Dan Laustsen - Christophe Gans
Dan Laustsen - Christophe Gans |
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He is bornChristophe Gans was born in 1960, the son of a housewife and a VRP?He grew up in Antibes, on the Mediterranean, between Nice and Cannes. He discovers film is his lifelong ambitionAt a very young age, he developed a passion for movies and from his window, he would check out the movie posters at the cinema across the street every day. The schoolboy devoured the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, the Italian horror movies and the kung fu movies of Hong Kong, and foreign films - especially Japanese, and he even crossed the Italian border to see movies that never made it to France. And he discovered the amazing film "Phantom of the Paradise" by Brian de Palma.Every morning when he woke up, he would say to himself: I will be a sucess at film school. While waiting to be old enough to enter film school, he began making super-8 movies with his friends in the back country, inspired by Bruce Lee. And of course he went to the Cannes film festival to see films by his spiritual guides, Cronenberg, Romero, Hooper and Ferrara. He goes to film schoolAt 18, he was the youngest student to enter the famous Parisian IDHEC, (Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques). Unfortunately, he soon learned that it was the thing to admire the new Italian wave - not horror, b-films and kung fu movies. With friends, he created the fanzine "Rhesus Zero" focusing on b-movies. Some smiled at that, but Gans was ever a champion of the genre films. In film school, he made the short movie "Silver Slime" - a baroque thriler, and an homage to the Italian Masters of horror Mario Bava and Dario Argento. The film was a considerable success at the Festival of Fantastic Film in Paris in 1982.But once he had finished his studies, he was disappointed to learn that CNC (National Center of Cinematography) would not grant him funds for a short movie. The Starfix yearsDisillusioned with moviemaking at 22, and having an interest in movie reviewing, together with friends(Nicolas Boukhrief, François Cognard and Domenica Monrocq), he started the magazine Starfix. This was the first magazine dedicated to films and directors usually scorned in France - like Cronenberg, Carpenter, Ferrara and John Woo. Finally fans of the genre had a magazine to enjoy. The first issue appeared January 1983. He was the editor in chief from 1983 to 1986, and continued to contribute to the magazine after stepping down.Making movies - finally!At the end of the 1980ies, he decided to try his hand at moviemaking again, and connected with producer Samuel Hadida who invited him to join Davis Films. At the same time, he also presented the movie section on Antoine De Caunes show RAPIDO, and worked as a consultant for the Scherzo Vidéo Society.In collaboration with Thierry Cazals, he made scripts, a.o. one based on the comic strip Rank Xerox. Necronomicon< He wrote and directed the segment of the Lovecraftian Necronomicon called "The Drowned" in 1993, and thanks to Necronomicon, he was finally able in 1995 to make his first full length move, Crying Freeman.Crying FreeemanGans rewrote the script for CF, and was able to film it in the forests of Vancouver in record time - only 34 days.Unfortunately, due to very little promotion, only 800.000 people saw it on it's showing in France. NemoHe then worked two years on a movie about the young captain Nemo. He had scouted locations in New Orleans, and the poster had been made, but due to disagreements with the backer about who was to star in the film, the project fell through. Since the succes of Pacte, he will probably not face such problems again .....Pacte des loupsPREPRODUCTIONWhen Canal+ offered him the script for Pacte, he quickly accepted. He loved the script by Stéphane Cabel, but did a rewrite to include Mani the Mohawk indian and Sylvia the courtesan. Those two characters and the explanation of the beast are invented - the rest are real historic figures. Pacte was made under the wings of StudioCanal France. Samuel Hadida, producer and longtime friend of Gans runs with his brother the Metropolitan Film Export. influences from Hong Kong movies, manga, and video games since they contain today the elements of myths FILMING Pacte started filming on february 14th, 2000, and was plagued with problems right from the start. The filming was very complicated - 140 scenes, approximately 20 principal characters in 85 different sets. The logistics were extremely complicated, and after one week of filming, they were one and a half day behind scehdule. In the end, the filming was 23 weeks instead of the planned 15 weeks. They could have skipped some action scenes, but action was a big part of the movie, and the lack might have disappointed viewers. Besides, the opportunity to work with Philip Kwok was something that the director of Crying Freeman would not let go. Gevaudan of today is a modern area, so if was not possible to film there, so the movie was shot in the Pyrenees instead. Filming was also don in real castles like Chateau Roquetaillade, in the Gironde. The use of the new system Duboi Color also made for some delay. The movie was over budget, and it needed three million viewers in France to pay off - and it got five million! While filming, he always works for the feminine audience. Being a man, the film will naturally get a man's viewpoint, so Gans tries to ensure that women will also be interested. Apart from adding Mani to the script, Gans also beefed up the female roles in Casals' script. Fronsac represents reason, Mani represents mystery - opposing but also complmentary. In his own words:"That's one of the things I like in Hong Kong movies. Everything is symbolic. The weapons are symbolic. I like the fact that, at the end, the hero, played by Samuel Le Bihan -- Fronsac -- is using twin swords because it's true that it's his best friend and him in one body. He's wearing this Indian painting on the face because it's his dead friend, and they're fighting in the same body. So, that's why he's using twin daggers. I'm working like that. It's not important that people catch the meaning of all this. What is important is the imagery. What I like is imagery. I don't know that everyone understands everything in my work. I want them to have a great trip looking at it.""I don't try to give too much explanation -- it's on purpose." "It's my own version of a dark fairy tale. Anything can happen." What's next?The Adventurer starts shooting summer of 2003.Fact file:He still watches on average three films every day. Perfectionist. Likes BIG challenges.He is a big fan of HK movies, and publishes them himself in France under the label HK. Favorite actor: Mark Dacascos Favorite sport: He practices kung fu, karate, judo, and French boxing, and he has fought in competitions. Links |