Interview with Gabor Herendi
A Kind of America 2.
25 January 2009
The movie A Kind of America was probably one of the biggest Hungarian hits since the fall of the communist regime.
Filmhu: Sequels to the blockbusters just do not seem to be doing very well in Hungary at all. Where do you think the secret lies to a great sequel?
Gabor Herendi: Well, it is not necessarily true. We do have a few great second episodes on record in film history (e.g. Terminator 2, The Godfather II, Shrek 2) so not all sequels are doomed just by fate. The reason why I started off writing the next part for A Kind of America was that I believed I had something great to offer, a good script.
Filmhu: In your interviews, you pointed out several times that you consider your hero, Tamas Varadi, your very own alter ego and you incorporate your own experiences into his character.
Gabor Herendi: Yes, a bit, that is for sure. I could not deny it. However, Tamas' character is an intense caricature. I certainly hope that I do not conduct myself in such an embarrassing manner he does. Yes, I have experienced similar events in my life as he did, yet, I would have never made the type of hardcore art movie as Tamas created with his City of Sin.
Filmhu: The picture Tamas releases, becomes an instant ‘crash and burn'. What were you trying to say here with it? That art disintegrates and pop culture blockbusters stand victorious?
Gabor Herendi: Oh, Dear God, no! I would never want that to be the message of my movie; I am myself also a great art movie admirer, I even have my favourite ones. I like movies with some substance.
Filmhu: Including your hero's work, City of Sin?
Gabor Herendi: No, that peculiar movie is actually a bad one. You will find just as many bad art movies as many bad ones from mainstream movies. There are just those ‘empty shell' movies out there that lack essence and significance. In addition, to say that we created a metaphor for the clash between mainstream movies and art would be just wrong and false. As a matter of fact, I detest and refuse this type of interpretation all together.
Filmhu: Do you just pretty much worship the United States?
Gabor Herendi: No, I would not say I worship it. True, I do love New York and I also had an amazing time in Los Angeles when I spent nine whole months living over there. In part, A Kind of America was shot in New York, which was essential to the story, the next logical step; after all, Alex and Timi did end up finding themselves in the Big Apple at the end of the first movie. Moreover, the Broadway and New York atmosphere fits in perfectly with the linearity of the movie.
Filmhu: This is the place where the Varnai siblings happen to purchase that piece for production that incidentally becomes the focus of the plot in the sequel. Where do you stand with the genre of the musical?
Gabor Herendi: The A Kind of America 2 is a music comedy that also functions as a frame for another musical within. The movie contains less than a fifth of the latter musical, you will not even get it what it was about. All you will get from East-West is fractions here and there and you get the feeling that it is seemingly a 1956 romantic musical. The author is Alex, he wrote the piece about his own early ages in life. We wanted him to have this really bad social-realistic musical so our guys could not relate to it for the love of their lives only to hate it with all their hearts. However, with team effort they are able to turn one of the biggest Broadway failures into an actual hit at home just by making it current and hip.
Filmhu: Filmhu: You have mentioned before that you favor movies with somewhat neutral style.
Gabor Herendi: I am pretty sure there are several other ways to direct a movie. Let us take the new Coen movie, Burn After Reading, where the characters' acting job is exaggerated, way out there. I also adore this Danish director, Anders Thomas Jensen, who happens to have three pictures released right now in Hungary, namely Adam's Apples, The Green Butchers, and Flickering Light. These are the types of comedies I like and am commited to create; the simple situational comedy where humor lies in the setup or the dialogues, punch lines and all this is set within a convincing, ordinary background. This is what really makes me crack up. And I surely hope this will work for my audience as well.
Filmhu: To answer Gabor Herendi hopes we can already tell that from all the Hungarian pictures released in 2008 the number of moviegoers who saw A Kind of America the number officially reached...
