For his follow-up feature to 2006's The Illusionist, director Neil Burger went from a big, expansive, Europe-set drama to an American road trip movie, combining character-based humor with the inherent drama of being a soldier back home on leave. And for a while he had a song for his end credits that he thought perfectly encapsulated his movie; "[The Dixie Chicks] saw the movie, they were moved by it, and they wrote this song called "The Lucky Ones" for the movie. We mixed it into the movie, it was all ready," Burger explained, then adding "and they just couldn't make a deal."
When we spoke the deal had fallen through only about a week earlier, and Burger didn't have any details other than that, as is often the case, the problems were about money. "It's completely heartbreaking. It's a great song, and they felt like it was going to be a hit. I'm sure it'll come out in some form or another. But it's not going to be in the movie, and it's just fucking idiotic. Just stupid."
But Burger had plenty of other good experiences to talk about as well, from taking his own road trip to prepare for the movie to the way he managed to balance the movie's comedy and drama. Check out the rest of the interview below, including talk about Dark Fields and The Criminals, his next projects, near the end.
Did you take a cross-country trip before making this film?
I really took the trip as research, before I was writing it. I did it sort of in pieces. I've driven across the country a number of times, and really went to all these places and more, and sifted through it and found the events or locations that I was interested in. We also talked to soldiers who were over there, who were going over there, who had been over there, and wove it all together.
Where did the story come from?
It's an original idea. When I was doing The Illusionist, I had been out of the country for quite a while. When you've been away for a while, you have the shock of re-entry, and everything that was familiar feels foreign. And obviously it was in the air politically and culturally. As a filmmaker I wanted to do something that spoke to our times. Whereas The Illusionist was very arcane in a way.
Were you apprehensive about the release, given the way Iraq films had been treated at the box office?
Well, this was before all those came out, so I thought this was a brilliantly original idea to start with. You know, it is in the air. If people hadn't written these movies, people would be saying, 'Well, where is Hollywood in this debate?' I'm apprehensive now. But I think the movie's different. The movie's about America. It's a funny road trip movie that happens to also be about some more meaningful things as well.
You really mixed the humor and seriousness. That's a tough balance to meet.
It walks a fine line between that absurdity and that tragedy. I think that's because it is a serious matter, and what the soldiers have gone through is more than serious, and the situation in the country is also serious. If you go straight at it, like some of those other movies, in a dogmatic way or a strident way, you're just pushing the audience away. I though, well, how do I bring in the audience so that they let down their guard, and they're willing to engage in this conversation. I thought that humor was the way to do it.
is it also paying homage to the soldiers?
I think there's an aspect of that. But to me the movie is really about America. The fact that they're soldiers is important, and it puts a finer point on it. But they're human beings first. The war should be just a small part of what America is. It's just a symptom of what's going on in the country right now.
Did you choose to cast Tim because he has such a record of being outspoken about politics?
Tim loves the country, and he speaks up for what he believes. Pretty much he's kinda right. So I think that, ultimately, he's just playing a character in this. And that's the way he understood it. He loved the character, he was interested in the movie, and the way the movie went at those sort of issues. He's a great actor, and he's playing a guy who's sort of a middle-aged everyman. Who better to do that than Tim.
What happened with the Dixie Chicks song that was supposed to be in the movie?
Unbelievable, yeah. They hadn't written anything since they won the Grammy award, supposedly. They saw the movie, they were moved by it, and they wrote this song called "The Lucky Ones" for the movie. We mixed it into the movie, it was all ready, and they just couldn't make a deal.
What happened?
Well, you know, it's always money. I don't know. Somehow there was just some bad negotiation going on, on somebody's part, and they just ran it into a hole. It just died about a week and a half ago. It's completely heartbreaking. It's a great song, and they felt like it was going to be a hit. I'm sure it'll come out in some form or another. But it's not going to be in the movie, and it's just fucking idiotic. Just stupid.
Would you classify this is an anti-war film or a pro-troops film or what?
I think it's a road movie. To me, it's a look at a political moment in history, in our cultural life. And yeah, I have particular views, and I think they come out in the movie. But it's not trying to grind one way or the other. It's trying to just look at it in a clear-eyed way and just observe what's going on-- what's the conversation now?
Does it make you want to do another movie on the road?
It doesn't make me want to shoot in a room, I can tell you that. My next movie shoots in New York, and I'm actually looking forward to that. New York's a huge pain in the neck to shoot in.
Is that Dark Fields? With Shia LaBeouf?
Yeah, with Shia.
Tell us about that.
It's about a pill that makes you smarter. It's not science fiction, actually. It's played very straight and real. If there's Viagra and steroids, why isn't there something that makes your synaptic connections in your brain think faster and make judgments faster and things like that. It's about human potential and about power. It's very much about power in New York.
What about your Dashiell Hammett adaptation?
I haven't worked on that since before.... I wrote something for that, and then I got actually ripped off.
What happened?
Well, I don't really want to name names. But I wanted to do it. The tough thing with doing a Dashiell Hammett thing is it's been so ripped off in its own way, by the Coen Brothers and lots of other people. You try to go back to it, and you realize, man, everybody's used these situations, these lines. Whether Miller's Crossing or 100 other movies. So yeah, that's not happening. But I have a movie that I've written that I'm going to go after Dark Fields, and it's called The Criminals. I also wrote it with Dirk. Dark Fields. we're supposed to shoot this winter; I'm not sure if that's going to happen. We might do The Criminals first. We found these criminal groups-- it's like the Mafia is dead, and it's a motley group that's filled the void.
Like the Albanians?
Yeah, like the Albanians. But also weird things like ATM beggars that get picked up in a van at the end of the day. Like these modern-day--not Fagins, because that implies little children who are pickpockets-- but people who are running those, taking a piece of those ATM beggars' cut. Interesting things like that. You know how outside a hardware store you see people who are immigrants, waiting... Like the same thing for crooks.
