Matieu Kassovitz Calls BABYLON A.D A “Terrible Experience”

Mathieu Kassovitz 4It looks like the director of BABYLON A.D. will not be watching his own film this weekend; because he thinks it sucks. He has begun to air his disgust for the filming experience the week before it opens! We get the following skinny from our friends at JoBlo:

Matieu Kassovitz (LA HAINE, GOTHIKA) clearly didn’t have a very good time making the film. As he candidly tells AMC: “I never had a chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way I wanted it to be. The script wasn’t respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience.”

Not a lot of gray area there, but what Kassovitz dislikes about the cut could be what appeals to the American masses: “It’s pure violence and stupidity,” and “parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24”.

Holy crow, this is quite a verbal hammer for the director to throw at his film before release. It seems that more and more people involved in films are venting their frustrations publicly before they’re even released. I’m not sure if this is due to a lack of respect for keeping mum on in house business, or if it’s just easier for word to “sneak out” because of the internet.

Either way, Kassovitz is clearly not happy with the finished product and he’s the director. From what he says everything was changed along the way, and if this is the case, I can completely understand his frustration. He didn’t sign on for the film that was made and it’s dirty pool for them to pull shit like that on the fly.

As far as complaining about the “violence and stupidity” he is working with Fox and Vin Diesel on what appears to be an action film….is it a stretch to suggest that he should have seen it coming?

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16 thoughts on “Matieu Kassovitz Calls BABYLON A.D A “Terrible Experience”

  1. @bigsampson: you must have been the biggest idiot in school, still feeling frustrated and misunderstood in live, I can tell. But, if you dragged your empty head just a bit more out of your ass, you would realize that the studio is making money off the creative vision of the director and the star power of an actor. Without them, there is NO MOVIE. And WE pay to see that vision, NOT the predefined ideas of a studio. Film history is full of stories like that, with directors ranging from Hitchcock to Francis Ford Coppola. But it’s always the director who gets the blame and the repercussions. A studio can go on, shaping what they think we want to see, and never take responsibility when things don’t work out.

  2. I will still see this no matter what, I can see where and artsy director like this guy will be ver upset if he doesnt get his way. I guess he should just become a billionaire and make and invest in his own movies. It sucks that most people have to go and work every day and actually do what there bosses want. Hell, its downright unfair! lol

    See where I am going with this? Just cause he doesnt like the cut doesnt mean I wont like it so I am seeing it anyhow. Besides, most French people haggle about everything, I would expect no less.

  3. “I liked Matieu Kassovitz for showing some balls. But how much is this going to hurt his chances of making more movies?” – EricD

    I think in America, he’s done for but he usually works in France and his best works (La Haine, the Crimson Rivers) are French films. Jean Pierre Jeunet also had some choice words with Fox over Alien Resurrection, and instead of staying in the U.S., he just went back to France to work. Jeunet went to direct Amelie and A Very Long Engagement film which both were critically acclaimed and popular around the world.

  4. for real fuck this asshole…..if i was paying a guy to make a movie for me and he said some crap like this…i would hire a hit man to kill the douche bag…..who cares if the movie sucked you took the money and made a crap movie then..,..if it turns out to be awesome you will be like the french and gloat over how awesome u are! haha YOUR FIRED DOUCHEBAG! and dragonslayer your wrong he didnt phrase it like u did…he was like oh ya i got paid ha but the producers told me what i can and cant do…im a tool but its there fault……

  5. If I wanted to work in Hollywood, I wouldn’t go around talking shit about my own work. Don’t you think that sort of behavior, no matter how warranted, would piss off the studio, not to mention word would spread that so-and-so is difficult to work with and won’t promote their films properly? Don’t know if this is a positive for him to run his mouth like this.

  6. I knew this movie would suck as soon as it said it was being made by Fox. It takes guts to say that the movie you made or starred in sucked (George Clooney especially)

  7. I’ve heard that his “terrible” experience already started when Fox wanted someone viable in the lead role (Diesel instead of Kassovitz’s first choice, Vincent Cassel). Because of this Diesel and Kassovitz despised each other on set AND Kassovitz lost his friendship with Cassel.

  8. @slushie man

    saying it right before opening weekend no less. i hope he has enough money saved up to pay his bills, because IMO – he shouldn’t be let near anything that has any kind of a budget ever again.

  9. Same thing happened with American History X, and that movie turned out fine.

    And yeah, I dare say this was not a good career move for the guy. It’s going to be hard for him to find work when nobody will hire him, due to him publicly saying negative things about his own movies. Hollywood doesn’t like loose cannon directors like that.

    I’ll actually be VERY surprised if we see another movie by him anytime in the next 10 years.

  10. My God, it’s ‘Leonard Part 6’ all over again (and kudos to anyone who gets that reference).

    This is going to sound cold but the guy should have known what he was getting himself into with Fox. We’ve all heard the horror stories from other directors about how they micro-manage their big budget movies.

    I hope the poor guy gets another job.

  11. As far as Vin Diesel is concerned, I like him as a dramatic actor especially in films like BOILER ROOM, but his days as an action hero are over. This film will bomb and any clout that he had a few years ago is long gone. There’s no way Universal will ever finance the two Riddick films he’s been talking about. If Fast and Furious does well and it could, I would expect him in a part 5. If not, it’s direct to DVD city for him!

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