James Gray on ‘Armageddon Time’: ‘History is like peeling off the skins of onions’
Written by ABC AUDIO on October 20, 2022
Cult director James Gray is in Lyon this week at the Festival Lumière – held on the very site where the Lumière brothers invented the first cinematograph. A retrospective of his films, a master class and the preview of his latest film, “Armageddon Time” with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Hathaway, which has already been presented in Cannes, are on the program.
Our culture editors took the opportunity to speak to one of the greatest writers in contemporary American cinema.
“Unfortunately, the Hollywood system did all the work”
His take on the genre: “It’s a mistake to think that an art form will always exist. We don’t know what the history of cinema is, it’s such a young art form. Part of the problem is that when the market becomes God and there is no counterbalance, the corporations begin to consolidate their power and that conditions people in their thinking and in their expectations.
And unfortunately, the Hollywood system has done all the work and imposed its idea of what cinema is and should be on the rest of the world.”
“Armageddon Time” is a semi-autobiographical flick set in early ’80s New York. It’s about a boy from a Jewish family in Queens who befriends a black schoolmate who dreams of space but hasn’t been able to climb the social ladder.
“We all contribute to a collective catastrophe with small things”
A look back at racism and social inequalities that are still felt today, says James Gray. “Perhaps the distance from the past allows us to see things more clearly today. History is like peeling off the skins of onions, you never really get to the core, it’s endless.
I’m not saying that anyone is to blame. It’s not about that, we all contribute to a collective catastrophe with small things.”
Armageddon Time is the eighth feature film in James Gray’s remarkable body of work, ranging from Tim Roth’s Little Odessa to Brad Pitt’s Ad Astra.
His new work is scheduled to hit European cinemas in November.
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