The main film genres that really would interest me for a future project are documentary, war film, and horror. Probably I should even try to mix those three genres,” Noé said. “I also would like to do a movie with young children, or a movie for children.”
He added of his career, “Luckily, I have no regrets about my past movies. But I had some projects in mind years ago that excite me less nowadays. It’s better to start a film production while the subject excites you. Some movie ideas can stop interesting you as the world and your own life evolve, and new ideas suddenly feel stronger.”
One of those new ideas is stepping into the family friendly space, which would also reflect Noé’s own early love of cinema.
“I remember the skeleton fight from ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ (1963) when I was four,” Noé said, “and ‘2001: a Space Odyssey’ (1968) when I was six. I didn’t even know what a baby was. I asked what that big thing was at the end of the film.”
He continued, “I went to see a Fassbinder film when I was 10 with her at the cinematheque in Buenos Aires. I didn’t know what lesbians were and I was watching films about them.”
Noé also said during the masterclass at the Cairo Film Festival that children should be treated as adults when it comes to theatergoing. He even wants to employ kids as actors and have children starring in his next feature.
“Kids are like small adults. When we are kids we are in danger. You are exposed to everything,” Noé said. “I’m very attached to kids in life though I don’t have kids. The relationship you have with kids is direct and playful. I would like to do a movie with little kids. They relate to fragility, they relate to the dangers that they’re exposed to.”
Noé previously told IndieWire that he wants to convey a form of truth onscreen.
“You shouldn’t only do movies to make money. Some people do it to buy swimming pools or drugs. But you can also think of cinema as a tool to communicate in life and share whatever is good and bad about it,” he said when discussing “Vortex.” “The intention of this movie was not commercial. However, it doesn’t have any ratings issues. It’s for general audiences. But the truth is that the content of the movie is sad, existentialist, quite tough. It’s the opposite of a hype movie.”
