Entrevista con Aronofsky

IGN FILMFORCE: What was the concept that initially hooked you into doing The Fountain?

DARREN ARONOFSKY: I think it was... I mean, it's hard to say, because it was a long time ago. But I think one of the things that was interesting was that no one had ever made a film on the Tree of Life. You know, here...the Fountain of Youth is one of our oldest myths from Gilgamesh to the Bible. You know, in the Bible, in Genesis, it says ... there were two trees: the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. And then, you know, Ponce de Leon, and there's always been stories and our culture is totally fascinated with...

IGNFF: Youth and extending life...

ARONOFSKY: ...Nip/Tuck and all that stuff. So I decided to start there and make something about the Fountain of Youth and it sort of snowballed into this thing called The Fountain. It's kinda how I always start, with Pi, it was...I remember in math class when I was in high school, the teacher saying that there was mystical elements to pi, and that kinda stayed with me and...

IGNFF: Well, it seems to be a bit of throughline for your films...

ARONOFSKY: Which is what?

IGNFF: Finding this sort of mystical overlay, over mathematics and then you go into this sort of dependency culture...

ARONOFSKY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know...

IGNFF: ...and sort of a move towards some kind of enlightenment in one way or another.

ARONOFSKY: Well, Fountain definitely moves towards some type of light...the whole film's about moving towards the light. I don't know why. That's...I don't know. That's the big question, I think. Everyone sort of talks about, thinks about.

IGNFF: Do you think in some ways your films are about, good or bad, some kind of fulfillment being sought?

ARONOFSKY: (Thoughtful pause.) Mm. That's a good point. I'd say...run with it, but I don't know. I'd have to think about it.

IGNFF: I don't think I'll be running with it in any way.

ARONOFSKY: I don't think that much about it, to be honest. But I think there is something to be said, that...yeah, those themes...

IGNFF: But within the writing process, there must be a direction that would dead end it, that you draw away from, when you go, "You know, this is more the direction I'm going in." I mean, what kind of themes... there must be conscious themes that you are drawn towards.

ARONOFSKY: Yeah, yeah, yeah...I think, you know, a big theme in the film is about how, in the West, you know, we have absolutely no tools to deal with death. Basically, everyone looks at old people and they just think they're...they just want to be away from them. We lock 'em up in old age homes and we shut it off and...

IGNFF: Or don't click over on the call waiting.

ARONOFSKY: And yet as kids, when we're in third grade, we're told to collect autumn leaves...which is basically death. So we can admire the beauty of a dead leaf, but we can't admire the beauty of, you know, a dying person.

IGNFF: Well, people plan vacations around viewing those leaves.

ARONOFSKY: Exactly, exactly. And I think, I think that's a big question is...if you were to live forever, are you still human? Or is being human...is dying part of our humanity?

IGNFF: Knowing that it's a finite existence?

ARONOFSKY: Knowing that...I think the experience of death is...

IGNFF: Which is kind of a bookend when you think about pi...ARONOFSKY: Absolu—in what way?

IGNFF: Well, you look at the infinite nature of pi...

ARONOFSKY: Right, right, right.

IGNFF: ...and the finite nature that you're exploring in...

ARONOFSKY: Yeah, yeah. Or you could say it doesn't necessarily have to be finite, you can look at death as just an experience that everyone has to go through. And certain people believe...you know, the Hindus believe that it's infinite, you get reincarnated. But it is an experience that you go through. So the question is...you know, that's really what the film is looking at, is what is that experience...for a guy dealing with his wife dying and then dealing with his own death.

IGNFF: What was the block that...I mean, was there...because obviously this is something you've been working on for quite a while...was there a block that you hit at any point where you said, "I just can't crack this thing"?

ARONOFSKY: Oh, there were many. There were many, I can't even tell you. It's so funny that you ask that but there were...so many, that were endlessly just stopping us along the way, but you know, the reality is then...you attack it from a different way.

IGNFF: Is it generally character points or plot points that will hang you up?

ARONOFSKY: Well, they're very interconnected, because I mean, my films, the lead character's there all the time. If you look at Pi, the guy's there all the time. And Requiem, it's either Ellen's story or the other actor's story. It's not like, you know, I cut away to the bad guys...

IGNFF: It's not like you can cut over to the car chase and...

ARONOFSKY: Yeah, exactly. It's not that happening in the film. So, you know, I think they were one in the same.

IGNFF: So...I mean, when you look at...has there ever been a sort of conflict internally of pursuing more commercial films...because...

ARONOFSKY: Has there ever been any what? A conflict?

IGNFF: Well, I mean, obviously people have tried to push you in a certain direction.

ARONOFSKY: I would love to be able to do it. I would love to be able to do it.

IGNFF: Because Batman was something you were vetted for quite a while.

ARONOFSKY: Yeah...I don't think it was ever real for me. I mean, for me, it was about...I had a take on it that I knew they would never go for. And it was me and Frank Miller got to write it and have fun with it and do something cool. But for me, I was always making The Fountain. That was what I always wanted to do. And they were like, "Well, how about doing Batman?" And I was like, "Look, let me do The Fountain and then we'll talk." And, you know, I handed to Warner Brothers: they completely got the Batman they wanted, and I loved it. I thought it was great.

IGNFF: And you got the film you wanted.ARONOFSKY: Exactly.IGNFF: So, a good tradeoff.

ARONOFSKY: It worked out fine.

IGNFF: So what's coming up next?

ARONOFSKY: You'll have to wait and see. But something's brewing already.