Jim Jarmusch started in the industry when independent film was just about to boom. He was fairly lucky in that regard when it came to his low-do 1984 classic “Stranger Than Paradise.”
He’s somehow managed to release 13 feature films since then, highlights among them include “Paterson,” “Broken Flowers,” “Only Lovers Left Alive,” “Down by Law” and “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”
In an interview with The Guardian, Jarmusch didn’t mince words in his describing how much the industry has changed and the lack of sustainable business models for independent filmmakers.
“The film industry is kind of gone […] It sucks. It’s gotten worse. The kind of split-rights deals – an equal 50-50 shared profits, after costs, with financiers – that I used to be able to do with my films… if you even suggested that now, you would be laughed out of the fucking building.”
Jarmusch admitted that the creative process he once knew has become nearly extinct:
“I’m a control freak in that I have to do it my own way […] I have to choose all my own collaborators. I have to have final cut. I have to produce it through my own company. And as for the people financing the films, I allow them to give me notes on a rough cut but I always, contractually, have absolutely no obligation to use them.”
I haven’t the slightest clue how Jarmusch continues to make films this way, especially with the current studio system continuously suffocating the artist. Of course, his films don’t need that big of a budget and actors go out of their way to work for him, so he has that going.
Despite the dire state of the industry, Jarmusch is getting ready to shoot his next film this fall. He won’t give many details about it except that it’s close to finalizing a cast and will be a film without music.
“I can’t speak about details, but we’re putting together a plan for a film. I wrote it thinking of specific actors who I’m now trying to wrangle. Actors are like wild animals that I have to somehow corral because they have so much going on. So, I’m trying to corral some incredible wild animals – I hope I can capture them.”
Jarmusch has had 12 movies premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, I bet this one will be there next May. Jarmusch’s most recent film, “The Dead Don’t Die,” was one of his worst-reviewed, a meandering deadpan zombie flick with no bite.
The Ohio-born filmmaker has been a mainstay of the indie movie scene since the ‘80s. His minimalist, unhurried and idiosyncratic films don’t follow transitional narrative structures, but rather tend to focus more on mood.
Jarmusch’s frequent acting collaborators include Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Isaach de Bankolé, and Steve Buscemi. Maybe that’s the cast of his next film.
For Schrader, AI solves the curious practical filmmaking problem he had. How about just creating Black people? No casting calls, no agents, no actors turning down the roles.