Self-censorship

Entrevista a Michel Gondry
director de Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, La ciencia del sueño y Be kind rewind

Do you ever watch films on your telephone?

No ... I guess I take a lot of pictures on my telephone, but I never download them. I get caught by my ex-girlfriend because of my telephone. All these gadgets, the phone and the computer, they expose the inside of your brain in a way that's bad. Everybody has a bit of Gary Glitter in the corner of their brain. I'm not sure you're going to print that.

I've heard so many stories of people getting caught through their computers and stuff; when you hear about the governor of New York getting caught with prostitutes, I sort of felt sorry for him. Everybody is doing dirty stuff, is tempted to go to some website of some sort, and to be able to expose that, it's not fair. I think the people who offer that are as guilty as the guys who fall into it. I say "guys" because it's very much the way the male brain is wired. Not every man is similar, but there's similarity in the way we connect with sex; it's our weakness. And then it's exposed as something ugly and bad. I don't know why I'm talking about this ... do you have your title already? I think it's a problem when journalists have the title of their article before they do the interview, because it biases the way they conduct it. But you'd be in bad shape if you had yours, because I think I just got right off the point. I think the piece is for the internet, like everything these days ...

I spend too much time on the net – it's a problem. To tell you how bad – and I'm sure I'm not the only one – I tried to ask my assistant to put some kind of parental control on some of the websites I go to, to get some parental control on myself, but it's too complicated.
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Couldn't your teenage son sort it out for you?

I'm sure he's going to the same horrible websites as me. I feel bad about that, because those things were not available when I was his age, and I think those things are captivating. People will always say "You don't have to go there," but I think you need to be limited. It's like prostitution and everything – if it's available then it's tempting. It's why I'm against legalisation of marijuana – because if it's available you want to get more. I can talk about that because I'm not doing it.

So are you advocating internet censorship?

Erm ... I think you should be able to censor yourself. If you allow censorship then it's always going to be used to give more power to people who already have power. I think your brain goes in waves – sometimes you feel strong, like in the morning, and at these moments you could make a decision that stops you being weak another time. Like drink dialling, that's terrible. They should have systems on your computer: you'd have to do mathematical equations before you go on the net. Then you could not email your ex-girlfriend and tell her how much you love her, which is the last thing you want to do when you're sober.

Or let's say I go to this dirty website and do my dirty business, whatever it is: then I regret it, and I should be then able to censor myself. Then the next time I want to go, I'd have made a decision when I was in a better place in my mind. That's how censorship should work, but no one's going to bring out the tools to do that. It's too bad because I think it would be a good idea. That's my new policy – self-censorship.

How do you feel about the internet as an outlet for your art?

I just did a commercial with Kevin Spacey; I think of my movies he'd probably only seen Sunshine, and wasn't really into my work. Then a friend who visited him mentioned the videos I did with the Rubik's Cube, this work I have no respect for, and on the third day of our shoot he came to me and said: "Oh, I saw your stuff on YouTube - it's really amazing." A lot of people connect to me through the silly things I do through the net. I think our main communication now is going to be electronic – and the downside is trying to watch a video on a two-inch square screen with things blinking all over it. That's what the internet is: it's like bombarding your eyeballs with these myriad blinking colour lights. It's like trying to watch a movie on your phone in the middle of Times Square. You can put that in big letters. Actually you should this in big letters. Put my quote of my quote of my quote: this one of me saying "put this one as a quote".

Your father was a computer programmer. Did that rub off on you?

He made microphones and speakers as well. It's interesting how differently brains are wired: my brother was totally influenced by our dad, and me not at all. In fact I couldn't understand the programming, although I like the logic of it, but maybe I'm not patient enough. I need a more immediate reward.
Which is a funny thing to hear from a stop-motion animator.

But animation gives me a very quick reward, if I work all night or all week. When you see it come to life, it's like a shot. I don't need to take drugs – I get my kicks from that. I would never drive a motorbike because I would be dead in ten minutes, but I was once behind somebody who rode motorbikes, and experienced the feeling of acceleration from zero to 100 miles per hour in five seconds, and understood why people would risk their lives doing that. I'm lucky that my kick is very safe.

And what's your next film project?

I have to wait a little bit before I can say – I have a lot of things on and I have to define which is the next one. But I'm pretty busy. I don't mean to brag – I get scared like everyone, so I just did a commercial. I think commercials are bad, but then art is contradiction.

The internet is rife with rumours of you adapting Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time with Daniel Clowes or The Green Hornet with Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow.

It's like going back into the past. In fact I'm not trying to ... no, see, I have to stop saying what I was about to, because it's not good. In French you say "turn your tongue seven times in your mouth" before you say something. Bite your tongue! That's the best self-censorship.