Hey boys and girls, what a fun time we had chatting with the gorgeous cast and fascinating director of The International.  Sit in as we discuss with stars Clive Owen, Naomi Watts and director Tom Tykwer their new action thriller  ( Reviewed here!) and why sometimes  a little romance is a dangerous thing.

Dig it!

Naomi Watts & Tom Tykwer

The Lady Miz Diva:  The International reads to me like a David vs. Goliath story.  Tom, how did you know you wanted Clive Owen for your David?

Tom Tykwer:  {Laughs} Cos he’s such a giant!

LMD:  Can you both talk about the relationship that Clive and Naomi’s characters have because it’s very unusual that there’s no romance in the film, yet there’s this strong chemistry between them?

Naomi Watts:  We shot 9 love scenes, they didn’t work.  It was just a side cut.

TT: It was just for the pleasure of me!

{All laugh}

TT:  It will be a huge DVD with 15 extra deleted scenes. 

It’s complex; I think Clive right now is just, simply speaking, the first and perfect choice for let’s say what we would {sic} sillily call “The Thinking Man’s Action Hero.”  I think he’s just the most interesting actor of his generation that can combine this very impressive physical presence with the idea that there’s somebody who is really smart and also with the level of the dialogue and the way you feel like this guy is really thinking smartly through all this.  He’s been going through a lot of thought process here that you buy it, you know?  You don’t feel like, ‘Is this guy really up to this?’ You really do.

NW:  He’s empathetic, as well.  He cares.

TT:  Yes, and you kind of immediately connect with him on a level that I love so much.  Look at the sequence like the Guggenheim, it’s a classic sequence where you have very often directors or filmmakers put the actors suddenly into the spot where he goes, ‘Oh, he can do it and he’s cool,’ and all that stuff.  And of course he can do it, but he can do it out of complete panic; you can see how overwhelmed he is by situations like those, and how at the same time because he’s certainly determined and his strength comes from an upsetness and a moral energy.  It’s fed by all these things that he still survives, but he also survives because he’s incredibly lucky, not because he’s so super cool.  And I love that, you know, he’s reloading a gun and he’s like shaking because it’s all totally over his head.  He has never been in a situation like that.  To have somebody who easily you could imagine, ‘Okay, he’s gonna shoot them all,’ he’s not, and he still makes it is something I think Clive can deliver better than anyone else of his generation, right now. 

And them {gesturing to Naomi}, I think it’s a little bit the same.  All these films, you know, there’s all these things, all these buttons that you push usually in movies, ‘Okay, Clive and Naomi have never been in a movie together - God what a match! Okay, make them a couple. Have it all happen.’  And yet, it’s one of my most beloved elements about the film that it’s about adults, you know?  At a certain age, you end up not being like in the movies; always these good-looking people meet each other and they immediately fall in love and they get married.  The reality is - at least my reality is - I think we are all more or less in the same boat, is we all know we sometimes in our lives meet somebody who’s actually interesting and I’m attracted to, and that would’ve been this other life and an option in my life.  But usually that person isn’t available, or I’m not available or we’re both not available.  We’re just not available, because we’ve had a life already, we’ve already taken some decisions and they’re not even bad.  It’s not even like a large regret, it’s more like the melancholy of the choices in life that we take and that of course we can’t live five different lives. And that’s something that I love how they play the undertone of that.  It’s here and there a little spice.

NW:  I think that was just the thing about the… I mean we did shoot one scene that was an almost moment, and even that scene was very, very carefully done.  I think he’s right, there are many times in life that you have those almost moments, but it doesn’t happen for whatever reason, and so to put it in the movie would’ve felt completely inauthentic and taken us out of the movie and gone, ‘Yeah, this is the Clive and Naomi moment that the audience is waiting for.’  And I think we would have been lost in that moment. And that’s what I love about Tom’s style is he’s never giving you exactly what you’re waiting for; it’s always this surprise and truth more than anything.  So, we did shoot that moment and it was in a couple of cuts, but I guess it just didn’t ring true.

TT:  It wasn’t even a kiss. {Laughs}

NW:  Yeah!  When I say subtle, it was just like a moment of like she leans on his shoulder and that’s it, you know? And will they kiss of will they not? They didn’t. {Laughs}

Clive Owen

The Lady Miz Diva:  There’s a ton of running, jumping climbing trees action in The International …

Clive Owen:  Climbing trees? Do I climb trees in this film?

LMD:  Sorry, Eddie Izzard reference.

CO:  Oh, right {laughs}

LMD:  What I mean is there’s a lot of heart-stopping action in this film, but then you have that interrogation scene with Armin Mueller-Stahl, that’s got just as much impact.  As an actor, which is more challenging, keeping true to your character while doing all that shoot ‘em up stuff, or the heavy dialogue scenes?

CO:  They’re kinda not too dissimilar, weirdly.  I agree with you about the scene with Armin, cos that guy… that’s as good acting as I’ve seen close up, really.  I think he’s a really phenomenal actor, that guy.  It was just a pleasure to be able to a very big, long dialogue scene like that with him.  But in terms of the shootout, it’s kind of the same things apply, basically; my job is to put people in the position of what might feel like to be in there, and it’s not to run around the Guggenheim trying to look cool with a gun.  If guys came in there and started shooting guns like that, the reality is, you’d be terrified.  And it’s about trying to make people feel that sort of palpable fear and intensity of what it might be actually like to be in the middle of that.  So, it’s kind of the same acting instincts apply as it does for dialogue, really, you’ve just gotta put people in the position you’re in and try and make them understand and believe what it is you’re doing.

LMD:  I was just discussing  the relationship between Salinger and Whitman with  Naomi Watts and Tom Tykwer and how unusual it was that there’s no romance per sé in the film, yet there’s this chemistry between you.  Were you surprised that they didn’t go the expected route by involving your characters romantically?   Also, what was it like for you to have worked with Naomi for the first time?

CO:  Well, it was great working with her. I’ve known her on and off for a while and we’ve nearly worked together a few times. It didn’t quite happen, so it was great that finally it did.  I really rate her, I think she’s a really special, great actress and she’s a lovely girl. I mean, it’s easy.  It’s easy working with her. I believe everything she does and the whole thing was a pleasure.

I was very glad that it didn’t descend into cliché, really, the relationship.  I think that they are a partnership. There is an attraction there, but it’s kind of based on their work ethic, really, and their pursuit of the bank.  And I think it would have been a sort of obvious and cliché thing to do to descend into a typical romance.  I think it’s a very delicately well-pitched relationship and I was happy that we didn’t do the obvious.

LMD:  Naomi and Tom did say there were 9 hot love scenes that were cut out that are gonna show up on DVD.

CO: {Laughs}

~ The Lady Miz Diva

Feb 9^th, 2009

Click here to read our Review of The International.

© 2006-2022 The Diva Review.com