Interview (2007) Movie Drinking Game
Down a Shot: every time Pierre rolls his eyes
Down a Shot: every time someone smokes or lights a cigarette onscreen. Both our leads are avid smokers.
Down a Shot: every time Katya comes close to burning Pierre’s face off by flicking the kitchen lighter at him (burn them at the stake before they burn you, amirite?)
Down a Shot: every time there’s mention of fishnet stockings
Down a Shot: every time Katya tosses any item within her reach at an already concussed Pierre (headshot!)
Raise a Toast: to the infrequent moments of respite when Katya and Pierre exchange niceties, thus temporarily burying the hatchet… although thankfully not in each other’s backs!
By: Vidal D’costa (A Toast) –
Popular soap actress Katya is stuck in her soulless New York apartment with Pierre Peders, an equally soulless, rigid, seemingly prudish, and opportunistic journalist unwillingly sent over to conduct an interview with her, even though the latter wishes he was in Washington covering a major socio-political event… or anywhere else. While initially neither party is in the mood to interview nor be interviewed, as the night progresses and they both get fairly sloshed, a spiteful and thoroughly unprofessional Pierre decides to get on with the job, getting up close and personal with his unsettling, even gratuitous questions. On the contrary, Katya, who’s put up with her fair share of regurgitated questions along with the sex symbol/bimbette/performing monkey tag for far too long, decides that two can play this game. The interview thus escalates, as fabrications, Freudian slips, and squeamish exercises in self-vindication ensue, and a single slip-up from either could result in a career-ender.
A Toast
Unlike the character of Pierre Peders who waded into the war zone unprepared, Steve Buscemi who helms this remake of late filmmaker Theo van Gogh’s Dutch movie by the same name certainly proves to be a lot more knowledgeable in the director’s chair. His affinity for the chamber drama genre is especially on display yet again in this movie, after his critically acclaimed directorial debut Trees Lounge which was named for the primary location it was set at, and in his more recent single location venture, The Listener, which features an isolated protagonist navigating pandemic paranoia.
Interview is also notable for combining various other genres, apart from the chamber drama, with its staging resembling a play and further conveying the conflict between Katya and Pierre which borders on Shakespearean proportions. The movie also acts as a harrowing, raw, and thoroughly engaging dissection of consent, breach of privacy, the media circus, and the sway of sensationalism in the press who revel in taking shortcuts and invalidating or reducing individuals to a mere eye-grabbing headline or sensational sound bite in the process. Considering that both the original and this remake were released in the early 2000s, at the height of the unsavoury phone hacking scandals, the topic is still one that resonates, and as viewers, one might feel compelled to instantly draw a connection between the off-screen and the onscreen events unfolding in real-time.
Instances of the leads indulging in a slow waltz under the presence of drawing a truce subsequently after exchanging a volley of verbal abuse feel like a subversion of the Hollywood mainstream’s sappy romantic tropes, thus transforming this social commentary-cum-stage play into an anti-romcom as well as an immersive character study on two troubled individuals who are burdened or cornered by their respective professions, and who are initially keen on sharing the load for a night but instead resort to deriving misery from each other, resulting in a nightmarish night. Each genre/subgenre flows effortlessly into the next, thus providing for a smooth viewing experience, too.
Intense and crisp, the conversations and primarily the endlessly snappy back and forths between the leads are also far from superficial. While somewhat a tad pretentious, there is still space for moments of tenderness and thought-provoking lines as melancholia washes over the pair and they swap stories on a lingering sense of failure in both their personal and professional lives, inner turmoil/pains that are both mental and physical, vulnerability, PTSD acquired from one’s profession, suicide, et al, although it keeps viewers in suspense over which of these talking points are actually brimming with sincerity and which are mere sob stories and deflections by Pierre to seek sympathy points from his guest, and thus a ploy in hiding his true motivations from her.
Another positive is the strong characterisation of the female lead with a majority of the movie’s running time devoted to the fierce Katya turning the tables with moxie and interrogating the exploitative Pierre on his own latent bisexuality much like rabid journos who’ve relentlessly belittled her in the past for her own personal sojourns, and this in turn leads to more tea being spilt. Even in a one-sided interview, Katya has the upper hand and is framed as the more empathetic of the two, with a keen desire of getting to know her interviewer better, expressing more interest in Pierre than he does, and continuously attempting to either level with him or peel back the layers to examine whether there lies a human with remorse within this egoistic journalist who’s made himself at home sans her consent and who prides himself on asking diplomatic questions yet is surprisingly no different from the prying gossip columnists whom Katya has guarded herself against for so long in the industry (an attitude that suggests that she’s already made her peace with Pierre’s lack of journalistic integrity and predatory advances).
Her ability to regain control over the interview questions and the interviewer himself will later aid her in building a ruse of her own as well as a clever, enigmatic escape route from Pierre’s intrusive approach and his annoying attitude of making her feel inferior by projecting his own insecurities and misogyny upon her, simultaneously keeping him occupied. Technical elements such as the noir lighting, mainly comprised of the nightlife of New York, and the neon pink glow of a thriving neighbourhood outside the apartment further complement the pair’s dark and shady revelations.
Apart from directing the movie, Steve Buscemi additionally plays the slick, snide, and boisterous but wounded war correspondent-turned-entertainment journalist himself. Buscemi’s Pierre is a tragicomic, even revolting sight to behold. He is neither a stickler for decorum as an interviewer nor apparently capable of sitting on a hammock without it flipping over with both him and his guest in it, and the actor excels in balancing the quintessential ‘insensitive crafty creeper and proverbial fibster with no sense of boundaries’ act (think Piers Morgan in most of his interviews) with some slight Mr. Pink undertones as he bursts out the faux charisma to sweet-talk Katya without easing up on the sass nor putting in the effort to hide his jealousy since she is obviously the more known face. Buscemi also excels at playing up Pierre’s smugness and especially the character’s discontent towards Katya for showing up late, making it very evident to pretty much everyone from the server to the other flabbergasted diners. I even half expected him to break out the iconic tiny violins hand gesture from Reservoir Dogs in the first act at the restaurant!
Sienna Miller is an apt casting choice in the role of the wronged yet classy and altogether quick-witted actress Katya since the characterisation itself mirrors Miller’s own life living in the limelight and her initial struggles with limited privacy. While a tad hammy in later scenes when portraying the tantrums of this rage-fuelled (as well as coke-fuelled) character, Miller still proves effective at keeping in time with her co-star, as she alternates between a doe-eyed damsel in distress and a confident, fiery independent woman who knows well enough to remain defiant and keep her cards close to her chest at all times in a bid to regain control over her own story from an altogether unpleasant scribe, all the while still acting as a gracious host and oozing class as well as otherworldly charm as she literally shows Pierre the door once she’s had enough.
Buscemi and Miller also hold one captive (probably a poor choice of words considering Katya and Pierre’s face-off oddly mirrors a hostage situation) with their onscreen chemistry, and the duo plays off each other well, thus leaving one guessing over who’s the most Machiavellian of them all! I would genuinely also listen to this pair ramble hours on end about everything from grenades to gay people, preferably in podcast form (now you know my very specific kinks).
Lastly, the movie culminates with some morbid confessions which I won’t reveal much of here. You’ll just have to watch it to determine who ends up being the winner or loser in this heated duel.
Verdict
If niche and stylish avant-garde offerings that are Nightcrawler-adjacent or revolve around two toxic individuals in a diss match to the death (a la Phantom Thread) are your poison, then this intoxicating Interview will satisfy those cravings.
