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Review of Fast Food Nation Richard Linklater, better known within the film industry as "Rick", directs Fast Food Nation about Don Henderson (Kinnear), a marketing executive for a fast food chain, who travels to his company’s meat factory to investigate reports of meat contaminated with fecal matter. Based on the book of the same title by Eric Schlosser. Richard Linklater has directed such films as A Scanner Darkly, Bad News Bears, Before Sunset, The School of Rock, Waking Luke, Suburbia, Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused and Slacker. I had the privalege to interview him. Fox Searchlight Pictures will release Fast Food Nation on November 17th, 2006. NYC MOVIE GURU: When did you become vegetarian and why? RL: 1983. I kind of came to it slowly. I was brought up thinking that if I didn’t eat meat every day, I would die. I had already read [the] book Animal Liberation, a Peter Singers book from the 70’s. I was looking at it from that angle. It wasn’t an overnight thing, but once it was definitive, it was pretty definitive. I’m happy that, for 23 years, I haven’t supported [meat]. I talked to a lady once who said [that] for every year you don’t eat meat, 100 animals don’t get slaughtered. NYC MOVIE GURU: Do you consider yourself to be a political filmmaker? RL: People are like, “Oh, are you political now?” I’m the same political person that I [always was]. I think the movies themselves demand some analysis. If you analyze them at all, you can’t help but see them in political terms. A Scanner Darkly is more specific in right now than Fast Food Nation which is about an industry that has been the same for a while. NYC MOVIE GURU: Why did you include the gruesome scenes in the slaughterhouse? RL: I think the film needed [the scenes in the slaughterhouse]. It’s all about the reality behind the thing. That is the reality that they keep hidden that’s so prevalent. That’s why I’m not even shocked by it. 10 billion animals a year are raised for human consumption. If you can’t accept that reality, then you’re just living in a dream-world. I think that everybody has to make up their own mind about it, but to be so willfully ignorant about it. It’s just like war. If we’re going to bomb a country and occupy a country and then we’re going to treat a civilian casualty like it’s an aberration. No, what [they] are doing is supporting that—it’s going to be a lot of civilian deaths. It’s the same with this industry. Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of bad stuff, [i.e.] environmental degradation. It’s everything that [Fast Food Nation] portrays is the reality behind these industries, but it has been one that’s very, very [secretive]. You’re not supposed to think about it. You’re not supposed to analyze it. The more important stuff is in our culture, [i.e.] life, death, health, the more you’re not supposed to think about it. NYC MOVIE GURU: How difficult was it to get permission to film at the different locations? RL: It was tough getting access. [Directing] this movie was a little like being an undercover investigative person. We had to emphasize getting the meat processing facilities, for instance. We emphasize the story of the Mexican workers going north and we said, “This wouldn’t be seen as Mexico; this would be seen as Colorado.” People sort of like that [traditional] immigrant story which doesn’t get told much in the American media. It’s no big deal to the [Mexican workers]—that’s just another job down there. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you feel while shooting in the slaughterhouse? RL: I could feel my own psyche babbling there. Because you want to go through life as a [sensitive] person about everything around you. I could feel myself willingly shutting down the compassion. The human psyche has an incredible latitude for survival and for justification. If you’re ever in a traumatic situation, it’s interesting to be conscious at that moment and to really engage how you’re feeling and to see what mode you jump into. I jumped into filmmaker mode. NYC MOVIE GURU: What are your methods of directing? RL: I have pretty specific methods. They’re hard to describe, but I just like a lot of rehearsal time. I like to spend a lot of time communicating. It’s just my own way, but I think that’s the most magical moment in the process where the script meets the person who’s going to physically manifest [the] idea of that character. That’s the crucial moment, to me—whether it’s casting or changing the script to fit them [or] bringing them in as a creative collaborator. That’s my natural instinct. The most enjoyable parts are rehearsal and shooting. I approach all actors the same. They both need different things—it’s kinda like being the head coach of a team. You gotta just sense that and work with people within their own boundaries. NYC MOVIE GURU: What problems did you encounter while shooting? RL: [There were] things like no lights, but you had to work around the limitations. No time—you have 3 hours to shoot the thing. It’s challenging. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you end up casting Avril Lavigne? RL: I just met her [at a casting session in Los Angeles]. She came in and auditioned for the part of Amber, which Ashley [Johnson] ended up playing and, after talking to her, I really liked her. She’s interested in the subject. I think she liked the book a lot. I didn’t think she was quite right for that part, but then I was thinking [that] maybe she could play the college girl. It’s funny with those college kids in that scene—none of them had been to college. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you Bruce Willis get involved? RL: I just sent him the script. I just kinda needed somebody like Bruce Willis. I’ve had friends who had worked with him. I didn’t know him, but I had a hunch that he might dig that part. I was lucky. I guess he wasn’t doing anything else that moment—it was only for one day. It’s fun [for actors] to just go in there and do character work and the whole film is not on your back. You can get in [and] get out. It’s a fun scene [and] an essential scene for the movie and it had to be someone like [Bruce Willis]. The complexity of that character [and] what he’s talking about is interesting. It’s the same with Kris Kristofferson, Ethan Hawke, Luis Guzman [and] Patricia Arquette. A lot of them were ironic like Esai Morales—he’s a real activist. For him to be playing a straight manager, he found that to be kind of ironic. And Patricia Arquette is just the complete opposite. Yet, actors want to do stuff like that. NYC MOVIE GURU: How often do you think about the actors while writing the script? RL: When you [write] the script, you don’t really think about the actors. It’s a real practical thing—you can’t afford them, they’re busy. I never write with anyone in mind. Even Ethan [Hawke’s] character, I wrote that part not knowing who was going to play it. It’s just when I realized that he’s not doing a play, he’s not doing a movie at the moment, maybe I’ll send [the script] to him and maybe he would like it or be available. But I don’t take it for granted that he would want to [take the role]. Ultimately, they have to pick you. When you’re not paying anything, they have to want to do it. NYC MOVIE GURU: What do you want audiences to take away from Fast Food Nation? RL: For a screening we had, a lady came up to me and said, “I’ll never be able to eat that meal again and not think about what’s behind.” I [thought] “Wow. I think that’s what the movie wants.” [You should] at least analyze this world that rests on willful ignorance. One source [alone] can’t open your eyes, but there’s a lot of information—a lot of non-fiction information. NYC MOVIE GURU: How do you feel the general public views fast food? RL: We all live in this myth. Anything that shatters the myth that I grew up in and [that] every American does about, “Oh, there’s a family farm out there. They grow these crops, there’s some pigs and some chickens running around and there’s a cow for your milk which they eventually slaughter—and that’s your hamburger. Once you throw that out, you realize that it’s these factories. Like that chicken never saw light-of-day, its feet never touched the earth. It lived in a cage with 5 other chickens pumped full of hormones.” Once you realize how unnatural and systematically cruel that world is, it’s a real eye-opener. That myth in your head is based on them not showing you. It wouldn’t help them to let you see where [your burger] comes from, but there’s a lot of disconnects in our food chain. We love animals instinctually, but then [we] realize [we’re] eating all of those animals. It’s crazy. NYC MOVIE GURU: What scripts are you working on next? RL: One [script] deals indirectly with Iraq. Another takes place in the 30’s. [Another] is a jazz movie. [My scripts are] all over the map. Main Page Interviews Menu Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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