French animator and director of the Oscar-nominated Netflix film “I Lost My Body,” Jérémy Clapin releases his first live-action film “Meanwhile on Earth” on Nov. 8. The film follows the story of Elsa, a young woman contacted by unknown life forms after her older brother disappears on a space mission. The Daily Texan sat down with Clapin to talk about his experience working on the film.
The Daily Texan: How has your background in animation impacted your approach to directing a live-action (film)?
Jérémy Clapin: In animation, you control everything. I didn’t want to bring the constraint of animation into live-action movies. I also wanted to be open to improvising (with) the actors, the crew (and) the weather. I wanted to be able to create upon something which was not always in my control.
DT: What about directing a live action film most surprised you?
JC: It took (a lot of) time to set up the camera, lighting (and) everything. When I was telling people I wanted to do live-action, everyone was telling me ‘You will have time to experiment … you will have a lot of materials for editing.’ It’s not true.
DT: “Meanwhile on Earth” draws (on) a lot of different genres of filmmaking like science fiction and the psychological thriller, while incorporating a lot of deeper philosophical themes. What did you specifically have in mind when creating the story?
JC: I wanted to create a character who navigates an in-between world and to bring the audience inside this perception. What the film tried to do is to convey this feeling of being a part of two worlds at the same time, somewhere between Earth and Space, somewhere between reality and dream, childhood and adulthood, the world of the living (and) the world of the ghost. We are with a character inside that.
DT: What is it about space that is so fascinating to you?
JC: (Everyone is) fascinated by space. We’re stuck on Earth but we can’t keep looking to the stars, even (if) we will never go to this territory. It is something we cannot ignore. It’s (frustrating). When you look into this infinity, most of the time you look inside yourself. Space in the film (symbolizes) the world of the ghost. You don’t have the link with gravity anymore. So you start to detach from the world … which is death. It’s a (very strong) symbol in the film for that. It brings me the story of loss.
DT: What is in store for your future as a writer and director?
JC: Now I have to choose what I’m going to do (next), and it’s not so easy. I can move from a medium to another medium and really appreciate things in animation and really appreciate things in live-action. I thought (trying live action) was a good move, but maybe now it’s going to be more complex to be me (now that) I have to choose.
