Chris Cunningham is priceless. Not only has my favourite videoclip-director already been working for two months on the new Aphex Twin-video (and will he need at least another two months to come to a satisfying result), he also arrives at our meeting exactly on time, practically naked, in a wheelchair, and with an Elephant Man-esque forehead. “Sorry, I thought you would have been here later.” he apologizes whilst I am laughing my ass off. When I am able to speak again (from all that laughter) I tell Chris I should just leave the interview at this to keep his public image intact. Because Chris Cunningham is considered ‘weird’.
GIBSON
Half an hour later, when Chris is fully dressed and without artifical bodyparts, and he is leading me to his room in the office of director Ridley Scott’s filmcompany in London, he returns to that subject. He explains he looked that way because he is working on an Aphex Twin-video where he himself will be playing in. We talk about the word “weird”. Altough the word means more than simply it’s dutch translation ‘vreemd’, it is used by everybody to describe things that are somewhat unordinary, and by the use of the word ‘weird’ become easy to categorise.
For instance people call David Lynch’s work weird, and thereby people are placing David Lynch in the same category as a Marilyn Manson-videoclip. The concept of “weird” eventually looses all it’s meaning because more and more things are considered weird. Also people won’t truly make an effort anymore to truly analyse and understand things because it’s easier to just call them “weird”. Chris is absolutely right when he says he hates the word ‘weird’.
I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a huge fan of Chris’ work, and I tell him that I really love the fact that he uses both high-tech and low-tech, but also human behaviour and emotions. You don’t see the combination alot; for that reason he is in my opinion the only person capable of filming William Gibsons work.
According to rumours Chris is working on Gibsons book “neuromancer”. How is that coming along?
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