Interview
with Brett Ratner
Lets get that hard question
out of the way. A lot of people wondered if you right man for
the job for this film. Where you the right man for this job?
 BR:
I wasn't, no way, absolutely not. First of all I got the script
sent to me from Stacy Snider [Chairman of Universal] and I'm like
"Why is she sending me this script?" I can't imagine
why she thinks I'm the guy for this movie. "What am I, the
sequel guy?" I'm the go to guy on the thing that they know
is just going to be a hit anyway. Then I started really getting
insecure, then names started to go through my head, Ridley Scott,
Demme [Jonathan]. I'm not as good as these guys and then I saw
Ted Tally's name on the script, the guy who wrote Silence of the
Lambs. I was like "Oh my God, this guy wrote this script",
cause I know he didn't write Hannibal, he past on Hannibal. And
I read the script and I was like "I have to do this script
it's incredible" What I realized, because of the heart and
the relationship between Ralph Fiennes and Emily Watson, and that's
what made it different from Silence and any other movie.
What did you think of MANHUTER?
When you decided to the project did you consciously think what
you could do differently?
BR: No, I mean MANHUNTER
was well and when I read the script [Red Dragon] I went back to
the book and I was like "Why didn't MANHUNTER do all these
things?" The real reason why I said its okay to this is because
the tone of MANHUNTER was completely different than the book.
Meaning it was set in a modern world and I really stayed true
to the tone that Thomas Harris said which is "he [Fiennes
character] lives in his grandmother's house, which is an old age
home". Two things that this had that made it completely different
than Michael's [Mann], the beginning and the end. The capture
of Hannibal Lecter and the end, which is the whole Hitchcockian
twist, which he fakes his own death. I was surprised, cause I
didn't know the book. I took MANHUNTER was for face value, I thought
it was a cool movie. But then when I read the book I said, "What
was Michael Mann thinking? Why didn't he put this ending?"
and I was happy that he didn't do it because now this is an exciting
thing. We can now do the back story of Ralph Fiennes, that he
was abused as a child, that he feels ugly even though he's not.
But mostly that whole ending where he [Fiennes} shows up at the
end, in the book is like "unfucking believable" [excuse
me] But I was grateful for Michael [Mann] for not doing it [outburst
of laughter].
 If
MANHUTER had been a huge hit instead of film that kind of just
disappeared, could've it been re-made?
BR: My whole philosophy
on re-makes, the only reason to re-make a movie is if the movie
is flawed, If it's a good idea, if the movie doesn't work on some
level you know?
Is that MANHUNTER? Is it
a flawed movie?
BR: I don't know [Outburst
of laughter in the room]
LR: Was Ralph [Fiennes]
your first choice to play the Dolarhyde?
BR: No, I didn't think
of Ralph. What I did was I started auditioning just actors and
then seeing what kind of direction am going you know? I couldn't
find anybody, I was like "We're screwed" If this guy
[Ralph] doesn't work, then this movie is not gonna work. It can't
just be Hannibal Lecter you know? I sent the script to him, and
then I got to meet with him because he loved the script, and told
him what my vision was. I said "I'm not making a horror film,
not making a gore film am trying to go back to the direction of
Silence, which is leaving it to the audiences imagination.
What's next for you?
BR: Superman
 LR:
Is it definitely
BR: Definitely
LR: Reason I'm asking,
is cause they say McG is doing it still, and one minute you were
attached to the project...
BR: I don't know unless
I got fired between yesterday and today.
What would you like to do
the franchise that hasn't been done before?
BR: I see a man in a red
and blue suit, a man flying through the air. That's basically
my vision.
Come on!!
BR: [Laughing} What? That's
what I see. I see a guy flying through the air in a blue and red
suit. Again it's in the script. J.J. Abrams delivered a fucking
amazing script and that's why I'm doing it. They [WB] talked to
me about it when Tim Burton fell out of it the first time, and
I think it was Kevin Smiths script? Right? It wasn't there [the
script]. This movie [script] has heart, it has soul, and its different
enough you know? It's got emotion, its real, you care about the
character. Kids today don't know those movies; they [movies] were
done 20 years ago. 10-year-old kids know SUPERMAN, but they don't
know the mythology.
They've got SMALLVILLE!
[Outburst of laughs]
LR: Is Anthony Hopkins
going to play Jor-El?
BR: I want him to be if
he'll do it. Someone told me it was on the net yesterday
LR: Yeah, it was on yesterday
BR: Really?
LR: That's why I'm asking.
When do you start?
BR: I started yesterday
What about production?
BR: About 9mths from today.
LR: I appreciate it
BR: Hey man no problem
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