In Robert Creeley's poem, I Know A Man, an unnamed narrator urges his friend John, which is not his name, to buy a goddamn big car/ “drive, he sd for christ's sake, look out where yr going,” predating the spirit of a current slick and stylish movie, Drive, directed by Copenhagen-based Nicolas Winding Refn, who won Best Director in Cannes. On a recent afternoon over an iced cappuccino at Gemma in The Bowery Hotel, I talked to Refn about the making of Drive, his casting of Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Albert Brooks, and his “vision.”

RW: How did you get involved in this project?

NWR: I wanted to do a film with Ryan.

RW: How did you meet him?

NWR:  I'd never met him. He called me out of the blue. He said, I want to meet. I want to do a movie.

When we met, there was a great connection between us that led to me seeing a movie in my head, about a guy who drives around in a car listening to pop music as a release. We experienced a similar emotion in a car and we wanted to make a movie about that emotion.

Then I went back and read James Sallis' book. I liked the stuntman story, and the script Universal was developing was pretty good also. Not everything was to my taste so I just picked and dissected everything and put the elements back into my fetish. I'm a fetish filmmaker.

RW: Can you define that?

NWR: I make films based on what I want to see.

RW: Wouldn't that be called vision?

NWR: No. Vision's more like planning what I want to do.

RW: What are you planning now?

NWR: Another movie with Ryan this Christmas called Only God Forgives, set in Bangkok. I wrote it myself.

RW: Do you like writing?

NWR: No. I don't do it out of joy, but out of need. I'm not particularly good at it but it's the only way I can make the kind of films I want to make. 

RW: Do you consider yourself a writing collaborator on Drive?

NWR: Technically, yes. I did enjoy working with Hossein Amini on Drive because it was great to have someone to do all that with me. 

RW: Is Ryan's character a hero?

NWR: Absolutely. 100%. Because he protects innocence and purity.

RW: He's a hero in an old fashioned way. The character has no background and no name. There's nothing to pin on him. He's outside Freud.

NWR: In the book there's a back story but I eliminated all that because I wanted him to be mythological. He's a man of dreams and imagination. He is the classic hero who appears when we are in need of him. He's an enigma. I did a movie called Valhalla Rising where the lead character did not have a past either. 

There is something about this man that is always a mystery. You cannot identify with him because you can never be him. You can identify with him falling in love with his neighbor Irene and wanting to protect her, and yet he remains a mystery. So the actions are larger than life because they must have higher meaning.

RW: How did you direct Ryan?

NWR: I told him to keep everything inside. Not to let out any emotions because automatically it would come out. When you take away dialogue, you have to be very careful how you move your body and you gesture so emotion comes out in the right places.

RW: Tell me about the casting of the other characters.

NWR: Christina Hemdricks came to my house and said she wanted to be in the movie. I was casting in Los Angeles. The rule was, everybody had to come to my house. I always wanted Albert Brooks for his role. And Ron Perlman had a really good take on Nino so I cast him. He was merely a mobster in the book but I connected him with movies, made him a producer. Everybody is part of the illusion of filmmaking.

RW: How did Carey Mulligan come into the film?

NWR: She called and asked if I would meet with her. She had seen all my movies and wanted to work with me. She came to my house. I was struggling to cast the part of Irene. I met a lot of great actresses but I could not fall in love with them. I did not want to protect them, or be the driver for them. She came through the door and I knew exactly that I wanted to protect her. She reminded me of my wife. [Refn is married to a therapist. They have two kids.] So I cast her.

RW: I especially appreciated the element of surprise in your film, like when Irene slaps him. How did you get her to snap like that?

NWR: I said, slap him. It all came out of that moment. 

RW: I associate Danish filmmakers with Dogma. Were you a part of that?

NWR: No. That doesn't interest me.

RW: Do you like von Trier? Lone Scherfig?

NWR: She used to babysit me; she's like a part of the family and came to the Copenhagen premiere. And I like Lars as a person.

RW: Where did you train?

NWR: I didn't. I dropped out of Danish film school. Before that I was kicked out of acting school here in NY. I broke a table during a scene. I was in the moment. But it was a good thing because god had a plan. I had to get away from school. I have a problem with authority. I will not be controlled.

RW: I guess you don't have any Hollywood aspirations then.

NWR: No. But I'm signed up to do a huge million dollar franchise. Ryan and I are doing a remake of Logan's Run for Warner Brothers. You can't get any more Hollywood than that.

RW: Did you stipulate that you would not be controlled?

NWR: What's interesting is that I will have to convince them that I'm right. But they've been very good, very inspiring. I can only make a film my way. I'm not the best filmmaker in the world, despite what the French are saying, but I'm the best filmmaker of the films I make.

Regina Weinreich

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