Michel Gondry, director of "Kidding" about reunification with Jim Carrey

With "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", director Michel Gondry drew a tender, a defining performance for Jim Carrey, the rubbery funnyman who was still known for his antics in 2004.

With "Kidding", Carrey and Gondry bring to life a fearless introvert who is desperately seeking to blossom – but this time, he is strikingly resembling a beloved cultural figure who has reentered the zeitgeist this summer: Mister Rogers.

Carrey plays Mr. Pickles, a Rogers TV host, broadcast daily in children's homes to preach the gospel of kindness, self-love, peace and prosperity. But Mr. Pickles, also known as Jeff, is going through an overwhelming identity crisis. Recently divorced from his longtime wife (Judy Greer) and fully aware of the fallibility of life, Jeff wants to present honest messages about death and adversity to the young viewers of his show. His father (Frank Langella), who runs the buttoned puppet program with Jeff's sister (Catherine Keener), will not hear about it, sending Jeff on the wrong track.

In the typical Gondry style, "Kidding" has a whimsical facility that is enhanced by an underlying melancholy. This is one of the few times that Gondry did not write his own script – the show was created by Dave Holstein, writer of "Weeds" – but that fits perfectly with the particularities that the French director brought to "Eternal Sunshine" The Science of Sleep. "" Be Kind Rewind "," The Green Hornet "and many music videos for numbers like The White Stripes and Kanye West.

Before the first of Sunday, I jumped on the phone with Gondry to talk about "Kidding". This interview has been slightly modified for clarity.

The show is just like Mr. Rogers is back in the US zeitgeist because of the beloved documentary that came out a few months ago. How much did you and the other people involved take advantage of Fred Rogers to inspire you?

Well, we could not ignore it. We watched the documentary before it came out, all the crew. But I really recommended that Jim and the other actors do not look at him, and do not think of Mister Rogers because it's Mister Pickles now.

For me, Jim Carrey has a more interesting and complicated life, from which you can dig and find any amount of character and history. I do not like biopics and the work of the actor when they imitate the original. It seems that they are wearing a mask. For me, it worries me more than they are not the real person. It makes me go out of the story or movie.

The only major biopics are those who take a more impressionistic or abstract approach. In terms of what Mr. Pickles represents in America, are you drawing on the idea that Mr. Rogers represents in America?

It's hard for me to answer that question because I did not grow up with Mr. Rogers or even "Sesame Street". We had different entertainment in France. According to my memories, I found them too traditional. So, from my side, I started from scratch, so what I can say is that he is a character who listens to him. It represents something important for America.

Now I do not know enough Rogers to compare. I guess it was also important, and there will be comparison. But it was really important for me to separate the two.

What was the first image or aesthetic that came to your mind when you started to imagine this upcoming series?

That was two pictures of Mr. Pickles. One on the show: very positive and wise. And one out of the show: much more tortured, trying to stay as before, but falling apart. It was therefore my first image to see these two aspects of Mr. Pickles.

In addition, everyone in the show, with the set and the puppets, intrigued and interested me from the start.

Your job often involves a kind of unfortunate romance or disillusionment in a relationship, and Mr. Pickles is newly divorced. What led to the construction of Mr. Pickles' romantic life?

Well, for sure, he does not like your partner or your person every day because he tries to be 100%. He is a character, what he represents in America. So his romantic life becomes very complicated and tortured, and I think that with the first women that he seduces [after his divorce]it is because he has somehow exploded with rage in a totally unpredictable way. She sees this aspect much more masculine and she falls in love with him. So he has a sentimental life, but I think it's part of the show's humor. This is not your love story for each day.

There is another version of this story where Mr. Pickles is corrupted or disturbed. The surprise of Mr. Pickles and Mr. Rogers is that they are more or less. But Mr. Pickles East tired. How far have you wanted to push the boundaries by breaking the idea of ​​this kind of figurehead of eternally joyous and almost falsely optimistic culture?

I think, especially at the beginning, there is nothing wrong with his message or his behavior. He's really 100% what you see and he's trying to stay the same in the outside world. But that's where it's difficult. His cracks begin to cross his character because he can not see that he is a prisoner of the real world when his world begins to collapse. I mean, if his world was perfect or if everything was fine, he could be the same. But he's not prepared for a sudden accident, disaster, or bad luck, and that's what interests me: to see how a person who is supposed to behave and has a very positive message faces the real world is very negative.

Let's talk about your career. After performing "The Green Hornet", you went in a very different direction with small independent films of French character. When "Kidding" came into your life, did you hesitate to return to the world of big corporate productions that would inevitably accompany expectations from the box office – or, in this case, expectations? in terms of rating?

I like both ways of working. Of course, the higher the budget, the more projections and less control over creativity. But sometimes, it's nice to go to the studio and have the biggest stage, like Sony for "Green Hornet", and destroy everything. There are benefits or fun things, but the studio world, I do not think, is for me.

I have stories that I write during the evening when I shoot a great movie, and it becomes a smaller but much more personal movie, like "The Us and Me", what I've just after "The Hornet Brother". more satisfying for me, then I come back and I make a bigger film and then I do a TV show because there is a real originality and a universe created by Dave Holstein. You can say that there is depth and originality, so it's exciting.

And yet, we work in a system that was put in place years ago and that sometimes makes no sense, but you can not change it. And you imagine a way to do something personal and original.

Have you considered doing television before "making the joke"?

No, I did an episode of "Flight of the Conchords" because I was friends with them. I like the show. But "Kidding" is my first experience for television.

Do you find it easier or more difficult to tackle something that is not based on your own writing?

Well, it's more collaborative. I have questions, of course, but I have the writer right here. When these are my own writings, I find the solution and the reason of things in my memories or my subconscious.

Since you did not run every episode, what was your strategy for creating a unifying visual language? The episodes you did not make are still like pieces by Michel Gondry.

OK, so we have exactly the same crew, the same [director of photography], which will indicate the blows I was doing. Jake Schreier, who has [Episodes] 3 and 4, spent a week coming every day to see how we worked. I give him my feelings about the actors. All this plus the scripts. The same author has merged the episodes.

There is no doubt that "Eternal Sunshine" is your most famous project, and it was well received when it opened. But do you know how much the film has become adorable over the years?

Yes of course. Most people who come to my home tell me that "Eternal Sunshine" is one of their favorite movies. Sometimes I feel that it's a bit like a burden, but also in a younger generation. Many children who like 'Be Kind Rewind' for the spirit of the film, the humor and the atmosphere, and they have no idea and they do not care that I am I did "Eternal Sunshine". Of course, they are less numbered, but I mean that is a lot of young people 12 and 15 years old.

And then you have people who have seen "Dave Chappelle's Block Party", and they have no idea that I'm the same director who did "Eternal Sunshine". Each film has its own existence. Noam Chomsky, for example, only knows the film I made on him, but he is an important spectator. But I mean, of course, I would like to make another movie that people prefer to "Eternal Sunshine", but I do not want to think about it too much.

It becomes a kind of slippery slope when you try to outdo yourself. Did you and Jim Carrey try to work together again between "Eternal Sunshine" and "Kidding"?

Yes, we were looking for a good project to work together.

Have you approached at any time before that?

Maybe once or twice, but really when we read "Kidding", we felt that it was the right story. We were really happy to work together again. It was really easy because he trusted me 100% and I could try different directions, and he did not have ego. I could talk to him directly or tell him things that could be offended by many actors.

Did you see Jim's documentary about playing Andy Kaufman last year?

What did you do about the representation of this film as an intense method actor?

Personally, I do not believe in the actors of the method. I thought it was incredible in his movie, but I'm sure it would have been so good without having to stay in the character all the time.

So you never had an actor who wanted to do that on one of your sets?

No, I'm lucky because I think it's ridiculous.