At Fantastic Fest Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani discuss their spy thriller, Reflection In A Dead Diamond, and the inspiration behind it.
Writer-directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani recently premiered their spy thriller, Reflection In A Dead Diamond, at Fantastic Fest. The film is a stylish, action-packed tribute to classic spy movies, but with a unique, psychedelic twist.
In this interview with Mama’s Geeky, the filmmaking duo discuss their creative process, their biggest challenges, and their next project.
On Filming Reflection In A Dead Diamond
Mama’s Geeky: What is it about Fantastic Fest that makes this a great place for Reflection In A Dead Diamond to play?
Bruno Forzani: It’s a movie that we made for the audience to have fun, and there is a lot of game with cinema genre. There are several genres inside the movie. And I think here, people are very connoisseurs of that kind of movies, and so it’s made for that kind of audience.
Mama’s Geeky: What would you say your biggest challenge was on this film?
Bruno Forzani: The fight scene, I think. It was our first time, and we didn’t know how to approach it because we don’t have a big budget. So we were just telling ourselves, “Okay, let’s do it DIY.”
Hélène Cattet: Yeah, by ourselves. We only had someone for security. That was one of the biggest challenges.
Bruno Forzani: And then after it was the car chase at the end. For a James Bond movie, it’s six weeks of shooting for a car chase. Here, we had one day to do it. So we had to find some way to do it, but not so cheap.
Mama’s Geeky: That’s crazy. How long did it take to film the whole thing?
Hélène Cattet: 39 days.
Casting and Inspiration For Reflection In A Dead Diamond
Mama’s Geeky: I do want to talk about the cast. Can you talk about bringing them on and working with them?
Bruno Forzani: First, the old James Bond was Fabio Testi. It was him who inspired the movie. We were lucky he accepted. And then, after, we had to find his alter ego when he was young. And that was the most complicated part because in that kind of movie, we always imagine American or English actors. We are from Belgium, and there’s not really that kind of actor. So we found Yannick Renier, who is a great Belgian actor. He made a big preparation. He took 10 kilos of muscles to be ready to do that.
Mama’s Geeky: What was the main inspiration behind this?
Hélène Cattet: In fact, it’s Fabio Testi. We have seen Road to Nowhere from Monte Hellman in 2011, and he reminded us of Sean Connery. He was dressed in a white suit, like Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice. And when we went out of the screening, we said, “Oh, maybe we could do a mix between Death in Venice and James Bond.” It would be a spy who remembers his past, but we don’t know what the reality of this past is.
Reflection In A Dead Diamond’s Musical Score
Mama’s Geeky: The musical score is great. I felt like every single scene, it really heightens the moment.
Hélène Cattet: In fact, we are writing our scripts with listening to old soundtracks. The music inspires us, the rhythm and the sequences. We really need to get those music at the end, which is also a real challenge.
Bruno Forzani: It’s a mix of old Italian soundtracks from Morricone, Cipriani, and things like that. It helps the film to have this timeless universe, something out of the ’60s, ’70s. We want to use them not as background but as a prima donna to give all the flavors of the music. It’s almost a little bit like a character itself.
Mama’s Geeky: What were you most excited for audiences here to see in this film?
Bruno Forzani: When we write the script, we always think about the audience and how to surprise them. We come from the spy genre, and we try to subvert it a little bit. We try to approach these kinds of codes in a different way to tell something different. For instance, the car chase is not just a car chase; it’s talking about the character too. It’s a playful game with the audience.
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani Are Working On An Animation Next
Mama’s Geeky: Do you guys have the next one planned yet?
Hélène Cattet: Yeah, it will be an animation. It’s an adaptation of a book from a female writer from New York, from the beat generation in the late ’50s. It’s a revenge movie set in New York in the ’60s. We began to do some tests, and we are happy with the look we have found. Now we are in the financing process, and maybe it will be ready in three years.
