Interview [HD]

'And in this corner of the ring...'
INTERVIEW is a smart little independent film adapted from the 2003 Theo van Gogh film by the same name, a film that drew a lot of attention based on a script by Theodor Holman, which in turn was based on an idea by Hans Teeuwen sparring the famous Dutch actress Katja Schuurman with actor Pierre Bokma. In this adaptation Steve Buscemi reworked the Holman screenplay with the help of David Schechter, changing the female role to a tabloid type bombshell actress (also named Katya, played with razor sharp clarity by Sienna Miller) with a disgruntle political reporter Pierre (Steve Buscemi) whose career is on the skids requiring that he take lousy assignments such as this interview to stay alive.

Other than a disastrous opening in a classy restaurant where the two characters realize they are ridiculously mismatched as an interview pair, the entire film takes place in Katya's loft. Katya appears shallow and short of goals and Pierre only acquiesces to complete the interview when he...

"Two characters, 85 minutes, one room - but NOT boring!"
This is the first of three films, which are American remakes of feature films directed in the Netherlands by the late Theo van Gogh. Actor/Director Buscemi was specifically chosen by the original producer to direct the film. He chose the lead role for himself. I have not seen the "original" and am basing my comments just on viewing the DVD of this US version.

The film is 85 minutes long and, except for 2-3 minutes at the beginning, and even less at the end, there are only two actors on the screen talking and interacting with each other. And nearly all the action takes place in one New York City apartment - though it is a big loft apartment! And yet this is not a quiet conversational film like "My Dinner With Andre". There is definitely a sexual thing going on here but you'll note that the R rating is for "language and strong sexual situations", not nudity. There is no nakedness at all. Yet, like some of the prime scenes in "Body Heat", there is definitely sexual tension in...

Cage Match
When it comes to Steve Buscemi and Sienna Miller in "Interview", I don't think I've seen a middle aged man and a young woman that had this much chemistry since Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanson in "Lost in Translation". However, if Murray and Johanson's on-screen relationship was warm and nurturing, the relationship between Buscemi's Pierre and Miller's Katya is more like a cage match.

Pierre, a self-important political journalist, is assigned to do an interview with a subject he believes to be beneath him ... Katya, a schlock TV/film actress and tabloid fixture. The two characters clash instantly, but end up continuing the "interview" all night in Katya's opulent New York loft, where the two characters ridicule, antagonize, manipulate, charm, seduce and abuse one another, both for their own career agendas and to satisfy their equally inflated egos. Steve Buscemi (clearly a talented director as well as being a great character actor) and Sienna Miller both give terrific...

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