Beyond the Multiplex

The linguistic challenge of this movie must have been immense. We have three principal actors, an American [Mortensen], a Frenchman [Cassel] and a German [Mueller-Stahl], all playing Russians living in England. So they had to have some version of an English accent, with a Russian accent ...

On top of that, yes. And we have a Pole, Jerzy Skolimowski [himself an acclaimed filmmaker]! We had two language coaches on set at all times. One was an Englishman watching the Russian accent when English was spoken, and another one was a Russian watching when Russian was spoken. It was a very specific Russian, because it's a slangy, criminal Russian, not formal or academic Russian. You take Vincent Cassel, whose English is pretty good, but he normally speaks with a French accent and he had to warp that into a Russian accent.

To add to the complexity, we had the question: What is the relationship of each of these people to the English language? At what point in their lives did they learn English, and who did they learn it from? We assumed that Viggo's character learned English in Russia, maybe just at school, so he has the thickest accent. We assumed that Kirill, Vincent's character, came to England when he was about 17, so his accent is more English-inflected. Armin's character is more mysterious: Where did he learn English and how long has he been speaking it? There are different levels of accent strength in each case.

It's almost like a metaphorical way of seeing the ambiguity or the mystery in all these characters. It's right there on the surface.

I think so. We used to say, "This movie is about language," and we meant that metaphorically as well.

In case some of your longtime fans are wondering whether there's any blood and gore in this movie, and whether you use any special effects, the answer would be yes.

Oh, a little bit. People have said that this movie is very violent, but in terms of screen time, it's very little. There are only three scenes, although one of them is longish, I suppose. [Mortensen's character does protracted bloody battle with a pair of Chechen would-be assassins, while stark naked in a bathhouse.] When you consider the body count of "The Departed" or "The Sopranos," ours is pretty darn low. The difference is that I take it seriously in terms of realism, and the camera does not look away. We've had a long discussion about why I do that, but I have very good reasons. That's why the impact of those scenes goes beyond screen time.

How has the success of "History of Violence" changed your career. Has it made projects possible that weren't possible before?

I believe it has. I'm hot for 10 minutes, you know? I take it with a grain of salt, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Suddenly people are considering me for scripts that I guarantee you they would not have considered me for before "History." If you showed them "Spider" as my last movie, they would blanch. They'd get very nervous. Because it's an art film with a capital A, and it's low budget. My most expensive film is still "History of Violence," which cost $32 million. This one was around $27 million. When people hear about movies costing $180 million, they may think that's peanuts. But in fact, everyone involved takes $26 million very seriously, and so do I. It's a lot of money.

You've worked with Hollywood-scale budgets before, making "The Dead Zone" and "The Fly," and then you found yourself on the outside again. So you must be aware that at some point you could be back down to the "Spider" level again.

Sure. You just have to make it not affect you. It only becomes a seriously bad thing when it frustrates you from doing a movie you really want to do. And that has happened to me. There were a couple of projects I really wanted to do, and I was just too scary for those studios to consider. I could tell you some very funny stories about that one.

I'm not even banking on "Eastern Promises" being successful. It's gotten some very good reviews and a couple of not-so-good reviews. We had a great gala opening at the Toronto Film Festival with the most wonderful audience that followed every twist and turn and laughed at every joke. I'd like to bottle that audience and take it with me everywhere I go. Beyond that, I've got no guarantees of anything.

Any words of wisdom for the old-time Cronenberg purists out there, the ones who wish you were still making "Videodrome"? I talked to one guy after the screening last night who was just fuming. You know, "Cronenberg's turned into a hack, he's a Hollywood sellout, he hasn't made a decent film in 15 years."

Oh, God, that's great! I've been trying to sell out for years. So maybe without realizing it I've achieved it. That's exciting. [Laughter.] Well, to me that's not a real fan. That's a horror-film fan, it's not really a Cronenberg fan. If Viggo's fans only like him as Aragorn and don't like him in anything else, then they're "Lord of the Rings" fans, they're not Viggo fans. If you look at the auteur theory, it's like, once you commit to someone's sensibility, you say, "This guy's a really interesting director, I'm going to be curious about everything he does." Even when he's made a film that's not so great, maybe not his best, you still enjoy it. If he struggles, then you watch him struggling. That's a real fan.

"Eastern Promises" opens Sept. 14 in New York, Los Angeles and other major cities, with wide national release to follow.

Next page: Craig Zobel's gripping, bittersweet fable