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Purple Revolver puts its money on British director Steve McQueen as one to watch in the movie world for 2012.
Brit flick Shame is his second film, shot last year in the heaving metropolis of New York City and focusses on handsome 30-something professional Brandon and his struggle with sex addiction.
On using silence instead of a modern musical score, Steve McQueen takes his inspiration from 1920s silent movies and said: “I was thinking about guys like Buster Keaton, Rudolph Valentino — actors who are astonishingly good at not saying anything.
“If you fast-forward to the present day, guys like Brandon don’t talk about their feelings. The film is more about what people don’t say rather than what they say. It’s about undercurrents, internalization.”
He added: “People generally say things out loud that are designed to make other people feel comfortable. So it becomes like poker — you have to look for the tell. And you’re relying on the audience to pick up on things that are recognizable but at the same time unfamiliar.”
“Some films are about films, like, “That’s the movie world and we live in the real world. It’s fantastically interesting to me if we put the real world onscreen instead. And what happens sometimes is that it’s like a dog whistle goes off in the cinema.
“The cinema screen becomes a mirror, and the audience can see themselves on screen. That’s exactly what I wanted from Shame.”
On finding the supreme talent in rising star Michael Fassbender, he said: “I never saw him in anything before Hunger. When he came in to audition, I thought he was cocky. It was a strange mixture of bravado and ‘I can’t be bothered.’
“It was my first time directing, and I didn’t understand that actors have to deal with a lot of rejection. At that point in Michael’s path, what if that door gets slammed in your face again? But he came back twice more, and he just shone through.
“After I told him he had the part, I jumped on the back of his motorcycle and we went off for a drink. It was kind of romantic. [laughs] I’m very pleased that Michael has worked with me twice, and I think we’ve done okay work.”
On sex addiction, McQueen said: “Everyone can relate to sex. Not necessarily relating to being a sex addict, but everyone has an idea – or the majority of people have an idea – from having had sex.
“It was one of those things that I thought could be an interesting film that can engage with the audience, but in a real way.
“This addiction is quite prevalent now, because of the internet which facilitates it, and other sorts of things which facilitate the addiction.”
He added: “It’s not about someone being promiscuous. It’s about someone who, just as if they were a drug addict or an alcohol addict, then they need it. It’s not a case of want, it’s a case of need, it controls you.”