Mathieu Kassovitz directs Jean Reno on the finer points of playing a French police officer
© 2001 Columbia/Tristar

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The Universal Language of Action

French actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz set out to accomplish only one thing when shooting his latest feature CRIMSON RIVERS: make a good 'ol fashioned American action movie. Influenced by cinematic persuasions ranging from David Fincher's SE7EN to Hong Kong's Jackie Chan, the director put together a $12 million dollar French feature that rivals most of the action fare seen this summer in movie theaters across the U.S.

Set in the French Alps, the film follows two concurrent criminal investigations taking place nearly 180 miles apart from each other. Veteran cop Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno) is sent from Paris to Guernon to investigate a bizarre murder near the legendary private school of the same name. It seems that the rather gruesome murderer was very methodical in his/her killing, leaving behind a trail of bizarre and enigmatic clues. Complicating the investigation are the university administrators who seem to be covering up a mystery of their own. Meanwhile, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel), an impetuous young cop "exiled" to a small town post, arrives at a desecrated cemetery to investigate the disturbed grave site of a child who died 20 years earlier.

The two detectives eventually cross paths while investigating a mutual suspect, at which point the more experienced Niemans joins forces with the brash Max to track down the killer. As the body count and gruesome clues amass, the killer leads the two men to a dramatic final showdown that takes place high atop the icy Alps overlooking the university.

Described as "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets SE7EN," CRIMSON RIVERS is perhaps more like LETHAL WEAPON with a twist. However, Kassovitz is not concerned with the comparison to such a critically panned, "shoot 'em up" feature.

"The only thing you have to think about when making movies is you as a member of the audience," says Kassovitz. "I love these kinds of movies and I love DVDs. I buy movies on DVD that I didn't like in the theater. I'll get PEARL HARBOR on DVD; I don't even know if I'll like it in the theater, but I'll get it because I want to test my system, etc. So I like those kinds of movies and I've wanted to make a movie just for DVD a real popcorn, Friday night movie the kind that you don't take your girl to. That's what I wanted no more, no less. Just to have fun."

Nadia Feres reluctantly agrees to aid Jean Reno in THE CRIMSON RIVERS

© 2001 Columbia/Tristar

However, the film isn't all action, no plot. There is a rather cerebral thread that runs throughout one that deals with Neo Nazis, genetic mutations, and the creation of a master race. Oh, and there is that whole American revenge thing going on.

"[The theme is] what makes me relate to the movie a little bit, but the real thing is that it's the kind of stupid movie I can go and watch and enjoy for two hours," says Kassovitz. "What I really like about these movies is when I leave the theater and am still thinking about it an hour later. Like when I go and see SE7EN, it's a thriller/action movie, but still today the themes and what [the director is] saying about the scenes and how he talks about it in the last two scenes, 'Here comes wrath. Here comes anger.' He's saying things about life. It's not just pure action or pure thriller."

While the film was well received for the most part in France, a number of moviegoers have expressed bewilderment at the film's "unexpected" ending a fad big in American cinema right now. Even American audiences, who are hip to this sort of finale, have been seen scratching their heads as they exit the theaters.

"I think that makes [the movie] funny," says Kassovitz. "For me, I love to see a movie like that because it makes you participate in it. If you miss something, you're not going to lose any sleep over it. But what I didn't want to do... when I was shooting the film, SLEEPY HOLLOW came out in France and I went to see it and I had this problem with [Tim Burton] explaining [every] scene. In SLEEPY HOLLOW, which is very complicated, he has like a 10-minute scene with [Christina Ricci] explaining everything to [Johnny Depp]; it's a boring scene. It doesn't bring any light to anything. So I said, 'F**k it!' Even if [the audience doesn't] understand I just want to keep the pace up. I want people to go, 'What! What happened?'"

While some filmmakers would be nervous about intentionally frustrating their audience, Kassovitz just shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. He views the situation as an experiment in filmmaking.

"Personally, I'm sick of having everything explained," says Kassovitz. "I just want to guess things by myself. That's why audiences like Kubrick. That's why audiences like films that they don't get. Why do you think 2001 is such a beautiful movie? Because audiences still don't understand what it means, but [at the same time] it's so deep that audiences understand exactly what it means. It's talking about us and what are we doing here and are we going to see God one day? It's very difficult to pinpoint exactly. One of the first movies that really touched me was DUEL. And it's like, 'Is there a driver in this truck or is it a monster? It sounds like a monster at the end, but I've seen the driver's boots. I've seen a little of his shape and shadow. And why is he chasing him?' I don't give a s**t! You just have to go with the flow and you have to take it in and just have fun plain fun, that's it."

Obviously influenced by a number of American filmmakers (Kassovitz boasts a laser disc and DVD collection of over 2000 films), the French director feels that his style of filmmaking sports more of an international flavor.

"I don't have a more American influence, necessarily," says Kassovitz. "I have an international influence. I've been following John Woo's work for like 10 to 15 years. I don't like what he's doing today, but I like what he did before. I love Chinese theater and Chinese movies. That fight [in CRIMSON RIVERS] comes from Chinese movies.

The fight in question: a MATRIX-like fight sequence about halfway through the film where Cassel's character walks into a skinhead hangout to interrogate its occupants. With his gun and badge defiantly thrown down in the cliché "I'm not a cop anymore" fashion, the officer proceeds to beat the crap out of his suspects, one skinhead at a time, in pure martial arts style.

"[Cassel] is my buddy," says Kassovitz. "He's been my friend for many years. He's a fighter and he is the MATRIX. He loves being physical. So we had that scene in the book [the film was adapted from a popular novel] it was more of a violent scene where the character really tortures the skinheads. I said, 'No, f**k it. Let's have fun.' And one of the guys he fights is his best friend and the guy with the moustache is an old school street fighter that he hung out with when we were young. So we all got back together and it was like, 'Okay, let's have some fun. Let's fight.' And Vincent had his nose broken during the fight and we had to stop for two weeks. There were no stunt guys; it was just them. I'm a big Jackie Chan fan I mean a big Jackie Chan fan. I really admire the guy. He's one of my favorite actors ever because he's really doing the job. He gets the job done. And his fights are like 30-second shots with no tricks. And you see the fists are coming really close and if he doesn't get out of the way, they'll hit him. Doing things like that can hurt you and you want danger like that on the set. That's why you make movies. You want to go to an island somewhere, you want to have beautiful women in the film, you want to have real action scenes and you want to see explosions. You don't want to go and CGI all that stuff it's not funny. You want it to be there. So the fight was there."

Nadia Feres and Jean Reno make a gruesome discovery in THE CRIMSON RIVERS

© 2001 Columbia/Tristar

As American as the film is, the question remains as to whether CRIMSON RIVERS would have been easier to make in the U.S. with a larger budget and bigger name American actors?

"We thought about it with the producer," says Kassovitz. "We toyed with, 'Are we going to do it in English or even shoot it in English and French.' It was tempting and we almost did it, but at the same time we said, 'Listen, this is a $12 million movie. If you want to do an American movie, it's going to cost $50 million.' We're not in the same league. I'm not going to make [audiences] believe that it's an American movie, so let's not fool around. Let's be French."

However, the director has not given up hope that one day his film will be made in the U.S. With the success of such French-to-American features as POINT OF NO RETURN and THE PROFESSIONAL, Kassovitz leveraged himself for just such a possibility.

"The deal that I have with the producer is that if they make a remake of [CRIMSON RIVERS] in the States, I'm the first one they have to come to [when looking for a director]," says Kassovitz. "I have first right of refusal. But I have to rewrite the script or get someone to rewrite it as it should be done. The right way by people who know how to deal with those kinds of scripts and make it really, 'Wow!' We couldn't do it because we don't have the knowledge and we're still making movies the French way. If I can do it again with more money and get rid of the mistakes that I did on the first one, it can be funny. It can be a good exercise to see, 'Okay, that's what I can do with $12 million. This what I can do with $50 million.'"