The Future Boy

Chris Cunningham

Words: Shari Roman
Photo: Kiino Villand

 Chris talks about the body of his work...

What's the solution?

For the past year I've been teaching myself about what's possible with just a Mac laptop computer, and I'm having a really good time reading the manuals [laughs]. I've been learning how to use After Effects, Commotion and Final Cut Pro, which means I can demo ideas first. My entire music studio is now on my laptop. It's made me excited, in a way I haven't felt in a long time.

This must mean that you've also been experimenting with DV...

Recently I've been shooting with the Sony PC 120 and I love it. I love the pixels, the artifacting. I feel I can make these free form sketches, do a lot more things, and be much more experimental. When I was doing music videos, I was always trying to degrade the image by using shitty stock, pumping light into the lens to break up the image, etc. I actually can get the same effect on DV. I'm using it on all my new stuff.

Hang on -- you're working on something?

I'm making a DVD album for Warp of film and music. There are going to be around 12 to 14 pieces. Three are collaborations with Aphex Twin [Richard James] and Squarepusher [Tom Jenkinson].

You've worked a lot with Aphex Twin and Squarepusher....

I think they're brilliant. I have such envy of them. They can sit and do what they do on their own in a room. I love being able to isolate myself and just kind of trip out on what I'm working on. It's one of my favorite things

Do you get any sort of thrill from film?

Not anymore. Although recently I have got a buzz from some great older movies, like Tarkovsky's Stalker. I think it's incredible. It feels like a film about nature to me. I also loved another of his films, The Mirror. Experiencing them gave me a real rush. The kind I used to get when I was a kid. I also love Cassavetes' Faces. The second half is the closest thing I've seen to how I might have daydreamed a feature. But other than those, I can't remember the last time I saw or experienced something that had any kind of influence, other than those trashy horror movies I loved when I was a kid. But that's okay. There so many things I'm obsessed with, inside me, I don't need any more outside stimulus.

Is it true that you've hardly been to the cinema in six years?

It's true. I have turned into a cantankerous old prick at an early age. I don't like modern, mainstream films; most of them are contemptible. I feel insulted.

Why?

In most creative areas, you see something good come along and then you have to sit back and watch while it gets photocopied endlessly. Referencing other stuff has become a style in itself. I respect anyone who makes a conscious effort to at least try to have their own voice. But a lot of people seem to make a virtue of imitation. I don't understand how you can have any pride in your work.

What was the film that put you off mainstream cinema?

Independence Day.

There has been talk of you shooting a feature -- is that still in the works?

I'm still eager to try. Other than reading software manuals, I spent most of last year trying to adapt [Philip K. Dick's] A Scanner Darkly into a workable screenplay. As far as science fiction goes, it's got just the right level of implausibility. It's just trippy and paranoid enough. But in order to get it into a filmable shape I would have to change it so much and I didn't want to. The thing that put me off in the end was that I didn't want it to be a film about drugs and I couldn't figure out how to approach it without ruining the essentials. It was a lesson for me, that I should have more faith in a world of my own, rather than attempt any kind of cannibalism.

Will you resurrect the Neuromancer project?

Not sure. [William] Gibson had to go off and write another book and the way we work, between the two us, it could take a long time.